December 11

Breath of Heaven

Do you want a “blessed” life?  Of course you do!  Who doesn’t, right?  Only a hardcore atheist that does not believe in a “Bless-or” is repelled by the concept of being blessed by their Creator.  However, what does the blessing of God look like, and how do we get on the blessed list . . . these are questions we often debate or question.

After Mary is visited by Gabriel and told she was carrying the Son of God, she goes to visit her relative Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-45).  At that time, Elizabeth declares to Mary that she is indeed “blessed” by God (Luke 1:42).  Of course, the blessing Elizabeth was referring to was the Baby Mary was carrying in her womb . . . but a closer reading of this passage (in context) also reveals to us another way Mary was blessed in Luke 1.

After being visited by the Angel Gabriel, Mary was left to ponder her new found pregnancy in (somewhat) isolation.  Her parents would have been concerned.  Her betrothed (Joseph) was considering a divorce.  Who would believe her?  Did she really hear the Angel correctly?  These were probably some of the questions Mary was asking. 

So, where does she go?  How does God provide and bless Mary in the midst of her situation?  The Lord has Mary walk 50-70 miles to the hills of Judah to visit Elizabeth:  the only other woman in the world who would understand miraculous pregnancies (see Luke 1:5-25)!  The Lord blessed Mary through another person – her cousin Elizabeth’s company!

That said, here are two thoughts:

1. Can you imagine what Mary may have been thinking as she walked to Elizabeth’s house?  The song “Breath of Heaven” shares a fictionalized perspective from Mary as she made that walk.  Listen to this song today as you relate to her circumstance.
2. Realize that the “Breath of Heaven’s” blessing that fell on Mary at that time was not a second angelic visit, but a cup of coffee with her cousin. 

Where in your life right now are you longing for the supernatural provision of God?  Have you ever stopped to think that the blessing of God . . . the breath of heaven . . . may be coming to you by another member of the Body of Christ who lives down the street, or is in your small group, or is just a phone call away.  The supernatural blessing of God is often wrapped in natural paper.

Breath of Heaven

I have traveled many moonless nights

Cold and weary with a babe inside

And I wonder what I’ve done

Holy Father, You have come

And chosen me now to carry Your Son

I am waiting in a silent prayer

I am frightened by the load I bear

In a world as cold as stone

Must I walk this path alone?

Be with me now, be with me now

Breath of Heaven, hold me together

Be forever near me, breath of Heaven

Breath of Heaven, lighten my darkness

Pour over me Your holiness for You are holy

Breath of Heaven

Do you wonder as you watch my face

If a wiser one should have had my place?

But I offer all I am

For the mercy of Your plan

Help me be strong, help me be, help me

 

To access all 31 days of “The Christmas Carols” Devotional, click here.

To access playlists for all 31 songs, visit:

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December 10

Strange Way to Save the World

For good reason, Mary (the mother of Jesus) gets a lot of attention in the Christmas story.  After all, the Gospel of Luke gives us a number of details (throughout Luke 1-2) about Mary’s experiences while Jesus was in the womb and at His birth.  Further, it seems as though Joseph died by the time Jesus’ public ministry took off, while Mary lived on.  Therefore, there are more biblical records of Mary’s experience than Joseph’s.

All that said, it is important for us to think through Joseph’s experience in the story of Jesus’ birth – as it is a remarkable story of faith and faithfulness.

Matthew 1:18-25 tells the story of Joseph’s experience during the time Jesus was inside Mary’s womb.  Joseph and Mary were betrothed, but not yet married.  This meant that they had made the commitment to spend the rest of their lives together, but they had not yet begun to live together and sleep together.  Two days ago, we looked at Mary’s experience from Luke 1 as God announced (through an Angel) that Mary would be pregnant (even though she was a virgin) and have a Son who would be the Messiah.  This was HUGE news, and certainly would have been hard to believe for anyone who was not talking to Angels!  And at first, Joseph was NOT talking to Angels.  God first brought the news to Mary before He brought the news to Joseph.  So, with Mary pregnant, and Joseph looking only to natural explanations for this situation, Joseph decides to divorce Mary quietly – probably so that she could then marry whoever was the father of the child.

But it was not God’s will that Joseph would leave Mary.  So, an Angel intervened and visited Joseph to tell him that Mary’s child was indeed supernatural, and that Mary was telling the truth that the Baby was the Messiah. 

In today’s song, “Strange Way to Save the World,” we get to be a fly on the wall of Joseph’s room as he prays out loud, processing the news of Mary’s pregnancy and the Angel’s visit.  This fictional conversation is probably not far off from what Joseph must have been thinking that night after the Angel came. 

As you listen to this song today, may you also ponder the things about God that don’t make sense to you.  Things you might wish to “dismiss quietly” instead of receiving them as true.  Let this song remind you that though God’s ways are sometime “strange” to us, there is salvation and blessing in God’s plans in this world.

Strange Way to Save the World

I’m sure he must have been surprised

At where this road had taken him

Cause never in a million lives

Would he have dreamed of Bethlehem

And standing at the manger

He saw with his own eyes

The message from the angel come to life

And Joseph said Why me, I’m just a simple man of trade

Why Him with all the rulers in the world

Why here inside this stable filled with hay

Why her, she’s just an ordinary girl

Now I’m not one to second guess what angels have to say

But this is such a strange way to save the World

To think of how it could have been

If Jesus had come as He deserved

There would have been no Bethlehem

No lowly shepherds at His birth

But Joseph knew the reason love had to reach so far

And as he held the Savior in his arms

He must have thought why me, I’m just a simple man of trade

Why Him with all the rulers in the world

Why here inside this stable filled with hay

Why her, she’s just an ordinary girl

Now I’m not one to second guess what angels have to say

But this is such a strange way to save the world

Now, I’m not one to second guess what angels have to say

But this is such a strange way to save the world

Such a strange way to save the world

 

To access all 31 days of “The Christmas Carols” Devotional, click here.

 

To access playlists for all 31 songs, visit:

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December 9

O Come All Ye Faithful

Every year on my son’s birthday, we find special ways to celebrate his life.  One of the common things we will do is have a birthday party.  When we have a party, one of the critical questions to answer is “who will we invite to the party?”  Some years, the guest list has consisted of only family.  Other years, we have invited only a couple of friends.  Still other years, we invited all the boys on a team or in his class.

Whatever the determined guest list, the next step is to invite those guests to attend – so an email, phone call, or post card heads in the direction of friends and family.  Those who receive the invite then have a choice, will they attend?  Are they able?

I was thinking about this dynamic as I look over the lyrics of one of my most beloved Christmas Carols, “O Come All Ye Faithful.”  This song recounts the birth day of Jesus Christ.  At His birth, a “party” broke out near the manger.  Of course Mary and Joseph were there, but soon others began to make their way to the gathering.  God the Father went out of His way to invite two very different (and unlikely) groups to attend the party – shepherds and Magi (see Luke 2:8-20, and Matthew 2:1-12).  The shepherds represented common Jewish people – a class of citizens that would normally NEVER have been invited to a religious ceremony or royal birth.  The Magi were Gentiles from a faraway land who would have had no expectation of inclusion in the plans of the God of Israel.  Yet, at Jesus’ birth day party, God sends an angelic invite to the shepherds and a starry message to the Magi inviting them to come.

When these invites come, the shepherds and Magi have a choice.  Will they attend?  Are they able?  Both groups move toward the manger.  Both groups decide that they cannot miss the opportunity to be included in this special moment.  As a result, both are incredibly blessed.  They were not able on their own, but by God’s grace, they find their stories find meaning in Christ.

Now, I want you to think about your own life for a moment.  By virtue of you reading this devotional, knowing these songs, reading the Christmas story, you have received an invitation from your Heavenly Father.  An invite to come to Jesus and find your hope in Him. 

This invitation from God is not based on our performance but on His grace.  It is sinful people like you and me, like the shepherds and wise men, who get the invite to come to Jesus and find our hope and forgiveness and life in Him.  God desires that we open this invitation by faith and trust in Jesus as the Son of God who takes away the penalty of our sins through His death on the cross.  Have you placed your faith in Jesus?  If not, hear the words of today’s song as an invite from God to come and adore Him and place your faith in Jesus.

O Come All Ye Faithful

O come, all ye faithful

Joyful and triumphant

O come ye, oh come ye to Bethlehem

Come and behold Him

Born the king of angels

 

Oh come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him

 

Christ the Lord

Sing, Choirs of angels

Sing in exultation

Sing all ye citizens of heaven above!

Glory to God

Glory in the highest

 

Oh come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him

Christ the Lord

 

Yea, Lord we greet thee

Born this happy morning

Jesus to Thee be all glory given

Word of the Father

Now in flesh appearing

 

Oh come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him

Oh come let us adore Him

Christ the Lord

 

To access all 31 days of “The Christmas Carols” Devotional, click here.

 

To access playlists for all 31 songs, visit:

• Apple Music
• Spotify

December 8

Mary Did You Know?

In 1991 Buddy Greene and Mark Lowry wrote a modern Christmas song that has become a contemporary “classic.”  In its short history, this song has been recorded by many contemporary artists, and sung in many church services. 

The song asks a simple rhetorical question:  Mary, did you know who your Son was?  The question is expanded throughout the song citing both the salvation Jesus would bring and the miracles He would work.  Did Mary know while holding Him in Bethlehem’s barn who Jesus really was?

This song is musically beautiful, but it also shines a spotlight on the paradox of the Sovereign God becoming a dependent baby.  But for all of its beauty, is it accurate?  Did Mary know?  If so, what did Mary know?

From the very beginning, Mary certainly knew that Jesus was not a normal baby.  Take a moment and read Luke 1:26-38.  In these verses, Mary finds out she is pregnant through a conversation with the angel Gabriel.  In this conversation she would come to know:

• She had found favor with God (1:28-30)
• She was pregnant with a Son, even though she was a virgin (1:31)
• Her Son would be the Son of God (1:32a, 35)
• Her Son would be the promised Messiah (1:32b)
• Her Son’s Kingdom would know no end (1:33)

For nine months Mary carried Jesus with the words of the Angel (no doubt) reverberating in her ears and echoing through her heart.  Then, when Jesus was born, angels and shepherds, and Magi show up and remind her of the supernatural nature of her Son.  As He grows up, she continued to know that Jesus was unique.  She even had an expectation that He could do miracles (like turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana – John 2). 

So, based on these verses, did Mary know?  Yes.  I think she knew.

However, let’s not make Mary into more than she was.  She was certainly favored by God, but she was still human.  At one point, she (and Jesus’ half brothers) openly questioned His methods (Matthew 12:46-50).  After Jesus’ crucifixion, Mary was not sitting outside the tomb on the morning fo the third day expecting to see the stone rolled away.  She (like the other disciples) thought the Dream died on the cross. 

So, in one sense Mary knew, but in another sense she didn’t.

So, the question asked in this song reminds us that at times we can KNOW a truth about God, but still have questions about how it looks in our lives.  Can you relate?  Allow this tension to encourage you today in the areas of your life where you know, but in another sense don’t know. 

Mary Did You Know?

Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?

Mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?

This child that you’ve delivered, will soon deliver you

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?

Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?

Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?

When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God

Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Mary did you know?

Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Mary did you know?

The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again

The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?

Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?

Did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect lamb?

That sleeping child you’re holding is the great I am

Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Mary did you know?

Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Mary did you know? Oh

Mary did you know?

 

To access all 31 days of “The Christmas Carols” Devotional, click here.

 

To access playlists for all 31 songs, visit:

• Apple Music
• Spotify

December 7

Manger Throne

I love how our house looks at Christmas time.  Lots of meaningful decorations fill each room.  In our house, we have the great blessing of three nativity scenes.  These nativity scenes are all different, yet the same.  Each set has different characteristics.

One set is a “Willow Tree” nativity.  The characters have no faces, but their long carved bodies evoke emotion like an impressionist painting.  I love the simplicity of this set.

A second set is a “Precious Moments” nativity.  This set was a gift to my wife from her parents as she was growing up  . . . a different piece every year.  Because of that history, this set is a yearly reminder of the “good deposit” Kimberly’s family gave her by telling her the truth about Jesus.

The third set is a “Little People” nativity set that we acquired when our son was only a couple of years old.  It allowed our two year old to play with the pieces in an interactive way, and learn the Christmas story (or at least his version of the Christmas story).  A short time after he got this nativity set, he started to tell me the Christmas story using the angel and Mary.  The angel came to Mary’s house and told her (in his words), “Good news about Jesus.  He came to take away our badness.”  I was so proud.  Then the angel tackled Mary.  We asked him what Mary said to the angel, and he said, “Thank you for coming to my house and tackling me.”  I think that last twist must have come from a Dan Brown novel.

For all the differences between these three nativities, there is one striking similarity.  They all have Jesus as a baby, asleep in a horse trough full of hay.  As I look at that each year, I am awestruck again by the fact that the God of the universe would humble Himself to THAT point.  The independent God coming as a dependent baby.  The One who sits at the right hand of the Father, lying in a cow’s cafeteria.  This just seems so drastic . . . and so odd.  However, there is a plan in it all.  Jesus comes as a baby to fully identify with our experience (Hebrews 4:15).  Jesus came in a mortal Body so that He might be able to die to bring immortality to His people (Romans 5:8).  The baby in the manger looks out of place until we place it in context.

In the Old Testament, the presence of God hovered over the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies.  First this was in the Tabernacle, then it was in the Temple.  The Holy of Holies was a place of great grandeur and formality.  Because of this, it is surprising to find the Savior in the manger in the Christmas story.  I think it is possible that Jesus was born in the stall to announce to the world in a very definitive way that the presence of God would not reside behind a curtain any longer.  The Spirit of God was moving away from a super-protected room inside the Temple that only a few people would ever see, to a public location where lowly Shepherds and foreigners could visit.  This move of the presence of God from private to the public, helps set the stage for the Spirit of God taking up residence in the hearts and lives of those who believe in Jesus Christ today.  The same God who lay in the manger, now resides within us!

This awesome truth is spoken of in today’s song for reflection, Julie Miller’s “Manger Throne” (recorded by Third Day with Derri Daughtery and Julie Miller).  May you be reminded of God’s residence in your life each time you see the baby in the manger in a nativity scene this Christmas.  ”Our heart is a home for God’s Own Son!”

Manger Throne

What kind of King would leave His throne

In Heaven to make this earth His home?

While men seek fame and great renown

In loneliness our King comes down

Jesus, Jesus, precious One

How we thank You that You’ve come

Jesus, Jesus, precious One

A manger throne for God’s own Son

You left the sound of angels’ praise

To come for men with unkind ways

And by this Baby’s helplessness

The power of nations is laid to rest

What kind of King would come so small

From glory to a humble stall?

That dirty manger is my heart, too

I’ll make it a royal throne for You

My heart is a throne

My heart is a throne for God’s own Son

 

To access all 31 days of “The Christmas Carols” Devotional, click here.

 

To access playlists for all 31 songs, visit:

• Apple Music
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December 6

Anthem for Christmas

Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem marked the beginning of many things, most notably the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life.  However, Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem was not the beginning of Jesus’ existence.  His “beginning” goes way before that first Christmas.  John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  This verse is absolutely full of meaning:

“In the beginning was the Word.”  In other words, in the time that we know of as the beginning (referring of course to the events of Genesis chapter 1, and the creation of the world), the Word ALREADY “WAS!”  The One known as “the Word” was already in existence when everything was created.

“The Word.”  John 1 lets us know that the “Word” is Jesus.  Words express things.  Jesus as the “Word” expresses to us who God really is.

“The Word was God.”  This verse also lets us know that Jesus is God.  What that means is that Jesus not only did not have His “beginning” in Bethlehem, He has no “beginning” at all!  God exists eternally.  He was not created, has always been, and always will be.

This verse places Jesus in an appropriately eternal context.  At Christmas we celebrate the Eternal God humbling Himself in a human birth . . . God became man so that man can be with God.  Michael W. Smith’s song “The Anthem of Christmas” tells this cosmic story – from creation to the cradle and beyond.  In this song may we all find the words to proclaim His love this Christmas.

Anthem for Christmas

In the space of the beginning

Was the living Word of Light

When this Word was clearly spoken

All that came to be was right

All creation had a language

Words to say what must be said

All day long the heavens whispered

Signing words in scarlet red

Some failed to understand it

So God spoke His final Word

On a silent night in Judah’s

Hills a baby’s cry was heard

“Glory!” sang the angel chorus

“Glory!” echoed back the night

Love has come to walk among us

Christ the Lord is born this night

All creation sing His praises

Earth and heaven praise His name

All who live come join the chorus

Find the words His love proclaim

Find the words His love proclaim

 

To access all 31 days of “The Christmas Carols” Devotional, click here.

 

To access playlists for all 31 songs, visit:

• Apple Music
• Spotify

December 5

All Praise to Thee Eternal Lord

By the beginning of the 16th century, the Church was in desperate need of reform.  The Scriptures, songs, and liturgies that filled the worship services were in languages foreign to most people.  In the “high church,” God was kept distant from the people who were “lowly” and less educated. 

Though this was the pattern of the church in the middle ages, it was not the plan of God.  God does not require that we speak Latin to know Him or read His Word, and Martin Luther knew it.  Luther set out on a mission to strip away the mystery of the church regalia to return the beauty of the Gospel to the people.  Luther translated the liturgy, the Scripture, and the songs of the church from Latin into German — the language of his fellow countrymen.

One song that Luther translated was “All Praise to Thee Eternal Lord” a Christmas song written by Gregory the Great in the sixth century.  One of the lines of this song states, “A little Child, Thou art our guest, That weary ones in Thee may rest; Forlorn and lowly is Thy birth, That we may rise to heaven from earth.”

This line reminds us that God has not stayed distant, speaking foreign languages.  He came us in the lowest common denominator – a human baby – so that ALL of us may know who He was and so that all of us would have a chance to find rest and rise to heaven one day.  As John 1:14-18 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. . .  For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. . .   No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He (Jesus) has made Him known.”

Luther translated “All Praise to Thee Eternal Lord” into German – what a gift!  Jesus “translated” an understanding of who God is to the world – what an unbelievable gift!  Today, sing a really, really old song and be thankful for the translation of God’s glory that Jesus has done for us:  because He came, we can know God.

All Praise to Thee Eternal Lord

All praise to Thee, eternal Lord,

Clothed in a garb of flesh and blood;

Choosing a manger for Thy throne,

While worlds on worlds are Thine alone.

Once did the skies before Thee bow;

A virgin’s arms contain Thee now,

While angels, who in Thee rejoice,

Now listen for Thine infant voice.

A little child, Thou art our guest,

That weary ones in Thee may rest;

Forlorn and lowly is Thy birth;

That we may rise to Heaven from earth.

Thou comest in the darksome night

To make us children of the light;

To make us, in the realms divine,

Like Thine own angels round Thee shine.

All this for us Thy love hath done;

By this to Thee our love is won;

For this we tune our cheerful lays,

And sing our thanks in ceaseless praise

To access all 31 days of “The Christmas Carols” Devotional, click here.

To access playlists for all 31 songs, visit:

• Apple Music
• Spotify