“And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them” (Luke 2:20).

 There was only one explanation for the lives of the shepherds: God! There should be only one explanation for our lives: God!

 The Shepherds believed God. The Angels appeared to them and told them there was a Savior, Lord, the Messiah born and given unto them and for the whole world. They left the scene and searched for the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths.

These Shepherds were men who were not counted worthy of anything appearing to them from heaven, yet God thought so. They felt unworthy by their peers and yet God said that they were of value. The religious crowd considered them unclean, unintellectual, and unattached, but God appeared unto them and touched them by angels.

Afterwards the men left in search for the Lord Jesus, found Him lying in the manger and told everyone of what and who they had seen. They went on with God and didn’t stop telling the good news. The appearance of the Living Word changed their lives.

After we meet the Lord Jesus we want to be like Him. We have a sincere desire for the Word. A man without an appetite for God’s Word causes us to wonder if he is saved. We will desire as the shepherds did to be like Jesus.

There should be only one explanation for our lives. “God” is the only explanation for what we are and what we are doing. If we can explain it on any other level, we are a failure. Most Christians’ lives can be explained on a basis other than the work of God. The shepherds represent what happens when we see the face of God.

“And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about tomorrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and show it to thee” (I Samuel 20:12).

The son of King Saul, Jonathan, spoke to David in the presence of God’s hearing and seeing, and brought out to David that he would speak to his father about David and get his father’s true opinion of what he thought of David. He promised David to find out once and for all.

The rest of the story is known to all Bible students. King Saul wanted David dead. He chased David all over the countryside trying to murder him and get him out of his life and kingdom. The result was disastrous for King Saul and Jonathan.

Today many reflect the way they think of King Jesus by their action. There are no gray areas when it comes to Christ. Either we are for Him or against Him, wanting Him or driving Him away, crowning Him or crucifying Him. The Lord did not send peace upon earth but a sword to divide and to cut through.  

The heart truly reveals what we think of David’s greater Son. Our motives, methods, and hidden thoughts will reveal what we imagine of God’s only begotten Son. The Word of God tells us, “To kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they who put their trust in him” (Psalm 2:12).

God runs this universe by decree, not by democracy. God’s decrees will succeed. Puny, foolish men with their godless living will not eradicate or hinder His work. God’s scepter of righteousness will sound forth and what we think of Him really does matter.  We will either cry out in repentance or cower in rebellion. Listen and be wise to the Spirit of God for He is sounding out what we think of God’s Son.

“To him whom my soul loveth, who wakens me morning by morning and helps me rise with “wings as an eagle.”

It takes prayer and it takes work to meet with God.  Prayer and Work seem to be an oxymoron.  What are they doing in the same sentence?  The two words together seem so contradictory, like jumbo shrimp, civil war — or child safe!  Prayer and Work seem to be opposite concepts.  Yet we have discovered that prayer that doesn’t work, doesn’t work!

Think about it:  it takes work to step out of time to enter into eternity.  It takes work to learn the art of leaving things undone so that the greater thing can be done.  It takes work to miss a meal to take special time to pray.  One might even lose some sleep to learn that prayer is work.  Prayer that works is work, and those who work at prayer realize that prayer works.  That’s not just a play on words, it is the concept of what it means to pray.

Prayer itself is a gracious gift of God.  He made it possible for us to walk right into his presence and talk to him as our Father.  Every child of God has the right and the privilege to come into His presence.  God is available and ready to meet with us at the drop of a hat.  But Satan has a way, for he desires to get into your devotional life, for he wants you to let go of your devoted life to God.  As the little couplet says, “The devil trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.”

He will do anything to keep you from loving your Savior.  He wants you to stay in bed until the last moment and he wants you to rise not with the “wings of eagles” but with the “forlorn look of a tired soul.”  Find in Jesus your all in all.  Develop your fellowship with Him through your prayer conversation with your God and your Father.

“Righteous art thou, O LORD…Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit; thou art near in their mouth, and far from their heart” (Jeremiah 12:1a,2).

We are living in a day of cardboard Christians, pseudo saints, and plastic preachers. Far from being true in the innermost being to God there is falsehood and deceitfulness. Any nation that finds itself in this position is a nation in great decay and headed for destruction.

Words will never move the hand of God to bless unless they are words backed from a righteous life found only in God. God desires truth, humility, honesty, and that is found only in Yawheh, the Covenant Making God.

The prophet Jeremiah was planted in God and true to the core of his being. He was wheat among the poisonous tares of his day. He saw planted around and next to him those who had taken root in the land and who had filled the air with their words that were religious but unrighteous, in other words people far from God.

Friend we are in conflict with the world. It will only get worse and the affliction is real. As long as the world becomes more religious and God’s people become compromised then we can be assured it is all shaping up for judgment. Yet you and I do not have to fall into despair. Jeremiah said, “But thou, O LORD, knowest me; thou hast seen me, and tested mine heart toward thee” (Jeremiah 12:3). God tests us that we may be proven. Character develops in Christ as we understand the times and we are aware of the devil’s tactics. We are on the winning side!