The LORD God is the Creator of the ends of the earth. He has established laws in nature which govern all the processes of life–planting, growth, cultivation and harvest. These principles give us insight on how to conduct our lives, families, churches, and societies (to continue reading this essay, click on image above).
Dwelling in the Father’s House, Luke 2.41-52
When Jesus was twelve, his parents found him missing during their return journey from Jerusalem’s Passover festival. After three anxious days, they discovered the young boy in the Temple, engaging in dialogue with its elders and religious teachers—listening and asking profound questions. When his parents expressed their distress at his lostness, Jesus responded by emphasizing his primary and controlling devotion to attend to his Father’s business. Still, the young Messiah did return home, remained obedient to his parents, and grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and people. Jesus demonstrated from the beginning a zeal for his Father’s glory and his house, Luke 2.41-52.
Our Focus Today
Like our Lord Jesus, even our closest earthly family may find it hard to understand the full scope and implications of God’s call on our lives, Luke 2.50.
Invocation
Gracious Father, as we approach your Word, we acknowledge that your ways are higher than our ways and your thoughts than our thoughts. Grant us humility to accept what we cannot fully understand and wisdom to trust your purposes even in moments of confusion. Open our hearts to receive what you would teach us through our limitations. May your Spirit guide us into deeper truth, even as we acknowledge our partial understanding. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.
Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father,
And to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
Is now, and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen, amen.
Chronological Scripture Readings for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the entire Bible in one year in chronological order.
Thursday: Exodus 5-7
Psalms and Proverb for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the Psalms and Proverbs each month.
Thursday: Psalm 2, 32, 62, 92, 122 and Proverbs 2
Like our Lord Jesus, even our closest earthly family may find it hard to understand the full scope and implications of God’s call on our lives, Luke 2.50.
Reflection
Despite their unique role in God’s plan and their previous encounters with divine revelations about Jesus, Mary and Joseph still did not fully understand their son’s words about his relationship with the Father and his divine mission. Their inability to grasp the full meaning of Jesus’ kingdom work highlights the profound mystery of who Jesus was and why he had come to this world. Their experience reveals profoundly that even those closest to us and God’s work may struggle to comprehend the full meaning of our calling by God.
Engaging God’s Word Today
When have those close to you seem confused or uncertain about how you understood God’s working in your life, and how might you reframe these moments as opportunities for growth rather than failures of faith?
Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, The Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son of God,
Begotten of the Father before all ages,
God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God,
Begotten not created, of the same essence as the Father,
through Whom all things were made.
Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became human.
Who for us too, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried.
The third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and His kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and life-giver,
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Who together with the Father and Son is worshiped and glorified.
Who spoke by the prophets.
We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sin,
and we look for the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the age to come. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen.
Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Benediction
May the Lord grant us peace in the midst of mystery and courage in the face of uncertainty. May he give you patience when those closest to you either misread or fail to comprehend what the Lord may be asking you to become or to do, and may we learn more and more to trust his purposes even when they exceed our understanding or that of our families. Amen.
Scripture Memory for this season
Isaiah 55.10-11 (ESV):
12 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
Scripture Engagement
As disciples of Jesus, the Churches of Christ the King strongly seek to engage the Scriptures to discover the centrality of Christ and his Kingdom in the prophetic and apostolic writings. You will find a rich treasure of resources on engaging Scripture at the Center for Scripture Engagement of Taylor University.
Book Reading and Reflection
THE body is the servant of the mind. It obeys the operations of the mind, whether they be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed. At the bidding of unlawful thoughts the body sinks rapidly into disease and decay; at the command of glad and beautiful thoughts it becomes clothed with youthfulness and beauty.
Disease and health, like circumstances, are rooted in thought. Sickly thoughts will express themselves through a sickly body. Thoughts of fear have been known to kill a man as speedily as a bullet, and they are continually killing thousands of people just as surely though less rapidly. The people who live in fear of disease are the people who get it. Anxiety quickly demoralizes the whole body, and lays it open to the entrance of disease; while impure thoughts, even if not physically indulged, will soon shatter the nervous system.
Strong, pure, and happy thoughts build up the body in vigour and grace. The body is a delicate and plastic instrument, which responds readily to the thoughts by which it is impressed, and habits of thought will produce their own effects, good or bad, upon it.
Men will continue to have impure and poisoned blood, so long as they propagate unclean thoughts. Out of a clean heart comes a clean life and a clean body. Out of a defiled mind proceeds a defiled life and a corrupt body. Thought is the fount of action, life, and manifestation; make the fountain pure, and all will be pure.
Change of diet will not help a man who will not change his thoughts. When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer desires impure food. Clean thoughts make clean habits. The so-called saint who does not wash his body is not a saint. He who has strengthened and purified his thoughts does not need to consider the malevolent microbe.”
~ Allen, James, As A Man Thinketh. The Original 1902 Edition. Amazon Electronic Edition, 2020, Location 211.
Seedling Focus for the Season: God’s Word Like Rain, Isaiah 55.10-11
Description: Just as seedlings require water to grow, our spiritual lives require the continual nourishment of God’s Word, Isaiah 55.10-11.
On Eagles Wings Prayer Focus: A Long Time Comin‘
Nativity of the Lord, The Word Was Made Flesh, John 1.1-14
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