King
James Bible Daily Devotion – Learning
Scripture One Day At A Time
Date: Wednesday,
October 21, 2015
Chapters: Luke 1
https://imfollowingjesus.com/Bible-Reading-294.html
Message
Title: Friend
Of God

Hello My Friend,

The Gospel of
Luke is the forty-second book of the Bible, the third book of the New
Testament, the third book of the Gospels of Christ, and contains
twenty-four chapters. The author of this Gospel is Luke and it was
first aimed at reaching the Greeks, whom Jesus is presented as the
perfect man. The timeline for these events took place approximately
between 4BC and 33 AD. The purpose of this Gospel was to give an
orderly account of Jesus from birth to show that He is the promised
Messiah, and give an account to the Scriptures regarding John the
Baptist. What we are to learn from the book is that our mission is to
reach the lost with the good news of the Gospel and to realize that
nothing is impossible for God. “For with God
nothing shall be impossible.” - Luke 1:37.

Luke
is called by Paul, the beloved physician, he often traveled with Paul
throughout his ministry, he treasured the
words that Jesus spoke, as well as everything else that concerned the Saviour's life.
Luke begins his rendition of the Gospel with a declaration.
“Forasmuch as many have taken in hand
to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most
surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which
from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It
seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all
things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most
excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those
things, wherein thou hast been instructed.”
- Luke 1:1-4

“To
write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus” Theophilus, friend of God. This Gospel is
not addressed a specific person, but a
group of people, those who are friends of God. These are those who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and have accepted
Him as their Saviour by faith in believing
the Scriptures. We
need to get a little idea of what is taking place here, this is a
time when there were no prophets so, anyone who believed in and
followed God did so like we do today, they read the Scriptures, and
walked by them. We learn of man named
Zacharias and his wife, Elisabeth.

“There
was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named
Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all
the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had
no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And
there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right
side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him,
Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth
shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.”
- Luke 1:5-7,11-13.

“Fear
not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard” We may not see God in the flesh and it may
even appear that He does not hear our pleas and cries to Him, but He
listens to every single word we have to say to Him. When we are
faithful to Him, even when we see no sign of Him that is when He will
not only bless us, but use us for great things. “Cast
not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of
reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the
will of God, ye might receive the promise.”
- Hebrews 10:35,36.

Well, Zacharias had a hard time
believing and because of his unbelief he was cursed to be a mute
until the baby was born. “And, behold,
thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these
things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which
shall be fulfilled in their season. And it came to pass, that, as
soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed
to his own house. And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived,
and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with me
in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among
men.” - Luke 1:20-25.

“And,
behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak”
How often do we face affliction for our unbelief, even the strongest,
most faithful friends of God have some unbelief sometimes. Miracles,
we do not think much about them because they do not seem to happen
very much anymore. Miracles still happen, every day, but quite often
we overlook them because of the circumstances we are facing. In order
to see a miracle, we must first have faith in God, any kind of
unbelief, and we can face some affliction just for not believing. And
second, stop moping and start doing something for God, faith
increases as we serve God. “But without faith
it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him.” - Hebrews 11:6.

The angel Gabriel not
only visited Zacharias, he also visited a young woman name Mary, she
is going to get the strangest news ever, she was going to have a
baby. While she believed that God could do anything, she did wonder
how it could be since she never been with any man. “And
the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour
with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring
forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. Then said Mary unto the
angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel
answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and
the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that
holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son
in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called
barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said,
Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.
And the angel departed from her.” - Luke
1:30,31,34-38.

“For
thou hast found favour with God.”
Many are led to believe that Mary was sinless, this is incorrect, she
was not sinless she had
God's favor. The word favor means any act
of grace or good will, favor is something that God has given
to us as an evidence His good
will toward our believing in Him. Mary
found favor with God because she believed that Jesus would come to
save her. Do you think God would allow a woman that did not believe
in the long awaited Messiah to carry His only begotten Son? In order
to see a miracle,
you must believe in Him. “And
all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall
receive.” - Matthew
21:22.

Elisabeth's miracle was about to be born, and the
curse upon Zacharias would be removed. “Now
Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she
brought forth a son. And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the
Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And
it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the
child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called
John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is
called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would
have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying,
His name is John. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened
immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.”
- Luke 1:57-64.

“His
tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God.”
The first thing Zacharias did when he could speak was praise God, and
not only that he spoke God's Word to the people. “And
his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied,
saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and
redeemed his people, That we should be saved from our enemies, and
from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to
our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he
sware to our father Abraham, To give knowledge of salvation unto his
people by the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of
our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, To give
light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the way of peace.” - Luke
1:67,68,71-73,77-79.

“To give
light to them that sit in darkness” Jesus truly is the light
in the dark. I tell you, sometimes it can be hard to see anything let
alone a miracle we get darkened by our circumstances, they literally
block any kind of hope that we have. There are times when all we see
is darkness, but did you ever just sit in the dark, eventually a
glimpse of light will show up, that is Jesus. He is our guide, our
hope, and even when we don't understand, the tender mercies of God
will light our paths and give us peace. “For
we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a
man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered.” - Romans
8:24-26.

Today's Prayer:
God, I know that You are still in the miracle making business, I know
this because You have made a miracle in me. I know that You are not
done with me yet, and that You still want to show me some miracles,
but my unbelief keeps me from seeing them. Lord, help my unbelief,
fill me with Your power, remove the fears and doubts in my head, and
replace them with confidence, and hope that You will continue Your
work in me. Use me as You will, and guide me in the direction that
You want me to be in, let me be a miracle for someone. In Jesus'
name, Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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