05 Dec 2024
When victory or breakthrough comes, it will be evident. It may not happen as we expect it, but it will be undeniable. Luke 5:17-26.
Daily Prayer for December 5
Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him. Daniel 7:27, NIV Lord our God, dear Father, you have made yourself known on earth so that we may love you and be loved by you. Give us your Spirit, we pray. Give us your Spirit to strengthen us in the life and work you offer us. Watch over us on all our ways. Wherever your children are sighing and calling for you, protect and guide them with your mighty hand. Let your kingdom spread over the whole world, over all people, over all races and nations, that we may become united as servants of Jesus Christ to your honor. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Why I Became a Firefighter Brit Frazier A priest joins her local volunteer fire department. Read now Why We’re Failing to Pass on Christianity Benjamin Crosby How do you teach Christian basics to those who think they know all about it? Read now Schools for Philosopher-Carpenters Alex Sosler A new crop of innovative schools encourages all students to use their minds and their hands. Read now Educating for Freedom Peter Mommsen Has our society lost sight of how to raise young humans? Read now Divine Light in the O Antiphons Joel Clarkson Resplendent Advent music that casts away the gathered dark. Read now
Today’s Verse – Romans 12:4-5
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. —Romans 12:4-5 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… An arm detached from a living body is just a dead and useless body part. Fingers detached from the hand can’t write, grasp, work, or paint. A foot detached from a living body can’t walk. We belong to each other because we need each other. We belong to each other because we belong to Christ, who holds his Body together and fills it with life because of his leadership and grace. We find our freedom to be what God has made us to be when we walk in harmony with each other and follow the lead of Christ, who is our Head! The Body of Christ finds its purpose and usefulness as each part offers itself to the Body for the good of the Body. We as disciples discover our usefulness when we offer ourselves to the rest of the Body and the work of the LORD. My Prayer… Dear Father, thank you for making me a part of something that is living, dynamic, powerful, and eternal. Thank you for giving me special abilities and gifts to use for the Body of Christ. Please help me find and use my gifts and abilities for the good of your people and to glorify Jesus, my Lord, in whose name I pray. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Setting the Right Time… for You!
Note from Jesus Dear Child of God, The right time came for My birth into the world — God in human flesh entering the world to be raised as a child of human parents. Far from her home, My mother went into labor in the town of Bethlehem, the ancestral home of King David. This birthplace was a reminder that I descended from royalty in both My human heritage and My heavenly identity. I AM Son of David and Son of God. In a similar way, My birth’s timing was a coming together of the Father’s work in history on three levels. On a human level, My mother went into labor like all birthing mother’s do. Think of it: the Son of God coming into the world through the birth pains of a human mother. I was born a vulnerable little baby to share your humanity. On a world history level, the Father had been tuning history to prepare for My arrival. For centuries through the Jewish prophets, God had announced I would come. God had preserved Israel through all sorts of political and military intrigues. So when the Father had tuned time to be right in the world — the great Roman Peace, called Pax Romana, with all of its political stability, common language of trade (Greek), and the ability to travel throughout the world — the time was right for My birth, the birth of the Son of God Who is also the Son of Man. There was still a third level on which My birth happened at just the right time: your time! You see, all of these events were chosen to be perfectly tuned not just for the world, in general, but also for you. The Father did all this to adopt you into Our family — He wanted you to be one of His children. God — Father, Son, and Spirit — determined the time for My coming as Son of God and Son of Man, fully human and fully divine, so that all people could have the right to be born not just in the way all humans are born, but also born of God (John 1:10-13) and adopted into Our family! My birth is the guarantee that you can be born again and adopted into Our family! Verses to Live As you read the following verses, notice the underlining. In the first two cases, the underlining emphasizes two different aspects of the “right time” for Me to be born. The other underlining emphasizes your relationship to the Father. I came to earth at just the right time as the Son of God so that you could become God’s child, too! Notice the human reality of the timing of My birth: And while they [Mary and Joseph] were there [in Bethlehem], the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them. (Luke 2:6-7 NLT) Notice it was the right time in human history for My birth: When the right time arrived, God sent His Son into this world (born of a woman, subject to the law) to free those who, just like Him, were subject to the law. Ultimately He wanted us all to be adopted as sons and daughters. (Galatians 4:4-5) From heaven’s perspective, the time was made right so you could be adopted into God’s forever family: Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One, Who grants us every spiritual blessing in these heavenly realms where we live in the Anointed — not because of anything we have done, but because of what He has done for us. God chose us to be in a relationship with Him even before He laid out plans for this world; He wanted us to live holy lives characterized by love, free from sin, and blameless before Him. He destined us to be adopted as His children through the covenant Jesus the Anointed inaugurated in His sacrificial life. This was His pleasure and His will for us. (Ephesians 1:3-5) Response in Prayer Abba Father, God Almighty, thank You for making the time right to send Jesus to our world. Thank You for making a plan to bring all of Your lost children back home to You by giving us new birth and adopting us into Your family. I am humbled and amazed that You would love us, and love me, so much. I praise You for Your grace and thank You for Your plan, in the name of Jesus! Amen. ‘A Year with Jesus’ is written by Phil Ware. © 1998-2024, Heartlight, Inc. ‘A Year with Jesus‘ is part of the Heartlight Network.All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Voice™. © 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
04 Dec 2024
Walking in faith is important because sometimes what we see may not be perceived as victory. May the Lord give us discernment so that we see and understand what He is doing. 1 Kings 22:13-40.
Today’s Verse – 1 Corinthians 12:3
Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. —1 Corinthians 12:3 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Say it today as often as possible: “Jesus is LORD.” But more than just saying it, mean it from your heart. Look up the word “LORD” in a Bible concordance, then read all the references to it in the New Testament. Open your heart, ask Jesus to be LORD of your life in every way, and live with that commitment like the earliest disciples. Jesus is LORD! As you cry out, “Jesus is LORD!” you can know the Holy Spirit is filling you and empowering you to say and live it in your life. Jesus is LORD whether you or I recognize it or not. However, one day, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is LORD to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11) Let’s get on board while it matters most to us and to those we love! Jesus is LORD! My Prayer… Father, you are God Almighty. Thank you for raising Jesus from death, seating him at your right hand in power, and making him both LORD and Christ. I want your Son, Jesus, to be my LORD today and reign in my heart every day until he comes to take me home. Jesus, as Thomas confessed, is “My Lord and my God!” I make this confession by the power of the Holy Spirit and to honor the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior, and my LORD. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
The Father’s Time, Human Time, and My Time
Note from Jesus Dear Disciple, Please know that I treasure everyone who follows Me. I know that many in your world do not believe in Me and that many who claim they believe in Me really don’t know what it means to follow me — to love Me, to follow My teachings and My example, and to depend upon God’s grace through Me. Thank you for taking this year to walk with Me through the New Testament. My birth into your world came at just the right time! You will notice that the Scriptures talk about My coming, My advent, as an intersection of the Father’s time, human time, and My time. There are at least two ways to look at time. One way you understand easily in your world view: using the Greek word chronos, time is linear sequential time that passes from second, to minute, to hour, to day, to year… That’s why a technical name for your watch is a chronometer. However, there is also another view of time: kairos time, again using the Greek word. There are special, God-tuned moments in time where more is going on than just the passage of time. In kairos time, God’s timing and human timing intersect. Miracles can happen. World-shaping events can occur. Most of all, the Father is at work to bring heaven’s salvation to earth through events shaped by heaven’s grace. When I was born Jesus of Nazareth — fully God and fully human, conceived by the Holy Spirit in My mother’s womb — the world was in kairos time! Prophecy was being fulfilled. God had conditioned the world to be in the right time for My message to spread like wildfire. The Jewish people were hungry for an authentic messenger from God, so John the Baptizer was born miraculously in his mother’s old age (Luke 1:5-25) to precede Me and to prepare the Lord‘s people for My coming. This was such a special time; prophets and even heaven’s angels were standing on tiptoe for ages trying to figure out when it would occur! Verses to Live Yes, prophets and angels figuratively stood on tiptoe trying to figure out when I would come! The apostle Peter describes this beautifully: Although you haven’t seen Jesus, you still love Him. Although you don’t yet see Him, you do believe in Him and celebrate with a joy that is glorious and beyond words. You are receiving the salvation of your souls as the result of your faith. The prophets who spoke of this outpouring of grace upon you diligently searched and inquired of the Lord about this salvation: to Whom and to what time was the indwelling Spirit of the Anointed referring when He told them about the suffering of the Anointed and the honor that would follow it? The Spirit revealed to them they were not serving themselves but you. And you have learned from those who told you the good news by the Spirit that was sent down from heaven. Even the heavenly messengers [angels] would like to explore this news. (1 Peter 1:8-12) The time was right for Me, the Messiah, to come. God had conditioned time and was beginning to fulfill great promises made through the prophets. This was when I came into the world, as a Jew, born of Jews, born under the Torah and traditional law. This was God’s time for Me to come for you: When the right time arrived, God sent His Son into this world (born of a woman, subject to the law) to free those who, just like Him, were subject to the law. Ultimately He wanted us all to be adopted as sons and daughters. (Galatians 4:4-5) My coming was preceded by the miraculous conception and birth of John the Baptizer to Elizabeth and Zechariah — two old, faithful, righteous, and devout people. This was also under the rule of the Romans, and the Father used every condition to prepare the time for My coming: Around the time of Elizabeth’s amazing pregnancy and John’s birth, the emperor in Rome, Caesar Augustus, required everyone in the Roman Empire to participate in a massive census — the first census since Quirinius had become governor of Syria. Each person had to go to his or her ancestral city to be counted. Mary’s fiancé Joseph, from Nazareth in Galilee, had to participate in the census in the same way everyone else did. Because he was a descendant of King David, his ancestral city was Bethlehem, David’s birthplace. (Luke 2:1-5). With all of this, you also need to remember that My coming was for your benefit at God’s expense! My coming was determined long before you were born, but for your benefit! You know that a price was paid to redeem you from following the empty ways handed on to you by your ancestors; it was not paid with things that perish (like silver and gold), but with the precious blood of the Anointed, Who was like a perfect and unblemished sacrificial lamb. God determined to send Him before the world began, but He came into the world in these last days for your sake. Through Him, you’ve been brought to trust in God, Who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him for the very reason that your faith and hope are in Him. (1 Peter 1:18-21) Response in Prayer O God, how can I, a mere mortal made of flawed flesh and blood, ever fully thank You for the divine plan You prepared, prophesied, and delivered to save me from sin and death and adopt me into Your family? Thank You. I trust fully in what You did in Jesus through His birth, life, death, and resurrection to save me. Thank You for this assurance and the foundation of my deep and abiding joy. Through the intercession of Jesus, my Savior, I pray. Amen. ‘A Year with Jesus’ is written by Phil Ware. © 1998-2024, Heartlight, Inc. ‘A Year with Jesus‘ is
03 Dec 2024
Just like the Lord made His children victorious in the past, may He do it for us over and over again. May we experience victory over our challenges and challengers and may all glory go to Him. Psalm 44:1-8.
Daily Prayer for December 3
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace. Luke 1:76–79, NIV Lord our God, we thank you that you let light shine out every day and every year. Thank you that we may always look to you, whose right hand will bring order into everything and set all things right, even in difficult times. May our hearts receive strength to persevere and go on praising you, for you remain, no matter what happens on earth. You are our God, you have sent us the Savior, and we can draw close to you. You have made us the firm promise that your day is coming when truth and justice will arise on earth to the glory of your name. May the hearts of many people turn to you so that they worship you and call to you for help, to the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Schools for Philosopher-Carpenters Alex Sosler A new crop of innovative schools encourages all students to use their minds and their hands. Read now Educating for Freedom Peter Mommsen Has our society lost sight of how to raise young humans? Read now Divine Light in the O Antiphons Joel Clarkson Resplendent Advent music that casts away the gathered dark. Read now Covering the Cover: Educating Humans Rosalind Stevenson Our designer unveils the next Plough Quarterly cover. Read now The Homeschooling Option Casey Kleczek Homeschooling in America has never been more widespread – or more diverse. We checked in on several parents in Detroit. Read now
Today’s Verse – Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. —Romans 12:2 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Sooner or later, we must decide: Will I be a nonconformist? Will I refuse to be squeezed into conformity with the world? Will I be part of a Christian counter-culture? Will I be God’s person, an alien and an exile in the world, a follower of Jesus put here to have a redemptive influence? Jesus calls us his disciples. So, bottom line: until we are ready to step across the line of cultural conformity and live totally for the LORD Jesus, we’re not going to recognize fully what God’s will is for us. There are no armchair quarterback Christians. There are no sideline disciples. There are no back-seat-driver Christians. We either choose the Lordship of Jesus and refuse to be conformed to the world or reject it. So what’s your decision? Let’s be non-conformists and live for Jesus. My Prayer… Holy God, I believe that Jesus Christ is LORD and Savior. I believe he came to earth as a human, lived an exemplary life of grace and power, and died for my sins so I could live for you and with you forever. Please forgive me, O God, for the times I have hedged on my commitment to you and flirted with the darkness. I want to live for you with passion, joy, and fulfillment. I offer myself to you so that the Holy Spirit can continue transforming me into being like Christ and living in nonconformity to the world. In his name, Jesus the LORD, I pray. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.