Readiness of the Promise Keeper’s Love (9/24/26)

 James enjoyed his birthday last Saturday, from his birthday presents to the extended family celebration. He helped us prepare by letting us know ahead of time some items he needed and wanted (such as a new lunch container, a new bike helmet, and Christian t-shirts). He also selected the dinner menu and picked out the cakes.

God helps us prepare ahead of time for the great day of the Lord. He gave us His laws to follow and promised to send “Elijah” beforehand.  

Malachi 4:4-6 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.

⁵ “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. ⁶ He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

The people of Israel in Malachi’s day had again abandoned God’s laws. They expected blessings as His chosen people but failed to recognize all the ways they had disobeyed His laws (as we’ve seen in previous weeks). In these final verses of Malachi (and of the entire Old Testament), God called His people to remember and follow His commands. He also promised to send the messenger “Elijah” to help them see, understand, and return to the covenant of their ancestors.

This promise of “Elijah” appears to have been partially fulfilled when God sent John the Baptist.

Matthew 11:13-14 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. ¹⁴ And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.

The angel told Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, that “John…

Luke 1:16-17 …will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus’s first coming, just as God promised through Malachi. Then, in the future, the two witnesses described in Revelation 11 will prepare the way for Jesus’s second coming.

In His great love, God readies us not only for this life, but for the life to come! How are you taking advantage of His preparations for living life? What about His promises for our future in Heaven? Which of those do you need to remember regularly?

Alice

Thursday Devotional - Jesus is Truth – Revealing His Betrayer (2/8/24)

Kids tattle on each other! My kids are no different. My sister’s kids, that are slightly older than my oldest, have tried to tell my kids that it is often best to work things out with your siblings rather than tattling frequently on little things. In fact, sometimes both kids get in trouble in a tattle situation, and that’s just what happened the other day!!!

Betrayal is far worse than tattling. Jesus had just washed Judas’s feet when He announced one of his disciples would betray him. He lovingly didn’t reveal the person’s identity. I think He also gave Judas one more opportunity to respond to truth, yet Jesus knew Judas wouldn’t.

John 13:16-21         ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.¹⁸ “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’

¹⁹ “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”

²¹ After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”

There are so many truths and lessons in this! Jesus lovingly revealed truth without shaming anyone (further evidenced by the rest of John 13). Jesus also prepared the other 11 disciples so that they would see yet again how trustworthy He is, recognize one more prophecy fulfilled, and know it was all used by God to accomplish His purpose.

Wow, I pray for that kind of love – to especially be able to reveal truth to my kids and discipline them without shaming them. I also pray I can prepare them well, so they know they can trust Jesus even when troubles come.

Where will you pray for help to put this kind of love into practice in your own life?