EXPAND TO READ: MATTHEW 2 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verses 14, 20): I don’t know if You’re preparing me for something or just working in my heart, Father, but I do feel convicted by Joseph’s actions here. He was immediately obedient to Your commands through Your messengers to him. He followed through which anything You instructed him today, pretty much without known hesitation. Please forgive me for my disobedience since coming to faith, Father. I have been told many times by other Godly men and even by Your truth to do certain things along the way and I have refused to follow them or just ignored the path You were wanting me to take. Help me to be better at being obedient to You, Father. Continue to remind me that if You are wanting me to do something, that my flesh should not be a hindrance to Your will for my life as it has been for so long.
PROMISE (verses 5-6, 17-18, 23): There are so many promises made in Your truth and we see examples of three promises that were fulfilled as Jesus came to life on this earth. The first promise was simply that the Messiah who was destined to save us all would be born in Bethlehem—Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The second promise was that an earthly leader, out of anger and likely fear, would try to kill Jesus by killing all of the male children born at a certain timeframe, however Your plan would prevent this from happening to Jesus specifically as Jesus was saved through Your messenger to Joseph. The final promise in this scripture is concerning a promise that the great Messiah would be called a Nazarene. Thankfully Joseph was faithful to Your will for his path in life, because after all the travels You put him on, he brought Jesus to Nazareth just as prophecy foretold, fulfilling yet another promise from the old Law that the Jewish community relied so heavily on up to this point. Thank You for the fulfillment of Your promises, Father, and for always being faithful to us even if we try to “make” things happen in our own timing. Your timing is always perfect and I must continue to remind myself that every day.
ATTITUDE (verse 14, 20, 22-23): Joseph never ceases to amaze me. He was put in a situation which the world would tell him to remove himself from, but You told him to stay faithful to You as it is all going according to Your plan. As a result of his faithfulness and obedience, Jesus was born safely and kept safe throughout his childhood by multiple acts of faithfulness and obedience from Joseph. I do want to live a life in obedience and faithfulness to You, Father, but I do also struggle with giving into my flesh and giving into the world’s expectations of me at times. Please help me to get a better grasp and understanding of what it truly means to walk with an attitude of obedience and faithfulness to You in this crazy and broken world, Father.
COMMAND (verses 13, 20): Once again, You use the words “Get up” in the HCSB translation when sending a message to Your followers. I see this as almost a double command, because not only are You giving Your followers direction on what to do moving forward, You’re also commanding them to take that first step of action in order to align with Your will. Get up, to me, implies that we are to take that first step in obedience and faithfulness for anything within Your will in order to reap the fruits which will eventually come as a result of what we’ve sown. Help me to be better at “getting up” in my faith walk, Father, so that as I hear a message from You, I am always obedience and trusting in You enough to take that first step towards whatever You’re wanting me to do in the moment.
EXAMPLE (verse 7-12): The story of the wisemen here is an amazing story to me. I can see how nervous they likely were speaking to Herod directly about the birth of the Messiah and prophesy being fulfilled. He spoke to them in private and essentially lied directly to their faces, stating that he wanted to know this child’s location so he could also worship Him. Thankfully, You sent a messenger to them as well, through their dreams, to not go back to Herod in order to protect Jesus as Herod was a very deceiving and hateful leader towards the child born to be our Messiah. They were faithful, trusting, and obedient to You just as Joseph had been and that is amazing. By not going back to Herod, they could have potentially faced death themselves as a result of Herod’s request for the to let him know where this child is exactly. Instead, they trusted fully in You and did their best to protect Jesus from any harm inflicted by Herod simply by not going back to him. Thank You for another example of obedience and trust in You, Father.
*DAILY NOTE: I don’t know if You’re preparing me for something in the future or if You’re just using this to build up my own trust and faithfulness to You, Father. I do love all the examples You’re giving me to live by and I definitely enjoy how much more I am getting out of Your word and Your truth nowadays compared to the past. I have read pretty much the entire Bible in the past, over time, as I know You’re aware, but I have never gotten so much out of Your word as I have over the last year since joining the Real Men 300 and learning what it truly means to be a man of God. Thank You for all of the revelations, convictions, and heartfelt conversations we’ve been having, Father. Thank You for providing Joseph the path to take for keeping our Messiah safe in this crazy world. Thank You for Joseph as well, as his obedience, trust, and faithfulness to You helped make all of this happen! I look forward to seeing what the rest of Matthew has in store for me.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
留言