Mighty Miracles by Sandy Noonan

Happy last Monday of 2021! Let’s make it the best week EVER! This weeks devo is “Mighty Miracles” written by Sandra Noonan! Please take the time to read as she shares her heart with us today! I hope you have the best week of 2021 yet!!

Mighty Miracles – Sandy Noonan

Luke 4:16-30.

I love this passage as Jesus goes back to his home town.

I love the way Jesus read from Isaiah with such authority.

I love how he closed the book and gave it back to the minister and then sat down.

I love how all the people kept their eyes on him.

I love how he said who He was looking straight into their Eyes, knowing they didn’t believe him.

Then I remember he left Nazareth without doing the miracles he did in other cities because of their unbelief.

As I let this passage sink into my heart my thoughts turn to my own family. Am I stopping God from doing miracles in my family because of unbelief? God show me some lessons I need to learn from this passage.

1. Be filled with the Spirit and not with selfish desires. Gal 5:22-26

2. Keep prayer as the first “go to”, not as our last resort in a world that attempts to find answers with a punch of a button. Ps. 143:1, Pro. 15:8, Ps. 141:2

3. Rejoice for the answered prayer. Ps 20:5

4. Lift up the God of righteous people not the people themselves. God uses ordinary people for His glory. I Sam 18:18-19

5. Let my family see I need God in my life just as much as other family members. Rom 10:11.

6. Don’t just talk about spiritual things at church but let it be a habit at home.

7. Be consistent at home and in church and at work and at play.

8. Be genuine, putting on masks to let other people think we are good will only cultivate unbelief in our children.

These are just some lessons God taught me from this passage. Let’s us have homes that resonate faith and belief in God because he is ready to show us his mighty miracles.

https://www.sappsolutely.com/devotions/mighty-miracles-sandy-noonan

December 26, 2021

Jesus – Root of David

Revelation 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

Matthew 1 gives an account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Juda is the great grandson of Abraham. Abraham was the one whom God promised would be the father of many nations that would be blessed through him (Genesis 17). Yet, if we continue to follow the timeline back to the beginning, it will lead us to Adam. To simplify, the root of David must be from the one from whom Adam came, the forefather of human race. Jesus is both the Creator of the universe and source of human life.

December 25, 2021

Jesus – Redeemer

Job had a personal relationship with the Redeemer. Though Job had lost much, he never lost hope in God. He had the assurance that no matter what happened to him on earth one day he would be united with Christ in Heaven.

Job had no idea why his life was falling apart. His faith in Christ was firm and he was confident that his Redeemer would deliver him. He believed in a living Redeemer and looked forward for the blessed hope that and the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).

December 24, 2021

Jesus – Physician

Jesus – Physician

Luke 4:23 – And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

Jesus has the power to heal both our bodies and souls. We have multiple accounts in Scripture attesting to Him physically healing the brokenhearted, diseased, and wounded. His healing power is quickly spreading throughout the world, and many people seek him out to heal them of their ailments.

The ancient proverb “Physician heal thyself” was a popular proverb among the Jews. It was a way of saying, “We won’t believe a word you say until you take care of your own.” In other words, they were jealous that Jesus spent more time in Capernaum than in Nazareth. They were demanding he prove he was the Messiah.

Unfortunately, no matter how many signs there are that Jesus is the Messiah, some will choose to ignore them and reject him. The Jews rejected him as the Messiah because He didn’t fit into their idealistic views, and believing in Him would require humility and abandoning their religious traditions.

Jesus didn’t wait for the people to come to Him. He went to them wherever they were. In Mark 2:27, He tells us that His purpose was to call sinners to repentance – redeeming mankind from their sin.

December 23, 2021

Jesus – Our Passover

1 Corinthians 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

We should continually be seeking to purge our hearts of the leaven of sin in our lives. As new creations in Christ, our desire should be to be filled with knowledge of His will and to strive to live lives that are pleasing to the Lord. (Colossians 1:10).

In preparation for the Passover, Jews purge their entire homes removing any leaven. Any leaven (chametz) that was found was burned the morning before Passover. They eat unleavened bread and specific foods which have symbolic meaning for their Jewish customs. A spotless lamb is sacrificed and the blood painted on their doorposts just as God had instructed the Israelites to do the night before their departure from Egypt (Exodus 12).

Jesus is the true Passover Lamb. He was the only Lamb able to be sacrificed that could pay for the sin of the whole world – so that whosever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Resources:
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/preparing-for-passover.

Jameison Faucet & Brown Commentary

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary of the Whole Bible

December 22, 2021

Jesus – Nazarene

Matthew 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

Herod had put out a decree to have all the male children in Bethlehem killed who were two years and under. An angel warned Joseph in a dream to flee to the land of Israel. Joseph and Mary fled, not knowing where they would end up. They ended up in Nazareth.

The country of Galilee at this time was divided into three parts: Galilee, Judea, and Samaria. Nazareth was a small, secluded city in the lower part of Galilee. This is where Jesus would grow up.

The Jewish Judeans thought very little of their northern Galilean brethren. The northern kingdom of Galilee was distinct in it’s culture, history, and political status. It had a more mixed population. It was separated from the holy city by Samaria. They were considered country bumpkins as they were thought to lack Jewish sophistication.

Jesus was considered a foreigner. He most likely stuck out like a Texan in New York City or an Englisher in Ireland. His accent would definitely give him away (John 7:40-44).

Jesus’ humble childhood in Nazareth reminds us that He came for all of us, Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, admired and despised. He was doing something for the benefit of all mankind. It was about forgiveness not about Jewish laws.

December 21, 2021

Jesus – Mighty God

“Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name” Jeremiah 32:18

Consider that God is the source of all being, power, and life. There is no difficulty that cannot be overcome with him. He is a merciful God who knows no bounds. He is a God of strict justice, and everything He does is for the best.

Let us find comfort in knowing that whatever trial or tribulation we’re in God sees it and already knows the answer. May we seek God’s will and not debate Him, but rather strive to understand what He may be trying to teach us.

December 20, 2021

Used by God by Angey Nelson

Happy December 20th! I hope everyone is feeling blessed and happy from the weekend! This week’s devo is “Used by God” written by Angey Nelson! Have you ever felt USED?? This is a devo that you need to read! It was a help to me! I hope you have the best of the best weeks ever!

USED by God – Angey Nelson

When Mary said to the angel, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word,” do you think she really knew what she was getting herself into? I’m sure she grew up learning that a virgin would bring forth the Messiah, but do you really think she realized what was ahead for her? Afterall, she was facing ridicule, false accusation, and the possibility of being stoned to death. Not to mention the ultimate sacrifice…. the Son she would carry in her body would be crucified for sins He never committed. If you ask me, Mary was just being USED.

In human terms, being USED is not something to be desired. Use: to take or consume from a limited supply; to exploit in order to gain advantage.

May 2015 o July 2016 was a time of great loss for our family. In that short period, I miscarried two children, my Dad died of a brain tumor, and our Pastor died of a heart attack. Through it all, we felt the presence of the Lord more than ever before. Just a couple months later, my husband felt burdened of the Lord to take a big step in our life of ministry. After much prayer, fasting, and counsel, we proceeded ahead by faith on the path that God had shown him. Without going into detail, I will say that the loneliness and pain of the next year was even harder than what we had just come through. In truth, I felt USED… by friends, by coworkers, by strangers, and even…. by God.

There, I said it! As much as I tried to ignore it, I knew that bitterness (believing that God got it wrong) was trying to take root. Why would God so clearly lead my husband to do something that He knew would not take place? Why would He purposely put us into a situation that seemed to only have a hurtful outcome? If you ask me, we were just USED.

Deep down, I knew that if my thoughts were true, then Romans 8:28 was a lie. If I was right about God USING me, then every verse that says He loves me, holds me, strengthens me, was wrong. So, I asked the Lord for help; He took me to Mary.

Yes, Mary was USED by God but in such a way that the angels declared, “Glory to God in the highest.” God’s kind of USED isn’t the same as mine. Mary wasn’t a doormat that God walked over or a rag that He USED and then threw away. Rather, God needed Mary to be USED as His vessel for His purpose. Did she decline because it was too much to bear? Did she say, “I didn’t sign up for this”? No, Mary became like a vase that is USED to hold beautiful flowers; it isn’t the vase that is important, but that the flowers are lifted up and magnified.

Recently I heard a preacher say something like this, “When you hear an offertory played at church, do you think, ‘Wow! That sure is a great piano.’ No! It’s the pianist that is awesome!” A piano isn’t anything but wood and strings until it gets USED. I decided that if I get USED and someone sees how awesome God is, then amen! Isn’t that what life is supposed to be about?! If God chooses to USE me, then it is my job to see that He gets all the glory.

You know, since that difficult time, God has grown our church in such an amazing way! We have seen Him do marvelous things we never thought possible in the lives of our family and teen group. Glory to God in the highest! Let God USE your life for His glory.

https://www.sappsolutely.com/devotions/used-by-god-angey-nelson

December 20, 2021

Jesus – Man of Sorrows

Isaiah 53:3 – He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

The Jews expected the prophecy of the coming Messiah to be fulfilled by Jesus coming in full glory exalted above others, yet He came in lowly form. He had nothing of glory. He was born in swaddling clothes in a manger. Scripture indicates that his family was impoverished as they could only afford to offer a pair of turtledoves (Luke 2:24). His life was full of heartache and sorrow.

He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). He became the one who bore the sins of all men past, present, and future.

December 19, 2021

Jesus – Light of the World

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

This is one of the seven “I AM” statements. He is not just any light, but the One who created light in Genesis and the source of all light. Christ is the Light of the world.

Jesus has the ability to shine the light of truth into the hearts of all who believe in Him. Those who believe in Him live in the light and do not dwell in the dark.