Comfort and Joy through Confirmation
Though different from Mary’s situation (fortunately!), I recently had the opportunity to experience the comfort and joy that comes through confirmation.
You know how it goes, right? You have some very specific requests that you bring before God. These are things important to you. These are things where you really need to know which direction He wants you to take. Perhaps you adopt the approach of David in Psalm 5, where he writes, “In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.” You come into His presence, you talk to Him about what’s going on and what you really need from Him, and then you wait to see how He is going to respond. Sometimes He gets back to you right away, and sometimes He doesn’t. Sometimes it’s what you want to hear, and sometimes it isn’t.
I know, of course, that in Mary’s situation it wasn’t about her praying and God answering (and thus confirming). I know it was about God promising and then confirming to reassure her that she had heard right and that the plan really was the plan. But we do know from Scripture that God loves us, cares about us, actively guides us and answers prayer. We have chapter and verse on that. We have promises we can sink our teeth into. It is ultimately true that our prayers are always a response to His promises. Whether He approaches us with a promise, or we approach Him as a result of a promise, comfort and joy comes when He provides confirmation.
For me, I was looking for guidance. As I sat in my office and prayed, I was open to whatever direction He wanted me to go. I just wanted it to be clear. And clarity was what I got! Within about 20 minutes He provided me with the confirmation I was looking for. Then about a week or so later He gave me more confirmation. Then a few days later He gave me even more! Within about two weeks He had provided me with three very solid and easily identifiable confirmations to my request that afternoon. You know what? I was filled with both comfort and joy.
An encouragement this text gives us is to rest assured that God will confirm His plans and desires for us. The challenge, I suppose, is to be on the lookout for it and to let it have its intended effect (especially when we get confirmation that points to a direction we were hoping to avoid).
In Mary’s case, and in mine, the confirmation was good news. May it be so for you this day as well.
Scott Smith
Discipleship Pastor
Choose Joy!
The virgin Mary is pregnant with Jesus. She visits Elizabeth who is six months pregnant with John and in her senior years no less. Both women are expecting through the power of God’s Word! Each of them a living testimony that with God nothing is impossible. What happens when Mary visits Elizabeth? Elizabeth’s baby jumps for joy and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. An amazing and prophetic moment and clearly the hand of God is at work. John is already testifying and responding with joy to the yet unborn Savior in Mary’s womb … mind boggling!
We know that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is joy, but sometimes we mistake happiness for joy. Happiness is a momentary feeling, but the joy of the Lord is our strength and brings peace and contentment. It is how Paul said he had learned to be content “in all circumstances.” Joy is the essence of God’s character. Psalm 16:11 reminds us “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy.” This divine joy dwells in our soul and comes from daily communion with the Lord. It gives us power to resist temptation, to act when the Holy Spirit nudges, to endure hardship and trials. We have all been challenged with sadness, discouragement and even downright frustration or anger this past year. But the Lord says his precepts are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. (Ps. 19:8)
Scripture is full of promises that bring hope and joy. Are we spending at least as much time reading it as we are listening to all the negative news swirling around us? I don’t know about you, but if I let myself read or listen to too much news, I notice my mood and outlook drastically changes. On the other hand, if more of my time is spent in scripture and prayer, my peace and joy is more evident. So, could true joy be cultivated by the daily choices we make? And if so, what do we choose – frustration and sadness or joy and peace?
We can also choose to be thankful – even in Covid. The more you can thank and praise God throughout the day, the more your joy in him will increase.
Lord Jesus, please fill us with your joy today. Help us to rejoice in you and all you have done for us. Help us to keep our focus on you today and every day of our lives.
Deb Hill
Executive Assistant
And Now for Something Completely Different
Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.” Luke 1:34-36
Now, I very much appreciate the angel Gabriel’s attempt at helping Mary get through this bizarre situation. He tries. But let’s be honest... his words aren’t really the most helpful. At least, they wouldn’t have been for me. I mean, if I’m Mary, I’ve got a few more things to say to this angel. Not the least of which is, “But, you didn’t answer my question!” Clearly, this just confirms how heroic Mary’s faith was (and maybe how fainthearted mine is), because she doesn’t even question him. After his attempt at an answer, Gabe tries his hand at being reassuring by giving her a sign. He tells Mary that “Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived ...”
Now, this is very nice of Gabe, but once again, I have to point out that it can’t be that helpful. Because what is happening to Mary is nothing like what happened to Elizabeth.
You see, the birth of a child from a barren womb is a sign that the Hebrew people were very familiar with. It was an amazing miracle, but it was one that had been done before… quite a few times. The very first Hebrew child, Isaac, was born out of the barren womb of Sarah. Then Jacob was born out of Rebekah’s barren womb. Then Joseph from Rachel’s. Samson and Samuel also had similar stories. So while what happened to Elizabeth is amazing, it was a miracle that had been seen before. I don’t want to minimize the miracle, but I need to point out that each of these children, including John, were still conceived the same way you or I were, it just happened to a couple who didn’t think that a child was possible. God used this kind of birth, out of barrenness as a distinctly Old Covenant miracle. It was the first miracle of the Old Covenant with Isaac, and now it would be the last of the Old Covenant with John. I think Luke would want us to notice this beautiful bookend to God’s work in the Hebrew people before Jesus, but he would also want us to see that what happens to Mary is a completely new category of miracle!
We forget that Mary lived in a world that didn’t believe in virgin births. It wasn’t a thing. It had never been done before. She was born in a pre-virgin-birth world. Therefore, if we hear anything from Gabriel’s words to Mary, we should hear God saying, “And now for something completely different.” Jesus is the New!
Pastor Josh Rose
Teaching Pastor
Comfort and Joy Through Servanthood
One of the greatest pleasures of my life is to serve God working full-time in ministry. However, sometimes ministry gets really exhausting, and the heaviness of it drains my soul. When this happens, it doesn’t take long for the Holy Spirit to remind me that ministry isn’t supposed to be easy, and that a servant must be willing to make sacrifices for the sake of others. Throughout the Scriptures we find many examples of people who willingly embraced a life of sacrificial servanthood, people like Noah, Moses, and Paul. Today, I want to talk about someone even more special, someone who as a teenager was approached by an angel in the most fascinating way: “Greetings, O favored one” (Luke 1:28). I’m talking about Mary.
According to the gospels, Mary was a sweet teenage virgin who once was called to serve God in the most extraordinary task, to bear the Son of God, and yet after she received the invitation to do so, she answered in the most fascinating and positive way, she said: “I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). To be honest, every time I read Mary’s answer to the angel, I’m very inspired by her obedience and submissiveness to God. I mean, her response makes evident that she was ok with giving up her reputation, her dreams, and her plans, for something that was inconceivable to her.
The question is, why? Why would someone be willing to give up everything for a life of servanthood. One of the answers that comes to mind is that Mary knew that God’s “Comfort and Joy” are not found in the vanities of life, but in surrendering oneself to the eternal purposes of God. Mary wanted to live out this truth, and as a result, she became a beautiful model for her children, including Jesus, of what it means to be a real servant of God. Now certainly, she experienced the uneasiness of servanthood, but she also got to experience the beautiful reward of her service: Jesus.
The lesson for us is to remember that there is nothing more fulfilling in life than to live for the glory of God and enjoy the company of our Savior, especially when challenging times arrive, for only in Him do we find our “Comfort and Joy.”
Pastor Esteban Tapia
Spanish Language Ministry
When I am Weak He is Strong
Our culture loves the story of the underdog. Take your pick from Rudy, Karate Kid, Star Wars, or Rocky I, II, III (or any of the other five movies of the franchise). It seems that in every generation there’s at least one or two retellings of this story. And if these heartwarming stories of triumph in the face of certain defeat seem too good to be true, it’s because we’ve forgotten about the theological origin of this motif. We see it throughout Scripture, but we see it powerfully displayed in Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
Here she is, a virgin as young as sixteen, stating an obvious question to the angel’s incredible message that she will give birth to Christ: “How will this be, since I am a virgin she asks?” (Luke 1:34)
While none of us have been in the exact shoes of Mary in giving birth by the divine power of God, you may have nonetheless found yourself in a similar position, in which God seems to promise or demand the impossible for you:
God, how will this be? Don’t you know who you’re dealing with?
If that’s your default response (as it is mine) you’re in good company. It’s a question Moses asked of Yahweh when he was sent to proclaim to Pharoah (Exodus 4:10). It’s a question Gideon asked of the angel of the LORD when he was charged to liberate Israel from Midian (Judges 6:15). It’s a sentiment Isaiah proclaimed when he was taken into the throne room of God (Isaiah 6:5).
But the angel’s response to Mary, as it ever is to you and to me, is this: when I am weak, limited, at the end of my rope - that’s the very moment God’s power and ability kicks in. This ends up being the very reason that he rejoices in picking the underdogs, the least of these, to accomplish great things: He doesn’t have an arbitrary preference to weakness - far from it - rather, He chooses those who are painfully aware of their “humble estate” (Luke 1:48) so He can take them on the wildest ride of their lives, and use them to display His great power - a power that “overshadows” Mary’s limitations just as it overshadows yours and mine.
Your limitations aren’t an obstacle for Him to overcome. Rather, it’s the very qualification He’s looking for to display the wonders of His greatness, His goodness, and His grace.
Pastor Ryan Lunde
Young Adult Ministry
Practical Preparation
"‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’" Mark 1:3
“Are you ready for Christmas?” When someone asks you this question, what’s your first thought? Is it the tree and decorations? The shopping list? I would guess that most people when they are asked the question about Christmas readiness don’t default to thinking about their spiritual readiness to receive what Jesus might have for them in this season.
As I was reflecting on John the Baptist and the pronunciation to Zechariah, we know that John would prepare the way for the Lord, making straight paths for him. We have an ability to do the same thing in our lives! We have the ability to create and follow pathways and rhythms that help us connect with Jesus. Lynette wrote about preparing room and how God uses weird seasons to aid the process and I think Charles Wesley got it right in “Joy to the World” when he wrote “Let every heart prepare Him room.” Prepare (an action we take) Him (Jesus) room (intentional space).
Now, as a kid, my room was filled with junk. Hard to find any easy pathways there to anything, my bed, closet, always a challenge to get to because of the junk. Let me ask you, what is the room of your Christmas heart filled with? Is your heart filled with too much to do to create room for Jesus in this season? It’s easy to fill our hearts with too many good things and sometimes miss out on the best thing.
So, how do we “prepare Him room” this Christmas? Perhaps it involves less doing, and more be-ing. How can we practice be-ing this Christmas season?
- Preparing Him room this Christmas season may involve creating some intentional space for stillness and quiet so that you can listen. Maybe God’s trying to show you something in the stillness and quiet.
- Preparing Him room this Christmas season may involve creating some rhythms that involve intentionally focusing on Jesus. One of the practices that our staff has done over the past couple Advent seasons is fixed-hour prayer. Granted, this is possibly a bit easier when you work in a church environment but are there some intentional times you can take throughout the day to dedicate to the Lord?
- Preparing Him room may include taking a moment each week to worship the Lord with a particular song each week.
May we be able to see that sometimes all we have to offer is simply ourselves. Let’s prepare him room and prepare our hearts this Christmas to stop doing and start being with God!
Pastor Seth Redden
High School Ministries
Birth in the Barren Place
Longing and waiting.
Others receive but not you.
Once again it's others but not you.
It hurts to keep hoping.
Barren all this time.
Old now.
Older still.
Other prayers are more important surely.
Other needs.
Other wants.
Other’s hopes.
The announcer.
The one who prepares the way.
The barren place filled and full of the Holy Spirit.
This little one to turn many hearts to the Lord.
You will have great joy and many will rejoice!
Sometimes God plants the most amazing seeds in the barren place. This place could be our hearts.
Luke 1:18-19 “Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.” Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news!”
There are many barren places; a womb, getting let go, loss of love, loss of loved one. Would you or I question God’s messenger if he came today to say our prayer was heard?
“I stand in the very presence of God, it was he who sent me to bring you this good news!”
We have that good news and more at our fingertips today! Does this read as patronizing, condescending, or cliche to you? I can relate to that, but the intent is not to minimize the pain of loss or longing or hurt. Rather, the point is to know, value, and trust the true and wonderful message we have from God. See if you recognize these verses and more importantly, see if you embrace them.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Pastor John Riley
Junior High Ministries
The Heart Behind the Season
My wife and I have been talking a lot about seeing what God is doing around us in all the little things. We started looking at our days and what has happened just to see God working. Maybe because it is Christmas, maybe because we have been reading the beginning of the Gospels, or maybe our Father in Heaven just wanted us to remember him. It is funny how when we get busy or distracted, it becomes very easy to miss all that he has done. Sometimes we need God to reach down to where we are so we can remember why we celebrate this time of year.
The Christmas season arrives quickly and distracts me with lights, events, parties and I miss seeing God the Father pouring out his love upon the world. Zechariah didn’t think when he walked into the temple to fulfill his duties he would experience something special God was doing. Of course an angel came and told him about his son (Luke 1:11-17). Zechariah was a little older so he didn’t think this was possible, so he doubted and then went silent (Luke 1:18-20). God was doing something special, but Zechariah wasn’t looking for God to do that. But God wanted to share joy and delight and cause people to have a reason to celebrate and rejoice (Luke 1:14)
God uses the Christmas season to remind the world how much he loves us so we can have the right heart during this season. He calls us to see his work and follow him. Sometimes we need a little help, like Zechariah did, to see God work his miracles. Of course sometimes we just need to talk about all the ways daily we see him work to be reminded of how much he loves us.
What has God been doing lately in your life or the lives around you? What gives your heart joy this Christmas? Where do you want to see your Father work during this season? Spend some time thinking about these questions and talking to God today.
Pastor Jeremy Johnson
Family Pastor
Prepare Him Room
It was 6 am on Christmas morning. The tree was decorated, the stockings were filled and gifts were waiting to be opened. The advent calendar had reminded us for 24 days that Christmas was coming. The living room was prepared to entertain four boys with toys, games, and sweets. Yet, all of the preparations would have to wait.
Our kids woke up, excited, but somewhat dismayed. They knew that gifts would come, but first, something more important was going to happen. We grabbed a few snacks and some coffee, jumped in the car and headed to San Diego. While our home was prepared, we were going instead to a very different Christmas morning at MCRD. 1200 Marine Recruits would not be entering a cozy living room when they woke up. This would be a Christmas unlike any other. They would eat breakfast with a group of recruits that they had just met, and then head to the base chapel for a Christmas morning worship service. No family, no friends, no stocking, no tree.
As one of the base Chaplains, my husband would lead the service, and some friends and I would be leading worship. We reminded our boys that the purpose of this day was to celebrate the birth of Jesus and to prepare room in our hearts to receive and worship him. This was an opportunity to give up some of our own comforts for a few hours and show others the love of Jesus. They grappled with the fact that this worship service might be the only time this season when these recruits would get to hear about the depths of Jesus’ love for each of them.
As we started to play the first song, I wondered if anyone would sing along or even knew these songs? To my surprise, within seconds almost everyone in the room was worshipping at the top of their lungs. I looked out to see some wiping away tears as others were raised in praise.
Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
These young men and women had been stripped of every convenience, including their cell phones. No family dinner, no Christmas traditions, no phone calls home. Yet the passion they sang with about their Savior’s birth demonstrated the room in their hearts that had been prepared for him. Following the service, my boys were moved by their passion and proceeded to talk with as many recruits as possible. They got it. God’s presence was evident.
While 2020 doesn’t necessarily resemble boot camp, it has caused me to stop and look at how different it has been. Much has been stripped away and maybe that’s good. Where is your focus this year? Is it on what isn’t or what is? If some of your traditions are not possible this year, could this be an invitation to focus instead on others? How are you preparing Jesus' room?
Lynette Fuson
Director of Counseling and Soul Care
Robotic Religion
I grew up going to church. I can remember as a young boy sharing the hymnal with my mom and dad and trying my best to follow along. I also remember trying not to giggle uncontrollably during sermons – everything always seemed funnier in church, especially when we weren’t supposed to be laughing. I went to a lot of church services that seemed “normal.” Do you know what I mean by that? It didn’t seem like anything significant happened, and definitely nothing supernatural. For those of us who have been going to church for a long time, it can be easy to go through the motions – singing the songs, praying the prayers, but all the while doubting that God is really going to show up.
The Christmas story begins with a priest who’s going through the motions. He’s doing his job, but he doubts that God will really move on his behalf. He’s easy to sympathize with, though. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were advanced in years. They’d been praying for a baby for years, but God hadn’t answered their prayer. However, when Zechariah was performing his priestly duty, an angel appeared and declared that his “prayer has been heard” (Luke 1:13). He must have been talking about his prayer to have a child, but Zechariah didn’t believe him (Luke 1:20). Pause and take that in, Zechariah didn’t believe the message the angel delivered!
For Zechariah, somewhere along the way, religious duty replaced relationship with the divine. He lost the plot and the recognition that everything he was doing was designed to help people live with God. He was saying his prayers, but he doubted that God would move; so much so that he didn’t believe an angel. A few decades later, Paul would write to Timothy warning him that there would be people in the church, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2 Timothy 3:5) Paul’s advice to his young protégé was to avoid people who talk about the power of God, but don’t really believe God can show up and do what he has said.
Zechariah’s story challenges us to look at our own lives and ask whether we are just going through the motions of religion or whether we expect to encounter the living God. At Christmas we are reminded once again that Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. He is with us today, and if he’s with us, we should expect to meet with him. Let’s enter this Advent season with great expectations – expectations of encounter, transformation, healing, and life.
Pastor Ryan Paulson
Lead Pastor
