The King is Coming! Are you ready for Christmas?

God did a lot of preparing of people at the time of Christ’s coming. Elizabeth and Zacharias were old. They were heavily involved in their community, church leadership and the lives of others when God shocked them out of any complacency by answering their prayers for a child. God set them up, not just for a child but for the one set aside to be the prophet and way-maker for Jesus.

As we enter this season of celebrating the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ, perhaps we should look with fresh eyes at those who were a part of His story. How many of us can identify with Zacharias and Elizabeth in the busyness of life and ministry or work? We so easily fall into patterns of complacency and our own answers and ways of “doing” life “for God”. We so easily become content with unanswered prayers and unexperienced dreams. We are to be “way-makers” for Christ as well. We are to be “preparing the way”, calling people to lives of repentance, forgiveness and victory. John the Baptist was not the only one God set aside to attract the attention of lost souls and searching hearts – we are to be those people as well. Zacharias, Elizabeth and John all attracted attention, ridicule, amazement and admiration from those around them. This family allowed God to be number one and let the chips of society’s “acceptance” fall where they may. We have much to learn from lives such as these. We have big shoes to fill and we must choose to take the steps into the Way God has set before each of us if we desire to see His plan fulfilled.

God wants to break through you know. He wants to knock you off that seat and into a walk of wonder. The question you must ask yourself as we begin the days leading up to Christmas is this: Are you willing to have your life turned upside down for the sake of living out God’s vision for you?

O ye beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow;
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
Oh rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophets seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold,
When the new heaven and earth shall own
The Prince of Peace, their King,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.    (It Came Upon a Midnight Clear vs 3-4)

Luke 1:5-25   In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷ But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
⁸ Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
¹¹ Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶ He 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.”
¹⁸ Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
¹⁹ The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰ And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”
²¹ Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²² When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
²³ When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴ After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵ “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Living in the Faith Zone?

“Faith, as Paul saw it, was a living, flaming thing leading to surrender and obedience to the commandments of Christ.”   AW Tozer   .

You’re living in the Faith Zone when you are:
– Not comfortable with “just enough”.
– Living with a sense of destiny, a desire to do something greater for God.
– Living victoriously because your God is one who fills empty jars with oil; leaves manna & quail in the desert to feed you; defeats your sickness & diseases; tumbles walls when you SHOUT; wins your unwinnable battles; takes the little you have to feed the multitudes!

Faith made men like Moses and Abraham what they were, whether bold, or humble, or patient. Faith is the virtue-producer. We are exhorted to imitate the patience of Job, the humility of Moses, or the courage of Daniel. That is fine, but useless unless the means are shown – faith in God. Faith made them the men they were. It made them men of initiative, enterprising and resourceful.

What is this Faith? Trust in a good God, for He is good all the time. He is good for you. He is good no matter the circumstances of your life.
– Just as He was good to Moses in a wilderness of enemies and doubt and bitter, complaining people.
– Just as He was good to Abraham when he was old and had to fight kings, talk to angels, deal with an angry recalcitrant spouse, trust that these two old people could bear a child of promise.
They trusted in God’s goodness no matter their circumstances.
Faith made them.

What will it make you?
And when?