December 22: Be Prepared

Luke 1:5-17

5 When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.

8 One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week…11 While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12 Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. 13 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. 14 You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.[b] 16 And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,[c] and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”

Prepare the way for the Lord!  What in the world does that mean?  It means that the things that you say and do can help those who do not know Jesus be ready when he calls them to give their hearts, minds and lives to Him.

John was born to Zachariah and Elizabeth, who were too old in the world’s eyes to have kids.  But God’s ways are not our ways, and doing the extraordinary is an ordinary day’s work for our Savior! So Elizabeth and Zachariah were blessed for their goodness and devotion to God by having a child, and not an ordinary child, no God’s plan for their child would be to prepare the hearts and minds of God’s people for Jesus to rescue them. John’s whole life was meant to prepare the way for the Lord.

Just like John, the way we live our lives helps to prepare others for the Lord.  Sometimes that is through the words that we say and by our simple every day actions like being nice to others even when we don’t feel like it or are having a tough day ourselves.  

But other times, we prepare the way for the Lord by meeting the physical needs of others.  Sometimes a hot meal means more to a hungry person than all the words from the Bible that you could share with them. You may not always get to share the gospel with those that God calls you to help, but many times simply meeting the physical needs of someone, can help their hearts and minds to become ready to hear the message of God’s rescue.  Simply knowing that you care by your actions and not always by your words is the best way to speak to some people’s hearts.There are things today that we all can do to meet the physical needs of others so that Jesus can meet their need for rescue from their sins.

Discussion Questions:

1. Why do we sometimes need to meet a person’s physical needs before we can help them know about the love of Jesus?

2. How can God use your hands and feet today to help meet the physical needs of the people you know.

Family Activity:  Color your ornament for day 22.  Christmas is a great time to prepare our hearts for Jesus.  Take some time as a family to talk about the things that make you excited about Christmas.  Maybe it’s the food, family, decorations or presents. (It’s okay to get excited about these things too!) These How do these things help your heart prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus? 

Prayer for the World: Pray that our (Josh and Betty’s) team would find favor among local Christians and receive many invitations to train them in simple evangelism, discipleship, and church planting tools.  We’d love to hold a training event at least four times a year.