Faithfully Yours Forever

Unity and Maturity in the Body of Christ
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.  Ephesians 4:1-6 (NIV)

¹ Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
² Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
³ When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
⁸ the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
⁹ Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8 (NIV)

For no word from God will ever fail. Luke 1:37 (NIV)

Imagine for a moment that you have had an encounter with an angel.  The angel told you that something was about to happen that any reasonable person would have said was impossible.  What would you do?  Would you believe it?  Would you look forward with expectation or doubt?

In today’s passage, we read about Mary’s encounter with an angel that told her she would conceive, bear a son, and name him Jesus.  She was told some amazing things about Jesus.  Father God, may we trust in You and fear not.  May we firmly believe that ^“no word from God will ever fail.”  Praise the Lord!  Amen.

Passage: Luke 1:26-38

What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.  This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.  The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.  The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for,“Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”  But we have the mind of Christ.  1 Corinthians 2:12-16 (NIV)

However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”
— the things God has prepared for those who love him
— these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2:9-11 (NIV)

We are spiritual beings.  Our spirits contain those things that make us unique – our thoughts, our desires, and our beliefs.  It is the essence of who we are.  So to, the Spirit of God contains those things that make God so unique.  Father God, may we get to know you better.  May you reveal those things about You, to us, that will connect our spirit to yours.  In Jesus’ name, I pray.  Amen.

Passage: 1 Corinthians 2:1-11