67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71 salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
72 to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79 to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.
Zechariah was filled with the holy spirit and was praising God. God has provided so much for us, shown us mercy, and forgave us of our sins. Especially during the busy holiday season, we should set aside some time everyday to praise God and give thanks to God. This passage also reminds me that this holiday season, I should reach out to people to people who have wandered down their own paths, whether its through a simple phone call, an email, or taking time to write a letter to them.
Sorry for the late post!
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5 comments:
Jen,
Thanks for sharing your reflection with us today. As you mentioned, we truly do have much to praise and thank God for. I'm especially thankful for the fellowship we have in our church. It's an awesome privilege I don't acknowledge enough that I have fellow believers with whom I can share the presence of God. I can openly share my thoughts and feelings on the Word of God and know that I have another mind that can relate to what's going on in mine and vice versa. I feel blessed by another person's joy and growth in God and blessed to be heard and known by people who know God.
Like you, I too have people in my life who have wandered away from God. Though they may still have the church and the children of God in their lives, for some reason they can't seem to connect and have true fellowship among them. I don't know the solution or the perfect strategy in reaching them but a simple call, email, or letter sure is a start towards the right direction :)
thanks jen... in the business (of our own doing) we forget the truely important things.
Thanks for your reflection :-)
We often forget how truly blessed we are. I think about all of my life happenings (the good and the not so good), and I am so thankful it was God who made it all happen. Not out of luck or chance, but God was in control. He desires for our lives to be full of love and joy as long as we follow after Him. May we be able to share the only true joy you can receive from God with others. Thanks for the great reminder Jen.
thanks jen for your reflection today. john the baptist had a very unique calling--to "prepare the way for [the Lord], to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God".
somehow we have to have our hearts "made ready" before we are able to receive the Lord. in our own day, we are called to the same ministry as john the baptist--to prepare the hearts of the people around us (by telling them of God's love and mercy), that they might be enabled by God's grace to receive Him in faith.
thank You, Lord, that through the ministry of john the baptist and through the life of Your Son, you "enable us to serve [You] without fear in holiness and righteousness before [You] all our days".
Thanks, Jen!
As I read Zechariah's Song, it sang of hope and praise. You're right in that we tend to lose ourselves in the luster of the Christmas season and forget the true meaning behind it. We do need to sit back in silence and just give thanks in the quietness of our hearts. I'm beginning to understand what that meaning means, and when Pastor James says that prayer and praise is found when we thank God for everything, the good and the bad, because in everything he shows us love, justice, and grace, and we are blessed because of this. So we should thank God. I mean Zechariah did and he was mute for about nine months for his mistake in doubting God, but he immediately praised and thanked him after the birth of his son.
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