“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Matthew 1:23

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah (about 800 B.C.) that the virgin was going to be with child! This child wasn’t going to come through a man’s decision but God’s decision. Mary made herself an available vessel for God, and the Spirit of God came upon Mary, and she became pregnant with the promised son.

After the fall of Adam & Eve into sin, every generation of humanity has been born into sin and shaped into iniquity. Every person has the issue of SIN nature, and he/she also chooses to commit sin by not following God’s standard of holiness. Since Jesus was born of the Spirit of God, He didn’t come into the world with a SIN nature because His father was not a descendant of Adam!

Jesus came into the world free from SIN nature.  Throughout His life, when Jesus was tempted He did not sin (Hebrews 4:15). His virgin birth had a great purpose in the eternal plan of salvation and allowed Him to be the only qualified person who could take on the sin of the world including our sins upon Himself.

Jesus’ virgin birth prophetically was spoken by Isaiah centuries earlier. Most likely the prophecy didn’t make any sense to Isaiah or his counterparts! The questions of “How can this be?” and “Why would God allow it?” could have surrounded this prophecy, but nevertheless Isaiah in obedience foretold of the coming Immanuel.

Centuries later, Mary accepted and received the prophetic declaration over her life. Did Mary’s virgin birth make any sense to Joseph or even Mary!? Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, Joseph was trying to divorce her quietly because of it. They didn’t know what God was trying to do, and why Jesus had to come from the virgin birth.

As a woman, it would not be easy to accept the assignment of  virgin birth even in this day and age. In spite of the risk of humiliation, divorce, and ridicule, Mary accepted the assignment, and she became the conduit in fulfilling the will of God for the salvation of humanity!

Are there areas in your life that have never made sense to you? Some of those  areas could be: place of your birth, the circumstances of your birth, your family of origin, a birthmark, a birth defect, your gender, or your ethnicity. God is an intentional God, and how He created you was not a mistake. Ask Him to reveal His purpose in His design for you!

David wrote Psalm 12 after having observed the duplicity of life by those who professed to be believers. He began by crying out to the Lord about this matter:

Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.

² They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

³ May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks proud things,

⁴ Who have said,
“With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are our own;
Who is lord over us?”

⁵ “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.” Psalm 12:1-5

Definition of “Idly” (in Hebrew): emptiness, vanity, falsehood, emptiness, nothingness, vanity, emptiness of speech, lying, worthlessness (of conduct)

As people of God, we are called to be intentional people. We can’t be passive with our words and use them idly to just make a conversation or try to relieve silence or boredom. This includes not getting involved in those kinds of harmful conversations that are a slippery slope into gossip. It’s hard enough to die to the flesh and not say something harmful when we are unhappy. It’s even harder when someone comes along who has similar feelings about a person or a situation. That becomes the opportunity for the flesh to rise again! We can find ourselves agreeing with the unsatisfied person or possibly share our own sentiment which will not produce good fruit.

David stated that some people can declare, “Our lips are our own..”. Psalm 12:4b It is dangerous to be around people who think that their lips are their own! These individuals don’t feel accountable to what they speak. This includes flattery, manipulation, lies, or accusations.

Sometimes individuals don’t realize that others notice their manipulation or flattery! It is very discouraging when you see a man or a woman of God getting themselves involved in those kinds of activities. We can’t forget that others are watching our lives, and they can either be encouraged in faith or be discouraged based on how we conduct our lives and our words!

People who have no control over their words scare me because I know it is a matter of time before someone is damaged by them. When we proclaim that we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength, it should include our lips. Our opinions or emotions can compel us to share something that is not edifying to others. However, the scripture has numerous references to this issue including Jesus’ warning on this matter.

I will continue with this subject by sharing Jesus’ warning in the next devotional!

“Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases!

For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
² They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;
With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

³ May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
And the tongue that speaks proud things,
⁴ Who have said,
“With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are our own;
Who is lord over us?”

⁵ “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the Lord;
“I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”

⁶ The words of the Lord are pure words,
Like silver tried in a furnace of earth,
Purified seven times.
⁷ You shall keep them, O Lord,
You shall preserve them from this generation forever.

⁸ The wicked prowl on every side,
When vileness is exalted among the sons of men.” Psalm 12

Psalm 12 is a short Psalm, but it’s packed with comfort and encouragement for people who try to do right. David was looking around, and it seemed that the righteous people were disappearing but evil was rampant.

It’s not completely clear as to when he may have written this Psalm. There is a likelihood that he was writing it during the time he was at Saul’s palace. God picked Saul years earlier, but over the years he had changed. Saul wasn’t a righteous king anymore. He disobeyed God and also mistreated David. There were times that he called David his son and at other times he tried to kill him!

In any King’s quarter, there are those who will flatter him and try to make themselves look loyal all the while not having a desire to do what is right and just. A great example of this was Haman in the court of King Ahasuerus. Haman seemed to be doing everything for the benefit of the king while he was really trying to feed his own passion and pride by annihilating the Jewish nation.

This situation happens in any sphere of society including the church. Some people are skilled in flattery and have the right answers to every question or issue at hand. There are those who know how to use their words to their own benefit regardless of its negative impact on others. They can influence with their subtle innuendos and create an atmosphere of “us” against “them”. David was very familiar with this; he even experienced this with his own son Absalom trying to take his throne.

Sometimes, those who try to speak the truth or do right get discouraged because it seems like truthful people are diminishing. Elijah experienced this when he was faced with Jezebel. Those kinds of spirits can be vexing on honest and righteous people who seek to do God’s work. The good news is that God sees all things and this psalm gives encouragement to the weary souls in regards to these issues. God will rise up to take care of the poor and the needy!

I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.

Is there an area in your life that you have stopped believing things will change for you? Abraham was in that position, but God renewed Abraham’s faith by renewing his vision.

And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be. Genesis 15:1-5

God spoke to Abraham and told him that the child in his household was going to come from his own flesh and blood. Praise God for the clarity that He brings in the midst of our bewilderment. God gave Abraham more specifics. Now that Abraham’s vision had been renewed through God’s miraculous creation, he could believe the Lord again!

And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Genesis 15:6

God credited Abraham’s belief as righteousness. Abraham didn’t do anything to be considered righteous except believing in the character and the work of God in his life. Abraham didn’t ask “how” or “when”; he just simply believed God.

One of the simple but difficult principles of faith is just believing God without trying to question or understand how He will work things out.

This reminds me of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was a virgin. She was told by the angel that she was going to bring forth a child. As a virgin she could not understand how that was humanly possible. Nevertheless she believed the angel of the Lord, and she conceived baby Jesus:

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. Luke 1:38

God is honored and pleased with us when we believe Him and take Him at His word. It’s important to remind ourselves that our significance is linked to our relationship to Him; it is not tied to His promise but to God’s character. God knows how to bless His children, and we don’t have to look over His shoulder to ensure He stays on task with blessing us.

Today is a day of renewal of God’s vision for our lives. The renewal of the vision will require hearing God clearly, believing His word, and recognizing our helplessness and inability to perform it in our lives. This is the place of simple surrender to His will and His ways. We are available for God to perform what He desires whenever he wishes to do so.

Lord, we ask that you would renew our vision today. We choose to believe you again regarding those areas that we thought are impossible. Let your mighty hand move into our situations and bring forth your great purpose. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”  He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Genesis 15:4-5

God gave a visual lesson about the promise He made to Abraham. There are three things that stand out about this visual lesson.

This lesson was about to change Abraham’s limited vision

After years of waiting, Abraham’s focus had changed from God’s promise to nature’s probability. He had been looking at his old wife and their empty tent, which had led him to lose the vision of God’s greatness and His miraculous power. Therefore, God called him to go outside. Abraham had to leave his familiar tent to go outside and get a renewed vision of how God saw the situation.

Stars are not something that Abraham could create or reproduce

God created the galaxies and the constellations, and they appear at His pleasure. It was God’s desire to give Abraham the promise, and it was His pleasure to accomplish it. Man can do nothing to make the stars appear, and neither could Abraham produce a child. God was going to accomplish this promise, and it was not dependent on Abraham’s or Sarah’s ability.

Abraham could not count the number of stars

What God planned to do in Abraham’s life was going to go beyond his ability to understand, control, or measure! Hallelujah.

In our performance driven culture, Sometimes we  tend to look at God’s promise as a goal to be accomplished. We try to perform in order to achieve or fulfill God’s promise. However, that’s not scriptural. Our partnership with the Lord is not based on accomplishing the promise; it is by being yielded to Him on daily basis.

I love God’s object lessons. From time to time, we need to recapture God’s greatness by spending time and meditating on the amazing and orderly creation He has made. In those moments, God can renew our vision for who He is and what He plans to do in our lives.

Abraham had wealth and servants, but he didn’t have children. Was he going to be a father someday or were his servant’s children going to inherit his wealth?

The promises of God are great and energizing, but after years of not seeing them come into fruition, they can have a way of making us feel stuck. Although, Abraham had a nicely furnished tent, it was cold and empty. Over the years, Abraham and Sarah had prayed, hoped, and obeyed, but in this junction they were full of questions rather than excitement!

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Genesis 15:2-3

Abraham asked a specific question. He wanted to know if he was going to have a child born to him or were his servant’s children going to inherit his wealth. The above scripture reveals Abraham’s faith level and vision for having a child. He seemed relegated to the fact that the promise of having children was not for him but possibly for Eliezer the servant in his household.

Waiting has a way of making us repackage God’s promise in order to understand it. Since the circumstances don’t show anything on the horizon, we tend to reinterpret the promise. This can be a dangerous because it can lead us in the wrong direction. Outwardly it may look like we still have kept the faith, but we are really covering our doubt by trying to reinterpret the promise.

Fortunately, Abraham asked God a question rather than making his own decision about the interpretation of God’s promise. God honored Abraham’s question by giving him a visual lesson.

Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”  He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Genesis 15:4-5

God preached through his creation by taking Abraham outside. Abraham was able to look at the skies and the stars and get a revelation of the vastness of God’s handiwork!

There are a few things we can learn from this visual lesson. I’ll share those lessons in the next devotional.

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”  Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”  And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”  Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”  And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.” Genesis 15:1-7

God spoke to Abraham after he refused to accept the wealth offered by the king of Salem. God told Abraham that He was his shield and his great reward.

This is a foundational truth for all of us. We all may desire various things in life, but our first and foremost priority is to have God’s hand in our lives. He is the ultimate reward. Without His favor and protection we may have much in life, but we will not have peace and security in life. Although, God met the most important need of Abraham, He didn’t stop there.

This reminds me of the story in Genesis 2 when God created everything, and then He created Adam. Adam was in a perfect bliss in his relationship to God. However, God knew that in addition to Adam’s relationship to God, it was good for Adam to have a companion like himself. As a result, God created Eve as a helpmate to Adam. He created Adam & Eve and gave them the mandate to be fruitful and multiply.

Abraham just like Adam was also blessed with much, but there was one thing he lacked. Abraham had no children! It was part of God’s design for a married couple to have children. Additionally, God had already spoken to Abraham in Genesis 12 telling him that He was going to make Abraham a great nation, but after all this time, Abraham still had no children! How was he going to be a great nation if he couldn’t even have one child!? This caused Abraham to have a question about God’s blessing. He wanted to know if having His own children was part of God’s reward to Him. He was looking for a clarification of God’s promise.

Have you ever felt barren in certain areas of your life? Did you used to get excited years ago when you read the scriptures or someone prophesied over you? Has waiting on those promises taken your excitement away? Does it cause you to have more questions rather than excitement? This is where Abraham was.

Abraham asked God to be more specific. He asked the Lord,

… “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

Have you asked the Lord to be more specific with His promises towards you? Pray and ask the Lord to clarify His word to you. This could be an important time to get clarity, so you won’t feel stuck anymore.

I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.

I was in a deliverance teaching a couple of weeks ago. The speaker, a PhD in the field of mental health shared some exciting information with us about a relatively new science. She spoke about “neuroplasticity” which essentially means that our brains can get reprogrammed. In recent years, the medical field has come to the conclusion that while our brains are etched during childhood in a certain way of thinking or activity, they can get retrained later in life. We can change the way we think and the way we behave as adults. Our brains have the capability and the power to be reorganized.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1-2

The new discovery reinforces what the Bible has been telling us for the last 2000 years about our minds having the capacity to be transformed. The world tries to pressure us to conform to its set of reality, but we can overcome the conformity by feeding on the rights thoughts, etching new ways of thinking, and being transformed by the truth of God rather than being regulated by the people or circumstances around us.

We can choose not to be a victim of our circumstances and think differently. Like I shared in my last devotional, the more we practice God’s way of thinking, it will become second nature to us. Science now shows that we can reorganize our thoughts, go on a different way, and develop a new path of thinking and behavior. We don’t have to struggle with the same defeating or negative thoughts for the rest of our lives.

If you would like to find out more the science of neuroplasticity, the link below can provide you with some basic information. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpfYCZa87g