Genesis 5-8; Luke 2

I have a friend and we enjoy a lunch at least once a month.  Our lunch is always filled with stories of what our life has been experiencing and catching up on how and what needs to be put in the front burner of our prayer life.  After lunch, we walk. It does not matter where, we just walk.  When we walk, we talk non-stop. Crazy for two men to be talking so much but we both love Jesus and we both take time to bring Jesus into our discussions that we had over lunch. Sometimes I think that is what Jesus did too.  I know He walks with us.

I loved the story of Enoch walking with God.

Enoch walked with God^[b] after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.Enoch walked with God, and he was not,^[c] for God took him.       Genesis 5:22-24  ESV

I am challenged more than I thought I would be on Noah’s walk with God. There is no way Noah could have done what he had to do if he did not. I loved how the Genesis author wrote this verse —

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. – Genesis 6:8  ESV

Noah was not alone, the favour of God was on him.  That is the prayer my friend and I pray often.  I know that I cannot do what God wants me to do without His favour.

As the Christmas season has just passed, I pushed through to the last portion of Luke 2 to rediscover some truths about Jesus’ childhood.

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.  And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. – Luke 2:39-40  ESV

As a disciple of Jesus, I pray that I may look for and find lessons as to how I can learn and grow in spiritual maturity too.   This is my prayer —

Father, the testimonies of Enoch and Noah have inspired me once again.  I loved the encouragement to walk with You and I want to walk with You. Both Noah and Jesus have the added words that Your favour was upon them. I ask humbly, that as I walk with You, may Your favour be upon me as well. May I find myself being filled with wisdom and walking with confidence and strength in my faith in You. Amen.

Erwin (evanlaar1922)

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Numbers 33; Psalm 78:1-37; Isaiah 25; 1 John 3

Children are so important.  It does not matter what age of the world we look into, children play an incredible role as we see them as a gift to our families.  When I think of the one and final plague in Egypt – the one that finally turned Pharaoh decision – it was the loss of every family’s first born.

They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the passover the Israelites went out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them. – Numbers 33:3-4 NRSV

Being a Christian Education Coordinator in my church helped me focus on the children and their families.  It was there that I learned how weak our education perspective was compared to other faith traditions.   I spent 17 hours a year with my kids in direct biblical education while the others were closer to 400 and 600 hours.  I lot of that had to do with traditional celebration periods, but still, it was engagement with God’s Word.  So it is no surprise to see this call to action in the Psalms —

He established a decree in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children; that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and rise up and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their ancestors, stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. – Psalm 78:5-8 NRSV

Here I am today – I am called a child of God.  I know I need to spend time getting to know my Father.  This world is not where my hope lies, it lies with my Him.

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he[a] is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. – 1 John 3:1-3 NRSV

My prayer today is similar to the one Isaiah prayed —

O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. – Isaiah 25:1

As Your child Lord, I yield myself into Your hands that you may shape me and mold me and then may I be used by You to glorify Your name. Amen.

evanlaar