And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. – Luke 2:8 (NIV)

Another interesting group of people in the Christmas story were the shepherds. Can you imagine being hard at work, watching sheep, maybe getting ready to sleep for the night and then having angels show up and talk to you?

These shepherds undoubtedly were taken off guard. That night probably had started off like any other night, and yet ended in such a dramatic and glorious way. Angels appeared to them and told them that Jesus had been born.

After hearing and seeing the angels, the shepherds had a choice to make. They could have thought, man, I can’t really leave my sheep here. I’m in charge of watching and taking care of them. Who knows what might happen to them if I simply leave. And they might have talked themselves out of being a part of the Christmas story. They could have found some really good reasons not to leave their sheep and to simply ignore the fact that the lamb of God had been born.

Instead, they listened to the angels and obeyed. They went looking earnestly for Jesus.

How about you? How do you respond when God asks you to do something? Do you find all the reasons why it doesn’t make sense to follow God? Or think that following God is something you’ll do when you’re older?

What would happen if you decided to instantly obey God’s leading and do what He is prompting you to do? How would your world be changed?

Challenge yourself to obey right away when God speaks to you. Don’t find reasons why you can’t do it. Instead, obey, and know that God will take care of you.

Today’s Truth: Obey, knowing God will take care of you.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. – Luke 2:19 (NIV)

The Christmas season is coming upon us, and with that, we thought it might be fun to take a look at some of the characters in the Christmas story. Who were they and what can we learn from them?

Today we’re going to look at Mary. Mary was chosen by God to be the mother of Jesus. There were lots of women at the time that God could have chosen. Yet, something about Mary was special. Could it be that she was tender toward the things of God? Or perhaps that she heard God’s voice and was quick to obey it?

It also says in today’s verse that Mary treasured these things and pondered them in her heart. She heard God speak, and didn’t forget it, or ignore it. Instead, she made room for God in her life. She thought about what He had spoken to her. It was probably this sensitivity to the things of God that helped God choose her to impact the world.

So how about you? Are you sensitive to the things of God? When God speaks, are you willing and ready to obey? What if like Mary, it costs you something? Mary probably knew that it might cost her a future marriage, it would make her friends and relatives question her character. And yet, she chose to say yes to God.

Take some time this Christmas season to prepare your heart. Determine to be like Mary and be ready to say yes to God no matter what it costs you.

Today’s Truth: Prepare your heart to say “yes” to God.

God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation. – Hebrews 2:10 (NLT)

God loves relationships. He wanted a family, so He did whatever was necessary to bring others into His family. That’s good news for you! It means that God wanted you.

He wanted a relationship with you and that you’ll only find true happiness and true purpose in Him.

You’ll never find true happiness in other people, things or possessions. True happiness and sense of purpose come from a relationship with God.

Today’s Truth: True Happiness comes out of a relationship with God.

So remind yourself today that your value comes from God. Your purpose comes from God. In God, you find the love that your heart desires. Through a relationship with God, you can find all of the things you need to succeed in life.

You enter into the family of God by faith in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:8-9). So today take a moment to thank God for bringing you into His family through Jesus. Thank God for His salvation and the fact that we are now able to have a relationship with Him.

Early the next morning the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and said, “Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.” – 2 Chronicles 20:20 (NLT)

Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Maybe you’re scared about not getting into the right college, or fearful that your parents aren’t doing well financially. Or perhaps there’s something else causing you to fear. All those things can feel bigger than you and leave you feeling helpless and alone.

In 2 Chronicles 20:20, we see that Judah and Jerusalem were surrounded by a big army. Can you imagine how that must have felt? There was a huge army coming to kill them and fight against them. They probably felt scared and alone and hopeless.

Here’s the great thing. In this scripture we see that they were asked to put their trust and belief in God and they would succeed. God had planned to have the armies fight against each other and give Jehoshaphat a victory.

God wants to do the same for you. He wants to help defeat the scary things that you face. We simply have to trust God and believe in Him and His goodness.

So instead of being scared of what you see around you, choose to put your faith in Jesus. Choose to trust Him and believe that He will see you through whatever you’re facing. If you do, God can work amazing things on your behalf. He’s able to do amazing things if you’ll trust and ask Him.

They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; ⁵ they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” – Numbers 21:4-5 (NIV)

It’s so easy to read through Numbers and not understand why the Israelites were such complainers. I’ve read it before and thought, why are you complaining? Don’t you know in 3 or 4 pages later in the Bible you get to enter the promised land? Seriously…why are you complaining.

And then it hit me. They didn’t know. They didn’t know that in three pages they were going into the promised land. All they knew was they weren’t where they wanted to be yet. And they had no idea how long it was going to take to get there.

They experienced lots of set backs. And they obviously felt discouraged and became impatient.

And honestly, I do too. I often wonder how long is it going to be God? How long do I have to remain patient? How long until I see results in my own life?

So what can we learn from Israel? I think the lesson from this passage is that it’s really all about trust. We have to trust God. We have to trust that He is going to bring us to where we want to be. But that takes faith. Because a lot of the time we don’t see when or how it’s going to happen.

Many times we have to be patient when we don’t see the promises coming to pass yet in our lives. We have to be patient in the midst of situations that aren’t exactly going the way we would choose. That takes faith and character. We have to keep our eyes on Jesus and see Him and the promises in the Word as more real that what we see going on around us.

Ask yourself today, am I being patient? Have I allowed myself to become discouraged with the setbacks that I’ve faced? And if so, ask God’s help. Ask Him to help you stay encouraged.

Today’s Truth: We have to see Jesus as more real than what is going on around us.