#2 When Heaven met Earth
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Obedience Brings Heaven To Earth
Obedience Brings Heaven To Earth
Joseph and Mary are pivotal to the arrival of Jesus on earth. Mary provided a temporary home for Jesus in her womb while Joseph provided safety and stability to this family.
The common thread that holds Jesus’ parents is their unequivocal obedience to God.
They didn’t ask questions of the angel who appeared to them. They didn’t operate with doubt.
They accepted their mission and walked it out in simple obedience. These situations were less than ideal.
Think about it: an unwed mother who is told she will get pregnant because of the power of the Holy Spirit overshadowing her.
An engaged man asked to marry a pregnant fiancé and was directed by dreams to move from city to city to protect a child who wasn’t biologically his.
In the midst of a disrupted life, they chose to obey God again and again.
In our lives, God will ask us to do certain things, go certain places, say certain words and live a certain way in order to bring Him glory and make us a blessing to many.
If our senses are not tuned to his voice, his leading and his presence we could go off-track and off mission.
When we decide to follow Christ, we need to forge into our hearts the trait of obedience because it is in obedience to Him, that God delights.
He tests our hearts to see if our obedience is immediate and implicit.
How obedient have you been to the Lord?
Have you been having a hard time hearing him speak to you?
Will you quieten yourself to hear him and then ready yourself to obey him?
Luke 1:26-38
Matthew 1:18-25
22 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
Godly Expectation Brings Heaven To Earth
Godly Expectation Brings Heaven To Earth
Imagine living your entire life in expectation of seeing someone who could change a nation’s trajectory just with his birth?
That was how Simeon and Anna lived.
Simeon, an old man, was waiting for the Saviour who was promised by the prophets to rescue and restore Israel.
Anna, a prophetess and a widow for eighty-four years was at the temple, praying and worshipping.
On seeing Jesus, she prophesied over him to all those who were also waiting for the liberation of Israel.
What was common to Simeon and Anna was the expectancy with which they lived their lives. It was no ordinary expectation but a godly one.
We know that this expectation was a godly one because they didn’t give up mid-way, nor did they lose the strength of their belief.
The Holy Spirit had instructed them consistently during all those years of waiting.
On the day that eight-day old Jesus was brought into the temple, the Holy Spirit again directed them straight to Him. What a beautiful moment that must have been for Simeon and Anna to see what they had waited for all those years.
All of us are in one wait or another. Maybe it’s for that promised child, future spouse, physical healing or financial breakthrough.
Irrespective of the kind of wait, waiting is not easy. Waiting is not pleasant. Waiting is tiring.
When we bring the Holy Spirit into our wait, something shifts.
The burden for its fulfilment is no longer on us.
The tension of the wait becomes sweet as we see God order things in preparation. We start seeing his provision while sensing his direction, all the while knowing that His appointed time and precious promises won’t disappoint.
Have you been struggling to wait?
Will you invite the Holy Spirit in, so that you begin to wait with Godly expectation?
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.
26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.
27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,
28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.
34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against,
35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,
37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.