Today Our Daily Bread Luke 1 & John 1:14

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

Luke 1
Luke Writes To Theophilus
1Many people have written about the things that have happened among us. 2Those who saw everything from the first and helped teach the Good News have passed these things on to us. 3Dear Theophilus, I have looked with care into these things from the beginning. I have decided it would be good to write them to you one after the other the way they happened. 4Then you can be sure you know the truth about the things you have been taught.
An Angel Tells Of The Birth Of John The Baptist
5When Herod was king of the country of Judea, there was a Jewish religious leader named Zacharias. He worked for Abijah. His wife was of the family group of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. 6They were right with God and obeyed the Jewish Law and did what the Lord said to do. 7They had no children because Elizabeth was not able to have a child. Both of them were older people.
8Zacharias was doing his work as a religious leader for God. 9The religious leaders were given certain kinds of work to do. Zacharias was chosen to go to the house of God to burn special perfume. 10Many people stood outside praying during the time the special perfume was burning.
11Zacharias saw an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar where the special perfume was burning. 12When he saw the angel, Zacharias was troubled and afraid. 13The angel said to him, "Zacharias, do not be afraid. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to a son. You are to name him John. 14You will be glad and have much joy. Many people will be happy because he is born. 15He will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or any strong drink. Even from his birth, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16Many of the Jews will be turned to the Lord their God by him. 17He will be the one to go in the spirit and power of Elijah before Christ comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children. He will teach those who do not obey to be right with God. He will get people ready for the Lord." (Malachi 4:5-6)

Zacharias Does Not Believe The Angel
18Zacharias said to the angel, "How can I know this for sure? I am old and my wife is old also." 19The angel said to him, "My name is Gabriel. I stand near God. He sent me to talk to you and bring to you this good news. 20See! You will not be able to talk until the day this happens. It is because you did not believe my words. What I said will happen at the right time."
21The people outside were waiting. They were surprised and wondered why Zacharias stayed so long in the house of God. 22When he came out, he could not talk to them. They knew he had seen something special from God while he was in the house of God. He tried to talk to them with his hands but could say nothing. 23When his days of working in the house of God were over, he went to his home.
The Lord Did What He Promised
24Some time later Elizabeth knew she was to become a mother. She kept herself hidden for five months. She said, 25"This is what the Lord has done for me. He has looked on me and has taken away my shame from among men."
Gabriel Speaks To Mary
26Six months after Elizabeth knew she was to become a mother, Gabriel was sent from God to Nazareth. Nazareth was a town in the country of Galilee. 27He went to a woman who had never had a man. Her name was Mary. She was promised in marriage to a man named Joseph. Joseph was of the family of David. 28The angel came to her and said, "You are honored very much. You are a favored woman. The Lord is with you. *You are chosen from among many women."
29When she saw the angel, she was troubled at his words. She thought about what had been said. 30The angel said to her, "Mary, do not be afraid. You have found favor with God. 31See! You are to become a mother and have a Son. You are to give Him the name Jesus. 32He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the place where His early father David sat. 33He will be King over the family of Jacob forever and His nation will have no end."
34Mary said to the angel, "How will this happen? I have never had a man." 35The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come on you. The power of the Most High will cover you. The holy Child you give birth to will be called the Son of God.
36"See, your cousin Elizabeth, as old as she is, is going to give birth to a child. She was not able to have children before, but now she is in her sixth month. 37For God can do all things." 38Then Mary said, "I am willing to be used of the Lord. Let it happen to me as you have said." Then the angel went away from her.
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39At once Mary went from there to a town in the hill country of Judea. 40She went to the house of Zacharias to see Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary speak, the baby moved in her body. At the same time Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42Elizabeth spoke in a loud voice, "You are honored among women! Your Child is honored! 43Why has this happened to me? Why has the mother of my Lord come to me? 44As soon as I heard your voice, the baby in my body moved for joy. 45You are happy because you believed. Everything will happen as the Lord told you it would happen."
Mary's Song Of Thanks
46Then Mary said, "My heart sings with thanks for my Lord. 47And my spirit is happy in God, the One Who saves from the punishment of sin. 48The Lord has looked on me, His servant-girl and one who is not important. But from now on all people will honor me. 49He Who is powerful has done great things for me. His name is holy. 50The loving-kindness of the Lord is given to the people of all times who honor Him. 51He has done powerful works with His arm. He has divided from each other those who have pride in their hearts. 52He has taken rulers down from their thrones. He has put those who are in a place that is not important to a place that is important. 53He has filled those who are hungry with good things. He has sent the rich people away with nothing. 54He has helped Israel His servant. This was done to remember His loving-kindness. 55He promised He would do this to our early fathers and to Abraham and to his family forever." 56Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months. Then she went to her own home.
The Birth Of John The Baptist
57When the time came, Elizabeth gave birth to a son. 58Her neighbors and family heard how the Lord had shown loving-kindness to her. They were happy for her. 59On the eighth day they did the religious act of the Jews on the child. They named him Zacharias, after his father. 60But his mother said, "No! His name is John." 61They said to her, "No one in your family has that name."
62Then they talked to his father with their hands to find out what he would name the child. 63He asked for something to write on. He wrote, "His name is John." They were all surprised and wondered about it. 64Zacharias was able to talk from that time on and he gave thanks to God.
65All those who lived near them were afraid. The news of what had happened was told through all the hill country of Judea. 66And all who heard those words remembered them and said, "What is this child going to be?" For the hand of the Lord was on him.
Zacharias' Song Of Thanks To God
67Zacharias, the father of John, was filled with the Holy Spirit. He told what was going to happen, saying, 68"Let us thank the Lord God of Israel. He has bought His people and made them free. 69He has raised up from the family of David One Who saves people from the punishment of their sins. 70His holy early preachers told us this long ago. 71God told us that we should be saved from those who hate us and from all those who work against us. 72He would show loving-kindness to our early fathers. He would remember His holy promise. 73God promised this to our early father Abraham. 74He promised that we would be saved from those who hate us and that we might worship Him without being afraid. 75We can be holy and right with God all the days of our life.
76"And you, my son, will be the one who speaks for the Most High. For you will go before the Lord to make the way ready for Him. 77You will tell His people how to be saved from the punishment of sin by being forgiven of their sins. 78Because the heart of our God is full of loving-kindness for us, a light from heaven will shine on us. 79It will give light to those who live in darkness and are under the shadow of death. It will lead our feet in the way of peace."
80The child grew and became strong in spirit. He lived in a desert until the day he started to preach to the Jews.
~Lena’s Journalin’~
Whenever I read the word, I try to put myself in the word and ask God how it may apply to me or our world today.
I see Zacharias & Elizabeth as long standing believers in Christ, who have known and followed the Lord for sometime and are living what they’ve known for years. They’ve been “good Christians”, they’ve been faithful and have been committed and their faith walk has been of the enduring kind.
Yet in Christ there is always so much more. We as believers, can never pitch tents where we are in our love walk and journey and stay there. If we do stay in that one awesome place God has finally brought us to, religion begins to set in and what happens then is we do good works or we experience good things with God and we work for Him, but we are barren where His Divine call on the purpose of the earth is concerned. If we do not receive a new view and accept a new thought or a new “move” or a take a new action of faith, the preparation God has to use us for to bring His further purposes to the earth, will not be able to come through us. THAT is a tragedy and one very common to the 21st century American believer.
God is not looking for a people who will literally speak words that say they love Him or believe Him. He’s looking at lives and backup of the integrity of words. God needs a people who will do more than speak. He’s looking for a people who will leave behind the falsities they may have been taught, and the misunderstandings they’ve had even over His word. He’s looking for a people who will take the impossible and live it, allow it to live in them. Elizabeth was barren of anything of God’s Divine plan and scheme, but when God spoke she became a receptor of His preparation for the coming of the revealing of His Son in the earth. We all are also called to become pregnant with God’s purposes.
You know how a woman feels when she wants a child and there is none, when the womb is empt?, THAT is how God feels when the spiritual womb of His church is empty, because His beloved followers are comfy cozy serving Him and having Him serve them. But ya know what? The feeling natural women have is so minute in magnitude compared to how much God’s heart “aches” for a lost and dying world of people that could be in someone’s spiritual womb.
Notice where Zacharias was when he received the word or promise form God? He was at the altar serving the Lord, in the way he’d known to serve and worship Him. In that place the Lord spoke. In that place Zacharias had to choose to continue to do things as he always did or to believe the Lord and become what the Lord called him to be. At that moment he was NOT a father. He could have said,”No Lord, I’m NOT a father…”.but he had an Encounter with the Holy One and came out from there unable to contradict God again, unable to speak out his natural thoughts and fleshly feelings. Truly being in God’s presence and Encountering Him will put anyone in that place who is truly seeking Him.
Ya know How Adam and Eve when they were aware of sin and became participators in it, they saw shame? They hid themselves, tried to cover themselves up? Remember I said Elizabeth was a holy righteous person, a believer? She says here, now that I’m pregnant my shame has been removed! Why would she have shame? We all do, if we are not actively fruitful in God’s kingdom, because He’s called us to be fruitful. The call to fruitfulness is a command, if we are not following after the original call of God, there is disobedience, then sin, then shame, then dread, etc. But notice as soon as she became a participator of that purpose and allowed the purpose of God to manifest in her, all of the dread, shame, guilt, etc. was removed from her, instantly. Now Joy was taking over.
Do you know what the house of Jacob is? A place of deception, a place where sin abounds in the life of a BELIEVER! Jesus will rule in that house! Amen. He didn’t say the house of Israel (which was the other changed by God name of Jacob, He said the HOUSE OF JACOB!)
In our walks with the Lord, are we at a place where we, as Mary, would allow God’s Holy Spirit to come upon us and fill us up and overshadow who we are and allow Him to live in us, and say, “be it unto me as YOU ( Lord Jesus) will it”? Not as I’d want it with all of my limitations and stipulations, but just as You want it? Are we, as Mary, willing to be used of the Lord? As He asks of us, even if it seems an impossibility to us? Or will we as, Zach & Eliza were before this day, only going to allow God to use us in the way we want Him to? When Zach tried to give God an excuse or even question God because of the measure of impossibility, he was silenced by God’s presence.
WOW, I just noticed something here…AFTER the angel (we could say the person God used to tell us what God was saying, the messenger sent by the Lord- in our day it could be anywhere from a TV evangelist to a Pastor, Cell leader, your husband, or even an animal, remember the donkey voice?). It was a messenger bringing a message. That messenger left God’s mandate with Mary and she wholeheartedly received it, the messenger which represented the potency of the spoken and bearing witness word to her, left! He left. The presence of God left. He gave His instruction, made sure she agreed with it, and LEFT. What she did after that was up to her faith and her maintenance of the message and presence of God initiated by this messenger! It would show how much she really believed.
What did Mary do with that word, she was given? She took and planted the seeds of faith in others. She found someone with like mind and fellowshipped the word with her. She proclaimed in agreement it was so. Notice she was able to speak, unlike Zack who was made to be silent. He may have spoken against God’s messengers along the journey, but Mary would confirm the heart and words of God. Which one do we do? When we leave church, or cell, or the fellowship of other believers, what do we do? Do we confirm or complain about the message?
Zach & Eliza, went to the same temple as they’d gone to before, but on this day they did things differently, They named their world differently, when Zach was willing to confirm the word of God, then he was able to speak in this new day and time, for him it was a harder road, than Mary’s, same opportunities, different responses. For some it takes them a few “hard times” to obey and come into saying the same thing that God is saying. Notice it does not have to be so hard, as with anything, we choose to make it hard or not.
Remember Mary’s “song” of praise to the Lord as soon as she received? Well Zach had a song to sing also, but his came a bit later, better later than not at all!
Are you singing a song of agreement with the Lord and His word today? What hasHhe said to you recently, even using donkeys (think about that one- donkey=stubborn ones, fools, someone you may regard as just an animal, just a plain nobody, not an angel to you, but did God sent his message?) Tune in and follow along, He’s got a song for you to sing.

John 1:14 So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. F1 And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.