Thought for Friday 29 December

John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” so read the American astronauts – Andres, Lovell and Borman as they gazed in Awe at the earth from their orbit around the moon on Christmas Eve 1968. These three men experienced a deep conviction that what they saw could only be explained by supernatural creation and design.

So many people these days deny God exists. They try to convince others of this by saying the world was created by ‘the big bang’, even some who profess to be Christian are beginning to subscribe to this idea. They do not seem to understand the thinking that nothing can be created by nothing.

If you have nothing to start with, what are you going to use as material to create something? When I think too deeply about this, I confuse myself. Thankfully we do not need to think too deeply about it, we know how and by whom the world (universe) was made.

We know that God spoke and through His word all things were made. We also know that Jesus was the word of God, the second person of the triune God. We also know that when Jesus went to the Roman cross, He took our sins with Him to redeem us from the penalty of those sins. After Jesus’ resurrection He was seen by many people before ascending to His heavenly throne, returning to His Father God.

Thankfully when Jesus returned to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to continue the work started by Jesus. The Spirit continues to teach and guide us as Jesus did. He also is the comforter and prayer partner to us when we cannot find words to express our deepest thoughts. The Spirit can speak to God using words that we do not know, nor could we utter them if we did know them.

We are most fortunate that we have one God who can understand everything we could experience as humans.

The Father is not the Son or the Spirit, the Son is not the Father or the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father or the Son. There is only one God and He is able to see into our hearts and minds, by the very nature of God He is in every part of our being, as a Father, He knows us from before our birth. As our Brother He knows us as our protector and as the Spirit of the Father He lives in and through us in truth and light.

 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we come to You with thanks for the gift You gave us. Not only did You give us life, but You gave us Your Son to give us every opportunity to accept Your offer of eternal life through Jesus. We know we are weak and sinful, but You knew us before we knew what sin was and still You loved us with love that surpasses all human understanding. Help us, Lord God, to behave as Jesus taught when He was teaching His disciples, so that we will never bring shame on Your name. Help us to turn to Your Holy Spirit when we are troubled and cannot pray as we should. The world needs so many prayers, and it is hard at times to know best what to say. We come to You in Jesus precious name, amen.