Day 65 - Issue 35
READ: Luke 2:19 NLT Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. This sentence in Luke is what I would call a piece of considerable understatement. Mary, who was probably a teenager and who almost certainly knew very little...
Day 64 - Issue 35
READ: Luke 2:16-18 NLT The shepherds “hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child....
Day 63 - Issue 35
READ: Luke 2:8-9 NLT That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. Of all the many surprises in...
Day 62 - Issue 35
READ: Luke 2:5-7 NLT 'Mary gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.' In a few brief verses Luke summarizes the birth of Jesus. Brief as they...
Day 61 - Issue 35
READ: Luke 2:1-3 NLT 'At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to re...
Day 60 - Issue 35
READ: Luke 1:76-77 NLT 'And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins.' Have you ever lost your voi...
Day 59 - Issue 35
READ: Luke 1:51-53 NLT His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away wit...
Day 58 - Issue 35
READ: Luke 1:46-49 NLT Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he...
Day 57 - Issue 35
READ: Luke 1:38 NLT Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” We know the story of Jesus’ miraculous birth so well that no part of it is a surprise to us. So we’ve really got to work hard to imagine...
Day 56 - Issue 35
READ: Luke 1:13-15 NLT The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he...
Day 55 - Issue 35
READ: Psalm 40:9-10 NLT 'I have told all your people about your justice. I have not been afraid to speak out, as you, O Lord, well know. I have not kept the good news of your justice hidden in my heart; I have talked about your faithfulness and savi...
Day 54 - Issue 35
READ: Psalm 39:4-5 NLT 'Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered— how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best,...
Day 53 - Issue 35
READ: Psalm 38:4-9 NLT 'My guilt overwhelms me—it is a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins. I am bent over and racked with pain. All day long I walk around filled with grief. A raging fever burns within me...
Day 52 - Issue 35
READ: 1 Corinthians 1:10-11 NLT 'We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have lived with a God-given holiness and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God’s grace, not on our own human wisdom. That is how we have cond...
Day 51 - Issue 35
READ: 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 NLT 'We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through...