The Angels

Prayer Practice

Breath Prayer – Take 2-3 minutes today to pray a simple breath prayer. Get somewhere quiet and relaxing. Breathe in deeply, and then breathe out fully. As you breathe in, ask God to fill you with His presence, grace, love, peace, etc. Consider using the list of spiritual fruit in Galatians 5:22-23. As you breathe out, offer to God the things you need Him to take from you – sin, doubt, shame, anxiety, fear, etc. Pray this way for just a few minutes, trusting God to work, and then begin reading today’s Scripture.

Study the Scripture

Read in  Luke 2:15-20

 For more help use this Bible Study method

REFLECTION

by Mary McGinnis

When we read about Angels in the scriptures, they either bring words of condemnation and warning, or words of hope! During the Exodus, God used the Angel of Death to kill all the firstborn of those whose doorposts were not covered with lamb’s blood. 

On the night Jesus was born, the Angels proclaimed GOOD NEWS, glad tidings of great joy! Peace on earth, goodwill to men. What do you think it meant to the Angels to witness the unfolding of God’s plan of love for the world that night?

It was such a rare occasion that their celebration lit up the night sky with the brightness of their ecstatic joy and filled the air with their praises. 

What were the reactions to the Angels' glorious announcement? 

The Shepherds recognized that this news came from the LORD.  They were not words of condemnation, but that God had fulfilled this night all that He had promised. He would send a Savior!

They went to see for themselves. In sharp contrast to the Angelic announcement, they found the Savior of all, God’s only Son, had been born, quietly in a humble stable, laying in a feeding trough. God loves to display His glory in the most unlikely packages!

Seeing, the Shepherds immediately went about joyfully telling others about what they had seen and heard.

Then they returned with joy, glorifying and praising God.

Mary’s reaction? She treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Many scholars believe as a result of her ponderings, we now have the book of Luke in Scripture.

Here is the good news, the glad tidings, of peace goodwill toward men!

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. John 3:17

What is your reaction to the Angelic message of the LORD of GOOD NEWS? What does it mean to you that God broke into this broken world and was born for YOU? Remember, God does His best work displaying His glory through the most unlikely packages. He allowed His son to be born as an infant born in a stable. And He spread His message through the likes of the Shepherds on the margins of society, and even through the quiet ponderings of a simple, humble, young teenage girl.  

How is God leading You to share this message of hope and joy to those around you, whom God came to save? 

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 2 Corinthians 4:7