Dear Friends,
We had Christmas play practice after Sunday worship, there were many characters in the play including, Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, Sheep, Star, Angels, Shepherds, King Herod, Magi, Simeon, Anna Prophetess etc. Out of all these, Joseph character caught my attention during this Christmas Advent season. I request everyone to take few minutes to meditate on this righteous man Joseph. Mathew 1:20 ,"An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph son of David, do not afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit, verse 24, "when Joseph woke up he did what angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary home as his wife." As I started to meditate more on this Joseph, I have learnt following characters from him.
Complete Obedience:When angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, he never doubted or questioned the authority of God's power. When an angel of the lord appeared to Zachariah, father of John the Baptist, he doubted God's power in the beginning. Even Abraham's wife, Sarah doubted God's authority in her life. But to my surprise, I found Joseph as a depending and yielding servant to Gods commands, Joseph did exactly what the angel of the lord commanded. How many times, we doubted Gods mighty power in midst of our proud confident situations???
Constant walk with God:Mathew 2:13, "an angel of the lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, Get up, he said, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you". This confirms that Joseph has a constant walk and faith in our Lord. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph first time, he was a bachelor, obeyed to take Mary as his wife, now he is a earthly human father to baby Jesus, yet he maintained his obedience to His Lord still. In the beginning of our salvation period, we depend our Lord for everything and obey to His each and every command and go to His presence more often, but when days pass by, years pass by, we slowly revert or put some speed breaks in our spiritual life. Our pride pops up sometimes, which leads to doubt His faithful calling. But Joseph, may be after 2-3 years of Jesus birth, he still maintained his obedience to our Lord. We see angels command to be little straight forward and there is no room for Joseph to think or give his opinion. Are you ready to walk constantly with HIM? If so, ask God's power to empower your walk in the year 2009.
Discerning God's Voice: Mathew 2:19, "an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel." This is the third time, angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, Joseph was in Egypt this time, but still able to discern God's voice in his life. My imaginations traveled like this. In the beginning, it was easy for Joseph to follow God's command to take Mary as his wife, because he was in prime youth, looking forward to settle in a life. Second time, Joseph followed God's command to make sure, he and his family is out of danger, but this time in Egypt, when God's angel commanded, Joseph had nothing to say except to obey with whole heart.If Lot was in that place, he should have given his option to escape to the nearby places instead to the land of Israel. I think, Joseph was just right to his righteousness. He never allowed his flesh to dominate in any of these times. He maintained his service constantly to our Lord through out his life.
May the God of almighty rule everyone's heart with HIS Devine peace and prosperity during this Christmas season?
Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a joyful blessed New Year 2009.
Love and Prayers
