Born Thy People to Deliver Day 27
Open Your Bible
1 Samuel 16:1-13, Matthew 1:18-25, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
BY Kia Stephens
When I was an ambitious twenty-year-old, fresh out of college, I hired a life coach to help me create a life statement. This document included my vision, mission, core values, and short- and long-term goals. My little optimistic and naive heart was full of big plans for my life. I was focused on my perceived strengths, and what I believed I could do and become in this world.
Every year around this season, I sit down and read the plan I penned in my early twenties. Much of what I wanted to accomplish has yet to manifest. I am no longer the naive twenty-something-year-old woman. My hair has added a few gray strands and my heart has tasted disappointment in ways I never thought I would.
My life has not gone how I expected it to, but God has made it unexpectedly beautiful. What I didn’t know in my twenties that I know now is that God’s plan for humanity is far greater than anything we could create on our own. His master plan is a love story that entails the relentless pursuit of a broken and sinful people.
In today’s reading, the apostle Paul reminds us of this truth in 1 Corinthians 1:26–31. God did not come for the self-sufficient or the perfect. He did not leave heaven and come to earth for those who had everything together. He came for the foolish, the weak, and the lowly. He came for people in need of a Savior: people like me.
When Christ Jesus entered the scene, He did not come as one would expect a king to arrive. He clothed himself in flesh and embraced a lowly beginning. He was an unlikely king. Fourteen generations before Jesus, David was also seen as an unlikely ruler. In 1 Samuel 16:1–13, we see that he was overlooked by his earthly father. He was considered unlikely to be the next king by men but not by God.
It was not David’s appearance that qualified him. The Lord reminded the prophet, Samuel, just as He reminds us all that He is not concerned with our outward appearance. He is concerned with our hearts. This was the case for David, and this is the case for you and me. Jesus, our unlikely deliverer, came for us, an unlikely people, to save us from our sins and to transform our hearts.
64 thoughts on "Born Thy People to Deliver Day 27"
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My friend Abbey who I asked prayer for – went home to the Lord Dec. 23rd at midnight after a two month battle with cancer. It was extremely quick. She leaves behind two twin 15 year old boys. I had not seen Abbey in a few years and this morning I asked why Lord why? He reminded me that sometimes our death is quick sometimes we are taken in a blink of an eye but Abbey had two months to love on her boys to prepare them for her to die. We never know when our end on this planet is. Abbey knew Jesus- she is home in heaven today! At Jesus feet this Christmas Eve! Pray for her family!
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I’m struck by the obedience of Samuel and Joseph in these passages. May I trust that God’s ways are better than my ways and obey when he speaks. Merry Christmas Shes! ❤️
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“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. ” — Jeremiah 29:11 — i, too, look back at my life in my 20’s and see how my plans were no where near what the Lord had in store for my life. I thought I had it all “figured out” and very quickly I realized that my original plans were no where near where my life ended up, and I am 1000% thankful that the Lord showed me HIS direction for my life. His plans have led me to finding more mean and purpose. The Lord has taught me patience and brought me out of life’s challenges with a sense of renewal and brought me closer to him. I firmly believe that I went through some of my hardest challenges in life for a reason. As someone who is now in my early 30s, I look back and I realized that everything I went through was to experience that brought my closer to the Lord. He showed his love and mercy to me through it all, and because of that I continue to have faith in Him.
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Merry, Merry Christmas, Shes ♥️
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“My life has not gone how I expected it to, but God has made it unexpectedly beautiful”
I love this; it’s so true for me! Not at all where I expected I’d be; but through ups and downs, God has been there through it all.
Wishing you all a beautiful time on Christmas Day, surrounded by those you love.
Praying for those who have a difficult time during Christmas.
Love to you all! -
Another devotional that hits me right in the heart. My life has not gone at all the way I thought it would back in my teens and early 20s. But I trust God and His master plan. ♥️
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