UNSTOPPABLE CHRISTMAS BREAKTHROUGHS

Tribe Recap of December 3, 2017 | Luke 1

Luke the physician, was a careful observer and investigator of the wondrous things God did while Jesus was on earth, and afterward he recorded the apostles’ adventure with the Holy Spirit.

He watched, he listened, he asked questions, he thought, and finally, he wrote down the great things God did.  Are we writing down what God is doing in our lives?  How can we celebrate God’s movement and see that he is faithful after all if we don’t record it?  If Luke did not write down the works of God we would not have the books of Luke and Acts.  Get a journal, keep it with your Bible, and write down what this miracle working God is doing in your life and family.

Luke tells us about Zacharias and Elizabeth in chapter one.  In verse 6 the scripture tells us that they were both righteous and blameless.  In verse 7 we learn that Elizabeth was barren.  Do not underestimate the difficulty in being barren for Zacharias and Elizabeth – how they must have been judged as deserving it somehow, how they must have judged themselves!

And yet, they were blameless.  The brokenness and pain of this world is often due simply to the fallen nature of our environment.  Your sickness, your disappointment, your struggle, is not a punishment from God.  He sees you through the righteousness of Jesus and you are warring through the crossfire of the broken pieces of our fallen world.  You might be barren, but you are also blameless.

But the adventure does not leave Zacharias and Elizabeth there!  Long after they probably stopped praying and believing for a child, the angel Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, visited Zacharias.   There in the presence of spectacular supernatural visitation Zacharias could still not believe God would answer his prayer, but Gabriel told him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard.” Believe it! God hears your prayer! - even the one you have stopped praying for and no longer believe in.

So pray!  Pray for that which burns in your heart.  Your Father in heaven hears what you are saying and is carefully taking notes in his books about what you ask for and struggle with.  Even if you are not journaling about him, he is journaling about you!  And even when we have given up, his break through is still on the way.

Jesus would enter a world that did not understand or appreciate him, he, the breakthrough of all humanity would not be stopped from coming at the perfect time.  Yahweh’s Christmas breakthroughs as it turns out, are unstoppable.  You serve an unstoppable God who wants to bless you with an unstoppable breakthrough.  So pray to this Father who loves you with an affection overwhelming to the understanding of man, and you may find, an unstoppable Christmas breakthrough.