I Commend Joy!

Q is for Questions And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” Luke 1:18 Sometimes we ask God questions because we don’t understand how he could do something impossible. Mary asked a question like this because she didn’t know [...]

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P is for Power And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” Luke 1:35 The phrase in this verse upon which we are focusing, the power of the [...]

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O is for Only One And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men [...]

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N is for Names For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Is. 9:6 Names have a different significance today than they have in other contexts and [...]

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M is for Manger And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7 One of my favorite Christmas books (and plays) is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson. It’s the [...]

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L is for Lamb The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29 John the Baptizer uttered this phrase the first recorded time that he saw Jesus. He might have seen Jesus before, but these are the first [...]

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K is for King Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king… Matt. 2:1 Herod was a fairly powerful and cruel king of the Jews for more than 30 years, including the time in which Jesus was born. Matthew mentions him in his gospel for a couple [...]

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J is for Joseph But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you [...]

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I is for Incarnation And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Luke 2:12 Our “I” word for today, incarnation, is a very important word. Although this word doesn’t occur in the Bible, incarnation is used to describe what God did [...]

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H is for Holy And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” Luke 1:35 When I was young, our family used to pray a prayer at mealtime that [...]

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