Luke 4:1

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Encouraging Words

When we were baptized and chrismated with the holy oil, we were filled with the Holy Spirit just as Jesus was when He was baptized in the Jordan river. And just as Jesus followed that experience by being led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to begin His life as a worker for God, so too, do we get led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness of the world for the remainder of our days. At this point in our journey through life, we are no longer a citizen of this world, but we are citizens of heaven acting as ambassadors for God in this world. We can live each day, each moment, knowing that our true home is in heaven with our Lord. We can know that His heavenly kingdom was ushered into existence on the first Pascha when He destroyed the gates of hell and the hold that death had on us. We are no longer subject to the principalities of this earthly realm because we belong to the family of the living, and life-giving God. Glory be to God!

Psalms 62:1-2 (63:2-3 LXX)

O God, my God, I rise early to be with You;
My soul thirsts for You.
How often my flesh thirsts for You
In a desolate, impassable, and waterless land.

Encouraging Words

Our world that we live in can quickly become a desolate, impassable, and waterless land. Life can be difficult. And sometimes this difficulty feels like it lasts forever. Praise God that we can turn to Him to provide for our needs at all times, whether in prosperity or desolation, in times where all paths seem to be smooth and straight or just plain impassable, whether they be lush and full of green pastures or barren and waterless. My God, our God, is there for as always. He is always ready to meet our needs, in ways that we can never imagine and in abundance that we cannot conceive of. So why would I not rise up early to be with Him? Why would I not keep Him ever present on my thoughts
and prayers throughout the day? Why would I choose to let the busyness of life come between Him and me? To break these obstructions I must develop a hunger and a thirst for Him that permeates my entire being. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Today we participate in the death of our Lord. Today we see Him hang on the cross. Today we wept as our brothers and sisters before us, as we grieve over the humiliation of our God! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Today, the Thursday before Pascha (Easter) we are reminded of Jesus’ last full night alive. A night full of agony and betrayal. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Tobit 4:16 (LXX)

From your bread, give to him who is hungry, and from your clothing, give to the naked. If you have more than you need, do almsgiving, and do not let your eye envy the almsgiving when you do it.

Personal Challenge

As we proceed through our final days of anticipation of our Lords’ death, burial, and resurrection, I am reminded by this verse in Tobit that one of our primary missions in life should be almsgiving. Isn’t this what Jesus did when He gave up His place is the heavenly realms to become man and give His life for us? Did He not come to us and feed our great hunger for a relationship with the living God? Did He not come to us and clothe us who were naked with His cloak of righteousness? This is what He asks us to do with the abundance that we have. He asks that we share with those in need and do it joyfully. Glory be to God!

Luke 3:21-22

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

Encouraging Words

Jesus was amongst us as fully man and fully God. However, as a human being, He did one significant thing that was different than all of the rest of us. He chose, by His own human free will to not sin. So, if He was sinless, then why was He baptized, which at that time represented repentance from sins committed? The early church fathers have a myriad of reasons why Jesus did this, but one that stands out to me is the one that Jesus entered into the waters in order to redeem them and make them holy again. God created all to be holy and righteous. But when Adam and Eve sinned, all of creation was corrupted. Water is our life blood, Nothing can survive without it. When Jesus entered into the waters of the Jordan to be baptized, we believe that He reclaimed both the water and all of creation that is nourished by it, once again as God’s holy and righteous creation. He began the process of ushering Gods’ kingdom of heaven back into existence. Glory be to God!

Psalms 61:8 (60:9 LXX)

So I will sing praise to Your name unto ages of ages,
That I may pay my vows day to day.

Encouraging Words

Why would I consider a verse about singing praises to my God as encouraging words? It is because of the ages to ages part. As a child of the Living God, I believe that I will be blessed to spend eternity with Him. Throughout eternity I will have the privilege of being able to sing praises to Him unto ages of ages, or forever. Glory be to God.

Tobit 4:5-7

My son, remember the Lord our God all your days, and do not desire to sin or to disobey His commandments. Do righteousness all the days of your life, and do not walk in the ways of wrongdoing. For if you walk in the truth, you will be successful in your works. Do almsgiving from your possessions to all who do righteousness. When you do almsgiving, do not let your eye be envious. Do not turn your face away from any poor man, so the face of God will not be turned away from you.

Personal Challenge

Here we find Tobit giving his son, Tobias, wonderful advice on how to grow into manhood. He is getting ready to send Tobias back to the land of his ancestors so that he can find a wife from amongst his kinspeople. This advice works just as well for all of us today if we desire to live godly and righteous lives. It all begins by remembering our God every.day that we are alive and desiring Him more than the things of the world. With that as our foundation then we should avoid the pathways of the world and walk in the pathways of Gods truths. We follow this by constantly practicing almsgiving and taking care of those who are in more need than ourselves. We do all of this out of the gratefulness of our hearts for what the Lord has done for us and not begrudgingly. This is how we can live a life where we continually see the face of our God. Glory be to Him!

Luke 2:52

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Encouraging Words

There is so much about Jesus that is truly a mystery to mankind. I am so thankful that I belong to a church that is comfortable with these mysteries and that does not believe we need to be able to intellectually on scientifically explain everything away, We accept that there are mysteries that only God has the answer to and that is why He is God and we are not. This is one of those mysteries. Jesus is fully God and He is fully man. If God knows everything, then how could Jesus grow in wisdom? If He is all powerful, then how could He grow in stature? If He is God, then how could He grow in favor with Himself? Here is how my study Bible explains it…

That Jesus grew and became strong in spirit does not imply that He was lacking divine perfection at any time. Rather, it indicates that in emptying Himself and assuming human nature (Philippians 2:7), He freely subjected Himself to human development and expression.

Being fully human, Jesus had to be born, He had to grow up, He had to experience life as all of us do, in order to truly rescue us from death. He made it possible for us to follow in His footsteps and to live sinless lives as well. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!