Devotionals

Moment of Transformation:

☐ Pray for the items listed in your Transformational Journal

☐ Pray for the transformation of the five individuals/families you chose

☐ Pray that your friends will be transformed by Christ’s LOVE

☐ Pray for the transformation of your workplace  

The True Character of God in Christ

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15, RSV.

The enmity referred to in the prophecy in Eden was not to be confined merely to Satan and the Prince of life. It was to be universal. Satan and his angels were to feel the enmity of all mankind. “I will put enmity,” said God, “between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.”

The enmity put between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman was supernatural. With Christ the enmity was in one sense natural; in another sense it was supernatural, as humanity and divinity were combined. And never was the enmity developed to such a marked degree as when Christ became an inhabitant of this earth. Never before had there been a being upon the earth who hated sin with so perfect a hatred as did Christ. He had seen its deceiving, infatuating power upon the holy angels, and all His powers were enlisted against it.

The purity and holiness of Christ, the spotless righteousness of Him who did no sin, was a perpetual reproach upon all sin in a world of sensuality and sin. In His life the light of truth was flashed amid the moral darkness with which Satan had enshrouded the world. Christ exposed Satan’s falsehoods and deceiving character, and in many hearts destroyed his corrupting influence. It was this that stirred Satan with such intense hatred. With his hosts of fallen beings he determined to urge the warfare most vigorously; for there stood in the world One who was a perfect representative of the Father, One whose character and practices refuted Satan’s misrepresentation of God. Satan had charged upon God the attribute he himself possessed. Now in Christ he saw God revealed in His true character—a compassionate, merciful Father, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to Him in repentance, and have eternal life.

Intense worldliness has been one of Satan’s most successful temptations. He designs to keep the hearts and minds of men so engrossed with worldly attractions that there will be no room for heavenly things. He controls their minds in their love of the world. Earthly things eclipse the heavenly, and put the Lord out of their sight and understanding….

Satan reached only the heel; he could not touch the head. At the death of Christ, Satan saw that he was defeated. He saw that his true character was clearly revealed before all heaven, and that the heavenly beings and the worlds that God had created would be wholly on the side of God…. Christ’s humanity would demonstrate for eternal ages the question which settled the controversy.

Ellen G. White, Lift Him Up, p. 28 – January 14

Quote of the Day “Our problem is this: we usually discover Him within some denominational or Christian ghetto. We meet Him in a province and, having caught some little view, we paint Him in smaller strokes. The Lion of Judah is reduced to something kittenish because our understanding cannot, at first, write larger definitions.” Calvin Miller

Did You Know?

Jesus Christ is described as Son of David, Son of Man and Son of God. His sonship speaks of His divinity and humanity and is closely associated with His role as promised Messiah, suffering Saviour, risen Lord and coming judge and king.

Going Deeper

By His words and practice, Jesus himself changed the content of the word “God.” If we do not allow Him to change our image of God, we will not be able to say that He is our Lord and our God. To choose Him as our God is to make Him the source of our information about divinity and to refuse to superimpose upon Him our own ideas of divinity. This is the meaning of the traditional assertion that Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus reveals God to us; God does not reveal Jesus to us.… We cannot deduce anything about Jesus from what we think we know about God; we must deduce everything about God from what we do know about Jesus.… To say that Jesus is divine does not change our understanding of Jesus; it changes our understanding of divinity.

Albert Nolan, Jesus Before Christianity (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1978), 165–67.

Question…

Where was the promised Saviour to be born? Micah 5:2

 This Week’s Homework

1. Memorize: “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2 NASB
2. Choose five individuals/families to pray for.