Category: Memory Verse

“If you would hearken to My commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea.” –Isaiah 48:18 Christmas, like life, is a matter of obedience. If we obey the Lord’s commands, we will become prosperous, vindicated, blessed, and assured this Christmas (Is 48:18-19). However, we are often like rebellious, disobedient children who want to give orders rather than take them (Mt 11:16-17). We must repent of this self-willed, disobedient attitude or we will deprive ourselves of Christmas and even of Christ. At the first Christmas, the Lord gave His commands to Mary...

“To whom can you liken Me as an equal? says the Holy One.” –Isaiah 40:25 No one equals God in anything. Consider God’s strength; He is unequaled in strength. Almighty God is so strong that He made and sustains the billions and billions of stars which span light-years in space (Is 40:26). Almighty God is willing to share His unlimited strength with us. “He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak He makes vigor abound” (Is 40:29). When God strengthens old or weak people, they can outrun, outwork, and outlast young folks. Those who let God renew their strength...

“Comfort, give comfort to My people, says your God.” –Isaiah 40:1 The Lord commanded His heavenly court to give comfort to His people on earth. This “comfort” does not mean feeling good and indulging in “creature comforts,” but being freed from slavery to a pleasure-seeking lifestyle (see Is 40:2). God’s comfort is not an exterior gratification of the senses but an interior freedom from sin and guilt (Is 40:2). An angel obeyed God’s command to comfort His people by crying out: “Earthquake!” (That is probably what is meant by the reference to filling in the valleys and laying low the...

“John the Baptizer made his appearance as a preacher in the desert of Judea.” –Matthew 3:1 Today the Church introduces us to a crusty character named St. John the Baptizer. He dressed in a garment of camel’s hair (Mt 3:4). If you know anything about the revolting habits of camels, you understand why you wouldn’t want to cut their hair. John not only dressed oddly but also ate strangely. He’d snatch up a grasshopper and dip it in some honey as we would dip a potato chip or a chicken nugget. Then he’d munch on the grasshopper (Mt 3:4). John...