His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied. . . .
\n \u2014 Luke 1:67<\/p>\n
Opening gifts is a big part of our family\u2019s Christmas celebration. Each year, our kids are excited to see what they\u2019ll receive. But one important part of all this is learning about gratitude. So when they receive a gift, our kids have learned to say, \u201cThank you!\u201dIn response to the birth of John and filled with the Holy Spirit, Zechariah offered praise and thanks to God. He recalled how God had fulfilled his promises to deliver his people. God had graciously invited his wayward people to love and serve him, and through those people God was bringing forth a Savior (\u201cJesus\u201d), the promised Messiah (\u201cChrist\u201d), who would bring salvation, forgiveness, and peace.Zechariah and Elizabeth\u2019s son, John, would play a unique role in preparing people for the coming of Jesus\u2014and this Savior, Jesus, who is also the Son of God, is the greatest gift we receive at Christmas.When we see this gift, what do we say? Do we too respond with gratitude for God\u2019s deliverance and his invitation to serve him? Do we encourage our neighbors and families to see their role in God\u2019s plan?May the gifts you give and receive this season remind you of the greatest gift of God\u2019s presence in Jesus Christ. And may we all give thanks and grateful obedience in response.<\/p>\n
Thank you, gracious Father! You have given us so many gifts. And, what\u2019s more, your Son has come to bring us forgiveness and eternal life. We give ourselves to you in response. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied. . . . \u2014 Luke 1:67 Opening gifts is a big part of our family\u2019s Christmas celebration. Each year, our kids are excited to see what they\u2019ll receive. But one important part of all this is learning about gratitude. So when they receive a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[3272],"class_list":["post-12186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-devotionals","tag-quotthank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}