The temperature is thirty-three degrees Celsius and there is ninety percent humidity in our city today. Yet the scripture passage that popped up for our bedtime devotional with our boys is one that people from the northern climes associate with wintry Christmas: the story of the Magi. Perhaps to show us that there are no coincidences in the way He speaks to us, the same story showed up today at our neighbourhood prayer group! The one thing that, today, has shone through the account of the Magi is worship: "they bowed down and worshipped Him." Worshipping Jesus was the primary, undiluted goal of the wise men. They reinforce a few fundamental principles of this aspect of our relationship with God.

To worship, we must recognize our lost condition and agree to be led by Him to Himself. The Magi were no doubt first-class citizens in their land, as well as men of learning, yet they recognized that they were nothing without God, and they followed the star to the place where Jesus lay. We have our stars too, which we ought to be diligent to follow, for example, the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit and the fellowship of believers.

We also need to enter into His presence; we cannot worship God from afar. Our whole being must come into His presence; we must see and know Him, albeit, for now, with our spiritual eyes. But what a privilege history bestowed on the Magi: they also saw Him with their physical eyes.

Worship involves sacrifice. We must part with and hand over to Him our most treasured items as we worship Him. If I had gold and incense and myrrh, I would gladly hand them over to God, but to the One who has taught us that He has "the words of eternal life," I must hand over my life.

Worshipping God must lead to changed lives. The Magi, after worshipping Jesus, returned to their country by a different route. They did not go back over the old, thorny and winding path, and certainly not back to evil Herod for a pat on the back. They took a different route! Does worship lead to the same response in our lives?

Prayer: Lord, teach us to worship You. Continuously grant us the humility to see our unworthiness, to see and follow the Way that You have built for us to get to You, and to turn away from our evil ways. Give us the strength and privilege of sweet surrender to Your name. Give us the privilege to share with others some tokens of Your goodness. Amen.

I look back to Christmas 2000 and then forward to Easter. The story of a person I met some years ago and have come know fairly well fills my mind. One night, C's father missed the bus from the capital city to his hometown, about 100 kilometres away. Having to spend the night at the bus station, the father somehow obtained a discarded newspaper and used it as a "pillow". The following morning, the father took the newspaper back to his home with him. C read the paper, and came across a short gospel message. In haste, C travelled to the capital city to ask at an assembly there what this Jesus was about. Thus he came to believe on the Lord. C went home and told the story. First his family believed, and then neighbours and other people. With numbers growing, C asked the elders of the assembly in the capital to help him plant a church in his home town. Today, C is the senior elder of a thriving assembly of new believers. C is 22 years old.

The anonymous author of Psalm 98 anticipated the coming of God to rule His people. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy when He came and died to save all people from their sins. Today, we await the Second Coming of our Lord. One of the most wonderful things that God has done for me in my life is that He has enabled me to visit so many places that I can literally say I have travelled to "the ends of the earth". All over the world, I have seen God reveal Himself and gather in His people in so many different and awesome ways.

Prayer: Lord God, we thank You that You are the God of grace, that You speak to us and give us what we do not deserve. We praise You for Your promise to save and to come again. May we be living stones in Your kingdom. Thank You for the opportunity to see and feel You at work in our lives and in the world around us. Amen.

In August 2000, we left Nova Scotia and moved back to Sri Lanka with our two boys. We had lived in Sri Lanka before for a couple of years until 1997. Not for want of trying, it was hard for us to explain to our friends and family that we were returning to Sri Lanka. Since 1983, Sri Lanka has been in the throes of a horrible civil war that has claimed over 67,000 lives. Every so often, suicide bombers from the rebel side infiltrate the capital, Colombo, and explode themselves. Recently, the cousin of our house-help, an innocent bystander, died in such an explosion. Occasionally, there have been running gun battles in the streets of the city. A few candidates died in the run-up to the Parliamentary Election on October 10. Yet it is to this city and country that the Lord has called us to return. I work at a secular job, and we attend a local church where we fellowship, teach, do Sunday School, AWANA, and other activities. We live our lives mostly with our neighbours and friends, many of whom are not Christians. We do our best to be encouragers, and to find God's encouragement from others. This is God's calling for us at this time.

When God spoke through the prophet to the children of Israel in Babylon, He instructed them to go on with their lives and to pray for the nation where they lived, even though Babylon was unbelieving and enslaved them. Life cannot grind to a halt during troubled times and in troubled places. When things are unpleasant or distressing, we must pray, adjust, try to help as best as we can, and follow the Lord's movement. We may find it hard to pray for the place and time we live in, and especially for those we think are responsible for the prevailing conditions. Yet it is in such places, at such times, and for such people, that prayers are most needed. As the apostle Paul writes:

1 Timothy 2:1-3 – I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour. (NIV)

When God puts us in places that are free of outward trouble (such as Nova Scotia), we should also give thanks for that outward peace. And we should pray that, while living in peaceful places, we and others do not succumb to complacency, nominalism, and the type of contentment that makes people forget and turn away from God.

Prayer: Lord God, help us to see you in everything we do, in every place you have put us, in every minute of life you give us. Help us to pray for the places you have put us in: that they may prosper in your Name, and that all may find blessing in their prosperity. Amen.