Based on Micah 5:2-5a

The morning I put together this devotion, I woke up to this news headline: Rebels seized the Syrian capital of Damascus. President al-Assad and his family flee to Russia. The prime minister of Syria has agreed to hand control of the government over to the rebel-led “Salvation Government.” That is somewhat ironic because this rebel group known as HTS is a designated terrorist organization.

This transfer of power comes after 13 years of civil war and 50 years of brutal rule by the Assad family. And it ends a war that has killed thousands and has displaced millions and has left an economy that has been hollowed out by global sanctions.

On top of it all, we still have more than 900 United States war fighters that are stationed in Syria, fighting alongside Kurdish-led forces.

But there’s more: 2.6 percent of the population in Syria is Christian, which accounts for just over 500,000 people in Syria who are Christian. And their future is uncertain because Al-Qaeda has urged the HTS rebels to turn against the crusaders. It’s a pejorative term for Christians.

I wonder how these Christians, our brothers and sisters in Christ in Syria, will be celebrating Christmas this year. What will their celebrations look like as they welcome Jesus coming in the flesh to be their Savior?

But this is how it has always been for God’s people. The prophet Micah lived about 700 years before Jesus took on human flesh. And maybe you know the passage I’m going to quote—maybe it’s very familiar to you. Or maybe it’s not. But this is one of those passages from Micah chapter 5 that you’ll hear read in church on Christmas Eve or at a children’s Christmas service. It’s the one that talks about Bethlehem being the place where the King would be born.

You may know this passage very well, but the verses that follow are ones that maybe you haven’t really heard before. Right after Micah points out the fact that the coming King will be born in Bethlehem, he says this: “He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be our peace when the Assyrians invade our land and march through our fortresses” (Micah 5:4,5a).

Did you catch that? Micah didn’t say if, but he said when the Assyrians march through our fortresses. The foreign army, the Assyrians who lived in modern-day Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and you guessed it, Syria, would come and attack the northern kingdom of Israel and completely destroy it. And they would march against the capital city of Jerusalem in the south.

But in spite of that, what does the coming King promise to do for his people? Even when enemies march through their fortified cities? He will stand and shepherd his flock, and he will be their peace.

You see, when God talks about peace, it doesn’t mean he is always going to bring peace between warring nations. It doesn’t mean you and I will always have a peaceful feeling. It doesn’t always mean that there’s going to be a peace even for God’s people in foreign countries, or even in this country.

What it does mean is that in spite of war and uncertainty and persecution for Christians, in spite of the war that may unfortunately rear its ugly head in your home as family members argue and fight, in spite of war that may separate you from family members this Christmas because they’re serving far away from you overseas, in spite of family members and friends who don’t share the same reason that you do when you celebrate Christmas and maybe have some choice words for you because of it—in spite of all of that, the King born in Bethlehem promises to be your strength. He promises to be your shepherd and promises that you will rest securely and that he will be your peace. This peace is knowing that Jesus is with you.

In spite of all of the things that are going on in the world and in spite of the things that are going on in your personal life, you have the peace of knowing that God will use his almighty strength and power to be your shepherd, to protect you and keep you safe.

You have the peace of knowing that Jesus came as the King in Bethlehem, and he came to die on a cross and to rise again from the dead so that you know that no matter what happens in this world or in your personal life, you have peace with God through the forgiveness of your sins. This means that God is at peace with you. And it means that you can be at peace with yourself and at peace with others.

You have the peace of knowing that there is an eternal peace in heaven, and it is yours. Yes, there is peace even in the middle of war. Jesus is that peace. He is your peace.

Prayer:
Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. Take away the burden of our sins and make us ready for the celebration of your birth, that we may receive you in joy and serve you always. Shepherd your flock in Syria, those Christians who face uncertainty under a new government. Protect them. Be their peace as you promise. And shepherd your flock, we who by faith await your second coming, and be our peace.

O Lord, we ask that as our U.S. Space Force celebrates its fifth birthday today on December 20th, we ask that you be with those who protect us from the growing threat of near-peer competitors who seek to threaten our commerce, our financial and economic stability, and disrupt our infrastructure. Continue to raise up men and women who are wise and knowledgeable in this vocation so that we might live in peace. In your saving name we pray. Amen.

Written and recorded by Rev. Paul Horn, WELS National Civilian Chaplain to the Military, San Diego, California.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

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Based on Zephaniah 3:14-17

Do you sing? And if so, where? I’m guessing at church. Or maybe you sing in the car when you’re riding solo and you crank the tunes and belt it out because number one, no one else is in the car, and number two, those songs just take you back.

Or maybe it’s when you’re in the car and the car is loaded full of kids, and you have your favorite tune from your high school days cued up. You’re ready to crank it and belt it out at the top of your lungs to embarrass your kiddos.

What about at a military ceremony formation? Do you sing there? For a change of responsibility or a promotion or a change of command or a graduation, and the band kicks in with that familiar military march, and you’re ready to belt it out with the gusto of a Marine at the birthday ball? Or maybe you quietly mumble along because it’s the 220th time that you’ve heard that march.

How many of you are familiar with the march “Always Ready, Always There!”?

I’m guessing that if you’re in the National Guard, maybe you are familiar with this march. And if you’re in the Guard, maybe you still haven’t heard of it because it’s fairly new. It’s only eight years old. “Always Ready, Always There!” is much younger than the National Guard, which celebrates its birthday today on December 13th.

When you listen to this march, it just makes you want to stand up and belt it out with gusto.

In our devotion today, the Lord God gives us as Christians good reasons to stand up and burst into song. Through his prophet Zephaniah, he encourages his people with these words: “Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!” (Zephaniah 3:14). Those proper names Zion and Jerusalem are pictures that are used of all believers.

So what was the occasion that prompted the Lord to tell us to burst into song with the gusto of a Marine at the birthday ball? Well, he says this through his prophet in verse 15: “The LORD has taken away your punishment.” More festive than celebrating a birthday. More congratulatory than a promotion. More celebratory than a retirement is this declaration: Your sins are forgiven.

Zephaniah says there is no punishment waiting for you because you’ve sinned against your holy God. He’s saying to you that there is nothing evil that happens to you in this life because God is somehow using that evil to get back at you for the things that you’ve done. No, he’s taken it away forever. God doesn’t punish you. He punished his Son Jesus on the cross in your place. It’s done. It’s finished. That’s why God says to you and me, “Sing, shout aloud, be glad and rejoice with all your heart.”

But now in an interesting spin, the prophet Zephaniah then says this: “The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” (verse 17).

Did you catch that? It says that God sings, and he sings because of you. And God’s song for you is prompted by the joy and happiness in his heart because your sin no longer separates you from him. He has this song of joy in his heart because he has won eternal life for you through his Son Jesus. He sings a song of joy and happiness because he has saved you forever, and he sings his song because he knows that you will spend eternity with him.

So, my friends, sing your glad songs to God for his saving work for you, and then listen as God sings his song because of you.

Prayer:
Hear our prayers, Lord Jesus Christ, and come with the good news of your mighty deliverance. Drive the darkness from our hearts, and fill us with your light. Lord Jesus, protect the men and women who serve in our nation’s National Guard. Keep them faithful to the duties of their vocation as they serve us here at home in the States and around the world. Bless the efforts of the leadership to maintain a National Guard force that is ready to serve in times of strife or to help after natural disaster. I pray this in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen..

Written and recorded by Rev. Paul Horn, WELS National Civilian Chaplain to the Military, San Diego, California.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

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Based on Luke 3:1-6

December 7th, 1941, a day that continues to live on in infamy.

On that single day, 2,403 souls perished, and almost half of them in one battleship. If you ever have the chance to get to Hawaii, make sure you stop by Pearl Harbor and take the ferry out to the USS Arizona. When you get there, you’ll find it’s a very somber place. As you think about all the souls that perished there, as you stop to listen to the waves as they gently lap up against the memorial, you can both smell and see the oil that continues to float up to the surface from the Arizona. They call those “the black tears of the Arizona.”

All of this is a reminder of that awful day when lives were lost. As we think about tragic days like that, or 9/11, or the one-too-many violent shootings in our country, we turn to God and we ask, “Why?” What does this all mean?

Before Jesus publicly went out preaching and teaching in the region of Galilee and Jerusalem and through Judea, God sent John the Baptizer to prepare the hearts of the people for Jesus. And people went out to the wilderness around the Jordan River to hear John preach and teach and baptize. And they went out to John with their questions for God. And some of those questions were, “Why? What purpose does this serve?” John’s reply to them? “Repent.”

God doesn’t always give an answer to our questions of “Why?” God doesn’t need to, even though we think that he does. But God’s answer through John the Baptizer redirects our hearts and our minds so that we see what is really needed in our lives: not an answer from God, but for us to do an about-face, to repent.

John says to you and to me, “Repent!” Do an about-face, because that’s really what repentance means. Repentance in the original language of the Bible means to change your mind, to change your heart and your mind about your sin, to do an about-face in regard to your sin. To change your mind about the things that you do that violate God’s will for your life. To change your mind about those things that you fail to do, how you fail to joyfully and faithfully carry out God’s will for your life.

Do an about-face. That means to no longer find pleasure in sinning, to no longer find pleasure in the laziness to carry out God’s will for your life. To change your mind about those things so that you no longer think that simply by trying your hardest or doing your best to be a good person that somehow this will cause God to do an about-face toward you.

John says to you and to me, “Repent for the forgiveness of your sins.” Do an about-face and turn from your sin—but turn toward something, toward someone—to that person who has sunk into the depths of your sin, your guilt, your death, and your hell, and who has left it entombed in his grave forever.

Just as the Arizona in the waters of Pearl Harbor serve as a reminder of that awful day of death, so also the waters of your baptism serve as a reminder of that awful day of what Christ did for you: that he has drowned your sin, your death, and your hell. Let the waters of your baptism be that very real reminder of the promise that Christ has made you not just to drown your sins and your death with him on the cross, but also to raise you up to new life.

Repent, turn from your sin, turn to the cross, but then turn again. Do another about-face to go and live that life of forgiveness that Christ has earned for you.

And so when you consider the events of December 7th, 1941, or you consider the events of a 9/11 or whatever disaster comes to your mind, let it be a reminder to you and to me to do an about-face, to repent, so that when Christ calls us home to heaven, however he decides to call us home to heaven through death, you and I will go through life confident and unfearingly knowing that when we meet our Maker and see him face to face, he will welcome us home to heaven with a smile because of what Christ has done for us.

Prayer:
Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way for your only Son. By his coming give us strength in our conflicts and shed light on our path through the darkness of this world. We pray, Lord Jesus, that you would work through our nation’s Homeland Security and armed forces to protect our borders. Keep our citizens safe so that we might live in peace, faithfully carry out our individual vocations, and joyfully share your Word with others. In your name I pray. Amen.

Written and recorded by Rev. Paul Horn, WELS National Civilian Chaplain to the Military, San Diego, California.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

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Based on Philippians 1:3-6

This is Thanksgiving weekend, and I wanted to take some time to express thanksgiving for all the things God has blessed me with and the ways I’ve seen him bless you in your lives and your vocations.

To do that, I’d like to look at the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians. In chapter one, in the first few verses, he says this: “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:3-6).

The things that the apostle Paul shares with this congregation in Philippi are the things that I want to share with you—that every time I think of you, as Paul says, I thank my God for you. For the partnership that we enjoy in the gospel, the fact that we are united by one Baptism in one Lord Jesus Christ, in that one true faith, united by that one hope of eternal life in heaven and having the sure certainty of that resurrection from the dead.

And the unity that we enjoy, that partnership in the gospel that we have as believers in Christ, is shown in the way that we worship together, the way that we pray together and pray for each other, the way that we encourage one another, the way that we study God’s Word together, and the ways that we love each other.

I’ve written out a list of things that I’m thankful for from this past year, and I want to share those things with you. First of all, I’m thankful for the number of people that God has put into my life this past year through personal visits, phone calls, e-mails, and video chats. I started to count, and I lost track.

I’m thankful to God for the number of active duty, reserve, and National Guard troops; veterans and civilians; and lay people who have been trained as distinctive religious group leaders and religious lay leaders. I’m thankful that you have the strong desire to make sure that God’s Word is provided in places that I can’t go and that our WELS pastors can’t go. You’re making that happen.

I’m thankful for the number of parents who have filled out referrals for their children through our website, because that says to me that you desire Word and sacrament to be provided for your child as they begin their vocation as a warfighter in our nation’s military. And I’m thankful for the number of high school seniors that have filled out that referral for themselves because that says to me that you want to stay connected to Christ as you go through basic training, through your individual training afterwards, and wherever God leads you through the military.

I’m thankful for the number of warfighters who update their contact info when they PCS, when they deploy. Because, again, it shows me that you are concerned about the spiritual care that you receive. By updating your information through our website, that helps us keep you connected to our WELS pastors or to other WELS members to stay connected to Christ. I’m thankful for that.

I’m thankful for the number of veterans who have reached out who are thankful for these devotions. I didn’t know this, but there’s a group of veterans who meet regularly for coffee in a restaurant, and they either watch the devotions or print them off and they discuss them as part of their group encouragement to one another. I’m thankful that these devotions are being used that way.

I’m thankful for you, the warfighters and spouses who have trusted me enough to share your story with me and have shared your weaknesses and your failures and your joys and your victories. And I’m thankful for the number of families who have let me in and have made me part of your family.

I’m thankful for the number of single warfighters who have brought me in as part of their life and have entrusted their story to me, so that we might enjoy mutual encouragement through the Word of God.

I’m thankful for the number of spouses who have sacrificed their careers to support their spouse during their military career and have found joy in the honorable and often overlooked and underappreciated vocation of homemaker. My prayer for you is that you continue to find strength and joy in that honorable vocation.

I’m thankful for the number of veterans and warfighters who have been so patient with me, taking me by the hand and patiently instructing me so I can better understand the military mindset, so I can better serve you and equip our pastors and our congregations to better serve you with Word and sacrament.

I’m thankful for the number of doors that have been opened for me, for our pastors, and for our congregations to reach military members and their families on post, on base, and in our communities.

I’m thankful for the number of military chaplains who have opened doors for me and our WELS pastors and our congregations, so that again, our people can be better served by Word and sacrament.

I’m thankful for the number of gifts that have been given by thankful hearts, not only to our ministry but even to me personally—like the Rangers coffee mug that I recently received as a gift. Every time I use it or other gifts that I’ve received, it gives me the opportunity to pause and pray for this person and the people that support this person. So thank you for those gifts.

And thank you also for the number of prayers that have been spoken on behalf of this ministry, that have been spoken on behalf of me and my family, that have been spoken for our pastors and for our congregations.

I’m thankful for the number of letters and e-mails and texts. They are so encouraging, and I thank you for them.

I’m thankful for the number of experiences that God has allowed me to have this past year. There are too many to list, so I’m going to pick just one. It’s jumping from 12,500 feet with the U.S. Army Golden Knights in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I thank Larissa and her pastor, Pastor Glende, for making that happen.

I’m thankful for the number of people that you have introduced to me—people whom you’ve identified as people who need to hear about Jesus. And I’m thankful for the number of people that you have led to Jesus—the number of spouses and battle buddies and children and parents and friends that you have brought to hear about Jesus. I pray that you continue to scatter that seed of the gospel so that many more souls might be touched by the gospel, and I pray that God would make those seeds grow.

And finally, I’m thankful for our Commander-in-Chief, Jesus Christ, who continues to lead us in spiritual battle, who continues to lead us through spiritual battle, who will continue to lead us until we reach those peaceful shores of heaven.

I want to close this devotion today with the words of the apostle Paul.

Prayer:
“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11).

Lord Jesus, this weekend we also celebrate the birthday of our nation’s Civil Air Patrol. From before their official creation in 1948 and continuing through today, members of the Civil Air Patrol have carried out emergency services and disaster relief missions around our nation. Keep these citizen volunteers faithful and safe as they search for and find the lost. Provide comfort in times of disaster and work to keep our homeland safe. In your name I pray. Amen.

Written and recorded by Rev. Paul Horn, WELS National Civilian Chaplain to the Military, San Diego, California.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

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Based on Jude 20, 21

As I’ve listened to our war fighters, those who are both deployed and preparing to deploy, one of the things they’ve shared with me is that there’s a sort of pivot when it comes to battle planning—that training for battle and planning for battle looks a little bit different than it has in the past. We’ve seen this in the war between Russia and Ukraine, between Israel and Iran and the Houthi rebels in the Gulf of Oman with drone warfare.

This has changed the way we plan for battle. While our Marines and soldiers pound the ground, our Air Force and Navy and Space Force look to the skies. How do we deal with this new threat of drone attacks?

All this talk of war and preparing for war reminds us of Jesus’ words that in the end times there will be wars and rumors of wars. But he says this should not alarm us. He says instead to use these events as reminders to keep our eyes on the skies, not looking for incoming drone attacks, but looking to the skies for his salvation, for our salvation for eternal life. To look to the skies for Jesus to come with his angels and bring us to everlasting life, where there will be no more wars and no more killing and no more death, but only peace and to be with Jesus forever.

The way we keep our eyes on the skies is by keeping ourselves busy with those things that remind us of that great day that is to come. Our encouragement today is from the book of Jude, and I encourage you to read the entire book. It’s only 25 verses, but I want to focus on just two of the verses, verses 20 and 21. There Jude tells us, “Keep yourselves in God’s love” (verse 21).

You might ask the question, “Well, how can I keep myself in God’s love? Does God love me less at times? Are there things that I need to do so God might love me more?” Is that what Jude is saying when he tells us to keep yourselves in God’s love? Not at all. God loves you unconditionally, and that is seen in his Son on the cross.

But sometimes we forget that. So keep yourselves in God’s love, Jude tells us. And he tells us to do that by doing three things: by building, by praying, and by waiting.

First of all, he says, keep yourselves in God’s love “by building yourselves up in your most holy faith” (verse 20). You see, your enemy, the devil, loves to dive into your world just like an enemy drone would dive in from the skies so he might bring chaos into your life. And as you focus on that chaos, your eyes are distracted from Jesus’ love for you. So Jude says to build yourselves up in your most holy faith. How do we do that? Read the Word, listen to the Word, study the Word, sing the Word, share the Word, remember the Word. For it is in the Word that God reminds you again and again of his unconditional love for you in Christ Jesus.

Secondly, Jude says, keep yourselves in God’s love by “praying in the Holy Spirit” (verse 20). God speaks to you in his Word. Respond to him and talk to him in your prayers. Are you anxious about wars and rumors of wars? Then pray about it. Pray to him in confidence. Pray knowing that you pray to the King of kings and Lord of lords, the God, the Lord who loves you unconditionally, who will come again in the skies with his angels to bring you home to heaven, who loves to listen to your prayers and to act on your behalf in response to your prayers.

So keep yourselves in God’s love by building, by praying, and finally, by waiting. Jude writes, “Wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life” (verse 21). It often feels that this world is careening toward self-destruction, from the awful things that we as human beings do to each other to the destructive forces of natural disasters. It doesn’t feel like there’s much we can do to stop any of it.

So, Jude says, just wait. Wait for God’s love for you. Wait for that day when he comes from the skies in his love and mercy to bring you home to eternal life in heaven. Keep your eyes on the skies by building, by praying, and by waiting.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, we pray that you use your almighty power to bring an end to the conflicts around the world—between Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Iran and Hezbollah, to the countries in Africa, to Haiti, to the threats from China and North Korea.

But Lord, in your wisdom, we know that you have used nations and leaders in wars and conflicts to advance your kingdom of grace. And so in the midst of these conflicts, we pray, open doors for your people to bring the hope of Christ to those who are suffering the ravages of war.

And now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Written and recorded by Rev. Paul Horn, WELS National Civilian Chaplain to the Military, San Diego, California.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Note: Scripture reading footnotes are clickable only in the web version.

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