J A N U A RY 1PRAY FOR THE PERSECUTEDWHEN HEROD SLYLY ASKED where to find the new king, he told his visitors he wanted toworship the baby. The wise men seemed willing to share—until God nudged them to keepthat dangerous information to themselves. So they defied Herod, quietly slipping awayafter joyfully honoring the King of kings. • LORD, GIVE ALL CHRISTIANS being questionedby authorities the discernment to know when to remain silent and when to boldly share anywords you give them to speak. Amen.GENESIS 1:1–2:25In the beginning God created the heavensand the earth.* 2 The earth was formless andempty, and darkness covered the deep waters.And the Spirit of God was hovering over thesurface of the waters.3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and therewas light. 4 And God saw that the light wasgood. Then he separated the light from thedarkness. 5 God called the light “day” andthe darkness “night.”And evening passed and morning came,marking the first day.6 Then God said, “Let there be a spacebetween the waters, to separate the watersof the heavens from the waters of theearth.” 7 And that is what happened. Godmade this space to separate the waters ofthe earth from the waters of the heavens.8 God called the space “sky.”And evening passed and morning came,marking the second day.9 Then God said, “Let the waters beneath thesky flow together into one place, so dryground may appear.” And that is whathappened. 10 God called the dry ground“land” and the waters “seas.” And Godsaw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Letthe land sprout with v egetation—everysort of s eed-bearing plant, and trees thatgrow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds willthen produce the kinds of plants andtrees from which they came.” And thatis what happened. 12 The land producedvegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants,and trees with s eed-bearing fruit. Theirseeds produced plants and trees of the samekind. And God saw that it was good.13 And evening passed and morningcame, marking the third day.14 Then God said, “Let lights appear in thesky to separate the day from the night.Let them be signs to mark the seasons,days, and years. 15 Let these lights in thesky shine down on the earth.” And thatis what happened. 16 God made two greatlights—the larger one to govern the day,and the smaller one to govern the night. Healso made the stars. 17 God set these lightsin the sky to light the earth, 18 to governthe day and night, and to separate the lightfrom the darkness. And God saw that itwas good.19 And evening passed and morningcame, marking the fourth day.20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm withfish and other life. Let the skies be filledwith birds of every kind.” 21 So God createdgreat sea creatures and every living thingthat scurries and swarms in the water,and every sort of b ird—each producing
It seems that your browser's pop-up blocker has prevented us from opening a new window/tab. Please click the button below to open the link manually.
