Morning by Morning, January 4 - Growing in Wisdom and Stature and Favor with God and with Man Good morning, Lord Jesus. I begin my day seeking Your face and listening for Your voice in the communion of prayer -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ... “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52 RSV). You are both Son of God and Son of Man, truly God and truly man. And in that dimension of Your humanity, You “humbled (Yourself)” to be “born in the likeness of men,” and You grew from a child to a man. During those thirty-three years You walked this earth in humanity, You “emptied (Yourself)” from “the form of God” and set aside “equality with God ... being found in human form” (Philippians 2:5-8). As a man, You lived Your life on this earth in perfect faithfulness to God the Father -- only doing what You saw Him doing, only speaking what You heard Him speaking -- in perfect surrender and obedience, as You “became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Sometimes we can overemphasis Your Deity and underemphasize Your humanity. But the truth is, in that human dimension of Your Being, You “became obedient” and You “increased in wisdom.” In other words You grew in spiritual maturity from the moment You were conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb to the moment gave up Your Spirit and breathed Your last breath from the Cross to declare, “It is finished” (John 19:30). “Although (You were) a Son, (You) learned obedience through what (You) suffered” throughout Your spiritual journey through this broken and fallen world (Hebrews 5:8). In this way, You are not only our Savior, but You’re also our Example. You show us how to grow up in spiritual maturity, how to in increase in Godly wisdom, how to become obedient in committed faithfulness through all that we suffer and endure and overcome by the power of Your grace on our own spiritual journey through this same broken and fallen world. You empower us by Your Spirit to “Let the same mind be in (us) that was in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). By the power of Your grace at work within us by Your Holy Spirit, we keep growing and increasing, in favor with God and with man, “until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.... no longer children.... But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:13-15). So I look to You as my Lord and as my Example. As I seek You and behold You, as I worship You and become one with You, You are making me more like You each day (2 Corinthians 3:18; John 17:22-23). You are causing me to grow up and increase, just like You, as I “follow in (Your) steps” (1 Peter 2:21) and mature into Your likeness (1 John 4:17). In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the love of Jesus, Tommy Hays My friend, may you be empowered by the Holy Spirit to keep growing in wisdom and stature and favor with God and with man on your spiritual journey to become more like Jesus each day, in Jesus' name. God bless you!
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries Mailing Address: 412 S. Adams Street #148 Fredericksburg, Texas 78624 Please share this word to encourage a friend! Anyone can sign up for free at: https://messiah-ministries.org | 
