December 22nd 2025 Devotional

💧 Living Water Vineyard Devotion

Monday — Four Days from Christmas 🎄

Good News of Great Joy

We use the word joy a lot.

We sing it 🎶

We write it on Christmas cards ✉️

We say things like, “I hope you feel joyful.”

But if we’re honest… joy can feel complicated—especially this close to Christmas.

Because biblical joy isn’t a mood.

It’s not tied to personality.

And it’s definitely not the same thing as happiness.

Joy in Scripture is something God gives—

because He is near 🤍

And sometimes, the nearness of God shows up in the middle of long waiting, deep disappointment, and quiet hope.

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✨ What Is Biblical Joy?

The Greek word for joy is chara, and it comes from charis, meaning grace.

📌 Joy is the inner response to God’s grace and presence.

Joy isn’t the absence of pain.

It’s the assurance that God is with us in the middle of it.

That’s why Scripture can command joy.

Not because life is easy—

but because God is faithful.

Happiness is based on happenings.

Joy is rooted in who God is.

• Happiness changes with circumstances

• Joy remains when circumstances don’t 🌿

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📖 The Story of Joy Begins in Silence

Before angels sang.

Before shepherds ran.

Before anyone talked about good news—

There was silence.

For more than 400 years, God had not spoken through a prophet.

No angelic visits.

No fresh word.

No new revelation.

God hadn’t abandoned His people—

but heaven had been quiet.

And into that silence lived Zechariah and Elizabeth.

They were faithful people.

Good people.

Scripture says they were righteous and obedient.

And yet…

they carried a sorrow that never quite left 💔

They were childless.

And Luke adds one heavy detail:

“They were both very old.”

This wasn’t fresh disappointment.

This was decades of praying and waiting.

Hope doesn’t usually disappear all at once.

It fades slowly.

You still believe in God.

You still serve Him.

You just stop expecting Him to surprise you.

Some of us know that feeling all too well.

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🕯️ One Ordinary Day… That Changed Everything

Zechariah was one of thousands of priests.

Burning incense in the Holy Place was a once-in-a-lifetime honor.

Lots were cast.

Not randomly—

but with the belief that God Himself directed the outcome.

And on that day—

after all those years—

Zechariah was chosen.

He steps into the Holy Place.

The incense rises.

The prayers of the people rise with it 🙏

And suddenly—

An angel appears.

And the first thing the angel says is:

“Do not be afraid… your prayer has been heard.”

Not a prayer.

Your prayer.

Time did not erase it.

Silence did not cancel it.

Delay did not mean denial.

And then joy is announced—before anything changes:

“Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son…

and he will be a joy and delight to you.”

Joy is spoken

before evidence,

before understanding,

before the miracle ✨

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🤍 When Doubt Comes from Weariness

Zechariah responds, “How can I be sure?”

That’s not rebellion.

That’s exhaustion.

So God, in His mercy, quiets Zechariah.

Not to punish him—

but to protect the promise.

Sometimes God silences the doubt

so disappointment doesn’t talk us out of what He’s about to do.

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🖊️ Obedience Releases Joy

When the baby is born, everyone assumes he’ll be named after his father.

But Zechariah writes:

“His name is John.”

Immediate obedience.

And immediately:

• His mouth opens

• His voice returns

• Praise pours out 🙌

Joy breaks the silence.

Joy doesn’t erase the past—

it redeems it.

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🧡 Our Story — Because God Still Works This Way

This story isn’t just biblical to us.

It’s personal.

Tamar and I were asleep when the phone rang at 2:00 in the morning 📞

This was a long time ago—back in the days of answering machines.

The phone rang…

and before either of us could move, the answering machine kicked on.

So we just laid there listening.

A calm voice said they had just picked up an eight-month-old baby boy.

He had nowhere to go.

His mother was passed out from meth use.

His father was in custody.

I remember laying there thinking,

That’s heartbreaking.

My heart felt heavy.

Sad for this little boy.

Sad for the brokenness of the world.

And then Tamar quietly said,

“I think the Lord just spoke to me.

I think we’re supposed to take him.”

So Tamar got out of bed and called them.

And around 3:00 in the morning,

there was a knock at our front door.

Standing there was a little boy in a car seat,

bundled up, eyes wide open.

And even at that hour—

with everything he’d already been through—

he had a smile on his face.

A car seat.

A small bag.

And a life that had just been entrusted to us.

A moment like that

changes your life forever.

One brief visitation from the Lord—

and everything shifted.

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🕊️ When God Speaks Clearly

Months passed.

Court dates came and went.

Nothing was simple.

Nothing was fast.

It was about a year and a half from that night

to the day we would stand in a courtroom.

When the question of adoption came,

we didn’t rush it.

We prayed.

And prayed.

And prayed.

But we didn’t have peace yet.

So we asked one of our elders—someone with a prophetic gifting—to pray for us.

We didn’t tell him what the decision was about.

One Sunday, after a service at Canyon View,

he pulled us aside and said something I have never heard before or since:

“While you were in the service, the Lord said He is ready to speak.”

He took us into the prayer room.

We sat down.

He prayed a simple, quiet prayer:

“Father, speak.”

And then everything changed.

His voice became different.

Deeper.

Weighted with authority.

And God began to speak in the first person.

The presence of God filled the room so powerfully

that I fell to my knees and began to weep.

“I have seen you.

I have heard you.

I have chosen you out of My field.

Not many would say yes.

Do not think this is by happenstance.

This boy will bring you great joy…

and he will bring Me great joy.

And he will be powerful in My kingdom.”

Just like Zechariah—

joy was spoken before everything was resolved.

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⚖️ And Just Like Zechariah…

There came a moment where obedience mattered more than fear.

For Zechariah, it was a tablet and a pen.

For Tamar and me, it was a courtroom.

When the judge asked for the name,

we spoke it out.

On that day,

his name became Clifford.

God turned waiting into joy.

Fear into obedience.

And uncertainty into family.

Joy didn’t come because the journey was easy.

Joy came because we could finally see—

God had been near the whole time 🤍

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🌟 This Is Still Our Story

God hears prayers we think are buried.

God works in silence.

God releases joy before circumstances change.

Joy is not the reward for a pain-free life.

Joy is the assurance that God is near.

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📝 Reflective Questions

1. Where are you experiencing waiting or silence right now, and how does this story remind you that God may be nearer than you feel?

2. Can you think of a moment when God interrupted your plans and quietly changed everything?

How did that moment shape your faith?

3. Is there a step of obedience God may be asking of you before you have all the answers?

What might joy look like on the other side of that yes?

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🙏 Closing Prayer

Father God,

thank You that You are the God who sees us and hears us.

Where hope has grown quiet, breathe life again.

Where disappointment has settled in, restore joy—

not because life is perfect,

but because You are present.

Teach us to trust You in the silence.

Give us the courage to obey when You speak.

And remind us that joy is not far away—

because You are near.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen 🤍

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🎶 Worship Response

🎵 Suggested Songs:

• Joy of the Lord

• O Come Let Us Adore Him

• Great Are You Lord

🎄 Four days from Christmas… and joy is already closer than we think.