Jesus - The Real Gift Of Christmas!

Happy Holidays, Friends! Today I would like to share something my oldest son wrote. He said that he put into words what he had been studying. I was blessed by it and I pray that you all will be also.

Much of the ways we celebrate Christmas comes from our family traditions. But how often do we really, really celebrate Jesus' entrance into our world, or even think deeply about the true spirit of Christmas? The spirit that is meant to light up our hearts the way some decorations light up the tree.

Christmas is the day we celebrate the entrance of the eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, all righteous, all holy and glorious God into our world.  Now if we stop and consider that fact, and then read Luke 2:12, “Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” For those of you who may not be aware, a manger is a trough or open box for livestock feed or fobber.

So, what’s wrong with that picture? The God of all ages; too glorious to look upon; the God before whom Moses and Isaiah fell down on their faces is in a filthy stable. Isaiah 9:6 says, "For unto us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." The person with those titles is in a filthy stable. Not in a palace or in a beautiful crib befitting the Son of God, but in a cold stinking stable lying in a common feeding trough used by beasts of burden.

God humbled Himself before us so that we would realize that there was nothing He wouldn’t do to bring us into a relationship with Him.

Today, Christmas is based on an exchange of gifts.  However, the tradition of exchanging of gifts began with our Heavenly Father.  The greatest gift came from Him! For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16). This year, let's not get so caught up in getting that perfect gift for someone else that we forget to accept the ultimate gift the Lord is offering to us - a one-on-one relationship with Him.

With all that said, let the Church say amen and… AMEN!

And of course, Merry Christmas and May the Lord tremendous bless your New Year!        

Praise The Lord For His Goodness!

Praise: to express thanks to or love and respect for

Do me a quick favor, please... take a quick minute to take a deep breath.

Breathe in... and then breathe out again...
Breathe in... breathe out...
Last time - breathe in... and breathe out...

My friends, if you were able to complete that simple task, the Bible tells us that we should be giving thanks - Psalms 150:6 tell us, "Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord."

Our exercise proved that we indeed still have breath - so according to the word of God, we should ALWAYS have a praise of thanksgiving in our hearts, minds and mouths! We should never have to wait specifically for the month of November or for the last Thursday in November to give praise and thanks, for the Lord our God is indeed worthy of it!

As it says in Psalms 118:28-29, "Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever."

Remember, it's not up to the U.S. government to designate a day in November for us to be thankful - it's up to US to make up our minds to be thankful for all that the Lord has done for us on a daily basis! "I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation" (Psalms 118:21).

Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!( Psalms 107:15). Not just during this season, but every day.

With all that said, let the church say Amen... and AMEN!         

In This Season Give Thanks!

We know that when we want to keep something safe that it's our job to protect it, guard it, and preserve it, right? Well, we need to do the same thing with our hearts. There is so much going on in the world; in our cities; in our homes - and that stuff is trying to keep us SO busy that we won’t have time to have a thankful heart. But what a blessing it is to have a mind to keep a thankful heart! As I Thessalonians 5:16-18 reminds us, "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

We should not mark just a single day to be thankful - being thankful should be an environment we live in; a state of mind - and it should be something that we carry with us daily. If it’s raining outside - we have an umbrella of Thanksgiving. On the other side of that coin, if the sun is shining too bright - we still have that umbrella of Thanksgiving! If the road is too crowded, we have our own lane of Thanksgiving. It’s that environment of thankfulness that we carry around!

You might be wondering - how do we keep a thankful heart? Well, like we talked about earlier, we have to build an environment around it and make a point to be thankful every single day! 

When we get up in the morning and we turn the faucet on and water comes out - we need to be thankful that we have running water! When go to brush our teeth, if we open the drawer and there is toothpaste waiting there for us - we need to be thankful! By doing that, we are creating an environment of being thankful for everything, whether it’s big or it's small AND regardless of whether it makes us happy or sad. 

Now, if you turn the faucet on and the water isn't getting hot fast enough for us and we let out a sigh of disgust or we open that drawer and the toothpaste that's waiting for us isn't the kind we want and we turn around and complain, what kind of environment are we creating?? Let me tell you, we are creating an ungrateful environment all around us. When we get in our car and it doesn’t start right away - especially when we are in a hurry - what do we do? Most of us start complaining, and when we do - what are we creating? A climate of ingratitude, that's what!

What did the scripture tell us in I Thessalonians 5:18?  To give thanks in every thing! Imagine if we started to practice that kind of thankfulness - what would that entail for you today?! Think about how many times you would have been thankful before you got to work; before you started doing whatever you had planned for that day, if you were being thankful for every thing.

What an awesome and powerful way to start each day - with a mighty attitude of Thanksgiving!

With all that said, let the church say amen... and AMEN!

Choices Have Consquences!

Choices: Power to chose
Consequence: The natural result from a preceding condition

The Lord is a perfect gentleman - He doesn’t force Himself on us. He doesn’t twist our arm to make us choose right (Him).  He allows us to make choices wanting us to willing choose Him.  He demonstrates His love and mercy toward us by being a shelter from the rain, a very present help in the time of trouble, our El Shaddai (The Almighty God) - the strengthener and satisfier of His people.

1 Chronicles 21:1 and 21:3 gives us an example of a bad choices: "And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel... And Joab answered, the Lord make His people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servant? Why then doth my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?" David had a choice, he could have stop the count right then, but he chose to go ahead with it.  David was trusting in the numbers, rather than trusting in God. That choice had devastating consequence, as noted in 1 Chronicles 21:14  - "So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men."

Choices have significant impact on our lives - both positive or negative. David's choice had a negative impact. Of course, when we make good choices the consequences are awesome, let’s take Joseph for an example.

Joseph was hated and rejected by his brethren; cast into a pit; sold into Egypt; AND cast into prison... but despite all of that, Joseph still managed to make good choices.  And as a result, "the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man" (Genesis 39:2). Pharaoh made him an overseer over his house, and all that he had. When he refused his master's wife, Joseph was cast into prison and yet he continued to make good choices. Genesis 39:21 says that the Lord shewed him mercy and gave him favor by way of the keeper of the prison committing to Joseph’s hand all of the prisoners that were in the prison. When there was famine in the land, those same brothers who hated and rejected Joseph had to go to him to buy their food. Joseph could have chosen to be angry, but instead he gave God the glory, for he knew who was behind the master plan. And because of the positive impact of making a right choice, Joseph became the governor over all the land of Egypt and over all Pharaoh house.

Time does not allow me to tell you of Ruth, Daniel, Joshua, Samuel, and many others that were truly blessed - all because they were willing choosing the Lord... won't you please choose Him too?

With all that's said, let the Church say amen...and Amen!