Christmas has come and gone, but there is one true gift of Christmas that never leaves us! I pray that your Christmas was everything you hoped it would be. But more than anything, as we approach the new year, I pray that the true gift of Christmas, Jesus Christ, is with you like never before. I pray you experience His true light in your life, and that it brings you true peace and joy.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”
John 8:12
No one can extinguish His light!
TRUTH BOMB
Christmas may have come and gone, but the true gift of Christmas remains: Jesus Christ in us!
I look forward to a new year with you, sharing God’s Truth and experiencing His light!
Our focus today and throughout this week is on the faithfulness in the time of fulfillment!
In the continuation of Luke 1 & 2 we find at the beginning of Luke 2 that the time of fulfillment has come.
Mary and Joseph are required to leave Nazareth and go to Bethlehem to register for the census. It was a long, hard journey and I’m sure not one they would have chosen to make!
Preparing for the birth of a child includes many things: preparing the room, bed, clothes, diapers and every other detail and need! However, taking a big, long, difficult trip is not one of the preparation‘s on anyone’s list. In fact airlines and cruises will not let pregnant women travel past seven months pregnant. I’ll share another time why I included “cruises“ on that list! Let’s just say my daughter carried her first child very well and did not look like she was seven months pregnant on a cruise!
Anyone who has studied pregnancy, been pregnant or been around a pregnant woman knows that one of the physiological stages of pregnancy is called “nesting.” Nesting occurs toward the end of the pregnancy and all the new mama wants to do is stay very close to home and prepare for the arrival of her baby!
Mary, the mother of Jesus, was human just like we are! Her body went through all of the same stages of pregnancy as every other mothers body does! She too would have wanted to stay close to home and prepare for the arrival of her baby. But Mary was faithful to God‘s call in her time of fulfillment!
Mary and Joseph would not have had a hard, long journey to another town written down on their family plan. No, it was not what they wanted to do, or where they wanted to go, but they were faithful to God and followed His plan, not theirs! And God‘s perfect plan, at Mary’s time of fulfillment, led them to a manger in Bethlehem!
“So, Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, that time came for the baby to be born.” Luke 2:4-6
TRUTH BOMB
FAITHFULNESS TO GOD’S PLAN ALWAYS LEADS YOU TO THE RIGHT PLACE!
Mary and Joseph were open to God‘s plan no matter where it led them!
Are we?
I am I?
This is my prayer for the new year…
I want to be faithful to God‘s plan and not mine!
I want to know God‘s fulfillment in my life! I want to be faithful to God’s plan as Mary and Joseph were faithful to God’s plan!
Faithfulness to God‘s plan led Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem where Jesus Christ our Savior was born according to God‘s will and leading! Where will your faithfulness to God‘s plan lead you in this new year?
Sitting on the beach I can only see SO far! Even on a clear day as I can see all the way to Catalina Island, there is still a point, a line if you will, which I cannot see past.
It feels like the Horizon to me, yet I know that the ocean goes on and on and on past what my human eyes can see!
That is FAITH! I cannot touch it, feel it, taste it, hear it or even see it, but by knowledge and FAITH, I KNOW IT IS THERE!
I believe that is what Luke is saying to us in Luke 1:4,
“So that you may KNOW the CERTAINTY of the things you have been taught.”
Just as we have been taught in textbooks, classrooms and atlases about the facts, knowledge and TRUTH about the HORIZON and can then believe by FAITH that it exists and the accounts of it are true.
We can in turn take what we have been taught through the eyewitness accounts, research, affirmation and testimonies of those who had a front row seat to the amazing event of Jesus Christ’s coming to Earth.
Luke the Doctor and historian investigated and interviewed people who were eyewitnesses to these amazing events. Through his careful research we can be certain in knowing that these events are true.
As we get caught up in the joy and wonder of this season we can too often focus on the twinkling lights, the delectable treats, and the beautifully wrapped presents under the tree and overlook the CERTAINTY and TRUTH of the actual events that took place to bring God to us!
I had an earthly father who loved me BIG and very much. But his heart softened and grew even bigger as he became a grandfather! He had one phrase that he would say to all of his children and grandchildren. That same phrase was what we wrote on his grave marker,
“WHAT DO YOU KNOW FOR SURE?”
And our response back, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was…
“THAT YOU LOVE ME!”
It was CERTAIN!
So how do we know that God loves us for CERTAIN?
Because we know for CERTAIN, through these eyewitness accounts, that God loves us by sending his son Jesus to be Emmanuel, God with us!
TRUTH BOMB
WE HAVE THE CERTAINTY THAT JESUS IS GOD WITH US!
So, as you get caught up in the joy and wonder of this season know for CERTAIN that just as I sat on the beach and knew that the horizon was there, even though I could not reach out and touch it, God is with you through every wonder and joy that you experience this Christmas!
Today is my birthday! I normally would never share that, but it happens to fall on the day of my Blog and I feel that the lessons God is teaching me on this day is what He wants me to share!
Birthdays are joyous occasions when we have people in our lives that celebrate us!
I grew up with the best Mom that a girl could ever have! Obviously, you already know my birthday is in December. My Mom made sure that my birthday was never blended together with Christmas. You know what I mean, that two for one gift that someone hands you and says, “Happy birthday and Merry Christmas!” No, she never did that! She made sure that my birthday and my sisters birthdays, we’re celebrated from the minute we woke up to the minute we laid our head on our pillows that night! The day of our birth was special to her, and she made sure she celebrated it!
I had many birthdays and many birthday parties that were wonderful celebrations! We had cake, we had balloons and cards and gifts… But the greatest gift and the thing I remembered most were the people who were there to celebrate with me!
Their PRESENCE, not their presents,
made my birthday celebration special!
On this day, as I celebrate 63 years of life, I am not thinking about the balloons, the gifts, the confetti or even the cake(ok, those of you that know me would call me a liar with that statement, so maybe I’m thinking about the cake a little bit), but most of all I am thinking about the PRESENCE of the people I love being with me!
More than any other person that we spend time with on this earth, we are blessed to have a SAVIOR who desires our PRESENCE and sent His PRESENCE in bodily form, down to earth so that we could be present with Him forever and always!
As Paul the Apostle says,
“When we are caught up to meet the Lord, And so we will always be with the Lord.”
I Thessalonians 4:17
What does His PRESENCE mean to us?
Isaiah 9:6
“For to us a child is born,
To us a Son is given;
“and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called
WONDERFUL, COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE!”
His PRESENCE means that we are never alone. He is WONDERFUL and loves us like none other!
His PRESENCE means that we have someone to go to to seek advice and direction and to know the right path to take. He is our COUNSELOR!
His PRESENCE means that nothing we go through is out of his control and power.
He is our MIGHTY GOD!
His PRESENCE means that He is with us now and forever into eternity.
He is our EVERLASTING FATHER!
And His PRESENCE means that no matter how fierce the storms of life rage around us, we can have comfort and assurance and peace in the midst of them.
He is our PRINCE OF PEACE!
No PRESENT on earth can compare to the PRESENCE OF “EMMANUEL GOD WITH US!”
TRUTH BOMB
THE GREATEST GIFT BORN TO MAN CAME IN A MANGER!
The present I pray and wish for you today, is the presence of Jesus Christ to be with you today and always!
speaktruthlove 