Tis the Season
by Susan Lucas
It’s that time of year again. People are already rushing around, toys are out of stock and the pace of our lives gets more hectic. Seems like we either love the hustle and bustle or would rather do without all the fuss. Since my mom passed away on a Christmas morning and my sister in January, I am always filled with memories and longing. I would gladly give everything I own just to spend an hour with them. The frantic pace only accentuates the sadness.I always have to get my focus off the toys and tinsel and onto the Hope of Christmas.
I love to be still and quiet during this season.The candlelight service at our church is therapeutic for me. To stop and be still takes me back to the arms of Jesus. To be wrapped up in His love reminds me of what Christmas should be. I am reminded that I am not alone and that He is still with me.
I always try to focus on others during the year but especially at Christmas. I try to involve my children too. I want them to share God’s hope and love with the people who need it the most whether it be an elderly person at a nursing home, a family with no money to spend or even a homeless pet. All my children enjoy helping others. For a mom,that is a precious gift! This gift can’t be bought or wrapped.
I rarely remember what I got for Christmas, I do remember sleeping with my sister each Christmas Eve and my brother’s exquisitively wrapped presents. I remember the pitiful Christmas trees that we found in the woods and Mama allowing me to decorate the tree “all my myself”. They are gifts that never tarnish. For these memories I am thankful, gifts of gold and hope from God.
The Most Holy Place
by Linda Lail
In the Old Testament the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies or The Most Holy Place once a year to offer sacrifice to Jehovah for the sins of the Israelites. He had to dress in garments prescribed specifically by Jehovah which included bells on the hem of the outer garment. A rope was tied to his leg so that if he was overcome by the holiness of the presence of the Most High God, the bells would jingle as he fell to the ground, and the people would pull him out of the Holy of Holies.
Where is The Most Holy Place today? In John 14 Jesus talked to his disciples about his need to go away so that the Holy Spirit could come into the world. In chapter 14:16-17 Jesus said “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be IN (my emphasis) you. In 14:23 Jesus told his disciples “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him and WE (my emphasis) will come to him and make OUR (my emphasis) home with him. The Most Holy Place is within us. God, the Eternal Holy, the From Everlasting to Everlasting, the I AM THAT I AM lives within each of us, His chosen bride.
Think about what that means in your daily life. Where do you go? Who do you spend time with? What kind of language do you use? What do you watch on television? What kind of movies do you go see? What do you look at on the internet? What do you wear as you go out into the world? You cannot do anything as His bride without the Bridegroom being there with you. HE IS WHEREVER YOU ARE! That thought should make us take stock of all that we do as the people that are called by His name. It should also cause us to rejoice that our precious Savior, our coming Bridegroom is already here, within us, loving us, bringing the glory of heaven to bear on our very lives in this moment.
As I watch television news programs today and see the hatred that is so blatantly revealed toward God and His people, and the boldness of sinful behaviors, I know that He is coming soon for His bride. It is of ETERNAL importance that we be washed in the blood and made white as snow, without spot or blemish, for it is THAT bride for whom He is coming.
Even so, come Lord Jesus, come.
God Always Has A Way
by Genel Webb
I was sitting alone in my home office one day, not feeling motivated to do the menial, but important tasks at hand. I felt like I just wanted to talk to someone and pour my heart out. I needed a sounding board. I found myself saying, aloud — “Lord I feel as if I have no one to talk to, today.” Prior to being in a home office, I’d been in a corporate office sitting where I was able to fellowship with other Believers in the Lord everyday, even if it was in the break room or across the cubicle. Anyway, some other times when I’d made similar statements to the Lord, in my spirit, I would hear the Lord say — talk to me. This time, it just seemed as if the Lord was silent. I felt that a couple of people that I could have called, at that time of day, would be busy. And others that I thought of to call didn’t quite seem to be the right person. Well, as those words came out of my mouth, the phone rang immediately and I really mean immediately. It was one of my friends, one of my sisters in the Lord. She said, “I just called to see how you were and how things were going.” I said this is so unbelievable that you would call at this moment. I shared with her what had just come out of my mouth and a few other things that I just wanted to talk through. And I thought, “God always has a way….”
God always has a way of making provision for our needs. And because the word of God tells us that His ways are not like ours, we may not have thought of His way, but He always has a way. He never forsakes us or leaves us. He’s not a million miles away. He’s here, he’s there, and he’s everywhere. And if we are a born again Believer in and of Him, His spirit is in us. He is amazing! He always has a way!
The Potential of a Day
by Maria Simone
More often than I would like to admit, I find myself waking up and dreading the day ahead of me. I find myself thinking of everything I have to do, and wind up feeling behind before my feet ever hit the floor. One particular morning, the Lord reminded me of Psalm 118:24, “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it”. He reminded me that every day is a gift from Him, and not only am I to be thankful for it and rejoice, but that each day has the potential to be great. Dictionary.com defines the word potential as “Capable of being but not yet in existence; having possibility, capability, or power”. Think about the first part of this definition for a minute – “capable of being”. Each day is a clean slate…a blank canvas…and only you hold the instrument to write on it. In fact, not only is your day a clean slate, but each minute is a blank line on the page of your day.
Look at the second part of the definition again – “having possibility, capability or power”. When I go through my day with dread and annoyance, I am, first of all, wasting this great gift that God has given me, and second, I am failing to see the great power God has given me to paint the canvas of my day for His glory. Deuteronomy 30:19 says “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live”. We have within us this great potential, this power, to make not only our day great, but to have a positive impact on those around us as well.
Looking at each day this way fills me with hope for what it can become. Be encouraged, my friends, that you have the God-given power to paint your masterpiece any way you want to. Your small, minute-by-minute choices, can paint beautiful strokes on your canvas, and leave a lasting impact on your family, friends, and even strangers.
Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh – Teaching our Children to Treasure Christ
by Beverly Mueffelmann
At the beginning of this year, we focused on our children as our greatest earthly treasure. Now that we are at the end of the year at Christmas time, let’s focus on how we can teach our children to treasure Christ over all of the competing treasures vying for their attention on the television screen, in the toy catalogs, and on the internet. How do we train them to treasure Christ, not only at Christmas but throughout the year?
Early in our parenting, I ran across an article detailing how different families handled the world’s materialistic focus of the Christmas holiday with their children. One wise parent explained to their children that Jesus got three presents from the wise men on His birthday, so they would receive three presents when they celebrated Jesus’ birthday on Christmas. This strategy immediately resonated with us and we established this three-gift tradition at Jesus’ birthday as well. In addition, at least one of the three gifts was a gift to share between them so that the focus was not on what “I” got for Christmas, but on what “we” can enjoy together because of Christmas.
Another tradition that we practice is to begin the Christmas season by celebrating the ancient season of Advent, a time of remembrance of Christ’s first coming and the joyful anticipation of His coming again. During Advent (the twenty-four days prior to Christmas), we light a candle on each Sunday and have a daily devotion time focused on the names, identity, and role of Christ in the world. (See Family Celebrations at Christmas by Ann Hibbard or other similar resources.) We also celebrate the Christmas season until January 6th, the twelfth day of Christmas commemorating the visit of the wise men to Jesus (which actually happened two years after His birth).
Another method we use to keep the focus off of the earthly treasures and on the heavenly treasure of Christ is to begin opening gifts prior to the actual day of Christmas or during the twelve days of Christmas after, depending on the ages of the children or our travel plans. We often open gifts from out-of-town relatives during these earlier or later times. Opening gifts slowly over time (and slowly on Christmas morning!) enables the focus of Christmas day not to be on the presents but on Christ, gives young children an opportunity to focus on and enjoy each gift, and keeps the after Christmas let-down from ruining the remainder of Christmas day after all of the boxes have been opened and the wrapping paper thrown away. On Christmas morning we also have a family devotion prior to opening gifts and later on Christmas day we have a birthday cake for Jesus to remember the reason we celebrate the holiday.
If we hope to keep materialism out of our Christmas, it is also something we need to train out of our lives year-round. On a daily basis, we need to be training our children (and ourselves!) to evaluate purchases on the basis of what we need versus what we want. If we set these expectations in our children, they will be all the more blessed by receiving special gifts of what they want at special occasions throughout the year.
Just as the wise men brought great earthly treasures to Jesus, we must train our children to bring their greatest treasure to Jesus, their hearts. In these times of economic hardship and financial strain, it is also imperative for our children to see that while God does delight in giving us the desires of our hearts (sometimes materially), He desires even more that we treasure the true desire of our hearts, His Son Jesus.