Category: Christmas

“And Joseph went up from Galilee, from Nazareth, to the city of David, in order to register, along with Mary, who was with child.  And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.”  Luke 2: 4-6

Caesar Augustus gave a decree that a census was to be taken.  This law affected everyone, the rich, and the most common people in the most obscure places.  It reached Joseph and Mary at a most inopportune time, tucked away in Galilee.  We’re not told how far along Mary was in her pregnancy but I’m sure that the thought of such a trip was unwelcome, even overwhelming.  Nonetheless, this journey to Bethlehem became necessary so that they might comply with the law and register for the census.  Did they strain against such news?  I feel certain they did.  Was God in it?  Absolutely.  Hindsight proves it.  Prophetic words from ages past foretold that a Savior would arise out of Bethlehem.  God used Caesar’s mouth, a census, and a difficult journey for a pregnant woman to fulfill prophetic words.

God is in the ordinary events of my day, too.  When I am hit with unemployment, sickness, an unexpected move out-of-state, I can despair thinking that God has turned His back momentarily.  I can fear that I’m worth little, just something to be tossed around like a rag doll.  Little do I know that these events are like the ‘census’, steering me on to the next thing God has for me.  The seemingly catastrophic event is really like a rudder getting me to Bethlehem.  I can’t see it at the time but I need to remember that my trust in God need not be shaken.  Not then, not ever.

I’ll say it again, Lord.  There’s no such thing as a dead end.  I’m on your journey to blessing.  I have absolute confidence in You, God.  In Jesus name, Amen

Journal Question:  Why are you so quick to distrust God?  What is the history of your unbelief?  Name three events for which you still have no understanding.  It appears God was cruel.  What might Mary tell you today about God’s plan for your life?

And Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months, and then returned to her home.  Luke 1:56

When Mary became pregnant by the Spirit of God, she picked up her things and went straight to Elizabeth’s house.  When Elizabeth saw her, she knew something momentous had taken place.  She immediately prophesied over her and provided a place for Mary to spend the most tenuous time of any woman’s pregnancy – the first trimester.

When Mary experienced the most severe symptoms of morning sickness, she was safe in Elizabeth’s care.  When Mary first deliberated the cost of carrying the son of God, she was with the one who was safe for her spiritually.  When Jesus’ life was the most fragile, his mother cared for him best by securing the best possible environment.

There can be many reasons why faith is fragile.  Symbolically, Like Mary, I can be pregnant with God’s calling on my life.  The first days and months after God has spoken to me is the most critical time to be a guardian of that ‘new thing’.  That is the time when I’m prone to question what I heard Him say.   I’m also the most vulnerable to others talking me out of it.  Until His Word is established in my heart and has fully taken root, I must be diligent to keep company with the likes of Elizabeth.  I must secure an environment of safety where His Word can be received, not questioned.

My faith can also be fragile because I’ve walked so long in the wilderness that my strength to hold on is spent.  What I once believed in the light is now a shadow in the dark.  Did Mary have a crisis of faith?  It’s hard for me to believe that she didn’t.  The spiritual mountaintop of her angelic visitation soon gave way to the pressures of being pregnant before her marriage to Joseph.  Who would believe her?  Would they stone her?  Would Joseph want a divorce?  When I step from the safety of my boat into the raging seas, proclamations of faith can disappear.  All the more reason for me to seek out an Elizabeth.  She will comfort and she will confirm God’s promises.  Is this not the very reason God sent out people in pairs?

Solomon said, “Walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.”  The ‘righteous’ does not always describe every child of God, only the one who is also able to hear and obey the voice of God no matter the cost.  This bears out with the story of Elizabeth. She was also pregnant with a child who would bring great controversy.  (John the Baptist)  Who better to nurture Mary in her most vulnerable time than another woman who was pregnant with God’s call!

I choose my company wisely and guard my heart against any whose cancer of unbelief might threaten to undermine my fragile faith.

Show me how to guard what is so precious.  Minister to me, Holy Spirit.  In Jesus’ name, Amen

In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.  Isaiah 30:15

I was thinking this morning about the power of repentance.  Without repentance, my heart is dull and unreceptive to Jesus.   Repentance has become a ‘turn-off’ for many because society associates it with some red-faced pastors who yell about it.  The message God wants us to hear today is ~ repentance is our friend!

So, thoughtfully and slowly, I take in these truths.

God wants to bless me.

He longs to love me and watch me blossom under the umbrella of His affection.

He wants to share Himself with me and make my soul tremble with wonder.

What stands in the way for any of that to happen is unconfessed sin.  Sin clouds His voice, distorts my thinking, and damages my chances of living in blessing.  The most powerful thing I can do at the beginning of any day is pray ~ “Oh God, I don’t want to live distant from You today.  Show me my sin and the power of Your love and forgiveness.”

What does any of this have to do with Christmas?  I’m preparing for the coming of the Christ-child.  How did John the Baptist prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry?  By preaching repentance. “Repent – for the kingdom of God is at hand.”  To appreciate the arrival of a Savior, there must be an awareness of need.

The one who sees Jesus as beautiful is the one who knows they need Him.   A Savior is only embraced by those who know they need saving.  Repentance produces that.

The tender, holy God who asks me to repent is the one who knows that when I do, He’s finally free to give me everything He planned from before my conception.  I don’t want to become an old woman and have missed it.  So, why would I ever want to be defensive and self-deceived? Pathetic self-defenses are my enemy.

God, bring this message home. Prepare my heart for the manger scene!   In Jesus name, Amen

Journal Question:  The scripture says, “In repentance and rest is your salvation.”  How do you think the two postures help each other?  Ask God to show you what resting means and if anything in you is resistant to this quiet and composure.

There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might. Jeremiah 10:6

Until the birth of Jesus, people only knew God in part. Jesus’ arrival, however, gave new disclosure of His Father. New names, names only hinted of in the Old Testament, took center stage and God was understood in a whole new way.

Names for God prior to the birth of Jesus were ones that befitted an all knowing and powerful God. He was called the God Who Sees, God Is My Banner, The God Who Hears, and many others. These were enough to give His people comfort and strength.

With the birth of Jesus, however, came new understanding. It was a knowledge of God born of new names. Immediately after His birth, the shepherds were told that He was Savior and Emmanuel. As He grew, He revealed Himself as the Bread of Life, the Shepherd, the Son of God, the Vine, the Lamb of God, the Lord of Glory, the Last Adam, and the Precious Cornerstone. Each one gave believers new eyesight into the complex and unfathomable depths of God. They experienced Him through His names because there was a new dynamic in their relationship. Intimacy.

The names of God that are the most precious to me are the names I’ve had to embrace out of great need. I’ve ‘grown into them’ experientially. There are still so many that I know in my head but I am not fluent about them yet. They are not as precious to me because I’ve not needed them like I’ve needed others. Isn’t it true that God is most valued where I’ve needed Him the most? Spiritual need is everything.

Jesus came and shook up the way people related to God. Someone who kept God at arms length had to adjust as they encountered God in the flesh. A face to face experience with the God-Man never left one neutral. There was a repelling or an attraction. For each who embraced Him, stunning revelations ensued. The names of God, old and new, had a deeper power and influence over their lives.

This morning, I’m making a list of God’s names and after the ones I’ve come to love the most, I’ll jot down the memory associated with it that made God more dear to me.

Thank you for every thing that has driven me to You.  Amen

…being made in human likeness.  Philippians 2:7

When children are born, parents quickly look for familiar features.  “She has my eyes!  Look, her mouth curves just like Grandpa’s.”  Children are made in the likeness of those whose love created them.  It doesn’t take too many years for us to also recognize that a child has our temper, our strong will, our sensitive spirit, or a bent toward the artistic.

If a DNA test had been done on the baby Jesus, what would it have revealed?  One thing is certain.  Jesus’ spiritual DNA was unlike anyone born before or since.  He was God.  He was perfect.  There were no temper tantrums and no sulking in the corner until he got his way.  Though he might have cried when he scraped his knee, or ached from the loneliness of adolescent rejection, or even felt heartbroken when he chose to overturn tables in a temple that had become commercialized, he never sinned.

We, who have been spiritually adopted into his family, are undergoing a metamorphosis.  We are being fashioned into the likeness of Jesus.  Our insecurities are being healed in His embrace.  Our shame is disappearing beneath the robe he placed around our shoulders.  Tempers are melting in the presence of the One we can trust to rule righteously.

We are learning to cry but not manipulate, feel angry but take no revenge, and ask for others’ companionship without becoming codependent.  Jesus is our brother.  He made His Father ~ our Father.  His royal blood is beginning to course through our veins and change the very nature of who we are.  Our spiritual DNA is transforming us in such a way as to transcend family traits and likenesses.

I want my spiritual adoption to change me in every way.  I want to act, think, and feel more like You.  Amen

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17

My sister gave me an early Christmas present. She sent me a check that made it possible for me to do a total makeover on our dining room chandelier. Truth be told, I wasn’t even aware that the chandelier bothered me until she and I got into a discussion about settling for things we could really change.

The chandelier was there when we bought the house 16 years ago.   The light was very old. The shades were discolored, the parts were chipped, and the crystals were really made of plastic. However, I decided to keep the chandelier because it was very antique French-looking and I like that style. Over the years though, I learned to compensate for the chandelier in ways I wasn’t even aware of until Nancy and I talked. I kept the lights low while having dinner. I made the focal point the table settings or the table’s centerpiece. Settling and over-compensating had become a way of life.

Nancy is the one who suggested a makeover. I’d never thought of it. Imagine my excitement when I discovered I could strip the chandelier down to the frame and replace all the parts. I was even able to buy a lot of lead crystals for almost no money from a lighting store that posted a small palette of crystals on eBay. So here’s the thing. When stripped bare, the frame turned out to be a real antique and quite stunning. Then, everything I added to it just made it more beautiful. By the time I began to add the crystals, I was almost speechless as I saw my chandelier come to life. The crystals even glistened in the moonlight that shone through the window. It’s the most fun I’ve had creating something in a long time.

The spiritual lessons have been numerous. It made me appreciate the ways God has often stripped my soul bare in order to re-make me in the image of Christ. It made me wonder how many times I’ve attempted to pretty myself up in order to look presentable as a way of overcompensating for my weaknesses. Ultimately though, I’ve been taken with crystals and the beauty of light. I remember that the Gospel is a jewel and that scripture tells me to ‘work out my salvation with fear and trembling.’ The picture in the Greek is to hold a prism up to the light and turn it every way possible to appreciate its many facets. Talk about relevant! The Gospel is stunning and so multi-faceted. I should never think I’ve arrived in appreciating it if I perceive it as simply one-dimensional.

As we gather around our table this Christmas, and as I see the crystals reflect the light of Christmas day, I will silently ponder the ‘Light of the world’ in all of His beauty.

Why would I ever hide You! You are on full display this Christmas. Open the eyes of the blind to behold Your light. Amen

WHAT WILL COME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH?

My soul magnifies the Lord.  Luke 1:46

Words of faith do not originate from a vacuum.  What spills out during the times when I am stretched to my limit reflects the kind of faith I have cultivated previously.  A well known bible teacher said, “Who I am when hard times hit is really who I am.”   True!  The words I speak during my most painful moments are mirrors that reflect the foundation of my life.

Hannah endured the scourge of barrenness.  When she was finally touched by the divine hand of God, she delivered a famous discourse that spanned a dozen verses.  It is one of the most prophetic passages in all of scripture.

Elizabeth also suffered the heartache of being childless yet through it, she also cultivated her faith.  She learned the Word of God, built the precepts of it into the fabric of her life, and when God visited her with a child in her old age, she also rose to prophesy.

Eloquence is not just confined to adults either.  Mary was merely a teenager when she was visited by an angel. Given a task that would have crushed most grownups, she rose up to deliver the famous Magnificat.  The fact that such words could flow from a twelve year old is astounding.  She didn’t speak shallow words of praise.  She reviewed God’s history, the ‘ways of God’ that could only be known by one who immersed herself in the stories of her ancestors.

Human nature wants to coast during the good times, only drawing close to God when the fires of adversity get hot.  God is gracious and will certainly answer us whenever we cry out for help but there is a better way.  I can fortify my heart today.  If feeding my spirit is a priority, I create a storehouse of spiritual food that will serve me well when there’s a famine.  When everything appears to have fallen apart, I will not hear patterns of hopeless and fearful words come out of my mouth.  Ultimately, I’ll hear the language of faith.

Have I painted a picture that fails to embrace my own humanity?  No.  I’m not naive enough to believe that each of our spiritual heroes failed to have low moments.  Hannah wailed in the temple and was so distraught that the priest accused her of being drunk.  I’m also confident that Elizabeth wept her way through the scourge of barrenness.  A lifetime of longing unearths pretty strong emotions.  And Mary?  We’re not given a lot of details but I can’t believe that she didn’t worry about abandonment, and about being hauled before the elders to face harsh punishment.  I need to remember that there is no judgement against, what Job calls, ‘words for the wind.’  Each of us utter feeling statements when the fires are hot.  “This will never work out!”  “I’m headed for ruin.”  “I’m so angry, I could kill him.”  “I can never forgive this.”  What proves or disproves our faith is what happens after the initial crisis.  Will we embark on a lifestyle characterized by fear and unbelief or will we engage in some rugged introspection to place our feet, once again, on the Rock of Ages.

Lord, I walk in the shoes of Hannah, of Elizabeth, and of Mary.   I may have my low moments but You raise me up to do what I was created to do ~ love You, worship You, and praise You.  Bless every righteous seed planted in my spirit.  Amen

Journal Question:  Write a short script for yourself for your next crisis.  What would you like to hear yourself say when trouble comes?  Craft a short paragraph that contains the language of faith.  Keep it close and begin to re-shape your defaults.

“I know this isn’t very comfortable,” he whispered in her ear.  “I’m sorry.”  She nodded, touched by his kindness.  “By tonight, we’ll be in Bethlehem and surely we will be sleeping at an Inn.”  With the hope of that in sight, Mary closed her eyes again.  Joseph wondered about the day ahead.  They still had miles to go and he could tell that the time of the baby’s birth was near.  He felt alone and weighed down with the responsibility for their safety.  He prayed silently, “Jehovah, God of our fathers, have mercy on us.  Bring us safely to this new place.  We know no one.  I don’t have this all figured out.  Mary is trusting me and I am trusting you!  Let your presence move with us over these next hours.”  He had a choice.  He could rise early in the morning, faith in place, or nurse his fears.  He took a deep breath, reviewed the stories of his ancestral fathers, and trusted God.

It might have appeared to Joseph that they were alone.  It might have seemed as if their plans and their safety would be dependent upon his own ingenuity.  He could not discern that God might be guiding his thought processes.  God was the Father, just out of sight, ensuring the safe arrival of the Promise.  He was the Father of the unborn child and to say that He was invested was putting it mildly.  The redemptive plans of God, from before time, were about to break open upon Earth.  Nothing would tamper with divine sovereignty.

My life has also been planned from before the creation of the world.  God said so.  My calling is as secure in God’s hands as the calling of Joseph and Mary.  I can often feel the weight of responsibility, believing that I have more to do with determining my tomorrows than God does.  I fear that my own ingenuity will make or break my future.  Not so.  The presence of God hovers over.  His breath warms my way.  The creator of my mind, the One who has made Himself at home in my Spirit, guides me into all truth.  I cannot miss the way if I am prayerful, if I am listening.

My Bethlehem is always within reach; my roadway paved ahead of time by the index finger of God.