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Go Tell

 

Christmas Way Before Christmas

Rejoice, O people of Zion! 
Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! 
Look, your king is coming to you. 
He is righteous and victorious, 
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— 
riding on a donkey’s colt. 
Zechariah 9.9 (NLT)

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Abba, Father, how comforting it is to come to you, knowing your love is a gift I did not earn and can never lose. Thank you. I am in awe as I realize how great a gift this truly is. Though I live in a culture that erects barriers between people, barriers that divide us and make us feel either arrogant or inferior, I am so grateful to you for sending your Son, the Lord Jesus, who broke through these walls with his love, acceptance, forgiveness and service to the lost, to the least and to the lonely. Teach me to treasure all the people I encounter today, to love them and to seek only good for them. In your Son’s name I pray. Amen.

Taken from YouVersion.com

A Journey of Love

 

God Still Guides

Psalm 119:105

 

An Advent Prayer

Faithful Father, thank you for the hope of the second coming of Jesus Christ in glory and power. Help me to live in anticipation of his coming. Help me to trust you in the things I do not understand. And when life seems to be a mess, help me to remember that your work here on earth remains, for the time being, an unfinished project, and that you always complete what you begin. Help me to cultivate an eternal perspective as I journey through this temporal arena. May I learn to pursue the eternal reality of the unseen future over the current reality of the visible present. And may you always be the object of my deepest love so that I will pursue you above all else. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

Taken from YouVersion.com - Celebrating The Messiahs Birth

Play Your Drum For Jesus

 

Your Longing - Hope

This is from Jesus Calling

Your Longing

Your longing for heaven is good because it is an extension of your yearning for Me. The hope of heaven is meant to strengthen and encourage you, filling you with wondrous Joy. Many Christians have misunderstood this word hope, believing that it denotes wishful thinking. Nothing could be further from the truth! As soon as I became your Savior, heaven became your ultimate destination. The phrase hope of heaven highlights the benefits you can enjoy even while remaining on earth. This hope keeps you spiritually alive during dark times of adversity; it brightens your path and heightens your awareness of My Presence. My desire is that you mayoverflow with hope by the power ofthe Holy Spirit.

Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. —Romans 8:23–25

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. —Hebrews 6:18–19

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. —Romans 15:13

Perfect Peace

 

Joy > Happiness

Joy is often defined as, “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.” Too often we confuse joy with happiness and think that someone must be joyful if they are always walking around happy, but that isn’t really how the Bible defines it.

When we believe God is in control of everything, including all the details of our lives, we can be confident that He is always at work to draw us closer to Him in all situations. Not only will that drive us to praise Him, but that will bring us true joy.

Joy isn’t so much a feeling as it is an action of us choosing to trust God in our circumstances.

Taken from YouVersion.com. 

A Pernicious Loop - From Wire

This is from "Wire" a devotional for men. A A Pernicious Loop   . . . he himself gives to all mankind  life and breath and everything—Acts 17:25   There are few more powerful (and potentially harmful) forces at work in the lives of men than the When/Then lie. It goes like this: when we get that job, that promotion, that house, that “number” in the bank account . . . theneverything’ll be great. Things will settle down then. We’ll have peace and joy and security then. The lie wouldn't be so bad, but for the behavior we rationalize and excuse with it, hoping it is true: neglecting people we’re meant to love; disregarding people we’re meant to serve; ignoring people we’re meant to rescue; treating badly and taking advantage of people we are meant to encourage and support.   Our enemy, the “father of lies” (John 8:44), created a clever one with the When/Then lie—it’s an infinite loop. You see, whatever “something” follows When is never as good as we think it’ll be. And so, any given “something,” when it’s achieved, is quickly replaced by a bigger, better one.   There’s freedom available to us, though—freedom to enjoy the abundant blessings we’ve already been given; freedom to access true peace and true joy and true security, right now—if we’re willing to reject the lie and, instead, embrace the promises of our King, Jesus Christ. He’s promised that our Father God will provide everything we need in any given moment (Matthew 6:25-34). His provision just might not look how we think or hope it will (Isaiah 55:8). Okay, so what do we do?   Write down the When/Then lies you’ve believed. Be specific with both the Whensand the Thens. Now, with brothers in community or directly to God, pray against any power they’ve held over your life. Then, pray in the opposite: declare your gratitude for how God’s provided for you already—and for how he always will.

Good Gifts

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? . . . If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” 

(Luke 11:11–13, NIV)

I debated whether to share with you an uplifting Christmas memory of mine or a sad one.  Wait a moment, how else would a real Charles Dickens story be told…

Sadly, my parents divorced when I was about 11. After my dad left, my mom tried desperately to maintain a sense of normalcy for my younger brother, sister, and me. My dad was in every way gone after the divorce. Most times that was okay, but there were times when it really stunk. We had very little money, and my mom at one point worked three jobs so we could just survive. However, we always seemed to have one or two nice gifts at Christmas; nicer than I expected given our circumstances. I remember wishing it was because my dad was secretly providing for us. That thought made me feel better about my dad. But, one Christmas, after my dad had been gone for years, I remember finding at the front door a brown paper sack marked “From Dad.” As I looked inside with anticipation, I found dated, mis-sized, mismatched, previously worn socks. Reality stinks. That was what our dad was willing or able to give his children for Christmas.

Perhaps, it was that sad reality that helped me feel drawn to our heavenly Father.

I have found in God an extremely generous Father willing and able to provide everything I could ever need. He has given me His Holy Spirit to take up residence in my life; He has faithfully given His Word in the trustworthy Scriptures for my growth; He has creatively assembled a loving community and given me a place in it; He has sacrificially given His Son, the Christ-child, for my sins… He has not withheld anything good from me.

God is a good Father who gives really good gifts to His children… join me this Christmas season, as I celebrate that reality!

— Dr. Charles Dickens

Department Chair and Associate Professor of Biblical Counseling

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Good News

 

Outward - A Prayer

From Devotion by J. Dubois

A prayer for perspective:

Dear God, let me lift my head off my own chest, and focus on the other.

My family, my loved ones, my friends.

My neighbors, my “enemies,” those loosely connected to me halfway across the world.

These eyes of mine are so frequently focused inward. Dear Lord, today, turn them out. And give me vision to see needs other than my own. Amen

Thanks to my friend Tyrone Lawton for sending this my way.

Called of God

“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

(Isaiah 6:8, ESV) 

It was a cold, snowy evening when our bus pulled into “The Glen,” headquarters of The Navigators in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was nearly Christmas and would soon be a day that would change our lives forever. We checked in, had a quick meal, and reported to the room where we would hear Bob Boardman, a decorated WWII vet, known as “The Marine Who Only Whispers.” An author of several books, he also received two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star for valor. In the battle for Okinawa on June 17, 1945, four days before this last battle of WWII, a sniper’s bullet pierced his throat and hand, causing him to speak in a husky

 whisper.

Mary and I listened intently as he whispered a message on Isaiah 6 and “God’s call.” At the end of his message he asked, “If there is anyone here who would be willing to win others to Christ and be involved in discipleship not only in the U.S.A. but in a foreign country, would you please stand?” I immediately jumped to my feet. Then, I remembered, I’m married! I turned to see Mary standing beside me. As we looked wide-eyed at each other, we realized that we both stood at exactly the same time without realizing that the other had stood. We smiled, took each other’s hand, and remained standing through a commitment prayer.

The rest is history. Mary and I served as missionaries in the Philippines for twenty-seven years, and have remained associated with Philippine missions for the last sixteen years, returning every year to minister and be ministered to with Biblical Education by Extension World missions. We will forever be grateful to the “Marine Who Whispers,” who impacted our lives that Christmas. Since then, we have celebrated numerous Christmases with our beloved Filipino people. Thank you, Bob, and thank you Lord for calling us.

— Dr. Larry Waters

Professor of Bible Exposition