Blog: “Discovering His Living Hope”

It is Christmas Eve 2021, and we are going to be Interrupting the Silence. The Poetry and Carols of Christmas! And the Angels Sing Joy to the World!

The Christmas Silence

Words: Margaret Deland, 1907

Hushed are the pigeons cooing low
    On dusty rafters of the loft;
    And mild-eyed oxen, breathing soft,
Sleep on the fragrant hay below.

Dim shadows in the corner hide;
    The glimmering lantern’s rays are shed
    Where one young lamb just lifts his head,
Then huddles ‘gainst his mother’s side.

Strange silence tingles in the air;
    Through the half-open door a bar
    Of light from one low-hanging star
Touches a baby’s radiant hair.

No sound: the mother, kneeling, lays
    Her cheek against the little face.
    Oh human love! Oh heavenly grace!
‘Tis yet in silence that she prays!

Ages of silence end to-night;
    Then to the long-expectant earth
    Glad angels come to greet His birth
In burst of music, love, and light!

Luke 2:8-14 Authorized (King James) Version

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

It is Christmas Eve in the year of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 2021.

I pray all of God’s blessings and abundance upon your homes and families.

I pray for that place of Shalom, Shalom, to come upon each of your spirits.

I pray that the Good News of our Savior discovers, lifts up, inspires, your soul.

These are indeed days when Shalom, Shalom probably means social distancing, mask on and mask off mandates of some interpretation and variation. It means you have perhaps had to curtail those Christmas plans with family living apart, near and distant, perhaps even across the oceans, seas and mountain ranges. It is not at all a very welcome interruption to any of our family traditions of travel. Somehow, we will have to make do with communicating by social media, ZOOM. It is definitely not nearly the same as traditional family gatherings and meals.

One of the things of which I have become more and more aware of lately is that the Seasons of Advent and Christmas happens amidst the drudgery of ordinary circumstances of life. Meditate about that first ancient Christmas: an emperor issuing decrees and taxing people, a simple everyday couple that is unmarried and pregnant, a no vacancy sign, field hands working the night shift. Those are real life circumstances and real life is always the world of Christmas. It was then and it is today. The jobs are undeniably different and infinitely more diverse.

For some people that means Christmas is a hard time of year. It’s difficult and painful. They have to work Christmas Day. For others it’s the best time of year. It is joyful and exciting. For most of us, I suspect, it varies from year to year.

Just for a change of pace, take just a few moments from wrapping, and think back over the past year. How has your life changed since last Christmas? In what ways is your world today different from then? Has it been a difficult and painful year, or has it been a year of joy and thanksgiving? Was it a memorable year or one you would like to forget? Maybe it was a mixture of all the above.

Regardless of what the last year has or has not represented for us and whether or not we choose to consider the changes it brought to be for better or for worse it is deeply rooted in the Good News of that very first, ancient, Christmas story.

I am not talking about the then and there Christmas story, the one that starts out “In those days” and takes place “in that region.” I am talking about the here and now Christmas story, the one that is taking place in these days and in your very region. After all, that’s really the only Christmas story that matters.

  • What good is it to us or the church, if Jesus is laid in a manger in Bethlehem if he is not also cradled in the manger of our contemporary 2021/2022 heart?
  • What good is it to us or the church, if the angels announcing good news of great joy to the shepherds living and working in the fields if none of that good news is not also announced in the night fields of our contemporary 2021/2022 lives?
  • What good is it to us or the church, if the shepherds go to see this event that has taken place if we do not also see in our contemporary 2021/2022 lives, this truly miraculous once in anybody’s lifetime event that has happened?
  • What good is it to us or the church, if Mary ponders and treasures how these things can be if we do not also wonder, deep within our own 2021/2022 souls, at the imponderable mystery of God’s life and love with us in our time and place?

Every year we come to this night to hear the Christmas story.

The story never changes. We count on that. Every year it’s the same story with the same characters, the same locations, the same plot, and the same ending.

The everyday couple, Mary and Joseph betrothed. Mary, the teenager pregnant with her first child and in those days, scandalously so, she is very unmarried.

Roman Emperor Augustus issues a decree of taxation. Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem where Joseph’s family is from. There’s no room at the inn. Mary gives birth to Jesus, places him in a manger. The angel announces this good news to the shepherds. They come and see this thing that has happened. Mary treasures, ponders the words of the shepherds, and they return to their fields.

You know that story as well as I do. You’ve probably heard it and told it multiple times. But have you ever considered or pondered in your hearts, the quiet and raucous poetry of Christmas? I’m talking about the images and metaphors that tell the story behind the story. The facts of Christmas remain the same every year, but the poetry of Christmas is what keeps the story alive, has preserved it through the ages, and allows us to relive it again every year for the first time.

I believe that’s the real reason we come to this night each year with celebration. We come for the poetry. Not to be read, but to be sung in the traditional hymns of the season. We want to know despite our changing story and despite what has happened over the past year, Christmas is still true and still happening.

We want to be reminded that light is still shining in the darkness, that good news is still being announced, that the child is still being born anew, and that God is still with us, Angels are still heralding unto our contemporary times.

Yes, it is still true. All of it. Christmas is happening in whatever, wherever the circumstances of our lives might be this Christmas Eve. Christmas is happening tomorrow in whatever changes you’ve experienced over the last year. Christmas is as genuine, is as exactly real and present in the difficult and painful times of life as it is in the joyful and exciting times. The LOGOS is still forever with us!

I do not pretend to know or even try to understand how exactly or even why that happens. I only know, by the grace of God, it does happen. I have experienced it over the past year in my life and I have also very definitely and decisively seen it happen in the lives of many others. I cannot begin to tell you how it all happens, but I can truly tell you. It’s all about the poetry. Let me give you some examples.

  • Have you ever loved so deeply that your heart ached? And all you wanted to do was pour yourself into the life of another?
  • Who are the people, the Josephs, that have accompanied, protected, and cared for you through this life?
  • Have you ever looked in the face of a newborn child and marveled at the miracle of life? Been inspired to be a better person? Wished for that kind of gentleness and innocence in your life and world?
  • Have you ever had someone show up in your life and say or do exactly what you needed? They came and announced to you good news when you needed it most.
  • Think of a time that was so perfect, so beautiful, so profound that you were speechless and all you could do was treasure and ponder the moment.
  • Have you ever woken up to the beauty and possibilities of a new day after living through a night of darkness?
  • Recall a time when hope, strength, and courage were born anew in you.
  • Have you ever experienced peace and contentment in circumstances that were neither peaceful nor what you wanted?
  • When was the last time you danced with joy to the music of laughter and a chorus of smiles?
  • Have you ever done what seemed to you impossible or gotten through a hard time and not known how you did that? In fact, you didn’t think you could or would.
  • What are you cradling and cherishing in your heart this Christmas Eve which you know beyond any shadow of any measure of doubt is a gift from God?

Guess What? That’s all poetry. Those and a thousand other verses like them are the poetry of Christmas. And it is O’ so much more than the facts of Christmas.

https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/HTML/Christmas_Poetry_And_Prose1.html

The Gospel facts of Christmas are just the starting point. Every year the verses of Christmas poetry are written anew using the circumstances of our lives. The reality of Christmas, God with us, Emmanuel, is always happening.

That’s never, in anyone’s lifetime, going ever to be even minimally in question.

So, for a change of pace, take a minute or an hour or two and tell yourself the story of Christmas once again but this time, open thy soul, listen for the poetry.

What is the poetry of Christmas for you this year?

Why not take a period of time away from wrapping or meal preparation, and just sit down with a pad of paper, a pencil in your hand, (no computers or any smart phones or virtual reality devices allowed), write your Christmas Poem!

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us pray,

Heavenly Father,

Thank You that I have peace with God, and as Your born-again child, that I have received Your goodwill and grace, not only in this age but in the ages to come.

Thank You that because I am positioned in Christ and I am swaddled in His righteousness, I am identified with Him, have found favour in Your sight, and the peace of God in my heart. I know that without Jesus there is nothing I could have done to warrant peace with You, for I acknowledge that I am a sinner, deserving of death – but glory to God in the highest, that genuine peace has been granted to men with whom You are pleased.

Praise Your holy name that both peace with God and the peace of God, is available to who place their faith in the only begotten Son of God, in Whose name I pray, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.

“Joy to the World” is an English Christmas Carol. Written in 1719 by the English minister and hymnwriter Sir Isaac Watts, the carol’s lyrics are written and composed based on a Christian interpretation of Psalm 98, Psalm 96 (verses 11 and 12), and Genesis 3:17-18). This beloved carol, “Joy to the World” is usually sung to an 1848 arrangement by the American composer Lowell Mason.

Since the 20th century, this much beloved and cherished Carol, “Joy to the World” has been the most-published Christmas hymn in North America.

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John 3:16! We Believe! We Belong! We A.B.I.D.E.! Now, We Must Bear Fruit! Our Bearing Fruit as a 2021 Christian.

Henri Nouwen gives us these profound words of wisdom from his experiences.

“We belong to a generation that wants to see the results of our work. We want to be productive and see with our own eyes what we have made. But that is not the way of God’s Kingdom. Often our witness for God does not lead to tangible results. Jesus himself died as a failure on a cross. There was no success there to be proud of. Still, the fruitfulness of Jesus’ life is beyond any human measure. As faithful witnesses of Jesus, we have to trust that our lives too will be fruitful, even though we cannot see their fruit. The fruit of our lives may be visible only to those who live after us.

What is important is how well we love. God will make our love fruitful, whether we see that fruitfulness or not.”

I give you these words to ponder and pray over, give them your due diligence as we turn now to the transcending Word of God for this, today’s devotional effort.

John 15:1-17 NASB

Jesus Is the Vine—Followers Are Branches

15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He [a]prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already [b]clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in Me, [c]and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit [d]of itself [e]but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him [f]bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so [g]prove to be My disciples.

9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; remain in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

Disciples’ Relation to Each Other

12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17 This I command you, that you love one another.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

John 15 is one of the best-loved of all the gospel readings, and with good reason. We all want to flourish! And here, in His final words to His disciples, Jesus tells his disciples that if they stay “in him” – rooted in him through the Word and Sacraments – they will lead the kind of fruitful lives that marks his disciples. If they’ll live as Jesus has taught them to live: BELIEVING on God, God, the Son, (John 14:6) they will experience BELONGING to God’s family (Romans 1:6-7), They will A.B.I.D.E. in God’s love through Jesus Christ (John 15:4-6 AKJV).

Building up and Growing Inwardly and Outwardly, Maturing upon each of these, they will inevitably, undeniably, BEAR FRUIT for the Kingdom of God. The ministry and mission and work of God the Holy Spirit will see to all this!

John 16:12-16 Authorized (King James) Version

12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 16 A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.

There are three truths I am compelled by John 3:16 to bring to your attention.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God so LOVED the world that He gave us His Son … The Logos (John 1:1-5)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

In these days of great tribulation, socially distant, socially isolated, masks on, mask off, mask and vaccine mandated, are we vaccinated or not, boosted or not, quarantined, virus tested, virus retested, sanitized, government regulated days, there is One who has, against the most catastrophic odds, has OVERCOME it all!

John 16:32-33Authorized (King James) Version

32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Living Father, Son and Holy Spirit, being a believing, belonging, abiding and fruit bearing Christian, under the shadow of these indescribably, undeniably enormous wings, living with absolute maximum confidence in God’s truth, we can all still live impossible Acts 2, Acts 3 and Acts 4 kingdom growth ministry.

1. Remain in the Vine

One of the things which always strikes me about a fruit tree is its innate ability to stand so quiet, without strain or mayhem, while still getting things done. I mean, how does a branch produce fruit without the swirl? Do you know what I mean by the swirl? It’s the striving and chaos and energy I often leave in my wake when I am still trying to make things happen, sometimes even for God. In this passage from John 15, Jesus presents us with an entirely different way.

The word “remains” (abide or dwell) in the Greek means: “not to depart; to continue, to be present; to be held, kept, continually; to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure” (Vines Bible Dictionary)

https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ved.html

https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ved/r/remain.html

The idea is that this is a very restful place to be. If we as the branches remain in Him as the Vine, we draw energy and marrow to produce the fruits of change and transformation He longs to bring about in each of our lives. It’s all about our attachment and connectedness to Him. This doesn’t mean our lives will be void of activity or the high expending of energy, simply that we’re able to draw everything we need to bring forth meaningful fruit that will last. As restfully as a tree beside still waters, because have you ever seen an apple tree freaking out?

2. Embrace The Pruning

Earlier in the chapter Jesus points out that God the Father is the One who prunes our lives so we will be even more fruitful (vs 2). The problem for me, historically, has been quite simple: I don’t always enjoy how God’s pruning process, turns out.

Maybe you and I are in one of those places where God is refining our character by cutting out a massive tumor of greed or vanity or malignant pride. The harsh disease of bitterness is being scraped back. Perhaps that particular false god you were really quite attached to just got lopped off, plummeting to the ground in a most unpleasant way.

As I have learned a bit about gardening over the years, pruning spares the nourishment of the vine for the branches that are most viable. If God is paring back an area that is presently painful, it is only for the bearing of more fruit—A life of greater impact for His glory (vs 8). So let God do His transformational work and have His way in our lives. Don’t resist the “tough love” He is doing.

3. Expect A Harvest

When Jesus says that if we remain in Him, we will bear fruit, this is a promise.

Part of the greatest beauty of a fruit tree is that its prolific bounty is an annual and rather predictable offering. No one looking on any orchard of any fruit tree seems to be all that taken with the fact that these trees will have fruit hanging from its branches – even in the most tribulating of times and nature’s seasons.

In October, for example the Michigan apple is to be expected. In Georgia it is the Peach and In Florida it is the Orange Tree. You can count on them. They have locked within them essential pieces of our existence—like apple cider, apple pie and cider donuts, all kinds of Jams, Jellies, Pies, Desserts uncountable and so on—We have come to depend on the inevitability of these tasty, reliable realities.

How much more can we rely on the spiritual premise that remaining in Jesus means bearing fruit that will last?  In other words, as we abide in our Savior Jesus Christ, we can confidently, equally, expect the fruit He will bring about.

In these most troubling of times of this 21st century, yay we abide in Him so our fruit bearing activity is loving, peaceful, not full of strife. When the Gardener sharpens his shears, may we let Him have His loving way with us. And as we all dwell in the Vine, let us expect the certainty of bearing fruit. Fruit that will last.

We Hold God’s John 3:16 Promises and God’s Truths to be Wholly Self Evident …

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us pray.

Here’s a contemporary Welsh prayer I discovered in my Face Book Feed.

Lord, we would grow with you
New shoots reaching out
Hands stretched upward
Like leaves newly formed
Soaking up your light and warmth
Lord, we would grow with you

Lord, we would grow with you
In sunshine and rain
In darkness and light
In cold days and summer days
From Springtime to Winter
Lord, we would grow with you

Lord, we would grow with you
And bring forth fruit
That is pleasing to you
Fed by your living water
Giving sustenance to others
Lord, we would grow with you.

Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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A.B.I.D.E. The Experience of Knowing and Loving God in Jesus Christ Today

Knowing is not the same as Experiencing! “Knowing” Christ is not mere head knowledge about the Bible and about Christian doctrine. Nor is it just having emotions. To know the Lord Jesus Christ certainly includes intelligent thinking and having feelings, but it is primarily a spiritual experience with the reality of the living God. This knowledge is supernatural (initiated and sustained by God through our trust in him) and it reaches from the heavens to the inner depths of persons, then flows out to other people and the environment. To know Christ today is to experience an interactive relationship with him in the Kingdom of God.

This concept of “Abiding in Christ” is one of the most important experiences we can have and learn life from. The word itself is a verb. Abiding is therefore an action and means to continue, remain, dwell, live, or to lodge. We can then say that to abide in Christ is to remain and continue in, to live and dwell in Christ.

John 15:1-8 J.B. Phillips New Testament

Jesus teaches union with himself

15 1-8 “I am the real vine, my Father is the vine-dresser. He removes any of my branches which are not bearing fruit and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit to increase its yield. Now, you have already been pruned by my words. You must go on growing in me and I will grow in you. For just as the branch cannot bear any fruit unless it shares the life of the vine, so you can produce nothing unless you go on growing in me. I am the vine itself; you are the branches. It is the man who shares my life and whose life I share who proves fruitful. For the plain fact is that apart from me you can do nothing at all. The man who does not share my life is like a branch that is broken off and withers away. He becomes just like the dry sticks that men pick up and use for the firewood. But if you live your life in me, and my words live in your hearts, you can ask for whatever you like, and it will come true for you. This is how my Father will be glorified—in your becoming fruitful and being my disciples.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

When Jesus tells us to abide in Him, there’s a very good reason. So, let’s take a look at this section of Scripture. Let’s take a few moments, devote ourselves, to know why abiding is so critically important to living the Christian experience.

“He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5b NKJV)

• Here our abiding in Christ directly affects our work and responsibilities

“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:6 NKJV)

• Here our abiding in Christ, or lack thereof, directly affects our eternal life

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” (John 15:7 NKJV)

• Here our abiding in Christ directly affects our communication with God

“Whoever abides in Him does not sin.” (1 John 3:6a NKJV)

• Here our abiding in Christ directly affects our walk with God

A proper understanding of what it means to Abide in Christ is therefore critical.

We discover it was such an abiding relationship that Jesus had with the Father, which energized and defined His ministry. When he’s confronting the religious leaders who said He was blaspheming by calling Himself the Son of God, Jesus said,

“If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (John 10:37-38 NKJV)

When Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus said,

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works” (John 14:10 NKJV)

Speaking of the coming resurrection of believers, Jesus talks about how vital this connection with His Father is.

I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30 NKJV)

Jesus had an intimate abiding relationship with the Father, and we must then ask ourselves this important question; if this relationship was necessary for His ministry, then how important today such an intimate abiding relationship with Jesus is required if we are going to live fruitful, effective lives here on earth.

This is actually Jesus’ prayer for us.

“That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21 NKJV)

Returning back to our text, Jesus says that just as a branch needs to be vitally connected to the vine, so believers need to be vitally connected to Him. Just as Jesus could do nothing outside the Father’s will, we can do nothing on our own. We need this vital connection, and then we can say like the Apostle Paul, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:10-13 NKJV)

Therefore, when we DO learn how to abide in Christ, He will provide life and strength so we can live productive and effective lives. But even more, we can experience intimate fellowship with God, experience belonging to His family.

Being welcomed members of God’s family, we have all the power and privileges that go along with it. Our only problem is while it’s all ours, we don’t know how to fully experience them, because we have not learned how to abide in Christ.

The more we actively share Christ’s life and let Him share ours, the more we’ll enjoy the full benefits of being branches attached to the vine, that is, members of His body and sharers of His grace and belonging to His Kingdom. We also tap into His utterly limitless protection, strength, guidance, and companionship.

This knowledge of the reality of God’s presence and action in our lives is the true foundation of life and faith. Biblical faith in God (our trust or confidence in him) as opposed to sight (physical circumstances and our feelings about them), not knowledge. By Faith We Experience, We Understand. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. (Hebrews 11:1-2 NKJV). Experiencing Christ =’s our Testimony.

Faith is based on previous experience and previous knowledge of reality and then extends outward echelons beyond that. We can know the reality of Christ — historically and reasonably, certainly, but also personally and spiritually.

“Now this is eternal life,” Jesus prayed, “that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

Are WE Experiencing Intimacy with Jesus?

We call this knowledge of God “Intimacy with Jesus.” It’s us having the kind of relationship with Jesus which he has with the Father — he shows us this divine life throughout the Gospels and provided our access to this through his cross and resurrection. Jesus’ word for this divine intimacy is abide. Recall that Jesus said, “Abide in me as I abide in the Father, and you will bear much fruit.” (My paraphrase; see John 15:1-17.)

Intimacy with Jesus is the source of everything that is good in our lives. The blessing of enjoying God’s love, the wisdom to live right and well, and the power to advance God’s kingdom all are based in our intimacy with Jesus. But how do we know if we’re truly intimate with Jesus? What does it mean to abide in Christ? There are a lot of different ideas about this floating around today!

The experience of knowing Christ today is somewhat unique to each person but it includes some interrelated aspects that anyone can experience. Once we’ve had a taste of intimacy with Jesus, we find it so wonderful we want to experience it all the time! We might even secretly wish that we could bottle it! Except, our experience of intimacy with Jesus is not under our control; it ebbs and flows — varying by personality, season of life, and the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit.

It is ONLY but by the Grace of God that We A-B-I-D-E in Christ Together!

It’s only by God’s grace to us through Jesus Christ that we can know him personally and collectively. But grace does not mean being passive. Grace is opposed to earning, but not effort. It’s up to each of us to respond to God’s initiative and learn to, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).

To grow in grace begins with being “born from above” (John 3:3). It’s only as we confess our sins and put our trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior that the Holy Spirit comes to live in us, and we enter into the eternal kind of life with Jesus in the Kingdom of the Heavens. Abiding in Christ begins with the new birth.

The grace of God is meant to go beyond forgiving our sins, it also to heal our hurts, fill our emptiness, and give us strength for life and work. Ultimately, God’s grace is not just “underserved merit,” but it’s also God acting powerfully and kindly in our lives. 

This is essential because we need God! But are we connected with our needs and emotions? If not, then we cannot very well connect to God. To know and experience God at work in our lives requires that we be emotionally honest and vulnerable with God and with people we trust in the body of Christ.

To understand abiding we need to remember our relationships with God, and with others, and with self are very much intertwined. God is a community and relationship with God is communal. The Greatest Commandment that Jesus gave us is a golden triangle of love (Mark 12:29-31). “We love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19) and a primary way which God shows his love for us is through our genuine “love one another” relationships in the Body of Christ.

A-B-I-D-E in Christ

Let’s highlight five essential and diverse aspects of abiding in an interactive relationship with Christ.

To A-B-I-D-E in Christ is:

Awe-Filled Wonder for God

Psalm 100 The Message

100 1-2 On your feet now—applaud God!
    Bring a gift of laughter,
    sing yourselves into his presence.

3 Know this: God is God, and God, God.
    He made us; we didn’t make him.
    We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.

4 Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
    Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
    Thank him. Worship him.

5 For God is sheer beauty,
    all-generous in love,
    loyal always and ever.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser… I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:1, 5, ESV)

  • This is the focus of knowing Christ today.
  • Worshiping Jesus and his Father — it’s about God, not me! We worship God not just by singing songs of praise to him but by bringing our daily lives straight into his kingdom or government and doing that together.
  • Appreciating God (e.g., the beauty of his creation, forgiveness for our sins, and the gift of eternal living with him).
  • Being humbled in God’s presence — even in adoring silence, looking to him and waiting on him.

Becoming like Jesus

1 John 2:4-6 The Message

4-6 If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love… This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:10, 12, ESV)

  • This is the bottom line of knowing Christ (this is observable by others).
  • Becoming like Jesus is more than behavioral obedience, it means your character — who you are when you’re not performing on stage — is being transformed by God’s grace to be the kind of person who obeys Jesus’ teachings from your heart.
  • We are to manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit, especially love for one another in the Body of Christ and love for our neighbors, but also (gasp) to show love even for our enemies (e.g., “Bless those that curse you.”)

In-formed by the Word

Romans 12:1-2 The Message

Place Your Life Before God

12 1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7, ESV)

  • This is the reasonableness of knowing Christ today.
  • To be in-formed by Scripture is more than head knowledge — it’s relying on God’s words through study, meditation, and prayer so that they live in you and draw you closer to Jesus.
  • We’re to live in an ongoing conversational relationship with God, guided by the teachings of the Bible (like the Psalmist).

Devoted to God

Psalm 63:1-4 The Message

God—you’re my God!
    I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
    traveling across dry and weary deserts.

2-4 So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
    drinking in your strength and glory.
In your generous love I am really living at last!
    My lips brim praises like fountains.
I bless you every time I take a breath;
    My arms wave like banners of praise to you.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love… No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:9, 15)

  • This is the heart of knowing Christ today.
  • Devotion to God is not just an emotion or impulse that comes and goes, it’s the soul’s longing for more and more of God, to love him more and to experience him more.
  • We cry out for God because we need his love to cover our sins, heal our hurts, and empower us to overcome our struggles.
  • If your heart is for God then you’ll be affectionate with him, showing a special tenderness for the Lord which at special times may be felt as “the Jesus burn” like the disciples on the Road to Emmaus experienced.
Experiencing the Holy Spirit

“Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:9 and 10, NIV)

Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest… My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28, 30, ESV)

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11, ESV)

  • This is the blessing of knowing Christ today.
  • To experience life with God is to enjoy the “easy yoke” and “light burden” that Jesus offers in your day-to-day life — the hope that is an anchor for the soul, the peace that passes understanding, the joy unspeakable and full of glory.
  • “Experience” is not the same thing as emotions, though it normally includes our feelings. Experiencing involves all the functions of our person: thinking, awareness, observations of our environment, memory, emotions, willing/choosing, bodily sensations and activity, social connections, and soul.
  • We can grow in our confidence and courage to Venture on God and then finding that indeed the hand of the Lord was at work, what you accomplished was more than you could’ve done on your own.
  • Occasionally we may also experience supernatural manifestations like hearing God’s voice (usually as divinely inspired thoughts or impressions), feeling the “warmth of the Spirit” or tingling in your body, or having visions.

What does “abiding” in Christ look like? Praying about everything, feeding on and experiencing wondrous truth, His Word daily, and obediently following His lead throughout the week. It is our listening to and singing worship music that helps you to focus your whole being on praising and believing and trusting Him.

Every Christian I know wants to live an effective life for Jesus. The #1 key to our succeeding in this is striving, abiding in him. Abiding in Christ is foundational to centering our whole life around God. Tapping into Christ’s presence and His power is what will allow us to bear good fruit in this life. It is my true hope after today we’re more equipped and empowered to live out a life centered about God.

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us pray,

Dear Father, Who art in heaven, I raise to thank You that You are my heavenly Husbandman and that You tend my life with such care and concern. Cleanse me and prune me and take away anything that you discover in me that does not glorify Your holy name.

Thank You, Father, that I am a heavenly branch that is united to my heavenly Vine, the lovely Lord Jesus Christ. May His life flow through mine as sap flows through the branch that is engrafted into its parent stem. Fill me with His fullness so that I may live and move and grow and bear fruit as I abide more and more in Him. In Jesus’ name, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Belonging! The Good News of Jesus Christ! The Good News of Belonging!

Why does God love people? Many believe He only loves those who do good. This belief stems from the idea that one must first “be good” and “change” and then God will love them. Is His loved based on our fallible human ability to change?

God’s love is not contingent on the person changing, but just the opposite. That change is solely based on God’s love. Christians are not those who are earning love from God, but rather Christians are those who already are loved by God.

God loves His people in the same way He loves His Son. This love is based purely on His grace, and it is a love that has the power to change. Because of His love, Christians are called the beloved; they are called saints. The motivation to change is no longer based upon human hope that God might accept them. The motivation to change now comes from the call: “Be who you are” because you and I belong to God. Christians are indeed the beloved of God, let them display it. If they are indeed saints, let them show that they are saints. Christians are who they are by grace and distinct from the world, that they may glorify God.

Romans 1:1-7 Amplified Bible

The Gospel Exalted

1 Paul, a [a]bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative), set apart for [preaching] the [b]gospel of God [the good news of salvation], 2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the sacred Scriptures— 3 [the good news] regarding His Son, who, as to the flesh [His human nature], was born a descendant of David [to fulfill the covenant promises], 4 and [as to His divine nature] according to the Spirit of holiness was openly designated to be the Son of God with power [in a triumphant and miraculous way] by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 It is through Him that we have received grace and [our] apostleship to promote obedience to the faith and make disciples for His name’s sake among all the Gentiles, 6 and you also are among those who are called of Jesus Christ to belong to Him;

7 [I am writing] to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called to be saints (God’s people) and set apart for a sanctified life, [that is, set apart for God and His purpose]: Grace to you and peace [inner calm and spiritual well-being] from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen

What does the Word of God have to teach us about “BELONGING?”

In Romans 1:6, Paul greets the church in Rome by saying, “including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”

The entirety of God’s Holy Scriptures shouts to the world that we belong to God! In the beginning, humanity was created to be in perfect union with God and belong to Him, for we are His creation (Genesis 1:26).

There is an intimacy which has always been a part of His original design for our connection, our marriage relationship with Him. We are His masterpiece and reflect the image of God in this world (Ephesians 2:10).

Savior Christ’s motivation to bring us back to Himself is the very premise of the incarnation. God came down and entered into the muck and mire of this world. Why? Because we are His sheep, we belong to Him. Psalm 95:6-8, Psalm 100:3

Humanity was always created to be in intimate proximity to God. It’s in that relationship that we know how to love one another (1 John 4:19). As the world will know that we are His disciples by our love for one another (John 13:35).

This attitude of love is the essence of true belonging. Jesus desires to make a space at the table for everyone. Men, women and especially children from all walks of life and context have a space to find true belonging in Jesus. John 14:6

Jesus said in Matthew 19, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” From children, which at this point in history, many thought to be the lowest of culture and society, to the adult children of God, the woman at the well (John 4) an outcast, to Nicodemus (John 3) the academic and spiritual elite of his time, and Zacchaeus (Luke 19) a conformist unwanted nobody. Each of them finds their belonging in Christ.

The great biblical account of Jesus’ interaction with Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) provides the essential framework of how Christ did ministry relationally. Jesus was passing through Jericho and there was a tiny, little man hanging out in a sycamore tree. You see Zacchaeus fit the mold of a conformist unwanted nobody. He was a tax collector. Like most tax collectors at the time, he took advantage of his position to profit from adding fees beyond the tax desired to be collected. This didn’t make him anyone’s friend or favorite person. Scripture even captures the consternation of the people. It says, and when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

We all have a great hope to belong because of Jesus’ interaction with Zacchaeus. Notice what Jesus does in this story. Jesus calls Zacchaeus by name. There’s a deeply, undeniably intimate connection which drives the rest of that story.

Jesus instantly closed the great chasm between Him and Zacchaeus. Jesus says, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” Think for a moment of all the invites and gatherings that Zacchaeus must have missed because of who he was formerly known to be. Finally, Savior Jesus breaks down and smashes through barriers, wants to gain a deeply personal level of entry into Zacchaeus’ daily life. There’s something very personal about our inviting someone, anyone into their home. Everything is on display. The good, bad and ugly. Vulnerability! It’s all there in living color, that’s where Jesus wants to be.

In the life of Zacchaeus following Savior Jesus’ entry into his life or in our own lives, Jesus knows our name. Jesus wants to close the gap between us and Him, and He wants to gain access to our most intimate spaces. And the beauty of this story is that Zacchaeus was forever changed. He was gifted with “BELONGING!”

Consider the connections and relationship depths of “BELONGING” from Dr. Luke’s Parable of the Prodigal Son. (Luke 15:11-32)

Discussion Questions — Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15: 11-32)

What is this story about? Money? Wild living? Stubbornness? Forgiveness?
Anger, something unspoken, even deeper – his security of “BELONGING?“

• Who wants his share of the family inheritance? Why? Is there some sort of mounting sibling rivalry? A sense that one “belongs more” than the other?
• Are you aware that both boys receive their inheritance at the same time?
• Who received more? (The older usually receives a double portion)
• What does the younger brother do with his money? Why does the younger brother spend his money so wastefully? The exaggerated need to “belong?”

Was the famine in the land representative of the son’s behavior or was it a real famine, like Joseph experienced in Egypt.
• What must it have been like for everyone to desert him?
• Have you ever found that if you have some money, everyone wants to belong to your close circle of friends until the money is gone when suddenly belonging to your circle of friends no longer matters.
• What was this experience telling him about “belonging” and true friendship?
• How do you make friends? Do you make friends? Do you want to make them?
• What is important in a friendship? How important is “BELONGING” to one?

• Did his dad kick him out of the house for asking for his inheritance? That he no longer belonged in the household for challenging the authority of the father?
• How do you think his mother felt about this? (she’s not in the story, but think about her response anyway because a mother’s opinion matters to us 1000%)

Think about the Prodigal’s struggle to belong anywhere, his shattered security which communicates very clearly, “What’s left? I do not belong anywhere!”

• Where did the son go when he was penniless?
• What did he end up doing to earn food and shelter?
• Why was this a repulsive activity? (Jews saw pigs as unclean)
• What did he think about while feeding the swine?
• What did he decide to do?

Do you now notice the not-so-subtle shift in his thought processes? Can you sense there deeply personal, even intimate thoughts of “I got this wrong?” The overarching belief he did not belong anywhere were actually grossly distorted. Can we or do we see or observe there is an agent of change working within him?

• Can you see or feel just how much he disliked belonging in a pig pen, feeding swine, hating it so much he was willing to “do anything to belong somewhere, anywhere but a pig pen,” return home to a situation that caused him to leave?

Do we actually take into account the enormity of the decision the Prodigal made to leave the pig pen far behind, then the enormity of his taking that first step?

What are his thoughts about “BELONGING” as he is walking back to his home? How is he processing the idea of RETURNING to his father’s house? How will he believe or accept BELONGING in a house which he angrily walked away from?

• When he returns, how does his father greet him – with anger? with “I told you
so”? Does he greet his son’s return with conditional or unconditional love?
• What does the father do to make the son feel he still BELONGS in his fathers’ home?
• How might the mother have welcomed him, greeted him? How might she have communicated “BELONGING” to her formerly spin thrifty and wayward son?
• Why does the older brother get angry? Where was his sense of “BELONGING?”

What was the father’s message to the younger son?
What was the father’s message to the older son? Was it the same or was it different? How might it have been different?

• Was this a case of a father’s unconditional love? Why and how so?

• If you were the older brother, what do you think the father/mother should have done to your brother?
• Why did the older brother think the younger brother should be punished?
• Do you want to see people punished before you forgive them?
• What things are happening in the world today that require forgiveness?
• What do you think of the father’s handling of things?
• What makes a good father?
• What qualities would make a good mother in this instance?
• Are these the same qualities you find in God as Mother?
• What qualities would make a good brother?
• What do you learn about judging others from this story?
• Think of a modern-day story that would be like the Prodigal son.

Place yourself in the shoes of the Woman at the well. In the shoes of the tax collector Zacchaeus, inside and outside the home and life of the Prodigal.

What do these stories communicate to you about “BELONGING” to God, the Father, “BELONGING” to God the Son, “BELONGING” to God the Holy Spirit?

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us pray.

Heavenly Father, thank You that I am also the called of Jesus Christ, by grace through faith in Him. Keep me low at the cross and willing to say, thy will be done in my life, in Jesus’ name I pray, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.

Heavenly Father, how I thank You for the good news of the gospel of Christ and the truth it has revealed, so that by faith in Christ I have been redeemed by His precious blood and become beloved of God and called to be set apart to Your praise and glory. May Your equipping grace and perfect peace pour through me to others, so that the love of Christ may be shed abroad to the honor of Your name. In Jesus’ name I pray, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.

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Believe! For God so Loved the World!

At times in life, we need to stop or at least pause and get back to the basics. This upcoming series of devotions places our focus upon the “Basics of the Christian Life, Believe, Belong, Abide, and Bear Fruit.” Today we will begin by focusing on the role of belief in our Christian lives. Ask yourselves, “Who do we believe in?”

John 3:16-18 English Standard Version

For God So Loved the World

16 “For God so loved the world, [a] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen

At times in life, we need to stop or at least pause. Maybe my life has become too hurried, busy or stressful. Maybe we have over-committed or made things more complicated than they have to be. Maybe it is the covid virus, their variants, the upcoming snowstorm, or balancing work and home. It just becomes too much.

This can also apply to our spiritual lives. Perhaps we have gotten too distracted, apathetic, too rigid, or overzealous. Perhaps we are trying too hard to be to be too superficial or super-spiritual and at some point, our faith stopped being a blessing, stopped becoming relevant, lost its luster, and turned into a burden.

We need to get back to the basics. That is what we are going to try to do for the next four days or so. Today we are starting a new devotional series focusing on the “Basics of the Christian Life.” In the days ahead we will strive to keep focus on these four significant themes, “Believe, Belong, Abide, and Bear Fruit.”

Today we will begin by focusing on the role of “believe” in our Christians lives.

In Acts 16. the Apostle Paul and his companion Silas are unjustly beaten and thrown into a Philippi prison. The story continues in verse 25, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison were physically shaken. And immediately all of the prisons’ doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened.”

The story then relates how the jailer saw the damage, and thinking that the prisoners had escaped, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But the apostle Paul cried out “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and stunningly asked them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul responded with these words, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” Belief in John 3:16 is the doorway to salvation.

In John 6:47 Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” From the very dark corners, talking in secret with Nicodemus in John 3:16; Jesus says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Throughout the length and breadth of scripture we see this same truth. Whether the biblical writer uses the word belief or faith we can see that we are saved by trusting in Jesus Christ.

Belief is what brings us into connection, into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. It is the doorway. It is by grace through faith that we are saved. Without belief in John 3:16 no one will enter the kingdom of God (Ephesians 2:8-10).

With this in mind it puts away all other definitions.

Attending church regularly does not make a person a Christian. Giving money to the church or to people in need does not make a person a Christian. Being from a family or country that calls themselves Christian does not make a person a Christian. Praying, fasting and reading one’s Bible does not make a person a Christian. Being baptized does not make a person a Christian. Saying a prayer or even volunteering within our communities does not make a person a Christian.

All of these things are good and should flow out of the Christian life, but even trying to be a good person does not make one a Christian. We all have sinned against God in many ways and this sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2).

We are all deserving of death and condemnation (Romans 3:23; 6:23). The only way a person could earn salvation is if they had not committed one sin in their entire life, and none of us have done that. The only way one can become a Christian is by fully trusting in Jesus Christ. As one turns from their sin and believes in God their sins are forgiven and they are made righteous with God.

Some might legitimately ask these questions, why is it saving faith and not saving love or saving obedience or saving forgiveness?

Think about it. If salvation was through any of these it would have been earned, but there is nothing we can do to earn salvation. Jesus, through His death and resurrection, did everything that was needed for us to be reconciled to God. We are saved by simply believing. God stirs in our hearts, He draws us to Himself, reveals the truth of the gospel, grants us faith and as we believe we are saved.

A saving faith or belief is more than just believing historical information. It is more than just believing that Napoleon lived or that World War II was a real event. It is putting 1000% full trust in Jesus Christ for today and for eternity.

It is a belief that puts one´s entire life into the hands of Jesus Christ. Forsaking all and making Jesus Christ our first love, only hope and our greatest treasure.

This type of saving belief always and forever starts with God. Scripture shows us time and again that we are not wise nor mature enough to believe in ourselves, we cannot of our own finite devices believe in anything or anyone on our own. Our criteria are too fallible. Without the Spirit’s leading, man will always view the gospel as foolishness. It is only through revelation that we come to believe.

Matthew 16:15-17 is an important passage as we seek to understand how one comes to salvation in Jesus Christ. At one point Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

This is God-given faith, saving faith, personal faith. Not just believing that mankind has sinned, but that I have sinned. Not just admitting that Christ has paid for sin, but Christ has paid for my sin. Not just believing that Christ is Lord but genuinely submitting to Christ as my Lord. Not just knowing that one can be saved by believing in Jesus, but genuinely believing in Jesus and being saved. A saving faith is made up of our knowing, agreeing, applying, experiencing John 3:16.

Biblical faith has the same components. One watches evidence of the love of Jesus Christ at work in the lives of others around them. Through God’s Word they then begin to learn about who the Jesus of John 3:16 is and what He has done. The Holy Spirit then comes and convicts us of our sin and convinces us of the truth of scripture’s claims that mankind can be saved through Jesus Christ.

We then personally apply the truths of salvation through Jesus to our life by putting 1000% of our faith in Him, not in ourselves. This is belief, knowing, agreeing, applying, experiencing who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

Once one believes in Jesus Christ, the work of God takes over in one’s life and it cannot ever be revoked. Those who are believers are given the Mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:6-16). Their minds are renewed (Ephesians 4:17-24). The Holy Spirit now intercedes, intervenes, guides, ministers the believer into all truth.

In Christ they are saved. They are bought by His blood. They are forgiven of all sin (Colossians 2:13). They are declared righteous before God (Romans4; 5:1). They are redeemed and ransomed (1 Peter 1:18-19). They are justified by faith (Romans 5:1-11). By their faith and belief, they are promised eternal life (John 3:16-18). They are adopted as God’s children (Galatians 3:26-4:7). They are a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). They are born again (John 3:3).

They are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 8:1-4). They are sealed by His Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14). They are given a new nature (Colossians 3:10). They are in Christ, and He is in them. They are renewed in the spirit of their minds and are created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24).

The Spirit of God dwells in them (1 Corinthians 3:16). They have been given direct, unlimited access to God (Hebrews 4:12-16). Their inner man is being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). They have been granted repentance, a turning of their hearts away from sin and towards transformation thru Christ.

All of that happens when one believes in Jesus Christ John 3:16, but that is just the beginning. Belief is not only the doorway of salvation it is the pathway that carries us through every day of the Christian life. Faith brings grace at the point of salvation and at every other point of the John 3:16 Christian life that follows. 

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us pray,

Dear God, thank you for sending your Son to come to Earth to live the life I could not live, be the example I could not achieve, and be the sacrifice for my sins. I believe in You. I ask for Jesus to be the Lord of my life and I commit my life to you. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Advent Week Four: The GOSPEL of God! The Greatest Christmas Ever!

There is only one God and no other. And God is Trinity. The Father has sent and revealed himself in His son Jesus and the Holy Spirit who has descended and has been sanctifying the world. On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, 2021, As we gather to give our worship to our Triune God, we also become instruments and channels of God’s saving love to humanity. Today, the faithful are encouraged to celebrate an incomprehensive moment, with pure love just like the love that God has been giving us. It was love which moved God the Father to send his Son Jesus to save us. It is because of God’s love that we enjoy life. Love is the reason why God is still present among us through His Spirit, the Advocate, the Helper.

John 3:16-18 Authorized (King James) Version

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

Christianity is the only organized religion and faith-system in the world wherein God also became man like the rest of us. This is really unimaginable and unfathomable to some—for God becoming man like us. God became flesh in Jesus who was born from a woman whose name was Mary. He lived among us, grew up, He ministered unto a people, and had done great things in the name of his Father in heaven. Jesus, the Son of God, was obedient to his Father until his death. He practically did everything except to commit sin, as He is God.

In the Hebrew (Old) Testament, God our Father through His Spirit had been calling, inviting, anointing, and sending people to the world as his messengers. We have witnessed God’s heart throughout the stories shared with us and in the prophesies found in the scriptures. In the different testimonies and messages of the patriarchs, prophets, judges, kings, and most significantly from the simple and lowly people, we come to know the heart of God. God who revealed Himself to the very heart of mankind who knew how to listen, keep his commandments.

The ancient prophecies have been fulfilled in Jesus: “For God so loved the world that he sent His only begotten son to save the people and would have eternal life with Him.”

In the New Testament, Jesus’ life and ministry is unfolded and was revealed to all who listened. The promise of love and salvation came to fulfillment in Jesus who was sent by the God so we may not perish and in order that we may live in forever God’s presence.

It was because of an immeasurable love, the love of the Father to us that he gave us his only Son for our ransom, so we may all live, so we may be restored to life.

This much-beloved verse of Scripture outlines the glorious GOSPEL of grace so clearly and simply. It reveals to everyone Jesus Christ died a sacrificial death on the Cross to pay the price for our sin and break its power in our lives. It tells that Jesus was sent of the Father as a glorious expression of the indescribable love of God our Father for us, Listen! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

This astonishing truth was told to Rabbi Nicodemus by Jesus, as He unfolded heavenly truths to this secretive, synagogue leader. He explained the kingdom of heaven was only open to those born of the Spirit, who look in faith to Christ – their Kinsman-Redeemer. He explained when Moses lifted up a brass serpent on a pole in the wilderness to heal all who believed; it was a type of Himself – the Son of Man Who would also be lifted up as the sacrifice for sin – and that ALL who believe on Him would be healed, declared righteous, and live eternally.

God hates sin, hates sin with a passion we cannot understand, and God hates with equal passion this long corrupted world-system, which is blinding the perishing to the glorious GOSPEL of grace and leading many more into a lost eternity. But sin must be punished because God is righteous, and the wage of sin is death. Every member of the human race is a sinner who has fallen short of God’s glory, so all are equally deserving of death – eternal separation from God. 

It was God Who purposed that the only way man’s death sentence could be ever reversed was if a perfect, sinless Man was willing to pay the price for sin. But no man was good enough for all are sinners. And so out of love for us, God gave His only begotten Son as the sacrifice for sin and to take the punishment that WE deserve, “so that all who believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

The maximum force of God’s wrath had to be poured out on a sinless member of the human race if the price of sin was to be paid, and God determined before the foundation of the world, that the eternal Son of God would become the sinless Son of Man. He would be born into His own creation and willingly pay the ultimate price for the sin of the world through His substitutionary death. 

It was out of an unfathomable love for His creation that God gave His only Son… out of love for fallen humanity who were made in His image… yet who sinned against their Creator God, causing an unbridgeable gulf to be erected between man and his Maker. But in His infinite goodness, grace, mercy, and love, He gave us His beloved Son to live a perfect life and die a sacrificial death – so that all who came to believe in Him will not be condemned but shall live eternally.

The enormity of God’s sacrificial love should never be underestimated. The entire world was condemned to divine judgement because man sinned. God loves sinners with an unequalled passion but cannot look in sin – and so He Who knows the end from the beginning, had predetermined in eternity past to redeem His fallen race by providing a substitute for sin – One perfect Man Who would pay the price of sin and receive the punishment that WE deserve… so that WHOSOEVER believes on Him would not perish but have eternal life. GOSPEL!

The once and for all-time forgiveness of sin, life everlasting, and the gates of heaven itself are flung open wide to whosoever will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for everlasting salvation. There is no need for even one member of the human race to perish, for God’s invitation for salvation is open to ALL (Isaiah 1: 16-20, 2:1-5, 55:1-13) The only condition placed upon man, receive His free gift of salvation and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ – and you will be saved.

The eternal Son of God set aside His glory and was born into the fallen race of man, to die on Calvary for your sin and mine (Philippians 2:5-11). If you and I were to miraculously travel back to the furthest reaches of the universe, or go back to the beginning of time, there we will find love … for “God is love” …. the most precious treasure in the universe is know the reality of His love – by faith.

Come! Let us ask ourselves, how are we in our following of Jesus? Are we truly enjoying life and salvation in Him? Have we somehow arrived at that moment in time when we have genuinely changed our old ways to the GOSPEL of God?

Do we follow His will heartily just like Jesus who obeyed his Father until his last moment here on earth? Do we bring the gift of ultimate love and salvation unto our families, into our circle of friends, our neighbors, or into our communities?

The Lord has not condemned the world even if the people have disobeyed and displeased Him very much. He has come to save us all and do we believe in this?

During the time of Jesus, a few faithful faith-filled men and women believed in him and followed him. Though we are not always faithful and obedient, God’s mercy is enough for us. It is not of human standards but of God’s. Jesus is God’s best gesture of his love for us for only thru Jesus that we are reconnected to God every time we stumble over our own two feet, falter and fail. Do we truly believe the great love of God to us? Faith is a gift for those who are willing to receive it.

When a person has love, one has salvation. When a person has love, one truly experiences God. When a person has love, one is not condemned but they are saved. When a person has love, one grows in grace and lives in peace. The fact is, God the Father sent his Son, and the Son obeyed so too must we obey to God. When we are sent to love, do we love without conditions and boundaries? When we are sent to share His love, do we share it willingly and joyfully with others?

Let us pray, reflect, and ask ourselves:

Do I believe the GOSPEL of GOD?

Do I believe that Jesus is the only Son of the Father who saves and gives life?

Do I believe that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One, “One God” in three persons/characters?

Do I share the Trinitarian love with those who do not know God and to those who had gone away from God?

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us pray,

Almighty and Ever-living God, we thank you for saving and loving us through Jesus your Son, who is our Lord, Savior, and brother. Thank you for giving us a life lived in grace through the blood of Christ. May we not forget your love for us and so we do our part of loving and serving others, friends and strangers. May your saving Word inspire us to take the challenge, task of new evangelization in our much-troubled world today. This we ask through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

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All The Highways and By-Ways. The High Roads and the Low Roads. The Roads Less Traveled. Our Pathways.

In life, there’s a substantial difference between all of the things that are just ok and things which are the best. The same is true with God. There are ok pathways you can take for your life and not so ok pathways to take. Many decisions aren’t bad, they just aren’t the best. God wants to show you the best path for your life.

Finding that best pathway takes spending time with God. You and I have got to be open to what He has to say and not be too busy with social media or Netflix or virtual reality to hear Him. Spending major time with God helps you know Him better and be ready to hear what He has to speak concerning our futures.

God knows us better than anyone. He knows what things will bring us peace and what will introduce us to more chaos than we really need. If we trust Him and His leading, we will be able to go down the best pathway for our lives. So today, decide to lay aside those things that are keeping you from spending time with God. Choose to be real with Him, let Him show you the best path for our lives.

Psalm 32:8AKJV

8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go:
I will guide thee with mine eye.

The Word of God for the Children of God. In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Yesterday, we devoted some significant time with Psalm 16:11 (AKJV)

11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life:
in thy presence is fulness of joy;
at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Just to review some of the inspiring and transformational thoughts which flowed through my heart and my soul – about maximizing our Joy in God.

Psalm 16 is one of my favorite psalms. I feel like I can do a Pray the Word on every verse here. I could not get out of Psalm 16 without thinking about and praying according to verse 11. We saw in 16:7 how we bless the Lord who gives us council, and the night also, he instructs our hearts, which leads down us to the very last verse in the chapter, “You make known to me the path of life.”

Again, God does not hide his will from us. God leads and guides us according to his will. He wants his will to be accomplished in our lives, far more than even we do. He makes known to us the path and paths of life, but please, don’t miss the connection here. The path of life involves walking in the presence of God. In your presence, there is fullness of joy. That’s the only true path of life. Being in the presence of God and enjoying the presence of God results in Fullness of joy.

Let this soak in. God’s plan for our lives involves fullness of joy in his presence. Oh, let me say that again. God’s plan for our lives involves fullness of joy in His presence. Walking with Him, enjoying Him. In the last phrase of this Psalm, “At your right hand are pleasures forever more.” Just picture this. His right hand is full of pleasures, and you and I take some of those pleasures, and there’s more. Take some more of those pleasures, there’s more. Take more pleasures, there’s more ad-infinitum. It’s forever! There is infinite pleasure to be found in God!

This is a life absolutely worth living. This is a path absolutely worth following.

This just causes me to pray; “oh God, help me to walk in your path. Lord, help me to follow your ways. I pray for this in my life, I pray for those who are and who are not listening right now. God, please, council us. Please instruct each of our hearts in the night. Please make known to us the path of life today, and we know that life is found in sensitivity to your spirit. We know that life is found in your presence. We know that life is found in constantly realizing that you are with us, that you are leading us, that you are guiding us, that you are directing us, and in your presence, we find fullness of joy.” This IS God’s Pathway for Me!

Turning our attention back to Psalm 32:8 Easy to Read Version,

8 The Lord says, “I will teach you
    and guide you in the way you should live.
    I will watch over you and be your guide.

We discover God also desires to teach us the Direction We Ought to be Going.

We discover God desires to guide you and me in the way we ought to be living.

We also find assurance that God will watch over you and me and be our guide.

Need direction in life? Not sure of the way of Salvation? God is willing to teach, instruct and guide you. David identifies for his readers the promise in this text from Psalm 32:8. The sure and certain promise of God is for God’s abundant provision for those who are willing to receive Him by faith, follow His leading.

It is the Lord’s desire to teach His children in the way in which He would have them to go. His way of submission and obedience to His Word and His authority. As a believer, we MUST seek and obey with humility, strive to live in holiness, a daily walk-in integrity, be honest in our dealings with one another and faithful to God and the calling which He has assigned to our hands, just to name a few.

No, God did not save us to live life as we please. There is a clear standard of living repeatedly identified throughout and within the Holy Scriptures for the Christian in which God has established His pathway for each of us to live by.

Direction is inescapably important for without direction we will inevitably get lost. Many are lost today because they refuse to be taught by God, but instead by self, they refuse to walk the pathway in which God has already mapped out for us in His Word and they stubbornly refuse to be counsel by God and be guided by God’s eyes, but instead, they willfully choose to be instructed and guided by what their eyes sees in the world, interpret it, then follow after that counsel.

Man can instruct himself all he desires, but it is only God through His Holy Spirit who can make us understand truth for God says, “I will make thee to understand that which shall be done by me.”

Proverbs 16:1-9 ESV 

The plans of the heart belong to man,
    but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
    but the Lord weighs the spirit.[a]
3 Commit your work to the Lord,
    and your plans will be established.
4 The Lord has made everything for its purpose,
    even the wicked for the day of trouble.
5 Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
    be assured, he will not go unpunished.
6 By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
    and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.
7 When a man’s ways please the Lord,
    he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
8 Better is a little with righteousness
    than great revenues with injustice.
9 The heart of man plans his way,
    but the Lord establishes his steps.

As God continues to teach and instruct us in the way of salvation, He promises to keep His watchful eye on us (Psalm 121). He will not leave us to ourselves for He knows without His direction and His watchful eyes upon us, because like a sheep, we will surely stray away from the path of righteousness. (Isaiah 53:6)

In our pandemic times, much uncertainty about living life has been revealed. Are we looking for that socially distant, mask mandated, sanitized direction in life? Not sure where God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are in this equation?

Not sure about how to travel down the Highways and By-Ways, the High Roads and the Low roads, the Roads less taken, least effected, least touched, the least populated and paved over and deeply potholed by some Corona Virus Variant?

Where now is the road of Salvation having accepted the pathway of Jesus Christ? You are far from being alone in asking. So, get into the Word of God, pray, seek the Lord’s face for He promises to teach, instruct, keep a watchful eye over you.

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us Pray;

The Aaronic Blessing

22-23 God spoke to Moses: “Tell Aaron and his sons, This is how you are to bless the People of Israel. Say to them,

24 God bless you and keep you,
25 God smile on you and gift you,
26 God look you full in the face
    and make you prosper.

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Indescribable Joy! Immeasurable Joy! Inescapable Joy! Inevitable Joy! Jesus is our Souls Most Valuable Treasure!

I believe scripture truths form the stoutest hearts and the sturdiest souls.  As we memorize encouraging verses and pray them again and again, the pathways of faith, strength, peace, and more become embedded—not only in our minds but in our spirits.  Reciting them back to their Author propels us into his Presence.

Psalm 16:7-11 The Message

7-8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake
    is confirmed by my sleeping heart.
Day and night I’ll stick with God;
    I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.

9-10 I’m happy from the inside out,
    and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed.
You canceled my ticket to hell—
    that’s not my destination!

11 Now you’ve got my feet on the life path,
    all radiant from the shining of your face.
Ever since you took my hand,
    I’m on the right way.

The Word of God for the Children of God. In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

The Bible repeatedly teaches us that the “heart” of our lives is the control center of our lives, which means our “real” life, our inner life as well as our outer life, is a reasonably genuine reflection of the yearnings of our hearts.

Proverbs 4:23 says: “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” And so, we must carefully guard and watch over our hearts so that our hearts would passionately follows hard after the pathways of God – by joyfully embracing Jesus Christ, as the most supreme treasure of our hearts and lives.

Today we ask ourselves: “What is the greatest treasure of our hearts?” In an entitlement-minded, customer-service, rights-oriented world that is filled with so many mind-boggling choices – even those of us who claim Jesus Christ can easily get bogged down, confused as to what treasures captures our hearts.

Most people ultimately treasure their families, spouses, children, relatives, and friends. Culture and Society sledgehammers we should treasure ourselves – our needs, our wants, our desires. And the retail market accommodates that by our supplying our needs, our wants, our desires with products and possessions and position and power. With the scarcity of products on shelves, it’s more pressing.

We are given the broadest array of choices from which to choose just how much, how many, how far, how high, how deep, and what kind – and what size, color, weight, brand name, manufacturer, and what kind of guarantee or warranty can be provided on whatever product happens to be remaining on the grocery shelf.

Today we are looking at Psalm 16 which is a prayer of worship written by King David. David is a significant character in the Bible. He was the young shepherd who became a great king; the young boy who slew a giant with a single stone; the man who went into hiding out of fear for his life – from numerous Kings and countless armies and King Saul and even from his very own son Absalom.

David was the King whose descendants would bring forth the long-promised Messiah in the human form of Jesus Christ, in spite of the fact that David had committed adultery and murder and fearfully tried in vain to hide what he had done. We look at King David today because in the midst of his victories and his defeats and his own struggles with his own sin – David yearned, longed for, desperately sought to have an intimate relationship with the most sovereign God of the universe.

In spite of his own personal failings, he treasured God more than anything or anyone else. God was King David’s supreme treasure. So much so that God Himself declared to us: “I have found in David . . . a man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22).

In our text for this morning, as David sings his heart out, he joyfully worships God in grateful prayer, he tells us why we also should supremely treasure God.

Psalm 16:1-6 The Message

16 1-2 Keep me safe, O God,
    I’ve run for dear life to you.
I say to God, “Be my Lord!”
    Without you, nothing makes sense.

3 And these God-chosen lives all around—
    what splendid friends they make!

4 Don’t just go shopping for a god.
    Gods are not for sale.
I swear I’ll never treat god-names
    like brand-names.

5-6 My choice is you, God, first and only.
    And now I find I’m your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
    And then you made me your heir!

With maximum joy in our hearts and expressed from deep within our souls, we should treasure God because He is our Gracious Protector. David speaks of this by describing God as a home, a haven, a refuge, one place where we can go and know with absolute assurance, we will be safe forevermore. Alleluia! Alleluia!

With maximum joy in our hearts and expressed from deep within our souls, we should treasure God because He is our Sovereign Presence. Regardless of what dangers/fears/catastrophes we will inevitably face in this life, the one, only true safe place we have is in the presence of the sovereign God of all the Universe.

The refuge which God provides is our personal relationship with Him. David knew his personal wellbeing – the well-being of his soul, his refuge every day and for all eternity – depended on his personal relationship with the living God.

Sadly, we all too easily and contentedly look for security in so many places other than God. Many of those places are artificial; some we even make up for ourselves. Often our places of refuge are geographical or social. But throughout his incredibly diverse array of life experiences, David doggedly learned the one and only true safe place on earth is in the Sovereign Presence of our Supreme God. “I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’”

With maximum joy in our hearts and expressed from deep within our souls, we should treasure God because He the foundation of Righteous Relationships.

While David speaks of the joy of treasuring God through our relationship with God – he takes a moment to mention how we should live out our lives with one another as God’s people through Jesus Christ.

From Psalm 16, David teaches us how we are to do so by means of a contrast. First, he calls God’s people “saints” which literally means “those set apart for God” – and he says they are “the excellent ones” – which means they are to be a people who exhibit highly distinguished spiritual and moral qualities.

In stark and vivid contrast, he then speaks of “those who run after another god” – those who will struggle with multiple “sorrows” because they find their joy in treasuring other gods and trusting in other gods for security. Here, David refuses to endorse what they do; he will not lower himself to naming their gods: “their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.”

David is telling us when we joyfully find our most supreme treasure in God – we will have a shared common communion of both heart and soul with others who are also faithfully trying to do so. In essence David is saying: “As I take refuge in the joyful sovereign presence of my safest refuge in God, I will find myself in the company of others who are tucked safely under the shadows of God’s wings. We are commonly linked at the heart and through our souls by our commitment to trust in God and live for God. Our confidence is in Him, not in the things of this world. We are His Heirs, citizens of heaven and fellow pilgrims on this earth.

With maximum joy in our hearts and expressed from deep within our souls, we should treasure God because He is our Beautiful Inheritance.

David continues to proclaim God as his most supreme treasure. By using the words “portion” and “cup” he is signifying God was all he needed to satisfy the hunger of his heart and soul. Besides his “portion” and his “cup” the Lord has also assigned him “a beautiful inheritance” which God Himself has measured out for him: “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.”

This harkens back to the nation of Israel who came out of 40 years of wandering in wilderness into the promised land; as Joshua divided the land up, the people of God who had been freed from the bondage of slavery joyfully received their own property for the first time in many generations.

Imagine the joy of those ancient Israelites: “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance!” This is the “beautiful inheritance” we receive when, by God’s sovereign grace, we are freed from the bondage of sin and death and are given the “beautiful inheritance” of eternal life through the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians 1:3-4 the apostle Paul writes: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

This is the “wondrously beautiful eternal inheritance” we will share with the people of God. Jesus said: “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28).

“The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”

David was soul at war with himself much of his life. For many years he was
also, a fugitive with no home; he slept on the ground and often caves were his shelter. But despite his struggles and fears David was not only survived but he also thrived – because God had promised him “a beautiful inheritance.”

While that was not yet his when he wrote this psalm, he was secure in knowing God would do so. In treasuring God over himself, David possessed all that God promised and everything he needed. This is why David could write: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever”
(Psalm 73:25-26).

In God we have absolutely everything our hearts could ever want or ever need! (Psalm 23:1)

With maximum joy in our hearts and expressed from deep within our souls, we should treasure God because He is our Wonderful Counselor. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Here, David again declares God to be his supreme treasure: “I bless the LORD!” Whether it be in the darkness of “night” or the light of day, God “instructs” (guides) hearts which treasure Him into the safest refuge of His will and His purpose.

This is the deep transformative work of God’s sovereign grace deep within our hearts and souls when we come to faith in Christ. By a providential work of the Holy Spirit, we are drastically and dramatically changed – worked upon, given a
different heart, a new spirit. Because God is the One who gives us His “counsel” – even in the darkest of nights God instructs our hearts to treasure and follow, in all things and ways, upon the pathways of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

But we are also reading here if we are to walk with God in the fullness of the new life, He has sovereignly given us through Jesus Christ – we will be “shaken” by struggles and fears when we fail, do not make God the supreme treasure of our hearts and lives. David says: “I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”

God “gives counsel” spiritually, emotionally, vocationally, socially, morally, physically, and intellectually. When we “set the LORD always before” us – we will “not be shaken” spiritually, emotionally, vocationally, socially, morally, physically, and intellectually.

When God is our first priority and foremost upon the pathways of our hearts and lives, we can absolutely trust God that our souls will be secure and stable.

David could proclaim: “My heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure” because the “path of life” he had already walked in God’s presence in this life caused him to know the joyful anticipation of living in God’s presence in the future: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

David wrote these words about a thousand years before the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus; he lived in the hope of the cross and the empty tomb. By faith David believed God would fulfill His promise in sending a Savior; he prayed the gracious protection of God would save him from sin and death.

God fulfilled that promise; on this side of the cross, we no longer just hope in that promise. Jesus Christ has come; he did die on a cross for our sins; he has risen from the dead – and he has given us the same promise he gave David.

In John 11:25-26 Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Well, if we do believe this, we treasure this we should live out our lives like that.

Well, if we do believe these words of God as spoken by David, then we ought to be the ones who with maximum joy and with deep expression from within our souls, treasure them beyond all other treasures offered by the wiles of our life.

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us Pray,

Heavenly Father,

I praise and thank You for Your great goodness towards me, and the many blessings that You shower on each one of us day by day. Be with me each step of the way and help me to keep my eyes trained on the lovely Lord Jesus.

I thank You that I have been given everything I need for life and godliness and pray that I may experience the fullness of joy we have all received in Christ, not only in the world to come, but as a daily experience in this present world. Thank You, Father, that You have made known to me the path of life in Christ Jesus my Saviour, in Whose name I pray, and thank You that in Your loving presence is the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Celebrate God, Celebrating You! It is Always Good Thing to Celebrate God!

Joy is found in celebrating the Lord, not in things. Joy is found in knowing that he always accompanies, sustains, protects, and upholds and celebrates us. How can we not rejoice? God loves you and me so much he emptied heaven of his greatest treasure so we could join him in glory. Joy is ours because of his grace.

Philippians 4:4-5 The Message

4-5 Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen

Let us just go ahead and declare it right here and right now before another breath escapes our body and is wasted in our not giving glory unto our God.

It is Always Good to be Joyful!

It is always good and joyful thing to be celebrating something!

It is always a good and blessed thing to be celebrating someone special.

It is always and forever our very greatest privilege to be celebrating God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit for all that which we have.

Psalm 103:1-5 The Message

103 1-2 O my soul, bless God.
    From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name!
O my soul, bless God,
    don’t forget a single blessing!

3-5     He forgives your sins—every one.
    He heals your diseases—every one.
    He redeems you from hell—saves your life!
    He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.
    He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.
    He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence.

Christmastime is supposed to be a joyful celebration. It is a season for mirth and family gatherings and Christmas parties at our places of employment. It is a time for buying, giving and receiving gifts to show your love and respect.

It is a time we sing “Joy to the World” and other Christmas Carols. It is a time of expectation of a better future. However, in many ways, the secular celebration of Christmas can be very disappointing. we feel this when we realize some one, we loved will not be sharing meal at the table with us this year. We feel isolated by the Coronavirus. Fear and uncertainty of the times adds immensely into our discouragement. Is there anything which can be more painful than to feel that we have to “take it” “fake it” so we can somehow “make it” and go along with the crowd with the celebration of Christmas lest our vulnerabilities be exposed.

You should notice that I said the “secular” celebration of Christmas. There is, indeed, little to cheer about the current world situation and our economies.

Christmas buying is likely to be diminished. there are those who want to replace “Christmas” with a secular winter holiday. So, what is the Christian supposed to make of this season of Christmas? Will we hear another sermon criticizing those who have an entirely materialistic view of Christmas, who have replaced Jesus with Santa Claus? These types of inevitably sermons get preached every year, and yet, next year we will find them again and recycle them. So perhaps it is time to re-evaluate our strategy and thinking about celebrating Christmas.

The first thing the Christian has to do is to realize the season of Advent is not about Christmas at all. It is about the return of King Jesus in glory rather than the arrival of a baby Jesus in Bethlehem. We do remember that He was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem a little more than 2,000 years ago. There would be no Advent apart from the fact that He became flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. We do celebrate this on Christmas Day. But this is not Advent.

The season of Advent is the time we prepare for the final event in world history, the return of Savior Jesus Christ. this Jesus, who is the Word, become flesh came into this world. He performed signs and miracles. He taught us about Himself and the Kingdom of God. He died on the cross for our sin and was raised from the dead on the third day. He ascended back to the Father on the 40th day with the promise that He would return in the same way He left, with great glory.

All of these events are in history past. In history present, He is seated at the Father’s right hand to make intercession for us all. In History future, He is returning to receive us unto Himself. It is in this we hope. We shall know the fullness of everlasting peace in the Kingdom. We know that we will rejoice there forevermore. We shall love perfectly and feel love perfectly. These are the four themes of Advent we reflect upon. Today, we shall reflect on the theme of joy.

We read our devotional text from the Epistle to the Philippians written by the Apostle Paul. It would be helpful to relate the circumstances of the writing of the epistle. First of all, it was written at the very end of Paul’s life. Next to 2 Timothy, it may well be the next to last epistle he wrote before his execution.

He is in prison in Rome, guarded by the Praetorian Guard awaiting an appeal to Caesar Nero. whether or not he was released from imprisonment for a short time and rearrested we don’t know. But the context seems to indicate that the possibility of his execution was a very real possibility deep inside Paul’s soul.

The Apostle Paul had probably spent his earlier imprisonment under as decent conditions as could be hoped. He was allowed visitors. but he was still in prison. He had spent a night in prison in Philippi which was not at all very pleasant. The Philippian followers could remember very vividly the beating he received there.

By this time, Paul’s newest confinement was probably under much more dismal circumstances. There was little to be joyful about, as far reaching as this world would consider even minimally joyful. On top of this, there seems to have been some disagreement within the Philippian church. It was strife in the church which considered Paul more than the many wounds he suffered for the sake of the Gospel or even his impending death. So, Paul had every reason to be gloomy. But he was not, he was celebratory. This epistle has a very joyful mood to it.

The text we read from chapter four begins with the words: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice. By Paul repeating the command to rejoice, he is here putting extra emphasis that we should be joyful. Paul tells us too always be very joyful. This means that our season of joy and celebration is not just confined to Christmastide, but the entire year. We are not just to be joyful when things are going well for us, but we are to likewise rejoice in the middle of our tribulations.

Paul was in prison, yet he rejoiced. We are to rejoice in the Lord. this is why we can rejoice even when we are suffering. Jesus, the captain of our salvation knew the greatest suffering anyone could endure on the cross. add to this the grave psychological pain of being betrayed not just by Judas, but by the entire nation of Israel.

Yet the Book of Hebrews tells us He still rejoiced, not for the suffering of the cross. He endured it. He despised the shame. But He saw that on the other side of the cross, there was joy (Hebrews 12:1-3) Peter admits to the suffering of his readers in 1 Peter. they were really suffering. He says it is necessary. But he also says that it is for a little while. (1 Peter 1:6)

This is nothing to be compared to the incorruptible and unfading glory (joy) which is reserved even now while we await the advent. We can now have joy unspeakable and full of glory. Paul here states the reason we have joy: “The Lord is at hand.” This can be understood two ways.

It can mean that we rejoice and celebrate because Jesus is with us in our suffering, or it could mean that we rejoice because the coming of the Lord is nearby. Both statements are true, and this gives us reason to feel comfort.

So instead of living a life full of fear and agitation, we can retain a calm spirit in our lives which shines like a beacon to a troubled world. We can think of John Wesley in his journey to or from (I can’t remember) Georgia that the ship he was on was caught in a terrible storm. John, who was already troubled about his soul was terrified as were many others, especially those who had never in their lives experienced life riding out the waves from a storm at sea. But on that ship were a group of Moravians who sang psalms and hymns of praise in the midst of the storm. this had a great and powerful influence on the life of John Wesley.

The Philippians could remember Paul and Silas who were beaten and fastened to the stocks in the inner prison at Philippi singing hymns at midnight. (Acts 16:25) Note that the prisoners heard them, and the jailor and his house were converted as a result. Peter and John who were beaten by the Sanhedrin went home rejoicing and celebrating that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. (Acts 5:41). Yes, we ourselves should rejoice in the Lord always!

Paul goes on to say that we should not be anxious but commit everything to the Lord in thankful prayer. God will give us His peace in the midst of our storm. We talked about peace last Sunday. It is also to be understood in the light of Advent.

This peace comes from Jesus Christ and surpasses all understanding. The world would believe such a response to suffering to be insanity, a kind of “escapism.”

However, an escapist tries their very hardest to deny reality even exists. The Christian affirms the reality of suffering. We do not play mind games to divert our attention from this fact. But we at the same time affirm a greater reality which the world denies. The Lord is coming. He is with us in our suffering. After a little while, our sorrow will be turned to joy. (John 16:20) We confess that all this will work out for good for those who believe in Jesus, because we love and are loved by God and are called to fulfill His eternal purpose (Romans 8:28)

We all need an attitude adjustment at times. We need to stop whining we are victims. We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. (Romans 8:37) We also read in Romans 8:38-9 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul now tells us how we adjust this attitude in Philippians. Instead of being constantly being angered and fearful about what is really going on in this world, we should think about what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report.

All of these need to be defined in Jesus Christ. And what is of better report than the Gospel (Good News). We should seek after virtue. But this is not the same necessarily in accordance with worldly ideas of virtue.

“Virtue” comes from the Latin “vir” which means “male”. To be virtuous in this world is to play the man. In the Greek world, the virtuous man stood above the fray. He was indifferent to suffering. To the world the term “meekness” is “weakness”. Yet Paul uses the word “gentleness” in verse 5 which is a close synonym to meekness to describe the Christian.

Jesus reminds us that “the meek shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5). Our virtue is not that we are above the fray, but rather that we can maintain and celebrate our integrity within the fray, at least for the little while we must be troubled down here. Our rising above the storm will occur when Jesus returns. We can celebrate and praise him now, even in our trials while we strive to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. (The Westminster Confession of Faith)

To sum it up, Apostle Paul reminds them that they had already been taught these things. They now need to put them into practice. Paul had modelled the proper behavior. Now the Philippians were to follow his example. If we would practice these things .01%, we will have peace in our hearts, now and forever.

It is this truly momentous joy which we celebrate at Advent as we prepare for His return. We do well to remember the implications of His first Advent to earth. We do this at Christmas. We also do this at Easter as well. We live in the hope of celebrating His second coming and prepare our souls accordingly.

Celebrate Yahweh the Father, Celebrating You!

Celebrate Yahweh the Son, Celebrating You!

Celebrate Yahweh, the Holy Spirit, Celebrating You!

Invite some family friends and neighbors to share in this wondrous celebration!

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Precious Father, thank you for always being there and knowing what is on my heart and caring for me in ways that I cannot even imagine. I long to know you face to face and share in the unbridled joy of heaven with you. Until then, I truly rejoice and celebrate because I know with all assurances, my entire future is in your capable hands! Thank you in the name of Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

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An Ode to Man’s Joy. God is the Exact Center of our Joy. Jesus is the ONLY Key to Joy. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desire!

This devotion is about Jesus being the center of our joy. Our joy is not based on what happens externally to us but is about Who exists at the exact center of our being, about who lives in the exact center of our hearts, at the core of our souls.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 Amplified Bible

17 
Though the fig tree does not blossom
And there is no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive fails
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock is cut off from the fold
And there are no cattle in the stalls,
18 
Yet I will [choose to] rejoice in the Lord;
I will [choose to] shout in exultation in the [victorious] God of my salvation!
19 
The Lord God is my strength [my source of courage, my invincible army];
He has made my feet [steady and sure] like hinds’ feet
And makes me walk [forward with spiritual confidence] on my [a]high places [of challenge and responsibility].

For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.

The Word of God for the Children of God. In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Throughout the duration of this blog, I have written repeatedly to you about being faithful, hopeful, joyful, thankful and actually, genuinely giving thanks to God the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, regardless of the circumstances we are facing.

You see, there are many people that can only express true thanks when things are going well for them. When things are not going well there is stress and worry followed by doubts of the situation working out in their favor. And, more importantly, when the situation does not work out in their favor, they are even more visibly discouraged and filled with a mounting anxiety about their future.

This revolving door is what many people face day in and day out and yet the Bible says that we are to give God thanks regardless of what we are facing.

In fact, when we come to Him in our times of trouble, we should give Him all of our thanks and praise before we make our request. We can do this because God does not exist on our timeline, so He is working things out on our behalf even before we ask because He knows we are going to ask. So, we can be thankful at all times regardless of what we are facing because of what Jesus has done in our life. And, because of Jesus, regardless of what we face we can have joy. Joy is the reason we can be thankful in the very midst of all of our trials and tribulations.

The subject of my devotional message is “Jesus the Center of My Joy.”

Richard Smallwood published a song with this title, and I want to share a couple of verses with you.

It opens with “Jesus, You’re the center of my joy; all that’s good and perfect comes from You. You’re the heart of my contentment, hope for all I do, Jesus, you’re the center of my joy. When I’ve lost my direction, you’re the compass for my way, You’re the fire and light when nights are long and cold. In sadness, you are the laughter, that shatters all my fears, when I’m all alone, your hand is there to hold.”

Speaking joyfully for myself, this song captures “the place” where every single Christian must eventually come to if they want to consistently triumph over hard times – understanding that the only real joy in this life is found in Jesus!

I remember as I was growing and maturing in my “young” faith wondering how the “old folks” could consistently give testimony after testimony about their lives and still exhibit joy when I knew some of them were having a hard time.

What I didn’t understand was that they did not measure their joy by their circumstance, but by the relationship they had developed with Jesus.

As the song said, “…in sadness, you are the laughter, that shatters all my fears….”

Those old folks lived this song and I now understand why they could shout for joy when times were hard. I understand why they would say “Jesus will work it out….” without understanding how He would do it.

They had lived long enough to see Him do it over and over, so they were able to establish a state of constant joy even when things were bad. Having this joy did not stop them from the normal emotional responses that everyone experiences, but it never left them. They were always able to come back to it just as the song said, “When I’ve lost my direction, you’re the compass for my way….”

So, on this day, in this Father, Son and Holy Spirit centered moment, we will examine what it means to have joy, what it means for Jesus to be the center of it.

Let me share with you a definition for the word “center.” It means “the middle point, area; the point that is the focus of attention or interest.” Now here is the definition which I really want you try hard to capture: “the point or line around which something rotates.” The center of something is that very middle point of balance. In other words, it is the exact point where there is equilibrium, the one point where everything else rotates around it. Every person has that center – a rooted core set of beliefs that help them make sense of the world around them. 

When we believe about Jesus being the “exact center of our joy,” we are saying our joy is achieved or found in Him and that it is not determined by the negative circumstances staring at us from our mirrors. When Jesus is our center, when He determines our core set of beliefs, then we will understand why the things happen and, more important, how we can trust Him to get us through them.

The Holy Scriptures speaks a lot about joy so this day, which God has made for us, we are going to look at why Jesus has to be the exact center of our joy. When we make Jesus the centerpiece of our life, we are able to see what’s important. What matters? Our knowing and experiencing a center other than ourselves.

Now please remember there is a big difference between joy and happiness.

A Christian’s joy comes only from the inside. I am going to say that again – a Christian’s joy comes from the inside. It is not like happiness, which is based on something that happens to you, not in you. This is why a Christian can be joyful even in the midst of terrible situations – not because they are not suffering, but because of “Who” resides within them.

Let’s start with an Old Testament Scripture. Turn to Nehemiah 8:10. It reads, “Then he said unto them, ‘Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet wine, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be you grieved; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Nehemiah is a book that focuses on the rebuilding of Jerusalem. As they cleared away the rubble and debris, they found fragments of parchment containing the Law of Moses. Since the Jews had been in captivity, many of them had never heard the Law. And because of this, verse 9 says “all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law.” They wept because they knew that they had not been living the way the Law said they were supposed to live.

Their crying demonstrated their repentance after learning they had not been pleasing God. And that’s why, in verse 10, it says “neither be you grieved; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” I want you to see something here. Whose joy is our strength? The Lord’s joy is our strength.

New hope! New Joy! When we rejoice in the Lord, when we rejoice in our God, it gives us strength physically and mentally to prevail over whatever it is that is causing us not to be joyful.

That’s why Nehemiah says it is “the joy of the Lord which gives us strength!”

We are empowered to face all situations because we are not facing them in the power of our own strength, but with the strength that comes from the joy of the Lord. When I am sick – it’s the joy of the Lord that provides me the strength I need to see my healing manifested. When I am struggling with life’s vast array of issues, it’s the joy of the Lord which strengthens me to keep walking day by day. Truly I can say with confidence, “the joy of the Lord is your strength!”

I have read several articles which have said, “Smiling can trick your brain by elevating your mood, lowering your heart rate, and reducing your stress. The smile doesn’t have to be based on real emotion because faking it works as well.”

Our brain responds positively when it senses joy and happiness. Smiling is a physical response to joy and happiness and the brain likes it. I tried it sitting at my dining room table as I was writing this devotional message. Guess What? It Works! Imagine how positive and upbeat we would feel if we walked around all day just outwardly smiling. Ok, I will admit that there will be people who look at us strangely for smiling too much – but who cares right. Let’s try this – I want everyone to smile behind your masks exactly 60 seconds. Now don’t you feel better?

Turn with me to the book of God’s Prophet Habakkuk. If you go to the last book of the Old Testament and count backwards, it’s the fourth book. I will give you a moment to find it because I so very much desire for both you and I to see this. When we face hardships, what we are going to read should be how we respond.

In Habakkuk 3:17-18 it says, “Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, (Now look at his response.) yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.”

Did you notice what the prophet said in the midst of all of these bad things? He said, “I will.” He chose to rejoice. He chose to have joy. And do you know how he made that choice?

Let’s read verse 19. “The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills….” When God’s Prophet chose to rejoice and have joy, the Bible says he knew that God was the only source of his strength, and that God would make his feet like deer’s feet. Even though God’s Prophet faced all these bad things, he said that God will make his feet like those of a deer – in other words, because God is his strength, he will escape these things swiftly, just like a deer that runs from danger. Isn’t that a great image?

In Psalm 16:11, David says, “You will show me the path of life: in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.”

When will the Lord show us the path of life, He has for us? When we are in the center of His presence! The Bible says David was a man after God’s own heart, so he clearly understood how important it was to spend time with the Lord.

David sings to us there is “joy to its fullness” in the presence of God. Not partial or temporary joy; not semi perfect sometimes perfect joy; not joy intermingled with frequent or infrequent bouts or hand to hand battles with despair, pain and sorrow. No. In God’s presence the joy we will have is 100% full, satisfying, pure. There is nothing which can take away from the joy we have in God’s presence.

Before going to the next scripture, I want you to understand something: when we are born again, we are born into God’s presence! That’s why, as we read in Habakkuk, we have to choose joy.

We literally and figuratively have to choose every single day to live out of what is inside of us! And we see a similar thought in Romans 15:13 which says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13) Do you see the words “in believing”? Believing – faith – is what we offer to God so that He can fill us with joy and peace. As with all things related to the kingdom of God, our faith, our hope, our love, our joy, is what allows Jesus to move on our behalf.

As I close this devotional, I want you to leave you with just a few thoughts for your prayerful consideration. Let me share a few statistics with you.

• If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, and a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of the world.

• If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish somewhere, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

• If you woke up this day with more health, wellness than illness, you are more blessed than the two million people who will not survive this week.

• If you can attend a church without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are more blessed than 3 billion people.

• If you can read your Bible or any book, you are more blessed than over 2 billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

• If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most, sadly do not.

Now here is what I want you to try very hard to remember.

The “other” people mentioned in these statistics experience joy.

If you thought I was going to tell you that you should be joyful because you have so much more than many in the world then this day of the Lord’s creation, you would be grievously mistaken as it relates to joy.

Yes, we have much more and yet we will forever still desire more.

Yes, we have more, yet we still deal with anxiety, and the fear of loss.

But remember, the measurement of joy is not based on what we have externally; it’s Who we have internally!

Luke 18:9-14 AKJV

9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I tell you; this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

What I want you to try very hard see is the joy the “other” people experience, they experience it in spite of their situations. In spite of the fact that they fall in the bottom 25% of the richest people in the world, they experience joy.

In spite the fact that more than two million will die this week alone, they have experienced joy, and some are looking forward to entering into their blessed reward in heaven. In spite of the fact that they cannot go to church and worship God freely and must do so in secret for fear of death – they experience joy in serving Christ whether they do so in a public way or in a secret and private way.

The examples I gave you serves to prove the point that the joy of the Lord is not based on life’s circumstance or our station in life. It is based on our relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “Jesus, You’re the center of my joy; all that’s good and perfect comes from You. You’re the heart of my contentment, hope for all I do, Jesus, you’re the center of my joy.” Is He the center of yours?

In the name of God, the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, let us Pray.

Heavenly Father, thank You for the example of Habakkuk and for the truths that we can learn. I acknowledge that, like Israel, we have gone astray and wandered far from You. We have left our first love and flirted with the world. Forgive us, Lord. Purify Your Church and restore to us the joy of our salvation. Keep us all faithfully looking to Christ and living by faith, for You alone are our strength and our salvation. In Jesus’ name I pray, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.

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