Month: December 2024

Good morning, I will be taking the week off from posting my blog. I will post again on January 1, 2025. So I leave you with this passage for the last week of 2024.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:8-12 NIV

As we close out the year, I encourage you to seek Jesus as the shepherds did that first Christmas after the angels told them about the wonderful gift the world had just been given. Please let the announcement of “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:12 NIV fill you with excitement and awe that Jesus was willing to come down from His heavenly throne and save us. We celebrate this marvelous, miraculous event each year as we wait for the second coming of our Lord and Savior, please don’t let it become comfortable and mundane. I pray that we each keep this celebration exciting and anticipatory as we wait anxiously for our Lord to return to us.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I will post again on January 1, 2025.

“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” Luke 2:6-7 NIV

It is here!!!! The first Christmas. Jesus is born, He is wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger. Mary gives birth in a stable not a fancy hotel, with Joseph to help her, not handmaidens. A manger is a feeding trough, which fit since He was born in a stable surrounded by animals. A very humble beginning to a life that would be filled with serving others as He modeled what God’s Kingdom looks like.

Mary and Joseph knew that Jesus was the Messiah and they knew from prophesy that He would have to suffer at some point in His life. They had no idea the extent that they would also suffer, as His parents, watch Him go through all that He was going to have to endure. I believe none of that mattered at that moment, because they were holding their baby boy. He was not only the Messiah, He was their son and they took raising Him very seriously.

Without the event that we celebrate today, there would be no Easter. There would be no crucifixion that took the sins of the world away for those who believe, and there would be no resurrection. I am so thankful that we are able to celebrate this event today.

Have a Merry Christmas and always keep your focus on Jesus.

“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,” Luke 2:6 NIV

They finally make it to Bethlehem and as with most pregnant women, all that walking and possibly the bumpiness of the ride on the donkey, labor begins. Mary has told Joseph that the time is very close and he goes to find them accommodations so Mary can give birth in private. However, there are no rooms available anywhere because there are a large number of people in Bethlehem. Many families had ancestors from there and had traveled just as Mary and Joseph had, to be counted.

Joseph is checking everywhere and finally a man tells Joseph that he has some room but it is with his animals behind the house. At this point, it has to be better than Mary giving birth to the Messiah on the side of the room or outside the front door of someone’s home. Imagine the conditions of this area where the animals were. It was a stable or barn area, there was hay and dust, possibly mud from the animals. Joseph did his best to make a space for Mary that was clean and acceptable for her to give birth.

This is the Messiah, the Savior of the world, being born into our world and it is happening in a stable where the animals are watching. Jesus was born in a very humble environment, not in a palace surrounded by guards, linens and handmaidens but in a stable surrounded by animals, cloths Mary brought with her and Joseph. This would be the perfect way for our Lord and Savior to begin His life on earth, humbly. He came as a humble servant not a conquering king.

Jesus’ birth, the first Christmas is tomorrow. Let’s celebrate as Mary prepares to give birth in Bethlehem to our King, our Lord, our Savior, thereby fulfilling prophesy about where the Messiah was to be born.

If Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, I implore you to reconsider your decision and ask Jesus to come into your heart. He gave up being a King as He sat in Heaven with God the Father to come to our world as a helpless baby to save us. Who does that? JESUS does!!!!!!

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.” Luke 2:4&5 NIV

This journey took between 4 and 7 days. According to maps from Mary’s era, there were some towns along the way to possibly find places to stay in but there were also long sections of the travel paths that were simple open and not settled. On those sections of the road, there were not many places to stay, so at night they had to either find shelter under a tree, in a cave or sleep out under the stars.

There are not many women who are 9 months pregnant who sleep well in the beds we have in our time, so can you imagine sleeping on the ground and then having to get back up the next morning, to begin walking again. Mary was carrying the Messiah, the Savior of the world, but she did not have it easy.

When the angel came to Mary, she gave up certain things about her future that she may have had planned such as the wedding to Joseph, the friends who would celebrate with her, the house they were going to have. Joseph gave up the plans of being the biological father of ALL of his children but took Jesus as his own and raised Him as if he was Jesus’s biological father. I wonder how much of this they both thought about and maybe even talked about on this long journey.

When we talk about this part of the account of Jesus’s birth, we should also remember that they were not the only ones going to the town their ancestors were from, everyone was, as the decree when out to the entire Roman world. This means that the roads would have been crowded with travelers going in all directions. Other people from Nazareth would have been making the same trip and some of them knew that the baby Mary was carrying was not Joseph’s. It is fair to believe that there were comments and looks from them as they passed Mary and Joseph on the journey.

There were also no restaurants to stop at when it was lunch time or supper time. All of that had to be packed in the items they brought along. For Mary, that meant having to figure out how to cook the meal and not take up so much time that the journey took longer. Traveling in our time takes some planning, but traveling in Mary and Joseph’s time took not only planning but preparation and organization to be successful and eat meals while traveling.

Christmas is 2 days away, have you thought about how much you are willing to give up to follow God’s will and plan for your life? As we think about everything that Mary and Joseph did to follow God’s plan for their lives and fill prophesy, may today would be a good day to take some time to think about what you are willing to do for God.

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.” Luke 2:4&5 NIV

Mary and Joseph, along with a lot of other people, begin their journeys to the towns they were originally from. Research shows that Bethlehem was a 4 to 7 day walk from Nazareth. For those who have been pregnant, please remember what it was like when you were 9 months pregnant. For those who have not been pregnant, please imagine, if you will, carrying around a 20 pound bowling ball around in front of you everywhere you go. Your back hurts, your feet swell, you become hot then cold then hot again. You are tired and just want to sit down.

Now I would like everyone to imagine being told that you have to go on a journey to a town around 90 miles away. Remember that there were no cars, buses, trains or airplanes to take you, you were going to have to walk or ride an animal if you were lucky. There were also no luggage racks to carry your belongings that you would need while you were gone, so most likely it was packed onto the animal you owned so you didn’t have to carry it. That is why I wrote that if you were lucky you could ride the animal you were taking since it was probably packed down with your belongings and not able to withstand any more weight.

So, let’s look at Mary and Joseph again. Mary is 9 months pregnant, which means it was probably a slow and long journey. She probably walked as much as she could and then Joseph most likely carried what needed to come off of the donkey so Mary could ride on the donkey for a while.

Throughout the years, between when Mary and Joseph made this long journey to Bethlehem and now, we have created this idea of a simple journey from one town to the next. This may have been because we were given very few details about that journey. However, I encourage everyone to think about what the landscape looked like in that time and how difficult a 90 mile journey was on a woman who was 9 months pregnant.

Nothing about the birth of our Savior was easy. He gave up a lot to come to earth, and His earthly parents gave up a lot to have Him and raise Him just as God the Father had planned. As we are now one day closer to Christmas, please keep in mind what Mary and Joseph went through in order to fulfill God’s will in their lives and bring the Savior in to the world.

My question is……Are you fulfilling God’s will in your life?

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3. And everyone went to their own town to register.” Luke 2:1-3 NIV

In Mary and Joseph’s time, the government would randomly require the citizens to gather in the towns where they were from to take a census instead of going door to door as they have done in our time. There is a lot of history behind how Caesar Augustus came to power, so the short version is that he conquered all of his enemies and allies, yes I said allies. So now he was the ‘one’ in charge.

The ‘entire Roman world’ had seen war for many years and the war had produced disastrous results in the lives of it’s citizens. So once Caesar Augustus came to power, he ordered that a census be taken so he knew how many people were left and how many he could tax. As it is stated in verse 2, this was the first time in about 12 years that the government had required it’s citizens to gather for a census of this kind.

In verse 3 Luke tells us that everyone followed this order and began traveling to the towns where they were originally from. This is where I want to now focus on Mary and Joseph. Joseph was from the town of Bethlehem. Prophesy recorded in Micah 5:2, stated that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. Jeremiah 23:5 records the prophet Jeremiah prophesizing that the Messiah is to be born of the line of David and Joseph is from the line of David. King David was raised in Bethlehem as was Joseph, so off to Bethlehem they went.

During this time of year, I encourage everyone to read the account of our Lord and Savior’s birth because it can remind us how much He gave up to come to earth to save us.

“Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.” Psalm 146:5 NIV

Verses 3 and 4 in this chapter are filled with warnings about placing hope and trust in anyone other than God. We are not perfect, we all have sinned, we all break promises at some point in our lives and we all are bound to make mistakes, but God does not. God doesn’t break promises or make mistakes for He is perfect.

The author of this psalm is warning in the verses 3 and 4 about this but then is able to turn this psalm from a psalm of sadness or negativity into one of hope and assurance. Blessed are those whose help is in God. Blessed, not cursed. This is wonderful.

The word ‘blessed’ in the Bible means to find favor with God and to have inner peace. This peace is a peace that no one else can offer or anything else can produce, it only comes from God. When we place our hope and source of help in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, we are placing it in the only place that is guaranteed.

When we look to God for our help and place our hope there as well, we are favored by God because He wants us to come to Him for help. He wants us to place our hope in Him because He is our creator and wants to be close to us. He will not force Himself on us because being loved by us when we have no choice is not truly being loved. Love comes as a freewill choice of the person giving it. God made it that way so when we choose to love Him, it would be because we want to love Him not because we have to love Him.

Where do you place your hope?

Where do you go for help?

I pray both of your answers are…God, but if they are not then I invite you to change where you place your hope and where you go for help. I invite you to choose to place your hope in the One True God. Lord over everything, in heaven and on earth, our Creator. Ask God to be your Lord and Savior, accept Him into your heart. Know that the place you can go to for help is the only true place where you are guaranteed to be heard. God hears you and wants you to willingly come to Him for help. God wants to help His children.

Where do you want to place your hope?

Where do you want to go to for help?

“Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor.” Isaiah 26:13 NIV

Israelites knew what captivity looked and felt like. They knew what it was like to have others rule over them. Their people had been led away in captivity several times resulting in hundreds of years of living in foreign lands. They were instructed to honor the kings, emperors, and idols of whatever land they found themselves in. Some followed those instructions and others did not, usually at the risk of harm.

The prophet Isaiah is stating that he and those who were faithful to God, were only going to honor God. He acknowledges that there were times during their months and years of captivity that they could have chosen to do what their captors wanted but they decided to not honor, bow down to, or worship anyone or anything other than their God, their Creator and their Protector. Isaiah is proclaiming that the people of Israel are only worshipping one God, the One True God.

We face the choice of who to honor and worship even today. We are not captive in foreign lands with foreign kings or emperors but we have other ‘rulers, idols, kings’ that can draw our attention away from God. Rulers, masters and kings come in all shapes and sizes and do not need to actually be people. As a society, there are those who spend a lot of time trying to have as much money as they can get, obtaining as many belongings as they can, proving to others that they are worthy enough to be liked.

As we go into the week before Christmas, where we celebrate the actual Lord, I encourage you to look at where you focus your attention. Is it on God or something else?

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:12-13 NIV

The prophet Jeremiah was completed his book during the time that the Israelites were in captivity in Babylon. They were in a foreign land and could not perform their religious ceremonies. Yet God was talking to them through Jeremiah and wanted them to know that when they call on Him, come to Him and pray to Him, that He will listen.

At that moment, the ceremonies and rituals didn’t matter. Their desire to be connected to Him is what mattered, so He was willing to listen to them if they sought Him, came to Him and prayed to Him. Their commitment to wanting to be connected was important in this relationship.

As we celebrate Christmas and remember the first arrival of Jesus to earth, we are not bound by religious ceremonies or rituals either when it comes to seeking God, going to God and praying to God. We can be connected to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit when we genuinely seek God.

God knows our hearts and when we place value on our relationship with God, going to Him, He will listen. I am not saying that having traditions is a bad thing, it is a great way, but don’t let the idea of not being able to complete a tradition, ritual or ceremony get in the way of connecting with God. This is the time of year when we are to remember that Jesus left His heavenly kingdom and came down to us as a helpless babe who would grow up to save the world.

Remain connected to Jesus, He is our lifeline.

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.” Psalm 91:14-15 ESV

Most psalms are written as letters or poems to God but these 2 verses contained within this psalm are written in the first person and appear to be coming from God. He is talking to His people. God is saying that because they have chosen to love Him, He will deliver them. It is our choice as humans to love God or not and when we do choose to love God, we are able to have a relationship with Him.

In these verses, God has promised to deliver those who love Him. He has promised to protect those who know His name. He has promised to answer those who call on Him. He has promised to rescue and honor those people when they are in trouble. These are amazing verses!

As amazing as they are, these are conditional promises that God has made, but God made them and as long as we do our part, God does His part. Our part is the beginning of each of the sections, what we are to do. Sometimes we forget to do our part and we wonder where God is and why He is not keeping His part of these promises. A quick read of these verses and we are reminded that we are involved in this relationship too, it is not all one sided with God being the one who is doing anything.

As you choose to love God continually, embrace the knowledge that He will deliver you, protect you, answer you, rescue you and honor you. He has promised and He doesn’t break His promises.