Christmas is about JESUS!

Luke 1:25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Christmas is God’s arrival of stepping into life on this planet to fulfill his plan to restore our world. We live in a world that is broken and messed-up … God’s left behind a footprint of HOPE which points to HIM!

A lady told her husband that she had dreamed that he had bought her a diamond necklace for Christmas! The husband responded positively to her dream by bringing her a beautifully wrapped gift. As she eagerly tore open the wrapping to see her diamond necklace, all she found was a little book. It was titled, 'How to interpret your dreams’! 😃

Christmas is a difficult period for a lot of people … sin clouds our vision of God’s prints in the world … Country legend Merle Haggard sang, 'If we make it through December, everything is gonna be alright I know'. The song speaks about a father who has just lost his job at the factory & he's wondering how he can make Christmas special for his little daughter.

Christmas is not a dream … Christmas is not about stuff … Christmas is not about the food, feelings, or the weather!  Christmas is about JESUS!

Christmas is about God’s footprint of Hope for our lives!

 

I am grateful for God's footprint! You know I love ya, Don

A New Perspective which Changes the Outcome!

But Christians possess the righteousness of Christ, because  we learn in 2 Cor. 5:21 - “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”  

This is an amazing truth. On the cross, Jesus exchanged our sin for His perfect righteousness so that we can one day stand before God and He will see not our sin, but the holy righteousness of the Lord Jesus.

An eternal perspective on Jesus … shapes our outcome.

We respond differently when we realize that the power of God (He is mighty, majestic, and strength – stronger than the ocean) … the power of God is experienced through his coming to live among us, die for us, and then conquer the death by returning to life. This changes the outcome.

This is great news for us ... especially in a world filled with agendas and desire ... you know I love ya, Don

Happy New Year! - Rest, Reflect, Renewal

Christmas is over. (Deep breath.) Another season of rejoicing in the birth of the Savior has come and gone. We are packing away our decorations, unstringing lights and taking Christmas music off our playlists, while the kids are in the other room playing with new toys. We are all ready for a bit of rest from the celebrations, cooking, traveling and the joyful busyness of the holiday. The New Year is upon us - an amazing opportunity to rest, reflect and pray for renewal for the year ahead.

Rest - “Come to me, all those who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” -Matthew 11:28 (NIV)  As strange as it sounds in a culture that pushes activity, the Lord calls us to rest. After celebrating Jesus’ birth in such glorious (but likely tiring) fashion, what blessing it is to simply sit, take a breath and rest. Rest in who He is, what He is doing and what He has done for us this year. How? He may call us to rest in Him in so many ways, by switching off devices, perhaps opening our Bible or journal in the peace of the morning or just simply sitting in quiet prayer are all great ways to start.

Reflect - “I will meditate on your wonderful works.” (Psalms 145:5b)   A new year is an opportune time to reflect on how the Lord has worked in and around us. Take note of what He has done with a sense of gratitude. Pray with an honest and open heart about any ongoing difficulties, and talk with God as you remember moments that have changed you or have shown you more of Jesus. And for those who blessed you this year, take an opportunity to send a thank you card or a note or gift of encouragement to thank them.

Renew - Isaiah 40:31 says, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”  The new year is dawning, and maybe it’s time for a new, or renewed, you. As we pray for and seek renewal, we are called to place our hope in the Lord. Reminding ourselves of where our hope lies, praying without ceasing, fixing our thoughts on things above and not on earthly troubles - these are among the many ways we can seek the kind of renewal that only comes from Christ.
Let's trek into 2016 with a fervor and hope for what the new year holds! Let's seek and pray for rest, reflection and renewal as we - through grace and faith - strive to walk according to His will.

You know I love ya, Don

More on this devotion:
http://www.dayspring.com/articles/rest-reflect-renew-this-new-year?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20151227%20-%20Rest%2C%20Reflect%2C%20Renew&utm_term=DaySpring%20Devotions

Julian of Norwich...Wallowing in God's Goodness!

I think it is to pray according to the goodness of God as Julian of Norwich describes it, is to pray as a pig wallows in mud. I remember as a junior high school student being on a retreat in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Central California with my church youth group and one of our youth sponsors gave a devotion on the goodness of God. As I read Julian of Norwich excepts from "Revelations of Divine Love" I was reminded of Debbie Jackson and her devotion. I also remember how moved to tears I was even as a 13 year old boy. It was not new to learn that God  loved me so much that he would die for me and desire a relationship with me. It was a new realization of God's goodness that moved me to a better place because of Debbie's devotional testimony.

Debbie Jackson's devotion used the word "wallow" in it over and over and over. We are to wallow in God..."we are to wallow in God's goodness" she would say. Debbie talked about how our feelings can be completely covered in God's goodness. Debbie talked about how our actions at home, school and church could be completely covered in God's goodness. Debbie talked about how our fun and celebrations could be completely covered in God's goodness. She then finished the talk by holding up a picture of a pig completely covered in wet, sticky mud. Debbie than pointed to the picture and said, "This is what is means to wallow in the mud....it is to be completely covered in mud." Debbie went on to explain how a pig doesn't sweat and that a pig needs the mud in order to survive and that is why it is completely covered or why the pig is willing to wallow in the mud. The pig would not survive without its ability to wallow. She closed by asking us if we knew how to survive? The answer was and still is today, "to be completely covered in God's goodness." It was a powerful devotion that has remained with me for 28 years.

As I was reading Julian, I was thinking about how her prayer to know God more was revealed in a new awareness of Christ's passion, to know bodily sickness, and then in her willingness to receive three wounds. It was in Julian's prayer that she was truly was asking for opportunities to "wallow" in God's goodness and this new revelation granted her the gifts to know God more because He is a good God.

It is Julian's words that state it best, "Just as our flesh is covered by clothing, and our blood is covered by our flesh, so are we, soul and body, covered and enclosed by the goodness of God." We are truly wallowing in the God's goodness as we are covered head to toe, flesh and soul, action and rest so that we might enter into a time of prayer that listens and responds because his goodness reveals his grace, provision, and virtue.

My Prayer, "Lord, thank you for your goodness and then demonstrating that goodness to me. Help my unbelief and may my faith always be a source to point others your direction. Amen."

You know I love ya, Don