Shaking Ourselves From Doubt and Fear in the New Year

Isaiah 52:12

For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

As the celebration of the birth of Jesus passes, our thoughts turn toward the new year ahead.  Let us not rush out to make decisions.  Let us move forward into the new year, not in a disorderly fashion, but under the leading hand, instruction and protection of the Holy Spirit.   

Let us move into the new year knowing that God will be with us.   Through His Son, His Holy Spirit has been sent to guide us.  Under submission to Our Savior, we can let loose of the things of this earth and grasp on to the things of God's kingdom.  We can shake ourselves from the dust of our doubts and our fears.  Our victory was settled on the Cross.  May the presence of the Lord be constantly before us and behind us. 

Let us live each day knowing that the Lord Jesus reigns in our lives.  Let us live in the fullness of the good tidings that came in with His birth.  Let us place our futures firmly in His hand.  Let us live today in freedom, in peace and in service to His calling on our lives.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your constant presence in our lives.  We thank You that You go before us to prepare our way and that You stand behind us to protect us on our journey.  We bless the name of Jesus whose victory on the Cross allows us to live our lives without fears or doubts.  We pray that the Holy Spirt will guide us as we go into the new year that You have set aside for us.  May those around us in the world be drawn to Your Son as they see us living our lives under His reign.  We ask all these things in the name of our ever present shield, Jesus Christ.

Our Future Is In God's Hands Not In Today's News

Colossians 3:2

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

As we move toward the new year, let us follow the instruction of God's Holy Word and set our minds on things that are above in heaven where Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father.  Let us intentionally replace the images of sorrow, suffering, personal horror and overwhelming struggles continuing to pile up in the daily news from the world, and perhaps even in our own personal worlds, with images of goodness such as the the joyous images of the Christmas season that are fresh in our minds.  Let us recognize that our current reality is in God's future plan for us and not in today's news.  Let us grasp with hope and faith that God has a good and perfect plan for every broken person and for every painful situation.  Let us reorder our thinking so that the power of Heaven can be released in our lives.

Know that it will not be easy to take the higher path.  The pathway to fear and despair are easy roads directed downward by emotion and logic.  Certainly the world will be ready to mock us if we dare to take the higher road when our destination cannot be seen with the natural eye.  Let us be strengthened by the knowledge that we are always secure in Jesus Christ no matter what is happening around us.  Let us rejoice in knowing that our final destination will be our testimony of God's faithfulness.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the blessed hope and assurance that we have in Your Son, Jesus Christ.  We bless His name for He is our anchor, firm and secure.  We pray, Lord, that You will open our eyes so that we may see Your goodness in the dark world that surrounds us.  We ask that the Holy Spirit renew and reorder our thinking so that we may align our thinking with Your heart and Your kingdom purpose.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Hope that springs eternal, Jesus Christ.

Entering the Throne Room of Almighty God

2 Chronicles 5:7

Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubim.

The Holy of Holies, also known as the Most Holy Place, was the inner room of the Jewish Temple in which was kept the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat, the Cherubim, manna, Aaron's rod and a copy of the 10 Commandments. It was the place where blood was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat (the lid on top of the Ark) as an atonement for the sins of Israel.  The single high priest designated for duty on the day of atonement was the only person allowed to enter the Holy of Holies.  That was the only time in the entire year that anyone could enter.  It was the only path and process that the Jewish people had in order to gain access to Almighty God.

Jesus changed all of that.  Upon His death on the Cross, the veil that separated the people from the Most Holy Place was torn in two.  In one divine moment access to the throne of God was opened to all people for all time. 

What a wondrous privilege we have been given.  We no longer have to wait on anyone to enter into a direct, intimate relationship with Our Father in heaven.  Our High Priest, Jesus Christ, permanently opened the way for us to enter the Holy of Holies.

As we take advantage of our blessing, let us remember that it is pleasing to God when we enter His throne room.  But let us be sure to learn from the actions of the high priest in approaching the Most Holy Place.  As we approach Almighty God, let us enter His presence with awe and reverence.  Let us enter His gates with thanksgiving and with praise.  Let us seek personal cleansing and forgiveness through the confession of our sins.  Let us pray under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Let us pray in accordance with the Holy Word of God.  Let us make a personal commitment to surrender to His will for our lives.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us access to Your throne through Your Son, Jesus Christ.  We bless the name of Your Son for providing the pathway for us to have a personal relationship with You.  We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will help us to approach Your throne in the manner that is pleasing to You.  We ask that we be given the grace that we need to pay the price necessary to gain the intimacy that we seek with You.  We ask all these things in the name of our High Priest and Mediator, Jesus Christ.

The Satisfaction That Only He Can Provide

John 7:37

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”

Jesus went with his disciples to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.  The feast began five days after the Day of Atonement at the time the fall harvest had just been completed. It was a time of joyous celebration as the Israelites celebrated God’s continued provision for them in the current harvest and remembered His provision and protection during the 40 years in the wilderness.  The celebration for the feast lasted for 8 days.  It was a grand feast by earthly measures.

On the last and greatest day of the feast, every man and woman would have surely filled themselves with food and drink and enjoyed and experienced all that the celebration had to offer them.  Yet Jesus knew that there would still be a hunger there that was unsatisfied.  He welcomed them to come to Him for the satisfaction that only He could provide.

As we stand here at the end of our year and our Christmas season, the same holds true for us today. God has protected us and provided for us as we have gone through yet another wild year in our out-of-control world.  We have just completed a season of celebration.  We have over-filled ourselves with food, drink, gifts and festive experiences.  Yet somehow we are not satisfied. 

Jesus knows.  He is waiting for those who are thirsty.  Those who choose to go to Him will be completely satisfied.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for all the provisions and protections that You have provided throughout the past year.  We bless the name of Jesus through whom all of Your grace, mercy and loving kindness has been released to us.  We confess, Lord, that we have filled ourselves on all the world has offered and yet we are still unsatisfied.  We pray that Your Holy Spirit will guide us and strengthen us as we learn to forsake the world and surrender completely to Your Son who invites us into His life.  May we live in the fullness and glory of His presence.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who supplies our strength, our power and our eternal satisfaction, Jesus Christ.   

Living Under the Absolute Authority of Almighty God

Mark 1:22

The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority--quite unlike the teachers of religious law.

The Jews were astonished at the great truths that Jesus was teaching.  The nature and importance of what He was teaching was unlike anything that they had ever heard.  The teaching of Jesus was distinctly different from the teaching of the Scribes, who relied so heavily on traditions.  The manner in which He taught was also different.  He taught with such grace, such gravity and such majesty.  His teaching was rich in evidence and power.  He taught as if He had the authority to do so and needed to rely on no one else for the basis of His teaching.  He taught independent of all men, all tradition and the religiousity that preceded Him.  He taught fully dependent on His Father in heaven.

What made Jesus’ teaching distinctly different from the teachers of the law was that He taught and lived under the absolute authority of Almighty God.  Everything that Jesus did was based on the truth in God’s Word.  No wonder he stood out from teachers of the law who based their teaching on every other form of authority.  Some sought their authority based on the things that they had reasoned through their own logic.  Some sought their authority based on the traditions that history had revealed to them.  Some sought their authority based on the trending ethics and morals of their culture.  Some even sought their authority based on their emotion.  It is no wonder that the people were able to recognize the brilliance of Jesus’ teaching. 

Although we may never be teachers, we must decide under what authority that we will make our daily life decisions.  Shall we make our life decisions based on our own reasoning?  Shall we make our decisions based on what traditions teach us?  Shall we make our life decisions based on what is trending in our culture?  Shall we make our life decisions based on how we feel?  If we follow any of these false forms of authority, we will open ourselves up to short-term regrets and eternal risks.  Let us make all of our life decisions under the only real authority - God’s Holy Word.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending us the Truth, Your Son, Jesus.  We thank You for the amazing and life-changing doctrine that He delivered to us with divine authority.  We praise You for inspiring the authors of the Books of the Bible so that we might have the Good News of the Gospel for presentation throughout the ages.  We pray, Lord, that our lives will be living testimonies to the way, the truth and the life that Your Son secured for us on the Cross.  May the world around us be drawn to Your Son, Jesus, as they see us living under the divine authority of Your Holy Word.  We ask all these things in the name of the Witness to the People, Jesus Christ.

Joyously Waiting for the Sudden Power of Almighty God

Acts 16:26

Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off!

Paul and Silas were preaching the gospel in Philippi when they were stripped of their clothes, beaten with rods and placed in the inner prison with their feet fastened in stocks.  Their situation sure seemed pretty dire, but they did not lose their joy.  At the end of a day of great personal trial, they were observed praying and singing hymns around the midnight hour.

Suddenly, there was a great response from the heavens that freed Paul and Silas and led to the salvation of the jailer and his family.  It is important to notice the use of the word “suddenly.”  It is used throughout scripture to announce dramatic life changing events purposefully orchestrated by Almighty God.  

As we approach the new year, we should go forward without fear and doubt.  In His Holy Word, God inspired the writers to call out the many ways that He wields His power on our behalf.  All of the recorded demonstrations of God’s sudden power should give us hope for every situation in which we find ourselves.  But be certain not to miss the actions of Paul and Silas.  They never lost their joy.  They were still praying and singing hymns in the aftermath of severe suffering in their lives.  Surely, we have a role to play in calling the sudden power of Almighty God into our lives.  Indeed, we are called to maintain our joy and continue in praise and prayer as we wait on Our Heavenly Father to intercede on our behalf.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for being our all-sufficient Lord.  We bless the name of Jesus whose death on the Cross gained victory for us over everything that the enemy tries to bring against us.  We rejoice in knowing that You will release Your power in our lives exactly and suddenly when we need it.  We pray, Father, that we will be given the grace to find joy in every trial.  We ask that we be given the strength to continue in prayer and praise when everything seems to be falling apart around us.  We ask all these things in the name of our refuge from the storm, Jesus Christ.

The Perfectly Timed Gift of Christmas

Galatians 4:4

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus was born when He was?  Mankind certainly could have benefitted from His arrival at any point in time.  So why was He born exactly when He was born?

Consider that Jesus was born at a time when the whole world spoke and understood one language.   The Greek language, which had been mandated during time of Alexander the Great, remained the prevalent language spoken throughout all of Rome’s conquered territories.  The early evangelists could travel to any point in the Roman Empire, deliver their message in Greek and know that their message would be understood.

Because the Romans had built a massive road system unlike anything the world had ever known, travel was relatively easy.  The early evangelists were able to get to any major population group within the Roman Empire.  To add to the ease of travel, unlike most other time periods before Christ's arrival, the Roman Empire quieted the warring factions.  Worldwide peace was established for over 200 years.  During this time frame, Roman centuries were posted along the major roadways to insure that there was no impediment to safe travel within the conquered territories.

As a final element of God's perfectly timed plan, we find that the Jews had been dispersed throughout the Roman Empire.  Even though there was no longer a central temple for the Jews, there were active synagogues built throughout the Roman territory.  These synagogues were attended regularly.  They made for easy access points to disseminate the Good News of the Gospel throughout the land.

With all these factors coinciding perfectly, it is remarkable how ideal the circumstances were for the rapid spread of the story of Jesus and His salvation message for all of mankind.  And it was all in perfect accordance with the many prophecies that were fulfilled to the letter.  The arrival of Our Savior was not only perfectly timed, it was a confirmation of the infallible nature of the Word of God.

As we celebrate the birth of Our Savior this Christmas, let us consider in awe that Almighty God was just as purposeful in selecting our time on this earth as He was in selecting the time for His Son.  We were all created for this exact time and place in the history of mankind.  It was no accident.  It was because Our Father in heaven had a specific plan for our lives on this earth and with Him for all eternity.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the miraculous birth of Your Son, Jesus.  We thank You for giving each of us the gift of life.  We rejoice in knowing that You created each of us with a sovereign, gracious purpose for our lives.  We bless the name of Jesus who shed His blood so that we may be worthy to do the things that You have created us to do.  We exalt the Holy Spirit for standing by us so that we may overcome our weaknesses.  We pray for the strength to persevere in pursuing Your will for our lives and not our own.  May the fruit of our efforts be our gifts back to you this Christmas day and all the days of our lives.  We ask all these things in the name of Your dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

May We Be Known by Our Fervor

1 John 4:9

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

Christmas is the celebration of a spectacular supernatural event.  Our Heavenly Father sent His Son to this earth so that we might have eternal life through Him.  This event was one that could not be accomplished by the efforts of man.  Only God could orchestrate such an act of love and supernatural endowment.

There are scoffers around each Christmas season who try to deny the great gift that has been provided for all mankind to receive.  They try to logically dissuade others from having faith in the true story of Christmas.  Yet to do so, they must try to make others believe that the God who directs the earth in its orbit, who feeds the burning furnace of the sun and who upholds the entire universe itself will prove unable to fulfill His own promises. 

Is it possible that the One who hangs the world on nothing is unable to deliver on His promises to His children?  Does He not hold the winds and the clouds and the oceans themselves in His hand?  How can He fail His children?

We have every reason to be absolutely firm in our faith.  Let us celebrate openly and with great fervor the birth of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son to live in this world so that we may be supernaturally endowed with His presence in our lives and we may become heirs to Your eternal kingdom.  We bless the name of Your Son, Jesus, who became poor so that we may have all the treasures of heaven.  We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit is with us each day to provide us with the peace that only Jesus can offer.  We pray that as we receive these wondrous gifts that we surrender to the reign of Our Savior in our lives.  May our lives become our love gifts to You, Father.  May the world know us by our fervor for Our Savior.  We ask all these things in the name of Our New Born King, Jesus Christ.

Childlike Trust

Matthew 18:3

Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

What a wonderful time Christmas is to a small child in our culture.  They go to bed on Christmas Eve eagerly anticipating the arrival of the gift giver.  They burst from their beds on Christmas morning knowing that they will find gifts with their names on them under the Christmas tree.  Many of the gifts will be there simply for their pleasure.  Other gifts will be there for their comfort and provision.  They receive them all with great joy.  All the while, they never doubt that the gift giver will provide for them that which they could not provide for themselves.

This is the type of reliance that God wants to see from all of us.  God wants us to rely on Him for everything without ever considering that we could provide for ourselves just as well.  Of course, the gifts that He gives to us are far more valuable than anything we could find under a tree.  Almighty God provides us with the gift of life.  He sustains our lives with every single breath we take.  Along the way, He sees that our pleasures, our provisions and our comforts are taken care of.  Then He provides the greatest gift of all – eternal life in His heavenly kingdom.  All He ever asks from us is to accept His Son as Our Savior.  

As a matter of process, He asks that we love Him and respond to Him like small children.  Small children run to their parents for everything.  Whether they need comfort, provision or direction, they immediately seek the arms of their parents.  They do not question the authority or the power of their parents.  They assume the parents have the power to provide whatever it is that they need or desire.  More than anything else, they do not see themselves as capable of doing more for themselves than their parents could do.  Almighty God wants us to do the same with Him.  May we trust in Him for the true treasures of His kingdom.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the blessings and the benefits that we receive as Your children.  We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to inherit Your kingdom and all of its provision and protection for all eternity.  We pray, Father, that we be renewed in our minds so that we may become as simple, as humble and as teachable as small children.  May we discard forever all the self-seeking lifestyles, distrust and deceit that we learn from the world.  May we walk in the excellence of Our Savior.   We ask all these things in the name of Our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.