Merry Christmas

A Christmas Message

“Once again, in churches, schools and village halls, we have enjoyed the annual nativity. Shepherds, wise men and angels all enacting the story; preparing to greet the new born king.

“I love watching the excited shepherds in their tea towel headgear and little angels with tinsel haloes at a jaunty angle. I love the majesty of the wise men, clutching their gifts and I love the simple picture of Mary with Joseph standing by protectively.

“It’s the story many of us know almost word for word and Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without it. A number of years ago in my congregation in Renfrew we tried to retell the story in a modern idiom and everyone asked, ‘But where are the shepherds and the wise men?’

“However, when I want to reflect on the meaning of Christmas and on its significance for the world and for my life, I turn to John’s gospel. There are no shepherds, no wise men or angels; not even Mary and Joseph.

“John’s was the last gospel to be written and it begins not with a story but with a pronouncement.

“In the beginning was the Word,

 And the Word was God In him was life,

and the life was the light of all people.

The light shines in the darkness and The darkness did not overcome it.”  

Then the staggering, incredible pronouncement;

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”

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“I love hearing it – I love reading it - but more importantly I am overwhelmed and humbled by the message these words proclaim.

“It’s the story beneath the story- the staggering assertion that in this child, this vulnerable baby, God came to be with us.  He came to be as vulnerable and weak as any of us.  He came to earth to share and bond with our humanness, in our joys, our sorrows, our hurt and our brokenness.

“He is a God who comes down to us –into the slime and grime of human life. He shares and holds us close to Himself, bringing healing and hope.

“That is the amazing claim of the Christmas tale, that this child in coming among us pierces the darkness of today’s world with the dazzling light of God’s love. Then you almost whisper John’s words, ‘The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it, has not been able to put it out’.

“Every one of us, I suspect, has known darkness of one kind or another; and for some that darkness is very deep. 

“It can be the loss of someone dear to us; illness; anxiety about our families, our future; the darkness of addiction; the darkness when we are bereft of hope. There are many kinds of darkness.

“The message of Christmas is that we are not alone in the darkness, not hemmed in by darkness, whatever it is, because light has come. Often flickering and fragile, like the light of a candle but still burning and still dispelling the darkness.

“In a world of so much uncertainty and longing for hope, we so desperately want this story to be real.  We want it to offer us the comfort and assurance of a God who has not abandoned us but who cares deeply about us and our world.

“So I would urge you to go back to John’s gospel, to read that first chapter, to let the words themselves speak to you and I would urge you to grasp hold of the truth that is being lovingly held out to you. 

“The invitation of Christmas is to live out our lives in that light, to trust that God came in that baby and continues to come into life, the life of this world.  When we live in that love, that light, no darkness will ever overcome it.

“We who believe that story must live in the light of its truth. Long ago,  In the dark night, in a stable behind a crowded inn, a child was born. In him was life— And the life was the light of all people.

“A blessed and peaceful Christmas to you all.”

From the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Right Reverend Lorna Hood.

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Christmas Thoughts

Will the Christ Child Come?

Courtesy Guideposts

One Christmas we had an interesting experience. Halfway through December we were doing the regular evening things when there was a knock at the door. We opened it to find a small package with a beautiful ceramic lamb inside. We looked at the calendar and realized that the 12 days of Christmas were beginning! We waited with excitement for the next night’s surprise and only then, with the gift of a matching shepherd, did we realize that the lamb was part of a nativity set.

Each night we grew more excited to see what piece we would receive. Each was exquisitely beautiful. The kids kept trying to catch the givers as we slowly built the scene at the manger and began to focus on Christ’s birth.

On Christmas Eve, all the pieces were in place, except for the baby Jesus. My 12-year-old son really wanted to catch our benefactors and began to devise all kinds of ways to trap them. He ate his dinner outside in the mini-van watching and waiting, but no one came.

Finally we called him in to go through our family’s Christmas Eve traditions. But before the kids went to bed, we checked the front step—no baby Jesus! We began to worry that my son had scared them off. My husband suggested that maybe they had dropped the Jesus and there wouldn’t be anything coming.

Somehow something was missing that Christmas Eve. There was a feeling that things weren’t complete. The kids went to bed and I put out the Christmas presents, but before I went to bed I again checked to see if the Jesus had come. No, the doorstep was empty.

In our family the kids have to wait to open any presents until Dad wakes up. So one by one they woke up very early and I also woke up to watch them. Each child checked to see if perhaps during the night the baby Jesus had come. Missing that piece of the set seemed to have an odd effect. At least it changed my focus. I knew there were presents under the tree for me, and I was excited to watch the children open their gifts, but first on my mind was the feeling of waiting for the ceramic Christ Child.

We had opened just about all of the presents when one of the children found one more for me buried deep beneath the limbs of the tree. I was handed a small package from my former teaching companion at our church.

In the time we spent together, I learned that her family didn’t have much for Christmas. It sounded like she didn’t get many gifts to open, so I had always given her a small package—new dish towels, a book—not much, but something for her to open. I was touched when at church on the day before Christmas, she had given me this small package, saying it was just a token of her love and appreciation.

As I took off the bow, I remembered my friendship with her and was filled with gratitude for knowing her and for her kindness and sacrifice in giving me a gift this year. But as the paper fell away, I began to tremble and cry. There in the small brown box was the baby Jesus. He had come!

I realized on that Christmas Day that Christ will come into our lives in ways that we don’t expect. The Spirit of Christ comes into our hearts as we serve one another. We had waited and watched for Him to come, expecting the dramatic “knock at the door and scurrying of feet,” but He came in a small, simple package that represented service, friendship, gratitude, and love.

This experience taught me that the beginning of the true spirit of Christmas comes as we open our hearts and actively focus on the Saviour. But we will most likely find Him in the small and simple acts of love, friendship, and service that we give to each other. This Christmas I want to again feel the joy of knowing that Christ is in our home. I want to focus on loving and serving. More than that, I want to open my heart to Him all year that I may see Him again.

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Does Prayer Make a Difference

Have you ever wondered if your prayers really make a difference?

Most people do at one time or another, especially if they’ve been praying long and hard for a breakthrough in a certain situation but haven’t seen the desired result. The next time your faith in prayer gets tested, consider this:

In a factory, an elongated steel bar weighing 500 lbs (about 225 kg) was suspended by a chain. Near it, an average-size cork was suspended by a silk thread. “When we come back to this spot later,” a tour guide told a group of sightseers, “you will see something that is seemingly impossible. This cork will have set this steel bar in motion.” The guide set in motion a mechanism whereby the cork tapped gently and repeatedly against the steel bar, which remained motionless. The visitors watched for a minute or two as the cork struck the iron bar with pendulum-like regularity, then they moved on. Ten minutes later, the bar was vibrating slightly, and when the tour group returned at the end of an hour, the heavy bar was swinging like the pendulum of a clock.

So the next time you feel you aren’t exerting a feather’s weight of influence on others through your prayers, remember the cork. God hears and answers every prayer in His time and as He knows best, but sometimes you must be patient. Often people and situations don’t change overnight, even after we have prayed. But if you will be like the cork, your love and prayers will eventually prevail. Every prayer you pray is like another tap of the cork. It may not appear to make a difference, but over time it will all add up and bring the victory.

You must not get discouraged when your prayers don’t seem to be having any effect!

What if the cork had taken one look at the steel bar and decided it was no use—the bar wasn’t going to budge? Or what if the cork had struck the bar once or twice and given up? What if it had tried to do it at its own pace, and had gotten out of the rhythm that the one who set it in motion knew was needed?

You must not get discouraged when your prayers don’t seem to be having any effect, or try to take matters into your own hands. The secret of the cork’s success was simply doing its part and keeping at it. You can’t change the person or situation you are praying for. Only God can do that. Your part is to pray and keep praying—to keep giving it one more tap in the right direction. The results will come in God’s time.

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In prayer you align yourselves to the purpose and power of God and He is able to do things through you that He couldn’t do otherwise. This is an open universe, where some things are left open, contingent upon our doing them. If we do not do them, they will never be done. God has left certain things to prayer—things that will never be done except as we pray.

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THE DIVINE SUPERNATURAL MIRACULOUS INFINITE MARVELOUS LOVE OF GOD IS LOVE ENOUGH TO FORGIVE!

God’s mercy is endless, from everlasting to everlasting! His love and mercy and forgiveness and Salvation never end! He never stops loving us no matter what we do. He never rejects us nor withdraws His love. He always has hope for us no matter how far we’ve strayed.

Even in spite of our sins and shortcomings and misdeeds and crimes, whatever they may be, the blood of Jesus covers all our sins, past, present and future. If we will forsake our sin and turn to the Lord, our God shall abundantly pardon “For if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins” (1Jn.1:9)--no matter what we have done! The only “unpardonable sin” is a lack of faith in Jesus, or rejection of Him as your Savior.

But most people do not suffer for the unpardonable sin, but rather for pardonable sins from which they fail to repent and ask for forgiveness.  We have a God big enough to forgive not only our mistakes but our sins! He always has and always does and always will, forever and ever and ever! Like a stream, like a river, His Love and mercy just keep flowing no matter what!

More thoughts on forgiveness:

“Jesus died for your sins, so why are you dying for them?  It’s like dying when you’re feeling condemned, isn’t it? It’s like a daily dying of your spirit.”

“You have His forgiveness, and your sins are blotted out. It won’t do you any good to dwell on them and wish and wish you hadn’t done whatever it was. You can’t change what you did, but you can change what you’re doing now. You’re sinning now by not accepting His forgiveness. You can choose to stop sinning now by refusing to be condemned. Do a big favor and drop the guilt.”

“God’s mercy is like a cool, beautiful, pristine, crystal-clear stream that you can immerse yourself in to be cleansed and to remove any vestiges of guilt or condemnation that have entered into you or clung to you. Condemnation has no power over you when you let yourself go and immerse yourself in the powerful, cleansing waters of His mercy.”

PSA.86:5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

ISA.55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

ISA.43:25  I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

MIC.7:18-19  Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

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Happy Thanksgiving

Thank God for life!

There! A meadowlark sings! Do you hear it?
For the sigh of the heart,
The contagion of laughter,
For the longing apart,
For the joy that comes after,
For the things that we feel
When we clasp, when we kneel--
Thank God for the sharing,
The caring, the giving,
For the things of Life's living.

Thank God for the riches
Of flowers in the ditches,
For the roof from the weather,
The fireside together,
For the step at the portal,
For the love we have treasured,
For something unmeasured,
For something immortal,
For our grief, for our mirth,
For heavens on earth,
For the things of the Spirit!

There! A meadowlark sings! Do you hear it?

--Douglas Malloch, 1877-1938

 Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.-- Psalm 100:4

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Getting a Better Perspective

In Psalm 55,  King David exclaimed: “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest” (Psalm 55:6). This wish to be able to put aside all your problems and worries and to feel free is a longing everyone experiences at one time or another. Unfortunately, there is no easy, magical formula to make problems simply disappear. What we can do is learn to control the effect that our problems, both real and imaginary, have on us.

One sure-fire way to strengthen your spirit is to adopt an attitude of praise and thanks to God, even through the rough times. No matter how badly things are going or how seemingly hopeless the situation, it is always possible to find something to be thankful for if you look hard enough—not the least of which is that God stands ready to prove Himself a “very present help in time of trouble” (Psalm 46:1.)

That positive, praiseful attitude will lighten your burdens and help you bear them. It brings on inspiration and renewed strength. It gives you wings to rise above your problems and the doubt, fear, and worry that accompany them. It lifts your spirit above the earthly plane and into the heavenlies. Even though it doesn’t necessarily remove the problems you’re facing, it gives you a much better outlook and perspective on them—a heavenly perspective, infused with faith in the positive outcome God has promised to those who love Him. (See Romans 8:28.)

PSA.18:3  I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

PSA.50:23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

HAB.3

¹⁷ Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

¹⁸ Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

¹⁹ The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.

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Two Religions

One man tells of having this question posed to him time and again: “Now can you say that you have ‘the truth’? There are hundreds of religions in the country, and all of them think that theirs is the only right one. How can I possibly know which of them is the right one?”

The man would answer: “Hundreds of religions, you say? Why that’s strange! I’ve heard of only two!” His listeners would retort, “Oh, but you must know that there are many more than that!” to which he would reply, “Not at all. I will admit that within these two different religions, there are many different sects and differences of opinion. But there are, after all, only two.

“The one religion consists of all those different faiths that believe that they can earn their own salvation by doing good deeds, by being ‘righteous’ and by keeping different kinds of religious laws and commandments. This, as you must realise, comprises most of the faiths of the world. The other religion consists of those who know that they are incapable of saving themselves, and look to the Lord alone to save them!

“So you see, the whole question is really very simple! Do you think you can save yourself, or somehow earn your salvation by being ‘good’?—or do you realise that you need a saviour to rescue you from your sins and mistakes?”

“For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8,9)

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” (Titus 3:5)

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Gal. 2:6)

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God Works...and That's all you Need to Know

We all use the power of electricity in our everyday lives, even though no one really understands it or where it comes from or how it got here, and certainly none of us has ever seen it, only its effect. In the same way, we must accept the existence of God, even though we don’t fully understand Him or know where He came from! We simply know He does exist and He is here, ever-present, all knowing and all-powerful!

All that most of us know about electricity is, it works! --We flip the switch and make contact with this invisible power and it does the work for us. Just so, we must learn to make contact, personal contact, with the power of God through prayer, a spiritual seeking of contact with His Spirit through obedience to the laws of His Word. We must avail ourselves of God just as we do electricity, and let His light and power into the rooms of our lives to give us light and power and joy in living by doing many things for us that we cannot do for ourselves!

Just reach out your hand of faith and turn the switch of decision, which makes the contact and starts the flow of that power into your life! You don’t have to personally know all the answers. Just flip the switch and it works!

Lk:1:79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Jn:8:1 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Ps:36:9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

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God's Love Knows No Boundaries

God’s love is so great that it will descend to any depth to save, go to any length to rescue. He can love man in his lowest state and save him in his hour of need from his most pitiful plight. For God there is no stopping place, no limit to which He will not go to save a poor lost soul with His infinite love and mercy. He stoops to the level of our need.

Look at the mercy of Christ: He even went down into the bowels of the earth in order to preach the Gospel of deliverance to the spirits that were in prison there (Matthew 12:40; 1 Peter 3:18-20).
"Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into Heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me" (Psalm 139:7-10).

1PE.3:18-20 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

JER.31:3 The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. MAT.9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

ROM.8:38,39 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 creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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