Month: December 2020

Pure Joy

 

Let’s come now into this third week of our Advent celebration and light the candle of Joy.

Our candle of Hope still burns brightly to represent the precious ‘hope’, and anticipation that’s ours with the Messiah’s birth.

The candle of ‘peace’ glows still with the precious gift of it heralded in by our Savior’s birth, and what a delight to know Him in this glorious Advent celebration. What a delight to know the peace that only He can give in times of sure uncertainty!But now let’s light the candle of Joy; to let it sparkle and glow in a peaceful and hopeful Advent season! Joy in this world? It’s hard to come by, so where on this earth is Joy? It’s not in our stuff, our surroundings, our circumstances or our happiness but as we worship the Saviour, we find It’s lodging in our own heart! Yeah, right there within us and sometimes, in the middle of nothing good, it still burns brightly in that soul because joy isn’t about things or situations or friends, or finances! Joy is about contentment in our Lord and knowing that in Him we have all we need. So let’s all just breathe now and know that He will provide, and care and grace us daily with His good gifts. Yeah, in your deepest self, and deepest soul, That’s where we’ll find it. Even when the world is reeling in anguish and joy appears non-existent, our beautiful souls can praise the God of our Salvation and sing “Joy To The World, the Lord has come” to a world that has none and needs lots. Oh how marvellous are His works and how wonderful are His ways. So come now and light this precious light of joy and shine it in your night and in the night of those in your circle of influence.

Isaiah 9: 6,7

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

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Peace Giver

So many fears, anxieties, and worries these days crowd into our spaces and places. So much unrest in our world and in our corners. Fear ushers in unrest, worry and doubt. It creeps in subtly, yet shouts loudly in it’s top voice that all is not well in your world. And don’t you know it? It paralyzes, it panics and it does crazy, illogical things, in order to take control of situations held over our heads.

Yeah, it’s a restless enemy leading us to the edge of “nothing good” only to drop us into a mindset of hopeless circumstances. When fear is present, rest is not. When fear is present, peace is lost!
But friends, when our focus is on the Peace Giver, the Prince Of Peace, the One who stilled the waters, and walked the waves, our Peace is real and sweet, and powerful and strong enough to ward off the fiery darts of fear. Fear of the future, fear of failure, fear of death, so many fears out there to haunt us, but when Jesus is present in the soul of us, His Peace lives there in the soul of us. What a hope we have in Jesus, our Saviour, Our Prince of Peace ❤
John 14:27 27
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
 
 

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Lay Down The Baggage

Come with me for a moment to the inn. You’ve travelled a long road and a difficult one. Your heart is heavy and your soul laden with care. Mary’s journey was difficult too as she carried the heavy load of a babe, the Savior of the world, about to be delivered. Can you imagine the ridicule she must have taken from those who knew her? The offences she felt along the way? The rejection she must have faced in the event of God’s calling on her life. Oh yeah, her journey was difficult and the road to Bethlehem was painful, but that was just the way it had to go down so that God could work His plan. See the inn? See how busy it is? See the baggage left in heaps by so many travellers, so weary, so worn, so anxious to get lodging for their weary bodies and aching feet? Mary needed it too and imagine Joseph, caring so deeply for her but being told,

“Sorry, there’s not a room left here. All I can do is show you a stable.”A pieced together shack lined with straw for the animals? Yeah, but it was shelter for the night and a place to lay a couple of weary heads, and hearts and minds, so it was all good.

Have you been there at all? To a place that doesn’t offer much protection or stability? A place of vulnerability? A place where hurt runs deep? A place everyone has the spotlight but you or maybe the critical spotlight is on you and only you and it’s not comfortable because what been said is not true? Have you been there? Where everyone has the shelter but you? Ah, beautiful soul, And then ~ there’s your baggage! That dreadful baggage! That dreadful, heavy load you’ve carried from pillar to post for so long! It’s overwhelming too, isn’t it? But there’s hardly a place to put it down for the night except on a dirty, mud floor in the midst of straw? But really, beautiful one, just lay it down, even there. Give it up! Let it go! Forget it! And forgive it! ~ The journey’s over for now! It’s time to find a quiet moment’s rest for a few hours. Something new is about to happen.

Mary and Joseph put it down and rested there on that floor of mud and straw and the Savior of the world, their Savior, began there! It’s there they met Him face to face. It’s there where God became flesh in that obscure, desolate place and you got to know, He’s still there today ~ in all the places of broken, hurt, pain, insecurity, nothingness, emptiness, loneliness, ridicule and rejection. If that’s where you find yourself on this day in real life and in real-time, He’s there with you. You can know, He’s been there, done that, and knows your hurt. He came to light the darkness, mend the broken, heal the pain, forgive the sin, save the sinner and bless the soul. He desires to give you all that you need, right here on the mud floor, at the inn of rejection and perhaps bitterness this day. Rest there, in the stable with Him and let Him show you the way out to victory in this celebration of Advent! Aren’t we thankful for a Savior who left the glories of heaven to be born in such a lowly place in order to reach out into all the lowly places around a world in need?

1 John 4: 1  “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”

Matthew 1:21  “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

#Advent

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A Thankful Heart Is A Peaceful Heart

 

Hey, don’t we all just need a little peace today to quiet our minds and souls before a Saviour who came so humbly, to give it so generously?

The word Peace, is a Jewish greeting and in Hebrew ~ “shalom” captures the spirit of Jesus’ work on this old earth to restore peace and quiet the hearts of sinful people who tend to go their own way and mess things up quite readily. Yeah, we tend to want to do it our way and so we do and so we find ourselves in many places of unrest, experiencing anything but His blessed peace that transcends beyond our understanding and beyond our circumstances.

God’s work of peace to restore humanity’s relationship to God was fulfilled in the birth of the Messiah, the cross and the glorious resurrection of our Saviour! Oh yeah, we have so much to be thankful for, yet we forget to be thankful and our desire for more undermines our gratefulness as we enter into the pit of arrogance and pride rather than peace. Our desire for our rights, our power, our authority, and our desire for more this and more that, rob us of God’s generous and luxurious gift of peace!

It is a luxury but ‘Self’ is our own worst enemy, our worst deceiver, our worst liar and our worst false god. Succumbing to ‘self’ while aspiring for the top, ironically sets us on a downward spiral of unrest, uneasy and undone!

Feeling uneasy, and fearful, today in this crazy world? In your crazy world? Get alone with the Saviour who came to lavish you with peace and usher it into the hearts and lives of humanity. It’s there for you, close the self door and step into it! Claim it, and walk on in the beauty and pure bliss of it.

Philippians 4: 6, 7, 8
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think on these things.…”

2 Timothy 1:7
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

John 14:27
“I am leaving you with a gift–peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a peace that the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid…”

#Peace#Shalom#Advent 

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