Category: Bible

So Close To Bethlehem

So Close To Bethlehem

I wonder how close you are to Bethlehem today? Right now! Right, where you are, in the middle of a million things, a million thoughts, and a million worries? In the middle of COVID, and its conundrum of threat, fear and anxiety that’s come and nestled quite rudely into our Christmas celebrations? I wonder, can you reach out and touch the town sign that says its name, “Bethlehem,” or are you feeling veered off, lost and off track? Has the perplexity and complexity of it all gotten in and taken your hope, your joy and your peace down the garden path?

See it there then today, with your soul eyes. “Bethlehem!” Ah yes, there it is…

I wonder if you remember or even know the Hope born there that night in that crude stable, is as close as your heartbeat? Does the awesome gift of Hope from God resonate and radiate within you and from you? Does it affect your everyday living? Your thinking? Can you feel the depth of its magnitude deep in your soul, or have you sunk deep into that horrible conundrum of busyness and COVID chaos?

What a sweet gift the baby “Jesus” presented to the world in that wretched manger of straw surrounded by everything ‘less than perfect!’ Grasp, if you will, that picture of Hope for a broken and imperfect world! Not a COVID world but a sin world! Then reach out to receive a fresh touch for you! The thing is, it’s so much more than Hope isn’t it? Hope brings a joy and a peace of mind and a really gentle hug from God to message us that it’s ok. Everything really is ok”, and in that “million and one things” to-do list, His gift of Hope is the stable banner at the top to get you through.

Hope in Jesus, our Saviour? Yeah, it’s our salvation for the soul of us in these crazy days and the help for our day ahead, no matter what’s on the plate.

Because He came, Hope is our gift to receive and recycle to keep on giving. So you see, it’s all well and good! The birthing event of our Savior in Bethlehem, even though so long ago, is really very close, because the Hope He gave to the world that night, is His promise to us and still ours to receive! It’s a sweet gift that keeps on giving to our soul time and time again. So So amazing too, is that as we can share it with others so they can be brought closer to the Hope of the babe born in Bethlehem in their journey of chaos, broken and hopeless. When Hope wells up within, don’t ever underestimate the power of it within your circles of influence to ignite the spark in others! It’s contagious! It’s lovely and it’s peaceful, oh so peaceful!
❤
#Advent#GiftofHope

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The Hope Of A Saviour

Christ’s coming as a newborn baby was God’s gift of humility to humanity. God, the creator of all things, left the brilliance and the highest of heavenly heights and sweet and majestic glories of heaven to enter into our world! He came a fragile, helpless baby in need of love, care, nurturing and the tender hearts of a mom and dad. His name was Jesus and He grew into a child, a teen and on to a young adult! He walked among us experiencing life as we know it yet because of His divine genealogy and inheritance, He was without sin. Even so, and even still today, He knows your pain and He feels it! He knows the battle that wars on in your temptations! He walked there! He knows your fears, your failures and your complete and utter despair! His humility took Him to the cross and His death took Him to the grave. His resurrection, took Him to the heights of Heaven, to be seated at the right hand of His divine Father God!

His life, death and resurrection provide a solution for our sin problem, our despair and our hopelessness.

This Christmas Advent season of celebration, savour that sweet and powerful hope that His birth begins to bring into a world of need, for such a time as this! Yeah, His death and resurrection went down in history and because of His whole gift of sacrifice, there is now a totally awesome new life in Christ available for us today. He can be present in our lives as we live them out daily in His presence.

Seek Him, as the wise men did, find Him as the shepherds did, Praise Him as Mary did, right where you are, in your less than perfect surroundings and situations, and be in awe of a Savior and a mediator, sent by God, who came to serve, to seek and to save.

Isaiah’s prophesy of so many years ago did come true when the promise of a Heavenly Royal King to be born was a promise of hope for a needy people. Let that same Hope fill you and your beautiful soul with a glorious wonder and anticipation as we begin this first week of Advent!

Isaiah 9:6
“For to us a child is born, to us, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

#Advent

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The Candle of Hope

Today the candle of Hope lights this cold, frazzled earth and reminds us of God’s special gift to us and to a broken, crushed and fearful world! A world so desperate for its stability and thing is, His Hope keeps on giving as we keep on growing in trust, with hopeful hearts in our Lord and Saviour. Finding soul hope in our Lord at this Advent season helps to build precious hope in the hearts and minds of others. This sweet and sustainable gift is contagious and powerful and we dare not ever let it go

So, In these crazy days of COVID and advent celebration, share that precious hope that you’ve found in our Saviour, and touch lives everywhere because all lives matter this Advent season and always ❤

Isaiah 40: 31 … “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
#alwayshope#AdventofHope

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The Perfect Plan

Ok, so the journey is long, the steps are difficult and the end just doesn’t seem to be in view. Don’t we just trudge along sometimes with head down and heart heavy and steps weary?

I can only imagine a couple that did the same as they journeyed to Bethlehem for their government duties with taxes to pay and deadlines to meet and bones just as weary as ours! Yet with strength waning and with great apprehension amidst simple trust, nagging deep within their souls ~ they made their way.

Yeah, Joseph the obedient through thick and thin, and Mary ~ heavy with child; the Savior of the World, experiencing events so complex and hard to comprehend they made their way ~ just because it was God’s plan and they were a part of it. Sometimes His plans are not easy, but it was a beautiful plan, a plan for saving the world and it had to be and it had to be just “precise” in its timing and just perfect right down to the final straw.

No room, and all alone ~ but no! Not alone! Not even for a second, because God was guiding every lonely step of the way, even through their weariness. So beautiful, weary you with soul heavy, and heart-aching know that your steps are ordered by this same sovereign God that led the weary couple to Bethlehem! He directs with events so perfectly timed that we could never figure them out. He unravels the mess, the complications, the unanswered questions, the apprehension, and the fear laid right outright in heaps at your feet when you feel like throwing in the towel.
So don’t do it! He’s got it; whatever it is that has you bound in worry, so don’t give up! Mary went through what she went through for the ultimate purpose of delivering Christ to the world and presented us with a Savior and yeah, a beautiful example for us.

So, our purpose in this life is to do the same through our struggles and our situations! Whatever difficulty is heavy on your plate this advent season, let God lead you through it with precision as you deliver Christ to a needy world, through your faith and trust and joy even in the difficult.

Luke 1:35, 37

“The angel replied, ” The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy and He will be called the Son Of God…For nothing is impossible with God.”

#ApproachingAdvent#CelebrationSeason

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