December 25th, 2011
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. —John 3:16
When the last present is opened under the tree, remember that the best gift ever given is still open for you. The Father loves you and sent His very best—His most precious Son, to bring you back to Him. Thirty-three years after his birth, that Son opened His arms wide on the cross to tell you how much He loves you. The one who was gift wrapped in swaddling clothes,wraps the world with love! Relish in the great hug of His love.
Know that you are never alone. The One who created you, loves you, and wants you to spend time with Him. Treasure His presence. He treasures you, and your time with Him. Read His love letter, the Bible. Receive and share His love today in the natural and supernatural through your prayers.
Thank you dear Father for Your amazing love, so great that You sent the Son of your love to save us and bring us back to You! Thank You dear Jesus for leaving Heaven and coming to earth, resisting sin, so You could pay the penalty of our sin and bring us back to God. What an amazing gift of Your love and presence!
Merry Christmas!
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December 24th, 2011
Joy to the World the Lord is come, let earth receive her King!
The angel announced to the shepherds:
Luke 2:10 I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Great joy comes when a war ends, and the soldiers come home to be reunited with their families! There is great rejoicing and joy, because the enemy has been defeated and peace has come! That is what happens when a Mighty Warrior, a Savior enters the war. There is great joy and rejoicing, because the overcoming has started and the war is ending!
Jesus grew up, overcame the enemy, and made the way for all who believe and obey Him to be free from the enemy’s grip! And with that freedom comes great joy! Christmas is a celebration of joy. Let’s be sure to receive and enjoy the great joy Jesus brings.
Joy to the World the Lord is come, let earth receive her King!
Luke 2:8-20 4: Master Rescuer Appears: The Rescuer is promised
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December 23rd, 2011
Luke 2:9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid….13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “ Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
God’s glory shined on the shepherds, when the angel stood before them and announced the coming of the Savior. Jesus came revealing the glory and majesty of His Father in Heaven. His light shines in the darkness to whoever will receive Him.
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Remember what the Christmas candles and lights really reflect, the Glory of God, shining to us through Jesus! Let us make a point to focus on His glory and majesty and worship Him. Receive and reflect His Glory!
Luke 2:8-11; John 1:1-14
The Greatest Rescue: The Bible is the true account of the greatest rescue mission ever. God Himself came to rescue us! BibleLearningLab.com
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December 22nd, 2011
John 1: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…
When Jesus took on flesh and was laid in a manger, it was His first time to put on flesh and blood, but not His beginning. Before He was called Jesus, He was known as The Word. He was in the beginning of the beginning with God, and He was God. It is hard to comprehend all the facets of who He is. Not only was He there at the start, but through Him all things were made! Jesus is the Creator of all things!
The Creator humbled himself to become a human person, so He could fix things between God and people. Can you imagine the change from being the Creator of all things, being worshipped in Heaven, to being laid in a manger in a smelly stable? It was as if a very successful creator and founder of a huge airline company, put on coveralls and gets all dirty climbing into an engine, working on a problem that was plagueing his jets, and therefore the company. Jesus came into the world to seek and save the lost and bring us back to God.
We honor you, Lord Jesus, the Word, who became flesh, our Creator and Savior! Thank you for coming and making things right between You and Your creation. You are Wonderful!
John 1:1-14; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:16
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December 21st, 2011
The glory of the Lord lit up the field outside Bethlehem, as God chose faithful shepherds to be the first to hear, that the earth’s Savior had finally come. Guardians who raised countless sheep to be delivered to the Temple in Jerusalem, to be sacrificed for the sins of the masses. They heard those lambs’ first cries, then heard the first cries of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
An angel gave the birth announcement, then the choir sang:
Luke 2:10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
The shepherds took the challenge and went on the treasure hunt to find the baby in a manger. Did they go to several animal shelters or were they lead right to it? Either way, they found the treasure—the Savior in the manger.
When they left the little family, the group was changed forever! They rehearsed the sights and happenings—the glory, the angels, and the young couple. But it was the manger’s holy provision that touched them so deeply. The shepherds kept glorififying and praising God for the baby, the Lamb of God, who would grow up to save the world from sin, forever. Echoing the angels, one shepherd raised his hand to Heaven and declared, “Glory to God in the highest!”
Several others joined in with him saying, “And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
Luke 2:8-20; John 1:29
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December 20th, 2011
The plan to bring Jesus into the earth did not start nine months or even a few years before He came, but it was at the least milleniums in the planning. The first announcement of Jesus’ birth came as soon as there was a need for a Savior, when sin separated God from people. Just after Adam and Eve sinned, God declared forcibly to the serpent (satan),
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel (Genesis 3: 15).”
In a type of code, God was announcing the coming of Jesus, who would come to fix things on the earth, between God and people. This was the preview of the Conqueror born of a woman, who would crush Satan’s power. We know this to be when Jesus would die on the Cross and come back to life three days later making the way for people to be free from Satan’s dominion.
“Enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed,” but wait, a woman has an egg and a man has the seed. This is not only the first prophecy of Jesus coming, but also to His miracle birth of being born to a virgin.
Dear God, You are amazing in Your plan to make things right with mankind. Thank you for coming to earth in Jesus, so we could be free from Satan’s grip, and come back into fellowship with You!
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December 19th, 2011
Jesus was not only wrapped in swaddling clothes, He was wrapped with the message of Salvation.
Gabriel told Mary, “Call His name JESUS (Luke 1:31).” Jesus means Jehovah is salvation, or savior. Later her praise was, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior (Luke 1:47).
Zacharias prophesied about Jesus Luke 1: 68 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, 69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David,…
And he prophesied about his baby son, John (later called John the Baptist), the one who would go before Jesus to prepare His way. He foretold his mission and ours, “To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, 78 Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; 79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1: 77-79).”
The angel informed Joseph in his dream, ”You shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1: 21).”
And the announcement to the shepherds in Luke 2: 11 was, “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Jesus was born to be the Savior of the world! Jesus came wrapped in salvation, so He could wrap us with His saving power, when we believe and obey Him!
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December 18th, 2011
Luke 2:7 NKJV—And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
There was no room for our ancestors, Adam and Eve, in the heavenly Garden, because of their sin of disobedience.
God Himself came to earth in Jesus, but there was no room in the inn for Him.
There was no room in Heaven for people, because of our sin of disobedience. But God came to earth to make room. He took on a coat of flesh, filled with blood. He lived a totally sinless life. When He died on the cross, His death became the sacrificial payment for all our sins. His resurrection from the dead bombed open the door to Heaven. Jesus is the Door. All who come through The Door of Jesus are blasted clean of sin!
Now walk on into Heavenly places through Jesus on earth and in Heaven. There is room for you, he made room for me! He made room for us! Be sure to make room in your heart and life for Jesus!
Luke 2:7; Genesis 3; John 10:9,10; 1 Corinthians 15:20-22
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December 17th, 2011
I love the story of Jesus being laid in a manger, which would be some kind of barn, where there were animals. A very interesting setting bordering on quirky for a baby nursery. But could it be much more? Perhaps it is a foretelling of Jesus’ purpose on the earth.
Luke 2:7 NKJV And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Mary wrapped her baby lovingly with strips of cloths and laid him in a feeding trough, a place for animals to eat.
About 33 years later Jesus said:
1 Corinthians 11:24—When He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
Jesus lived a sinless life, then paid our debt of sin on the cross. When we believe in Jesus, and partake of Him, He lives on the inside! His life in us. Emmanuel—God with us!
Luke 2:7; Matthew 1:23; 1 Corinthians 11:24
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December 16th, 2011
Bethlehem was just a small town, about five miles south of the city of Jerusalem. It was King David’s birthplace. Mary and Joseph lived about 80 miles north in Nazareth in Galilee.
An Israeli Ruler is forecasted to come from Bethlehem:
Micah 5: 2 “ But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
This prophecy was fulfilled, when Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem, because of a government ruling, and Jesus was born there.
Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. 6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.
It is interesting the events that take place, that God uses to get us into postion for our miracle to come forth. The journey to get in line with God’s plan may seem challenging at times, but He will be with us all along the Way. Let’s relax and enjoy the journey!
Micah 5:2-5; Luke 2:1-5; Hebrews 13:5
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