Good day to you dear readers!  Did you read the introduction yesterday?  Lord willing, for the next 7 days, today is day 2 of the “7 daily Christmas letters” from the heart of Hope in Today Ministries to you, as the Lord leads, and until Christmas day.  I hope this is a blessing to you.  Thank you Dewey for this opportunity to post on this For God’s Glory Alone Ministries wonderful site; and I hope this is a blessing to the ministries of Jesus Christ; and to the readers to know, believe and grow in our knowledge of the love God has for us!

Let us begin by opening our heart to know that even when we have knowledge, God always wants us to add something to our knowledge; and the 1^st thing that we are to add is temperance!  So, let us begin searching our heart and exploring God’s Word as we are patient with each other.  Knowing that not all of this may be for you?  But something in this is for everyone, because of the Lord, who is with; and near to us all; and according to my faith as I have written and shared this; and according to your faith as you read.

I pray this is a blessing of encouragement, comfort and strength to some; and to all, of a greater depth of your knowledge of the Love God has for us all!

So, Merry Christmas.  Yet, what does Christmas mean to the world?  And, what does Christmas mean to you?

Not everyone has that Hallmark Christmas, and yet there is joy in Jesus available.

I hope this speaks to the reality of God’s Love for you, and for those around you; that God has had a plan since before the beginning of time as we know it; and God is still working all things together for the good to them that love God.

Yes, there is purpose through suffering!  And, as much as logically, we don’t want suffering to make sense, still, as the Bible says in 1 Peter 5:10, “after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace will Himself make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”

We don’t hear about suffering much at Christmas time, but yet, it is a time of the year that many feel the brunt of why God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden …

After the reality of the curses of sin had entered the world … (Genesis 3:22); we can see that God SO loved Adam and Eve still [even after sin] (and loved all mankind SO MUCH); that God knew that Adam and Eve would have eaten from the Tree of Life (too); and that act would have doomed mankind to this life in this broken world.  So, God, being all-knowing drove them from the Garden, but gave them them promise of Hope!

This is the love of God!

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: (Genesis 3:22)

But God had a good plan FOR US and HE LOVED US from the very beginning!

And the thing that I just realized that the Lord wanted me to call out, is to the attention that God’s plan all along was that you would be born!!!!  I won’t get to far ahead in these posts, but Jesus come so that we might believe to have the hope of Life with God in a perfectly restored life with God; but first all life must be born and come into existence!

God’s plan all along was

that you would be born!!!!

AND, the fact that is noticeably clear to me as the Lord reveals this to me this morning:

God planned you all along!!!

Notice that all this had to come to pass to get to where God’s plan fully evolved; and God is still working all things together for the good to them that love God!

she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said,“I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.” 2Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel (Genesis 4:1)

And, this process has continued throughout generations, as God is working out His plan for you and for me and for whosoever will desire a relationship with God, Our Creator and Father who lives in Heaven and has extended His hand to help us get there too!

Jesus has come!!!  Jesus has one hand on God and one hand on you (whosoever will believe)!  Jesus will come again (oh glory, there is another Scripture that fits so perfectly here…Lord willing I will go look for it and post it later).  Yet, if not, you can find it too!  Please post it for us!!!

I found it:

God has a plan and you are the reason! Do you know how much God loves you?  God has SO loved you that He gave you His Son …

and this is what Christmas means to me:

The Gift is God’s love!

The Creation!

The Birth (Hope),

The Death, Burial and Resurrection!

LIFE Everlasting!

God So loved the world!!!

This is what Christ means to me:  Jesus is our reality to our Promises of God’s Mercy, Comfort, and Grace that is with the reality of a true and living Hope that is Jesus; and God has made hope and life available for us (even now & through this life on earth as it is in Heaven, because the Kingdom Come), and all the way to that perfect life made complete with God everlasting!

Do you know where the Kingdom is?  In a believers life, the Kingdom lives inside you and you are the temple that houses where God lives with us!  Now God is bigger than us, but God is God and this is the power of God’s love for you!!!!

YES!  A Holy God! WOW! What a powerful, all-knowing and perfect God we CAN serve! And, God gives us a mind to choose to desire HIM … and a mind to choose to follow the MIND OF CHRIST!

If I were God, I would zap people (including me at times) with my finger from Heaven like a shock collar can train a dog to stay within the safe and respectable boundaries of home!

YET, no one can be God!

This is how I know God is perfect!  God is Patient!!!  God is love!  AND, God is just! And, God does reveal His Parental and God Righteous wrath …YES!  But, God does not just zap people; nor revengefully giggle at human mistakes!  God sent us HIS SON!!!

God is not a god of revenge!

God is not a god of revenge!  God is a Righteous Judge….of Mercy, of Goodness / God is God and God is love!  God is the God of all Comfort, even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  And, God has SO loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son …

Seek God 1st is a “no-brainer” to me!  “Seek God first” is the ONLY Way for the world to experience this new life with God through Jesus Christ, the love God has given unto the world to believe!  Grateful to Jesus; this is how much God has SO loved whosoever might believe!  God loves you this much too!!!

Unconditionally, life is not easy, …Even as I have written these posts, I have faced many struggles  … But I believe God wants you to know, Yes …

1 Peter 5:10English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁰ And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Christmas is about Jesus and the reality that God has SO loved the World.

So the message through these letters is

YES!  There is HOPE!

The Gift is God’s Love!

And Wise Men still seek Him!

What is peace?  How do we get Peace?  Peace is not conditional on everything being perfect and bright in this world as we know it; Jesus left peace and gives us peace that is from God; and when everything seems dark in this world, Jesus is the light to the Peace God gives!

Will you come along with me on this daily journey? … as we seek together a deeper growth in our knowledge of the Love God has for us!  God has SO loved the world that HE gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever might believe in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16)!

The Gift of Christ is God’s Love!  No money can buy and no gift can compare to this hope that God gave us through His Son!

This is Christmas to me:  The posture of my heart and the light to my soul … not the lights on the tree!

Jesus is the one true light …

And, don’t miss out on the blessings of God’s love in John 3:17!

¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Yes, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God who cares about you!  He was born, died and was risen again by the power of the Holy Spirit all for you and me that we might believe in a hope that is greater than any man could know without HIM!  Jesus was the ONLY one who qualified!  And God CAN do all things through Christ who gives us strength!

How?

We need God’s Word, like our body needs food; and like the life in a flower bloom needs to be planted as a bulb 1st; and that old part of our selfish self human nature must die and fall off buried under the water with Jesus, for the new life in Christ to emerge out!

The life is in the seed …

The Word of God is the Seed!

And as every Created flower in a garden is unique, so are you unique and wonderfully made!  But, do you know and believe in the love God has for you?

The purpose in which you are called is unique too!  Yet, of the same God and of same faith as we believe in the same Savior and follow the same Lord Jesus Christ!  God has dealt a measure of faith to all who will believe; according to the purpose in which we are called; Faith is our ability to do all things through Christ and our ability to please God…Because of the origin of Faith is of God.

How much are you growing in your measure of faith?

Are you stuck under the pressure of the dark and cold ground?

Look to the LIGHT of JESUS

Believe

and begin to grow in your faith!

I know you have been extraordinary to hang in there with me this long today!  As my faith stands, I will post this as is for whosoever may need any portion of what God has had me assigned to this past week!

I know God has more awaiting …

…may God be the voice of each of our direction, I pray.

MORE?

Spend a lot of time in this Scripture!  Days, Weeks, Months, only God knows, but get your understanding in:  1 John 3:9 as God’s Word to us further explains the power of eternal life, who is of God that is the Seed (Faith in The Word of God that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength):

“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God (1 John 3:9).”

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith (Romans 12:3 KJV).”

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase (1 Co 3:6 KJV).”

As the Lord enables me to share in this letter to you today, Christmas to me is everyday, in which today is another day to be learning that speaking / talking out my personal troubles helps me tremendously!

 Communicating with God will help you too!

How long would you follow that star to see that Child?

As we can be learning that praying for our own afflictions and troubles is authorized and recognized by God.  Seeking God first begins with wanting to please God, even before we feel like it; and even before we make up our mind that it is possible.  Learning that speaking to our situations is effective and powerful to change our own mind to believe; then the miracle happens, we go by faith to that place God lives in us:  Peace in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is our ability and through whom, that power of God’s Holy Spirit transforms our opposing human self-pleasing natural desire to be continually growing in the faith that pleases God, which is in unity with the will of God; and there is a supernatural peace and joy and life that is found!

 

What does Christmas mean to the world?  What does Christmas mean to you?

Do you know what the Word of God says about your situation(s)?  Sometimes, we only know in parts!  But always, we have faith available!  Sometimes, “Be Still and know that God is God” is simply the very faith we are called to do at certain times; just to be still and seek God and trust God and look up to focus on Jesus to get through … sometimes, life on this earth can be this tuff…BUT, there comes a time that there is always an opportunity to step out of the boat of human logic to trust God unconditionally!

Seeking God 1st is to discover what God wants … Then faith is the substance to make that evidence of good things appear; and in the way and method as the Holy Spirit guides and directs!

Life with God is good!

But not without troubles …

However, Jesus said,

DO not LET your heart be troubled…

This is why talking it out as we are rolling our thoughts unto the Lord is important.  When we speak, we hear!  But be careful little mouth what we say … Because we will believe what we hear ourselves say … Like no one else can speak to us, we will believe!

What we believe matters!

We will listen to our thoughts more than any other person’s thought that is spoken to us.   Speak to yourself, but speak Blessings!!!

Remember too,

a blessing means “To speak Positively To our difficult situations”; as a curse is to speak negatively to our situations.

Literally, God has given us to power to bless; or to curse our own life in the manner of the way we speak.  And, Jesus is a powerful Name to proclaim the blessings of the Lord over our life!

Isn’t that why opinions are so powerful?  What we believe will form the way we speak!

Seeking God’s thoughts first is powerful to the way we speak to our troubles; and to the way we treat each other….. and actually we can listen to God’s goodness roll out of our barely capable heart that believes, but by faith all things are possible!  Jesus enables goodness to flow … and I think of all the times, Jesus said, “Oh ye of little faith” but the promise of God, still exists …

If you have faith as a mustard seed … you can speak to your mountain!  God won’t do for us, what He tells us how to do.

God gives us a measure of faith, but as a seed is meant to grow, so is our faith!  And, Godly faith is not growing into a tender plant that withers, but rather a strong tree that can stand and withstand extreme conditions that blow against it.

Study the Mustard Tree!

This is your ability in your faith … even if the size of a Mustard Seed …

Growing in faith that Pleases God, let’s join together and Praise God for the love that God has given to the world!  What has Christmas become to the world?  What is this Christ-Time to you?  What is the true and living message of Christ?  Something powerful happens every year at this time of the year, but the effect is either of peace and joy; or of depression and loneliness, sadness or despair.  However, the message of Christ is hope and life everlasting!!!

the message of Christ

is hope and life everlasting!!!

I have heard it said that even non-believers are feeling comfortable with celebrating Christmas in today’s modern day’s world traditions.  This is the same Holiday that Christians following Jesus celebrate.  Something is wrong with where traditions have evolved, if we dare to forget why Jesus has come.

Every day, remember the Birth of Christ at the core of your born-again heart. This is still the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!

The Spirit of Christmas lives

in the heart of the one

who knows and believes

in the love God has for us!

The fact is that Jesus is more than an opinion/notion of what (I / you believe) about [Creation and Salvation].  Christ is the evidence and a legitimate reason to know God’s love for us; and not just believe, but also to know the reality of why God’s testimony is true.

God is love.

And, Creation Happened!

We do evolve like from the seed God planted in us to be like a flower and bloom, but we are first Created by our Creator God by love to be loved and then we can love, because God has first loved us.  We are woven together in our mother’s womb; not to become traditionalized / evolutionized (if those can be made into a word?); but we are created to be transformed by the Word of God living, breathing and life-giving evidence of Christ who makes us spiritually new.

 

Romans 12:2King James Version (KJV)

² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Life with God through Jesus Christ is more than a “belief” it is a demonstrable fact through faith by Grace. “Belief” (we can believe in many things); HOPE is real when we believe in Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord.  

Jesus is the Hope God sent to the Word.  FAITH is the substance and evidence … our defense that  God’s love and hope that is for us is true and living; For God so loves you.

A Born Again Christian can / will both KNOW and believe in the love God has for us!  We can give a defense for the Hope that lives in us!

Are you prepared to give a defense for the hope that lives in you?

I write to you today, Yes, there is HOPE!

Jesus is our hope.

And, this is where Christmas begins:  God’s Gift is love!  Jesus is born and Christ is risen! We are risen with Christ by faith, but we also have a cross to bare:  Our Temperance, which we add to our KNOWLEDGE, and our Patience that we add to our Temperance…

The love of God is the message of Christ!

The world represents the lost that Jesus come to save!  Not the perfect … for all have sinned and fell short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

I realize this Christmas letter is long, but as the Lord leads, I believe that God has a plan, so let’s press on together!

The Bible teaches that God’s Love for us in this broken world is as Jesus has compared each person’s value as to:

an incredibly valuable & unique coin;

an immensely important sheep to the Shepherd;

and to a beloved son

We are not a coin!  We are not a sheep, but we are immensely and incredibly valuable to God!  We are a son or daughter, whom God loves and has sent his Son searching for us! God is drawing us near and God is waiting on your heart to want to come home to Him!

As a father longs for their beloved child to come home; God has made a way for us and is waiting on our return and enjoys our relationship when we have returned to our rightful place with God at home with Him through the way God has provided.

This is reality and truth and good as it gets!  God is love!

God is waiting on whosoever will realize in their heart to know and believe in the power of the Father’s love!  I am merely painting a picture of the Father’s love as much as the Holy Spirit enables me to write today; the rest is up to you to seek God in your own personal relationship with Him as His comfort reveals His love to you!

 

God understands how you feel …

Yes, God is the God of Mercies and the Father of all Comfort, even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  The Bible teaches us that AFTER we have suffered a little while, the God of All comfort will comfort us … and there is a purpose known to us if we stick around God long enough and trust Him!

Yet, the enemy of God wants to distract us and trick us into giving up on God too soon / or blaming God.  Isn’t it possible that Satan is happy that the worldly & traditional commercial and hallmark messages of Christmas has become so popular as a emotional stress mark of meeting the mark of Christmas somehow?  Christmas is just a day, but Christ makes every day the day to Rejoice and be glad in, because God has so loved the world HE gave us His Son.

Satan’s agenda is to steal, kill and destroy; he will bring frustration, agitation and stress; and even depression, which can be an illness to call on the elders to pray over you and anoint you with oil….

God will use these very things to make us bloom, NOT destroy us if we seek God 1^st and get the nutrition that we need; like a flower bulb requires the dark, cold pressure under the ground to grow to bloom; so do we to bloom spiritually when we seek God and find Him!

Will you stick with me a little while longer?

Jesus come so that we might have life; and Jesus gives life; and God’s life comes with an abundance of Peace and Joy.  Jesus made Wisdom from Heaven available to fight the good fight and establish our plans in the will of God to succeed in this life.

How do you survive in this world after the miracle through Jesus?

Seek God 1^st !  In little things and big things, it is the matter of our heart …Is your heart free and generous?  Or, is your heart captive to a situation; or to what man thinks or feels? Jesus teaches us not to LET our hearts be troubled.  Trust God and follow Jesus; faith pleases God.

So I ask for your patience with me.  And I pray that God’s voice is heard throughout this Christmas letter.  It is God who is perfect; not me.  There are many distractions in this world, but if we will press on trusting God, God is pleased.  And, this is the relationship with the Father, is that we don’t have to be perfect!  We just have to keep our eyes focused on God who is …

Seek God first in all things …

…and pray for Wisdom to discern all things for the cause of Christ to shine through difficult and all things ….

Sensitive with compassion can be the devil’s playground if we are not careful (our feelings, thoughts and emotions)!  We need to learn God’s method of trusting in God’s good and gracious grace that is sufficient!

Throughout this series, we will discover that before we can get to charity, we have to add temperance to our knowledge!  And, Virtue to our faith …

Holy Spirit you are welcome here, In Jesus Name I commit this in God’s Loving Hand!  I am weak, but you are strong!  I pray this is a blessing of comfort and strength and direction to trust you for the good of man; “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ (Phillipians 1:2).”  And, to God be the glory!  Amen.

See Also:

1. INTRODUCTION
2. A letter to you Speaking Light to your seed …
3. Part 1: Blood, Purity and Life Everlasting!
4. Part 2: Wise men still seek Him!
5. Part 3: The Story of a Christian life is about Jesus!
6. Part 4: How Does a Christian Grow in the Faith that Pleases God?
7. Part 5: Personal Note from Karen

 

Love in Christ,

Karen Rowe

Hope in Today Ministries, Inc.

The Train Whistle, Sounding the call of God’s Love

Hope does not always come packaged in a way that always logically makes human sense!

YET!!! God can do all things!!!
God is the Creator!!!
God is the Sustained!
God is HOPE!!! Hope is with the power of God!

Our job is believe, trust and Obey for the promises of God to convey ♡

All things are Possible through Christ who gives us strength!!! Will you seek God 1st today?

The hope in your situation may not seem possible, but faith is the Subtance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen!

Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!

What love is this?
Mary did you know this Son you delivered would one day deliver you?

For we have known and believed in the love God has for us through Jesus Christ. God is love. Abide in Love and you are abiding in God and God in you (emphasis mine ♡) I don’t have it all figured out, but God does!…Follow Jesus! My personal motto!!! Who is Jesus to you?

Love in Christ ~ Karen
Hope in Today Ministries www.hopeintoday.com