Good Morning people of God! is your switch on for Jesus?
Did you know God offers serenity of heart to all believers? The Holy Spirit, who lives inside every follower of Jesus, can keep peace flowing like sap from a vine to its branches. But sadly, this internal wellspring of calm is overlooked by many Christians because of several false assumptions.
Some wrongly think that peace is the result of perfect conditions, but this world is broken. That means we will never achieve an ideal existence on this earth, and its circumstances cannot yield serenity.
Others believe peace must be requested from God, who seems far away in the heavens. But the union between the Lord and His followers is intimate. Tranquility is available to us immediately from Christ because He lives within us.
The Living Bible paraphrase captures how our relationship with Jesus should look: “And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him, too, for each day’s problems; live in vital union with him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him” (Col. 2:6-7).
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For me and Sharon everyday is Christmas. We cling to JESUS every moment. We cling to His promises, His love, His miracles everyday. Everyday His promises are fulfilled no matter the situation, everyday we see and feel His love, everyday we experience His miracles.
Try and stay focused on JESUS everyday moment of your life. Every breathe you take is a gift. Jesus is with you through thick and thin. We love you all!
PS: Just because the gifts under the tree are gone does not mean for you to lose the Christmas spirit, carry it with you in your heart, mind and soul. Read your Bible…let the Word of God consume you.
On Christmas Eve I officiated a Baby dedication for the Joann Young family out of Reserve, NM. by ZOOM! Reese is a darling little boy! This is the third baby dedication I have done in 2 months, thank the LORD for the technology of ZOOM in these days of the pandemic.
Yesterday Sharon and spent time in the back yard watching the birds come to the new feeders we put up for them. Daisy is so cute, she leaves the birds alone and on our runs/walks she does the same with the ducks and geese, she is such a darling.
Lars stopped by yesterday, Gretchen and Marcus came on Christmas Eve and by phone and facetime we got to visit with Greg and Natasha, Mike and Tina, and Steph and Pat and the grandkids! Thank you LORD for the technology!
PS: The picture of the Church is from friend in southwestern Minnesota.
Remember, don’t spend your time building sandcastles, build up the Kingdom of God.
Please read thiss powerful, loving and timely post by Joni Earckson Tada……
The Painful Story Beginsby Joni Eareckson Tada
“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity.”Hebrews 2:14
Yesterday Jesus was born. His last true comfort was that final moment before slipping from his mother’s womb and out onto the rough straw and the cold night. Moments later his mother wrapped him tightly in swaddling clothes. Then a borrowed feeding trough met him. The story of his pain had begun.Months later did he taste tension in his mother’s milk as she hastily fled in the night from those searching to murder him? What did Jesus feel when he grew up to learn what his presence had cost the baby boys of Bethlehem? He would have known that the slaughter had been secretly laid at his family’s doorstep. How old was Jesus before realizing what neighbors thought about his mother and her morals? Was he ever taunted for being illegitimate? Did the young boy with his family in Egypt ever feel like a refugee? Was he treated as if he didn’t belong?Years later, growing up in Nazareth and plying his father’s adz in the carpenter’s shop, he no doubt saw Roman soldiers pass outside the shop window. Their plumed helmets reminded him daily that foreigners owned his country. We never read in the Bible that this young man drew appreciative glances from girls in his neighborhood. “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (Isa. 53:2). This is the way Jesus lived his young life. He shared in our humanity and became acquainted with pain from the manger to his ministry at thirty years of age.
We celebrate a Savior who, from the moment of his birth, empathized with our humanity. Our God is not a deity who leans over his ivory tower, uncaring or unfeeling about his subjects far below. Whatever hurt is hounding you today, God is here, near, real, and empathetic.
I praise you, Lord Jesus, for condescending to come to earth and know the pain of our humanity from the instant of your birth.
“It’s Christmas week and we’ve got so much to sing about! Even with coronavirus around, Christmas can and should be a merry occasion.” Listen Now to Joni’s radio program.
You can give the most perfect gift of all this Christmas—the gift of Jesus. Learn More
From the writings of the Rev. Billy GrahamQ: What does it mean spiritually to bear fruit? — F.B.A: In order for a tree or any plant to grow and bear fruit, its seed must first be planted in the ground and die. In order for fruit to appear in our lives, the Word of God must be planted in our hearts and then we must die to self, making Christ the center of our lives.
In the face of chastening, adversity, discipline, and affliction, fruit begins to appear, because the Holy Spirit is strengthening us and the attributes of the Lord begin to manifest themselves in our thinking and in our actions.
This process, like steel which has been tempered and made strong by the heat of a furnace, makes us useful to God. But what baby is sent out to fight a battle? The baby must first grow in strength, in size, and in wisdom before he is able to fight. It is the same for those whom God wishes to use.
Joseph would never have been of use to God had he not been sold into slavery by brothers who hated him and was later wrongly accused and put in prison. Joseph had to wait two more years for release from prison. All of this was God’s preparation for Joseph’s ultimate rise to a position of power and authority second only to that of Pharaoh himself, a position Joseph used to feed all of Israel during a famine.
As we wait upon the Lord, God may sometimes seem slow in coming to help us, but He never comes too late. His timing is always perfect.
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. … Let us also walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-25).
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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)
