Happiness is Spelled G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E

I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
And I will glorify Your name forever (Ps 86:12).

A while back when I signed into my ISP account, one of the headlines caught my attention. It read, “Even When Nothing's Wrong, We Just Aren't Happy.” I have found over the years that one of the best ways to get out of the occasional “sad blue funk” is to find something, even something small, for which to be thankful. It can be a nice sunny day, or the fact it didn’t rain when I had to drive to Brea, or that my son got home safely from a night out with his friends.

The Scriptures are rife with exhortations to thankfulness. I believe that’s no accident. It’s amazing what a little gratitude can do for you, and for everyone else around you! I’ve yet to meet a person who doesn’t appreciate being thanked when they’ve done something for someone else. Why should our God be any different? After all, He gives us everything! Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms (Ps. 95:2).

Last Friday, I was starting to feel like I might be relapsing again with the same virus that befell me in December. But this time, because of the rain, I had a migraine as well as a scratchy throat. The headache finally subsided on Monday around noon time. The migraine had masked the other issue, and when the pain finally went away, I thought to myself, “Gee, I feel pretty good. Thank you, Jesus!”

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever. That phrase runs through several Psalms – Ps. 100, Ps. 107, Ps.136, and so on. Other Psalms use slightly different words such as Bless the Lord or Praise the Lord. But they all mean the same thing. I heard a preacher once say that thanksgiving is the highest form of praise. It is the natural and proper response of a creature (that’s us!) to our Creator.

Being unhappy when nothing is wrong, as that headline stated, is very sad statement, I think. At best, it means we’re looking for happiness in the wrong places. At worst, it is is indicative of a society that refuses to accept that there is only one true Source for happiness. Feeling blue? Try a little PTL!

Prayer Request: For those feeling down and empty.

Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for all the gifts that You give us every day, especially the greatest gift of all - Your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to remember that every good gift comes from you and to always come before You with an attitude of praise and thanksgiving. We make this prayer through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Trust Him!

Scriptures: “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people both now and forevermore.” (Psalm 125:2)

Many years ago, when my children were still very little, one day their Sunday School teacher took them to a birthday party in another town in Southern California. They had a great time. But, on the way back, having had too much fun, they were hungry. So, on their way back, their teacher was kind enough to take them to a MacDonald for a hamburger and nuggets.

As they were eating and the car was moving on the freeway, my younger son, who was either 3 or 4 year old then, suddenly started to cough badly and his face turned red quickly. The teacher quickly recognized that he choked on one of the nuggets and stopped the car on the freeway shoulder to help him. She asked my elder son to start praying for his brother.

Not being a medical professional, the teacher was not making any progress in getting the nugget out of his throat. The situation quickly turned worse. Just then, out of nowhere, a car pulled in front of them and a couple stepped out of the car. The woman happened to be a registered nurse and she held my son from the back and gave his chest a quick and sudden squeeze which caused the nugget to be cleared from the air way. My son was able to breathe again. Then, this woman told the teacher to take my son to a nearby hospital for a detail examination to make sure he was ok.

Without saying much, the couple went back to their car and drove away. Till this day, we still don’t know who they were and where they lived. But, I would like to consider them as the angels sent by God to rescue His child. They saved my son and turned a seemingly terrible situation into something worth thanksgiving.

I am sure we all have situations like that because life throws many curve balls at us. There’s always something unexpected waiting right around the corner where we can’t see. But God promised us that He will be with us and will not leave us, nor forsake us.

In the Old Testament, a story was recorded to show how God delivered Elisha out of the enemy’s hands. The Aramean army was surrounding Dothan where Prophet Elisha lived. The servant of Prophet Elisha was greatly frightened by the army surrounding them. But the prophet comforted him by saying, “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” (II King 6:16) The prophet also prayed that God open the servant’s eyes so he could see. The Lord listened to his prayer and the servant saw the great multitude of horses and chariots of fire surrounding the prophet and his servant to protect them.

Then the Lord struck the Aramean army with blindness so they were not able to attack and was led by the Prophet to Samaria. The man of God was delivered from the hands of the enemies. This story has always been fascinating to me because it vividly pictured the love and protection our God has for us. How comfortable to know that, regardless of the curve balls thrown at us, God is always on the lookout for us!

Every time I think of that incidence many years ago, I think of what the Psalmist said, “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people both now and forevermore.” (Psalm 125:2) Indeed, He is not only with us, He surrounds us like mountains to protect us.

Our God is almighty and capable of delivering us from any dilemma and difficulties in life. More than that, He is faithful to see us through any and every one of them! Praise the Lord!

Prayer Requests:
For troubling parents

Prayer:
Our precious Lord, thank You for the gift of life, especially for the many opportunities You have provided so we may come to know You better. We ask that, as we run into the ups and downs in everyday life, help us to keep eyes open and be sensitive to Your provision and guidance in life so we may share the amazing love and grace of Yours with everyone around us. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen!

A Fresh Anointing

Scripture:
"As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you, remain in him." (1 John 2:27)

Last week I took a couple of days off to go to a conference in San José. It was entitled, "Training for Ministry" and was held in the Jubilee Center which is an Assemblies of God church.

Since I received Christ as my Savior I grew up in the Lord in a Conservative Baptist Church and then whent to Bible School and served the Lord under a conservative, but non-denominational mission organization. However, at the same time, I had an Aunt and Uncle who were AG believers and deacons in the church who lead my grandfather, on my mother's side, to the Lord. This happened a number of years before I got saved.

For many years I sincerely served the Lord knowing that Jesus died for me but only intellectually understanding, from a perspective of theology, what can be read in Acts chapters 2 & 4.

Years later, after difficulties in my life, God lead me to an AG church in Long Beach. I am very thankful to God for leading me there because it was there that the realness of the Holy Spirit came into my life.

Well this past weekend, I learned a few more things about the Holy Spirit that I did not know and how to grow in my relationship to him.

First of all let me say that for the last 5 years or so I have been trying very hard to "be holy, as I am holy". I have prayed through many things that were in my life and can honestly say that I do not know of anything at this moment that is unconfessed. Now I know the scriptures tell us that "there is none righteous, no not one" and I am really not trying to be like the pharisee's where when they prayed out loud in the streets. However, I am trying to lay down the foundation for what I want to share today and that I believe that had I not put forth this effort over that last 5 years, I do not think I would have benefitted or even understand some of the things I have learned about the Holy Spirit.

I have always believed that when you received Christ God places within us the "mark in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit". (Ephesians 1:13) Years later I learned that God wanted me "to be strengthened with might through His Spirit," (Ephesians 3:16) that is when God baptised me with the Holy Spirit.

Now, I know I am getting into a place of theology where there are differences, but please stay with me. And I know that some of the things I am going to say you might say, 'well of course', but I want you to know there is something new and different in me now.

For me this weekend represents a weekend where a new, fresh anointing has come upon me. It is also a weekend where I have learned how important it is for me to "protect" that anointing. By walking close to the Lord the last 5 years or so, I have been seeing more and more things that grieve God and have been taking things out of my life and mind that should not be there and I have been filling them with things that should be there, but I never understood why I needed to do it. I was just doing it to be an obedient child of God, but this weekend I have begun to understand how it effects the relationship I have with the Holy Spirit. Now I want to protect that relationship by being obedient so I don't grieve someone I know loves me.

Another thing I learned was how to "feed" that anointing. This again is something we do all the time a believers and that is worshipping. For me worship was something I did when I wanted to thank God for something or something that was part of a church service. Yes, inside me I was praying and praising God as I sang or prayed, but this weekend, I learned why, I needed to do it. It was again so that I would increase or stir the anointing of the Holy Spirit within me. For example, I am now starting to sing particular worship songs in the car as I drive to and from work. Before I was just listening to a CD of Southern Gospel Music and I prayed with them, but sometimes the song was too fast or it was "about" the Christian life and I did not really worship the Lord.

The last thing I learned was how much I want more of the anointing from the Holy Spirit, and I am asking him for more, knowing that more anointing or more power is particularly given to people who want to serve the Lord. By this I mean, the Holy Spirit came upon the people to do particular ministries like "some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers". (Ephesians 4:11)

Now for me this is the scarey part because I am asking for something from the Holy Spirit that in my heart I know what it might mean but at the same time if He gives it to me.... Did I explain all this ok? Did you see how God is using my reading in Ephesians?

Request:
For all of us to both understand and experience a fresh anointing from the Holy Spirit.

Prayer:
Holy Spirit of God, thank you for always being there even when we don't recognize you and lead us to into a fresh anointing so that we now only know your presence but also feel your power in us doing the work that you ordain us to do. Amen

Rest and Restored

Scriptures: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

A pickup swirled in and cut in front me on the freeway. It startled me but did not make me panic because I kept a good distance between my car and the car before mine. But the mini-van moving slowly in the lane left to mine was frightened because the pickup cut in so fast that it looked as though it was going to hit the mini-van.

So, the mini-van honked in protest. You would think the pickup driver would apologize for driving that way. Surprise! The driver not only did not apologize, he stretched out his arms outside of the window and gave the mini-van a sign of a pistol, seemed to be saying, “I am going to kill you!” Having seeing this, the mini-van driver pretended that he didn’t see it.

Having witnessed such reckless style of driving, I couldn’t help wondering, “What happened? Why are people often in a rush? What could be so important that human life can be ignored?” Traffic jam is never a thing anyone would welcome. But it is becoming part of our everyday life. I used to think, if I leave home for work at 6 AM, I should be able to get ahead of traffic. But now, it doesn’t work, either!

Not only is the traffic volume growing rapidly, the driving style is getting worse as well. So, more and more traffic accidents result from this reckless style of driving. Sometimes I really wonder if the insufficiency of time is the only reason that accounted for the terrible scene on the freeway. I suspect that the pace of modern life has successfully moved everyone’s heart into a higher gear, the high speed gear. People seem to be always onto something. If, for whatever reason, a slot on the schedule book becomes available, very few people will slow down and enjoy a time to do nothing but rest.

To some extent, I think people are adapting and adopting the view that one’s value is determined by his / her accomplishments, as defined by the number of tasks completed. As a result, doing nothing is worse than a waste. It’s almost like a sin, continuously haunting us until we do something about it. So, whenever time is available, our minds automatically look for something else to fill the blank.

We face challenges from without, the demand for our time and attention from our job, family and others, and from within, our own expectation for self-actualization. Whether it makes sense is a totally different issue. The net result is, even for Christians, we are constantly occupied by things of this world, and sometimes by church ministries.

No wonder we constantly feel tired and worn out, not having enough time to do the things we need, like rest or time with spouse and children, and definitely not having enough time to be with the Lord and enjoy His joy and peace. God said, “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) He commanded us to be still before Him and meditate on the sovereignty He has over all things.

But, prior to this commandment, there was an invitation to us to “come and see the works of the Lord.” (Psalm 46:8) We have been invited to observe the works of God. Unfortunately, we’ve been so busy that, though we see with our eyes the things He has laid before us, we never observe and perceive with our hearts the works of the Lord. This observation is a requirement to fulfill the commandment.

I think it’s high time we examine and reflect on our busyness. Why are we so busy? Does our busyness bring us closer to God? Does our busyness bring us deeper into His joy, peace and all riches He has for us in Christ Jesus?

Prayer Requests:
For busy people

Prayer:
Dear Lord, thank You for blessing each one of us with talents and abilities. As we move through this journey if life, help us not to replace the goals you set for us with the means you have given us. Help us to be still before You, to know You are God, and to know Your plan for us so we may learn to be good and faithful servants of Yours. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!

Building Altars

Scriptures: “Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, ‘Father?’ ‘Yes, my son?’ Abraham replied. ‘The fire and wood are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’” (Genesis 22:7)

The story of Abraham offering his son Isaac is one of the most fascinating stories in the bible. Every time I read this passage, a picture would pop up in my mind. In the picture, Isaac would be carrying the wood and going along his father as though going for an outing or a picnic.

I don’t know how old Isaac was at that time. He could be humming some unknown melody to himself and sharing with his father in awe of the beauty of the Moriah Mountain region. He could be excitingly examining rocks and stones of different shapes, colors and sizes. I don’t know exactly what he was doing. But I can picture him having a wonderful time there with his father.

Then, all of a sudden, something hit him. He realized that, since they were on their way to give a burnt offering, they had everything but the lamb. So, he might have tilted his head, with a puzzling look on his face, and looked up to his father and asked, “The fire and wood are here. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7) An excellent question, and a thought provoking one, too.

However old Isaac was, apparently he was quite familiar with the requirements and the process of a burnt offering. He realized that the most important part of the burnt offering, the lamb, was missing. So, he asked the question. I wonder where did Isaac get the idea that a burnt offering requires fire, wood and a lamb. Abraham, of course. It seems appropriate to infer that Isaac had learned from Abraham all the things about burnt offering.

Here we see a great man of faith whose relationship with his Lord and Creator was so wonderful that he built altars for God wherever his Lord led him. Bible tells us Abraham built altars for God in many places, like Shechem (Genesis 12), Bethel (Genesis 12), and Hebron (Genesis 13). He built altars for God as tokens of appreciation and of his desires to please God.

We often say that we are like travelers, moving through life from one stage to another. Well, in a much more literal sense, Abraham was like that. He was called by God to leave his family, relatives and home town to go to a place he didn’t even know at the time. But he obeyed. More than obedience, wherever he went, he built altars to acknowledge the faithfulness and the guidance of God. His life was a great testimony of a life with God.

But, he did more than that. From Isaac’s question, we see that Abraham not only built altars himself. He built them with his son, Isaac. In the process, he taught Isaac how to build altars also. Later on, when Isaac was having problems with Gerar (Genesis 26), he responded to God with an altar, just like his father.

Abraham set a wonderful example of how his life, his worship and relationship with God, has influenced his son. We can learn from this great example also. It’s really not the instructions of Abraham that taught Isaac how to build altars. It was his life and his relationship with God that brought Isaac into building altars for God.

If we will, let’s include our loved ones in our worship and fellowship with God. There’s no more powerful way to demonstrate the love and power of our Lord than to tell through our live interactions with Him. May God help us so that we are both an altar builder and a teacher of building altar to everyone around us!

Prayer Requests:
For those praying earnestly for the salvation of their loved ones

Prayer:
Gracious Lord, thank You for calling us out of this dark and falling age and for ushering us into Your glorious eternal kingdom. We ask that You continue to nudge and build our lives and make us altar builder and teacher like Abraham as we seek to worship You and fellowship in You with our loved ones. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen!

How to Study the Word of God, Part 3

Scripture:
Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29)

Conceding that we do not want to be in error by not knowing the Scriptures, I want to continue in this series of posts by sharing two ways which are helpful to me when studying the scriptures. They both have to do with ways in which I use a CD which I have recorded.

Again, years ago in Bible School, when the professor was teaching us how to study the scriptures, one of the techniques was to read a book of the Bible over and over and over again, and then do the same with each chapter. The illustration he used to explain why we need to do this was an example of an orange. When we read and read and read a book of the Bible, little by little, the book seems to divide itself into logical parts. Kind of like an orange is divided into sections. After you have a pretty good idea of how each section is divided through multiple readings you apply the same principle to each section. Now sometimes the major sections fall at the chapter divisions, sometimes they do not. As you read each section multiple times, each section divides into small pieces, again, kind of like a section of orange has little pockets of juice. As you read each section, over and over, the Scriptures almost divide themselves into small and more bite sized pieces.

At church we have recently started a study in the book of Ephesians. From this I made it my goal to listen to this book 100 times during the course of this study. Using my iPod, I figure I can listen to this book at least 10 times a week. It only takes about 20 minutes to do so. The trick is going to be understanding it in Spanish, since I go to a Latin speaking church, while I am listening to the Scriptures in English. For this reason, I will probably also begin listening to this book in Spanish. We will see how it goes. What I want to accomplish is saturating myself with this book while the Pastor teaches from it. He said this was his favorite book in the Bible and I figure that by the end of the study I will have a good appreciation as to why.

The second application of recording passages of scripture on a CD is to do a topic or word study. A couple of months ago I wanted to understand more about what the Scriptures say about divine healing. For this I did two courses online and created a CD that I have in my car called “Seven Purposes of Divine Healing”. By listening to the scriptures I recorded, over and over again, I have been learning many verses that I am beginning to be able to quote, And I am reinforcing what I learned in the online class and I am relearning what I thought I understood about this subject by saturating myself with these verses.

This same technique can also be used to do a word study in the Scriptures. Though I have not recorded a CD yet, I have begun to prepare a word study on the word “hypocrite”. (You may ask why the word hypocrite and that is because I do not want to be one, but you can use any word you want to study.) There are only about a dozen times this word appears in the Bible and most of them are in the book of Matthew (KJV), but after I do a little more study on this word both in English and greek, I plan to record these verses on a CD and then listen to them over and over and over, again saturating myself with these particular verses of Scriptures.

The goal of all this is to learn portions of Scripture, whether books, topics or words, by listening to them over and over and over. I have been known to even fall asleep with my iPod listening to Scripture making the Word of God the last thing that enters my mind before I go to sleep.

Request:
That we continue studying the Scriptures by saturating ourselves with God’s Word.

Prayer:
Thank Lord for giving us your Word and for all the technological tools that are available to use for studying the Scriptures. Fill us with your Word dear Lord so that it will overflow from our lives into the lives of others and be used to reach them for your Kingdom. Amen

Have we changed?

Scriptures: “Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen…” (I Samuel 11:5)

I have heard many horrible stories about those who, after winning lottery, have lost their family, friends, and businesses. It almost seems like becoming a millionaire was not a blessing to them at all. Someone used to say, “Many people live through their lives without millions of dollars and they live happily. But, once they have the money, they become miserable.” I wonder why?

Saul, when first anointed by Samuel, was a humble and down-to-earth guy. He did not have a palace, nor guards, greed for power, and definitely no arrogance and hatred. But, after years gone by, after he had his palace, army and wealth, after he had a taste of power and dominance, he was no longer humble and definitely not a happy guy.

It’s almost sarcastic to think that the very things we pursue so hard because we believe they will bring us happiness actually deprive us of happiness. When we were first born, we had nothing. We came with nothing and we owned nothing. Yet, those times were probably the happiest time of our lives. As we grow older, we started to acquire possessions, like fame, popularity, and wealth. We thought we knew better. But happiness was slipping away from us.

I think this is because these very means we resort to have become our goals in lives when, in essence, they were not meant to be. These possessions, be it fame, popularity, knowledge or wealth, were merely gifts from God and their presence was meant to be a reminder of the goodness and riches of God who gave us all.

Moreover, as gifts from God, they came with divine purposes. I believe, when we have fame, that’s because people recognize us for the good personal traits and talents they see in us. They would want to come to us because these personal traits and talents, be it generosity or understanding or special skills, can help them in their lives. They can meet certain needs in their lives.

God gave each of us different gifts so we can supplement each other and, as a whole, we become complete in Christ. As such, it also created the inter-dependency among people. No one can really live a life without others. Sometimes I wonder if that’s why each of us is born into a family, whether we like it or not. We don’t even get to choose the members of this family we were born into. And the interesting thing is, the very first thing we learn in life is to depend on others. It might not have been our choice. But it was the first thing we learn in life.

James told us that, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17) James didn’t say some good gifts were from our heavenly Father. He said “every” gift is from above. No exception! Every one of them was from our Father in heaven and, more than that, they are good and perfect.

Not only were they good and perfect in nature, they were meant for good and perfect will of our heavenly Father. We didn’t receive them just for our personal enjoyment. We also received them for other’s blessings. Most important of all, we received them for the glory of God.

Life without God is utter darkness and hopelessness. Life outside of God’s plan is difficult, if not impossible, and fruitless. With so much entrusted to us, what are we doing with them? God is into the business of changing lives. How about us? Have we taken an inventory of the gifts and talents He has given us? Why did He give us these wonderful gifts? Have we come before Him for His guidance and wisdom in giving these gifts for His sake?

I am convinced that, when we spend time before Him and meditate on these questions, our lives will be changed also!


Prayer Requests:
For those who find themselves constantly want more

Prayer:
Our Heavenly Father, You are the source of all good and perfect gifts. As we go through this wonderful life You have given us, help us to recognize all the wonderful gifts from you and to be sensitive to Your guidance so that these gifts can be useful for Your glory. Help us to be Your vessels of grace to help others to live a life in Your riches. In the sweet and precious name of our Lord Jesus we pray, Amen!

How to Study the Word of God, Part 2

Scripture:
Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will make you free”. (John 8:31-32)

I memorized this verse many years ago and it has been a tremendous encouragement to me both in my spiritual life and in my evangelism efforts. Like many verses of Scripture God has a way of teaching us more and more each time we revisit how we apply His Word to our lives.

In keeping with the theme of this series of blog postings, I was thinking about one of the Bible study methods that I use frequently and remembered a Bible truth I learned from a word study in Genesis chapter 4 where Adam knew Eve and she conceived and bore children. The word knew in this verse from the context is clearly referring to Adam’s physical relations with Eve implying an intimate and experiential knowledge. This same word in greek (ginwvskw) in John 8:32, meaning “to know, understand, and perceive”, carries with it more then just a superficial knowledge but a knowledge that is deeper and more personal.

The past couple of years, in an attempt to better manage my time and how much of it I spend in the Word of God, I decided to take advantage of the many hours I spend commuting to work by using that time for more spiritual endeavors, like praying, praising God in singing and listening and memorizing the Word of God. The first two, praying and praising God, did not take too much preparation. I was already listening to Gospel music while I drive and only thing I needed to be careful about was when praying was to make sure I kept focused on my driving at the same time.

Listening to and memorizing Scripture took some preparation however. Since my car is relatively new, it has a CD player with mp3 capabilities. It occurred to me that if I recorded passages of scripture on CD I could easily listen to or memorize Scripture. There are many websites with free downloads of the Scripture in audio or mp3 format. These are good if you wanted to do what my last posting suggested on How to Study the Word of God. By listening to the Scriptures on CD you can “read” larger porstions of Scripture while driving or you can saturate yourself with smaller portions by listening them over and over. I find that many times a get a different perspective on a passage of Scripture by listening to it instead of reading it. I also find that if I listen to a passage while I am reading it on my computer I can easily mark a passage in yellow (if I have pasted that passage in my word processor) and take notes at the same time.

As for memorinzing Scripture, I found it was difficult trying to record only portions of an audio file so that I could record it multiple times for memorization purposes, so I downloaded and purchased a text-to-speech program that had a save-to-mp3 feature. Here is how it works. I paste the portion(s) of Scripture I want to learn or memorize into this text-to-speech program. Then I repeat smaller portions of the passage multiple times with a gap between each repetition so that when I play it back, I have time to repeat out loud what I just heard. So, for example, I would type “Romans 2:4” three times with a space between each time, then I would type part of the verse three times with spaces between them too. I would continue to do this until I have the whole verse typed the way I want to learn it and then I would save it to an mp3 file.

Now this takes a couple of tries to figure out how much you can memorize at a given time and how much time to put between each repitition but it is amazing how fast you can learn Scripture just listening to it over and over again. Over time I have developed a series of “levels” for memorizing scripture that I have found very helpful and maybe in a future blog post I can go into this method of memorization in more detail.

Pulling this all together, knowing the Word of God takes more then just reading Scripture or listening to a preacher expound the Scriptures, it takes consuming the Word of God and making it a part of your very soul and one way I have found is memorizing Scriptures.

Request:
That we come to know God but memorizing His Word.

Prayer:
Thank you Lord for giving us your Word and for how we can know you and your ways from it. Fill us with your Spirit and help us be more like you.

In Good Hands

You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem held by your God. (Is. 62:3).

I grew up with really old grandparents. My Mom's parents were 15 years apart in age, and my grandfather was already 74 years old when I was born. They both lived well into their 90s and lived only a mile away from us, so I had the blessing of spending a lot of time with them. By the time they passed into eternity, I was well into adulthood with a plethora of incredible memories of these two unique and amazing people.

My grandmother was a concert pianist as a young woman. Even in her old age, she still practiced 2 or 3 hours a day. I can remember sitting in her parlor for hours listening to her play. I was absolutely mesmerized at the heavenly sounds that rang out through the house whenever her hands touched the keyboard. At the age of 4, I began taking piano lessons and I wanted to be just like my grandmother. In high school, I became the accompanist for the choir during my sophomore, junior and senior years. I was always nervous about playing in front of people, but knowing that my grandmother was in the audience during our concerts always made me feel confident and secure. It was as though she was sitting next to me on the bench playing the music alongside me with those amazing hands of hers. She passed away in 1991, but to this day, whenever I play or sing at church, I sense her there with me.

My grandfather, whom my siblings and I lovingly called "Tatón," had a carpenter shop in the back yard and he spent hours there building things or fixing household items that had broken. He hand built all of the wood paneling and moldings in their house. He had an aversion to most power tools and often declared that those who relied on such fancy machinery could hardly be thought of as “master” carpenters. He was also an avid gardener who loved being outside with a rake in his hand. For a man of small stature (he was only 4’ 10”), he had the most powerful hands of anyone I knew. He could take a chunk of wood or metal and turn it into just about anything.

When I was little, I had no qualms about asking my grandfather to build things for me, and he was always happy to do so. I still have the stable that he built for my Nativity set when I was about 8 years old. I didn’t have the strength or capacity to make it myself, but I knew that my grandfather could. We spent a whole day in his carpenter shop. When it was complete, we took it into the house to show my grandmother, and Tatón proudly announced that we had built it. We. My grandfather, out of his love for me, let me enter into his giftedness.

Our God is like that. We can do incredible things with and through Him. Our true glory is found in His glory. As St. Paul says, we are truly strong in our weakness (cf. 2 Cor. 12:10). Real strength is that which we find in God, and only when we humbly acknowledge who and what we are, or perhaps more importantly, who and what we are not. Early this morning, I read an essay about an elderly couple. The wife was dying and her son-in-law, the author of the piece, was making some observations about how his father-in-law, in particular, epitomized the commitment to marriage “for better or for worse.” I was struck by one line in the essay that declared that we "will only begin really to live when we have lost all capacity to pretend that we are our own.”

St. Paul reminds us that the life [we] live is not [our] own (Gal. 2:20). The only life that’s worth living is that which we find in God. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand (Jer. 18:6), the Lord tells us. Life in Christ is a paradox. The Beatitudes, for example, extol the virtues of those who are typically viewed disparagingly by society: the poor, the meek, the persecuted. We try to avoid dying at all costs, both physical death and the necessary spiritual death of metanoia. And yet, it is precisely through this ongoing, daily conversion that we enter into God's giftedness. When we give Him permission to mold us according to His plan, we discover our true selves in the process. We're in good hands!

Prayer Request: For those for whom life feels like a constant swim against the current.

Prayer: Gracious God, we thank you for your great love and gentle care for us. May our lives be a witness of that love to those who struggle to make sense of life, that they might understand that they are not alone, and that You are upholding them with Your mighty hand. We make this prayer through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

When Rubber Meets the Road

Scriptures: “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)

Recently, I have been driving the car my son drove before. One day, I went to the gas station to get some gasoline. It was then I found that the MPG (Miles per Gallon) for the car was so much lower than what I expected. I wondered what happened to the car that resulted in such low MPG.

Then, I noticed that the tires seemed a lot flatter than normal. I drove over to the air pump and found the tire pressure for all four tires was very low. So, I pumped some air into the tires to increase the tire pressure to the proper level. This took care of the low MPG problem as well as the wear and tear that could have damaged the tires.

So, I explained to my son how low tire pressure would increase the tire’s contact surface with the ground and, thereby, create more frictions that lower the car’s fuel efficiency and increase the risk of accidents in stormy weather. It would also increase maintenance cost due to wear and tear. As I was talking to him, it suddenly hit me that our life is the same. When we have less love of God in us, less sensitivity to the nudging and guidance of the Spirit, less exposure to the word of God, and less godly compassion for the eternal state of others, we find more frictions in our inter-personal relationship, poorer quality in the decisions we make, less effectiveness in our ministries, and more susceptibility to temptations and all kinds of evil desires.

As this world is under the power of the evil one, our lives are filled with ungodly temptations and all sorts of spiritual attacks. To be a good and faithful servant, as the Lord demanded, we need to be sensitive to the quality of our spiritual lives.

What I took away from this tire pressure lesson was to be more conscientious of the condition of the tires of my car. I planned to measure the tire pressure on a periodic basis and, not by visual observation only, but by approved mechanical device which is definitely more objective than my visual observations. I need to be more proactive in making sure the tires are in good condition to ensure the safety of all on board.

In the same way, we need to measure our spiritual condition constantly, not by our feelings, nor personal preferences, but by an objective measure provided by God, the Word of God. We need to accept the standard set forth in the bible. We need to submit to the authority of His Word. We need to allow God to speak to us through His Word about our spiritual condition and about His plan for us. This is the first step.

Once we know our condition, either over-inflated or low on pressure, we need to take corrective measures, as prescribed in the bible, right away. You see, bible tells us that God desires to walk with us. For every Christian, He not only walks with us, He lives in us. Our daily problems do not spring from His absence in our lives, but rather, from our going astray, minding our own businesses and distancing ourselves from Him.

Paul reminded us, in the passage today, that because we live by the Spirit, we should keep up with the Spirit, i.e. we should not only go along with the Spirit, we should keep the same pace as the Holy Spirit who is here in us not only to comfort, but also to lead and to empower.

I think we all have had enough frictions, or even flat tires, in life. We desire to be fully charged and mightily used to glorify our Lord, our Redeemer and Mediator. Let’s come back to the basics to ask for a humble and teachable heart on which He can instruct, rebuke and build up a soul pure and clear, reflecting His glorious image!

Prayer Requests:
Those who suffer from flat tires

Prayer:
Gracious Lord, sometimes we complain about things in life. We forget that they don’t come to us without a purpose and meaning. As much as we dislike them, they are the true test of our Christ-likeness. Help us to be humble and teachable and be open and sensitive to Your instructions and leading so our walk with You will be filled with Your presence and power, giving glory to our Heavenly Father. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!

How to Study the Word of God, Part 1

Scripture:
“For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord.” (Ezra 7:10)

Years ago when I attended Bible College, one of the key things that I learned there, which has been extremely helpful, was how to study the Bible. As our scripture verse today tells us that Ezra devoted himself to the study of the Law of the Lord and to doing what it says.

There are many different ways to study the Bible. One of the most common ways is to simply read it, yet even reading it can take many different forms. For example, you could read the Bible from cover to cover. That is start in Genesis and go to Revelations reading a passage of scripture every day. In this way you would get a perspective of the Bible as a whole. If you read only 30 minutes a day, you could read through the Bible in less then six months. (calculating it would take about 80 hours to read the Bible.)

Another way would be to concentrate on a particular book and read it through multiple times. Like reading a book 20 times, trying to read through the book in one sitting. This would be easy with a book like Jude but more difficult with a book like Genesis. In this way you would saturate yourself with a particular portion of God’s Word. When I studied the Gospel of John in a class called Hermaneutics we had to read through this book multiple times first and then we focused on reading each chapter multiple times.

Then, of course, there is the method of reading what the experts say about the scriptures. There are many good commentaries out there and it also gives one the opportunity to select the theological persuassion they desire to study under. It is probably also good to read a given passage of scripture in conjuction with what a given commentary says about that same passage of Scripture. In addition, now that we have the Internet, there are also a gazillion websites about studying the Scriptures. I have also found that it is helpful for me to listen to a passage of Scripture in .mp3 online while I read that same passage and take notes.

The Bible says that the Scriptures were written by men that “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21) and that “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16) If you are to “be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) I am sure you will agree we need to be spending both time and effort studying the Scriptures so we can “divide the Word” and letting God lead us so that we can do it “rightly”.

Request:
That God would help us diligently spend time in His Word so that we can know Him and His ways.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, Thank you for your Word and for using it to speak to us. Forgive us for letting so much stuff come into our lives and help us eliminate the unnecessary things so that we can do the most necessary thing of spending time with you. In Jesus’ name, Amen

His Words

Scriptures: “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

Back in the days when I first came to this country, it was a time when technology was just taking off. LAN was appearing on the horizon and considered a breakthrough; cellular communication was first deployed to automobiles and was viewed as an option for a luxury edition car.

It was then that I came to this nation and found myself a stranger in a foreign land. I still remember, when I first came, I had some visa issue. The college I applied for gave me an admission form that was out of date. As a result, the immigration officer only gave me 30 days to stay and demanded that I submit an admission form that conformed to the latest requirements so my stay here could be extended to cover the required duration for my study here.

Being a new kid on the block who knew nothing about the system or people here, it was like a blow to my dream. Yet, who could I talk to? There was no internet with email capability we have today. It took a week to write to my family in Taiwan about any problems and anxieties I had and another week for them to write back to help or console.

To make things worse, I was a new Christian then. I didn’t know much about God, nor His word. But, even so, God did not leave me alone. He sent His comfort and encouragements through a book called “Streams in The Desert” devotional, compiled by Mrs. Cowman. When I had no one to turn to, I opened this book and, time and again, God spoke and comforted me through the words on those pages.

I started to learn to pray and found it more than helpful for those prayers again and again lifted burdens and worries away from my heart. I learned to journal thoughts the came to me when I read His words for, whenever I read His words, I found my heart was live again, recharged and uplifted. I realized that the God in the Bible is true and living. More than that, He was with me in all those ups and downs.

As time went by, I had come to know a lot more about this nation and the systems and customs here. This is no longer a strange land to me and, of course, I am not new any more, either. But, though I have been settling down, I have also found myself more dependent upon Him. I guess, once you’ve tasted the heavenly flavor, there’s simply no substitute!

It was a tough and challenging time. It seemed like I was all alone. It seemed like everything was foreign to me. It seemed like my future was dim and unreachable. But, through it all, He was with me and saw to it that I come through with a deeper understanding of His words and, most important of all, a personal walk with Him that I would treasure forever!

God is true! God is alive! But, that’s just the beginning. The most important thing is He wants to be in our lives and make a difference there! Praise the Lord!

Prayer Requests:
Foreign students studying here alone

Prayer:
Our loving Father, thank You for being mindful of Your children. Thank You for always being there for us when we are alone, frightened, lost, and hurt. Thank You for Your comfort and guidance through Your words in the Bible. Help us treasure our relationship with You! Help us learn to look up to You for guidance and comfort. Most importantly, help us to submit ourselves to You as Your vessels of grace and comfort for all, especially those who find themselves strangers in a strange land. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!

Some Things Never Change

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8).

There is a lot of change going on these days. At the end of the year, the news sources listed the names of all sorts of famous people who passed away during 2007, often with the commentary line, “The world just won’t be the same without him.” Here at Avery, a lot has changed during the past year with the Paxar acquisition and all the activity that has entailed. Employees come and go, people retire. After nearly 22 years in this company and numerous mergers and acquisitions, I’ve seen a lot of that.

At the end of each year, our church always makes these giant scrolls with the names of parishioners who passed away during the year. It’s always a time of remembering those people, and reflecting about just how much of an impact they had on us. We also remember those left behind, and lend support in their grieving process as they move on with their lives.

They say that “the only constant is change.” I disagree. Yes, a lot has changed, and sometimes it can be downright depressing. Sometimes changes are good for us, even if we don’t think so at the time. Sometimes challenges come or we are excited by the prospect of a new opportunity. In every circumstance, we can take comfort in the one thing that never changes – the love that our Lord Jesus has for each of us. He is The Constant, par excellence. He is Love itself, and because love never fails (1 Cor 13:8), He will not – indeed He cannot – fail us. No matter how dreadfully we might fall down or stray off the path of our faith walk, the Lord is always there ready to welcome us back into His embrace. If we are unfaithful He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13).

No matter how crazy life gets, we have Him as our anchor and guiding light. Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age (Mt. 28:20). Isn’t it nice to know that some things never change?

Prayer Request: For those who are struggling through changes in their lives.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we are so awed and amazed by Your love for us. When we are tempted to try to go it alone, give us the grace to follow the promptings of Your Holy Spirit, so that all we do is pleasing to You and in accord with Your will. We make this prayer through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Tell His Story

Scriptures: “Then He told them many things in parables…” (Matthew 13:3)

One day, my son finished his daily devotion in the book of I Samuel and came downstairs to tell us that, “Saul was terrible. He tried to kill David twice with his spear and he missed both times. No wonder people loved David better.” Well, he might have been “slightly” off the point. But, it was obvious that he was captivated by the story.

Story telling is a very effective way of communicating messages. Bible is full of stories. From the story of Noah and the ark to the crossing of Red Sea, from the fall of Jericho to Daniel in lion’s den, countless stories of Israeli’s history were included in the scripture to reveal the will, the heart and the character of God.

Jesus also used a lot of short stories to make His points. From the parable of the good Samaritan to the parable of the prodigal son, from the parable of sowing seeds in good soil to the parable of ten virgins, He told short stories one after another to help people understand the grace and the truth of God. He knew that the power of story telling is great and He used this technique often and appropriately to deliver the messages of God.

But, the greatest story of all, and the most powerful story of all, is His story. This is a story about the love and the determination of God that saves us all. This is a story that brings life, not just a merry life now, but also the glorious life eternal, to all who accept the testimony and the salvation of Jesus. This story has changed and transformed the life of countless people throughout the history.

I still remember when my sons were very little, like toddlers and first or second graders, I used to sit them down at bedtime and read them stories, mostly bible stories. I noticed that the more I could live the story I was telling, the more captivating the story would be to them. I could see their face glowing or dimming with the ups and downs of the story. When I took them to the library where there were story telling program for children, they reacted to those stories the same way. I came to the conclusion that the ability of the story teller to live the story determines the attractiveness of the story they tell.

Likewise, we, as Christians, have come to know the greatest and the most powerful story of all time, the story of a man named Jesus. We are expected to tell His story wherever we go. How are we doing in our story telling mission? I suppose the answer is in how much we live the story we are expected to tell, the story of this man we call Christ, Jesus of Nazareth!


Prayer Requests:
For all story tellers who are sharing stories from Bible with others, especially with the small children

Prayer:
Our loving and gracious Lord, thank You for giving us Your story to share. Help us to live in Your story so deep and well that our lives will mimic Your story to captivate the lost and suffering souls around us and bring them to You. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!

Angels Among Us

Scripture:
“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” (Psalm 91:11)

Ever since I sang the song, “Angels Among Us” at the United Way karaoke event a couple of months ago, I have been thinking about the times in my life where something extraordinary happened that seemed to be too coincidental to be anything else except a direct intervention from God. Now I have not see anything with wings flying around anyplace but there have been times that I heard, in my head, soft voices that have caused me to act in a particular way that saved my life.

Like the red car I wrote about on November 19th. In fact, I have had more then just a couple of “near misses” either where I did not have an accident or I was in an accident where I did not get hurt. One time that really scared me happened when I was driving about 70 miles per hour plus on a small two lane “freeway” in Spain. There was only one other car on the road on right hand shoulder in front of me. I was moving along thinking that this car was stopped for some reason and all of a sudden the car turned LEFT, right in front of me. Yes, really. I swerved to the left to avoid him and ended up off the road in a corn field. I sat there scared to death realizing how close we just came to being killed and remember thinking how did I ever pull that off. Even the driver of the other car commented, trying to funny for the stupid think he did, that I must be an expert driver and I remember feeling, I did not just do that.

I also recently read a story on the Internet about a couple who were going on a vacation trip to the mountains and just before they left they realized their car horn did not work. The husband assured his wife that everything would be alright and that he would get it fixed when they returned. Well it so happened that while they were driving up the mountain all of a sudden the horn started blasting and would not stop. There was really no place to pull over because there was a cliff off to the right. Just then, right in front of them were two cars, one passing the other, coming down the hill.

To the glory of God there was no collision, but afterwards the other driver said had he not heard the horn blast, he would not have been able to turn back from passing in time. And the husband told his wife that he tried to turn the steering wheel but it would not turn the way he wanted it to. In fact, at one point he said he just let go of the steering wheel and he said the car was steering itself.

Why am I continuing this theme in today’s blog? I think we have all had some type of divine intervention in our lives. Sometimes it takes the form of a “coincidence” other times I don’t think we even realize that God has sent one of his angels to protect us. I am sure we have all thought to ourselves, “wow, if I had not been late leaving, it could have been me in that crash!” I want to encourage us to think about and try to remember, maybe even journal, these times so that we can thank God again and again for them.

Prayer:
Thank you Father for sending your angels to care for us even when we don’t know you have done it and help us to be more aware of what you are doing in our lives so we can thank you for those things too. Amen

What’s going to happen?

Scriptures: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? Your are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good and doesn’t’ do it, sins.” (James 4:13-17)

One day, as I was going home from work, the traffic was really bad. All of a sudden, I noticed that the car in front of mine slowed down and stopped. I guess there was something wrong with its brake light. So, I wasn’t able to notice its slowing down. But, fortunately, without burning the rubber, I was able to bring the car to a full stop without hitting it. Then, I heard a squeaking sound behind me. I suppose the driver in the care behind was not paying attention and had to slam on the brake, too. But, just like me, he was lucky enough to stop without any accident.

Just as I was turning my focus back to the traffic before me, I heard another squeaking sound behind me. When I looked into the rear mirror, I saw a big SUV about 5 or 6 cars behind me was swirling out onto the shoulder to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of him. He too made it. A few seconds later, a pickup, about 2 or 3 cars behind the SUV, also slammed on the brake and swirled out onto the shoulder. But this guy wasn’t so lucky. He couldn’t bring his vehicle to a complete stop before hitting the SUV. We heard a big bang and saw the pieces flying all over the shoulder. It was terrible!

I don’t think any of us had expected something like that would happen that day when we left home that morning. But it did, unfortunately. Life is full of surprises and not of all them is pleasant, just as someone once said, “The only thing constant in life is change.” How do we deal with these unexpected and unwelcome surprises?

James reminded us that, apart from our planning for future, God is still in control of our lives. As much as we would want to have our lives going certain way, God will intervene from time to time to keep us on the path He has laid down for us. This intervention may comes in the form of a change in weather, a phone call from our boss, a shift in priority at work, the loss of a job, or even the illness of a loved one.

Each time this happens, we would be disturbed and would try to see if we can steer the course back. We would make phone calls, complain, or worry to the point where we could not enjoy the lives any more. We would be trapped in our own dreams, frames that restricted our ability to see outside of ourselves, let alone to see what God has in store for us.

But James wanted us to remember that God is always a part of our lives, the vital part. God is good, so are His plans for us. He said, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) That’s our Lord. He is always on the lookout for us. He has prepared plans that will prosper us and not harm us.

As we move into this new year, this passage from James once again reminds me that I need to include God’s perspective and plans in my plan and resolutions. I am convinced that, if I can incorporate His plans in my plan, not only will I be able to minimize the suffering from the unexpected surprises, but also will I be able to excel in my relationship with Him and to live a life more pleasing to Him!

Prayer Requests:
For those involved in traffic accidents

Prayer:
Our loving Father, thank You for always keeping our best interest in mind. Thank You for always looking out for us, in good season or bad. Please help keep our perspective clear at all times that You are in control of all events and incidences in our lives, big and small and help us to live out a lifestyle consistent with this conviction that displays joy and hope all the time. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!

What’s Old Is New

But you, my servant Jacob, fear not, says the Lord, be not dismayed, O Israel! Behold, I will deliver you from the far-off land, your descendants, from their land of exile; Jacob shall again find rest, shall be tranquil and undisturbed, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you (Jer. 30:10-11).

Christmas was very different for me this year. For many years, I’ve had a pretty steady routine of things I do, many of them involving volunteer work at my church as the holidays approach. Then there is the standard gift-buying ritual with a couple of days set aside to brave the crowds at the mall. I was able to do very little of that this year, due to illness. I would make plans and then have to back away from them when I’d wake up feeling too weak to do much of anything. Fortunately, I was able to take care of a lot of the shopping via the Internet. The only real breaks I got from illness were a few days to set up the crèche and flowers at the church, and to conduct the choir and orchestra on Christmas Eve.

Even though I didn’t partake of all my standard holiday rituals, I don’t feel like I missed anything this Christmas. I found that I wasn’t at all stressed out over what wasn’t getting done, and in some strange and marvelous ways, it was more truly Christmas than it’s ever been. Without all the clutter of activity, I found my focus on the mystery of the Incarnation. In my physical weakness, I was able to enter more fully into the weakness and vulnerability of the tiny Child who was born in Bethlehem, and to better appreciate what that means. For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake He became poor although He was rich, so that by His poverty you might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). In Him, I found my rest, tranquil and undisturbed.

My favorite Christmas gift this year wasn’t under the tree. It was having my son play in the orchestra I conducted on Christmas Eve. It was the opportunity to give the gift of music to the hundreds of people who packed the church that night; to bring together the months of work of so many singers and musicians and see them enjoy sharing the fruits of their labor. You can’t wrap that up and put a bow on it, and yet, the power of that music to move people’s hearts is incredible. A friend of mine who is both a cleric and a musician once remarked that “the Holy Spirit works in that space between your mouth and their ears.” I found that to be especially true this year, for although our forces were depleted due to illness, which had many of us concerned, we received many comments afterwards that we had outdone ourselves, and people found the music very moving.

Behold, I make all things new (Rv. 21:5). Yes, it was a very different Christmas this year – one I will never forget. It has caused me to rethink how I approach the holidays. In some ways, I think the Lord allowed me to get sick so that I could see this holy day with new eyes, to get a glimpse of what it looks like through His eyes, for whoever is in Christ is new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17).

Prayer Request: That we will keep the Christmas spirit throughout the year.

Prayer: Gracious and loving God, thank you for sending Your Son into the world to teach us a new way of living. Help us to keep the light of that first Christmas burning in our hearts as we begin this new year. We make this prayer through Him who is the Light of the World, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Glorify & Praise God

Scriptures: “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” (Luke 2:20)

Over the Christmas break, I heard a Christmas related joke. It goes like this: A boy was told to draft a note to the Lord for the Christmas gifts he would like to have this year. So, he started by writing, “Dear Lord, I would like to have lots of candies, cookies, and toys because I have been good for the last 6 months.” Then he paused, hesitated, and went back and erased “6 months” and wrote, “couple of weeks.” Again, he hesitated and went back and erased “couple of weeks” and replaced with “few days.” Still not satisfied, he erased again and, thought for a while, went over to the nativity, grabbed Mary, and come back to complete his request by writing, “because I have your mom.”

Now, this is a joke, of course. But it does say something about the emphasis on gifts for Christmas in our modern culture. Over the last few weeks, I have been thinking about the true meaning of Christmas and about what we really take away from the celebration of Christmas.

Christmas truly represents the beginning of the new relationship between man and God made possible in Jesus. It represents the grace of God, a door through which all who choose to enter will be liberated from the power of sin and death and be ushered into the riches of God. As such, it is a gift from God. But the question is, other than the gift, what do we take away with us from this sacrificial and self-less giving of God?

When this good news of great joy was first revealed to the shepherds in the fields, their first response was, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” (Luke 2:15) They wanted to see first hand what the Lord has done in their lives. Their relationship with our Lord was not based on knowledge only, but also on experiences. So, their actions followed their knowledge immediately.

Once they had seen baby Jesus and the family, Luke told us “…they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child….glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” (Luke 2:17, 20) They were the first witnesses of the birth of our Savior. They became the first witnesses because they were willing to see what the Lord was doing in their lives and because they took actions of faith.

But they did not stop right there. Seeing baby Jesus was not it. They went about and spread the news about this baby in the manger. The news was so amazing that they wanted to share with others. Their social status might have been lowly, their hearts were not. They realized that God was working in their midst as a blessing for all. Their hearts were filled with awe and thanksgiving. So, on their way back to their work, they glorified and praised God.

They had an encounter with Jesus, our Savior. They had witnessed the fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation for His people. Though the world was still dark and cold, they walked away from the manger with hope and a good news of great joy to share. How about us?

Christmas has come and gone. Have we been able to meet Jesus, our Savior, on Christmas? If so, what are we taking away with us into the new year from this Christmas? The joy of the birth of Christ Jesus? The hope of the salvation through Him? The love of God as expressed in His coming? The greatest news of all times that salvation is available to all through our Lord Jesus? Or, constant praise and worship to God in the highest? All of the above, I hope.

Prayer Requests:
For those who are working hard in this dark and cold world and seeking light and warmth in life

Prayer:
Dear Lord, thank You for this good news of great joy! Thank You for the privilege of knowing our Lord Jesus as our personal Savior! Please help us to grow beyond a mere recipient of salvation into a faithful servant who shares this wonderful news of Your birth and salvation in a life style of praise and worship. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus we pray, Amen!