God's Great Gifts

By Max Lucado
The Great House of God

"Thanks be to God for His gift that is too wonderful for words.."
2 Corinthians 9:15

"Why did he do it? A shack would have sufficed, but he gave us a mansion. Did he have to give the birds a song and the mountains a peak? Was he required to put stripes on the zebra and the hump on the camel?...Why wrap creation in such splendor? Why go to such trouble to give such gifts?

Why do you? You do the same. I've seen you searching for a gift. I've seen you stalking the malls and walking the ailes. I'm not talking about the obligatory gifts....I'm talking about that extra-special person and that extra-special gift...Why do you do it?...You do it so the heart will stop. You do it so the jaw will drop. You do it to hear those words of disbelief, "You did this for me?"

That's why you do it. And that is why God did it. Next time a sunrise steals your breath or a meadow of flowers leaves you speechless, remain that way. Say nothing and listen as heaven whispers, "Do you like it? I did it just for you."

Shared by Patty B.

In the beginning...

In the beginning was the Word,

 and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

The same was in the beginning with God.

All things were made by him;

and without him was not

any thing made that was made.

In him was life; and the life

was the light of men.

John 1 1-4
___________________________________________________

"The Word" in this passage is translated from the Greek logos, which means "spokesman," "word," or "revelatory thought." It is a name there used for an individual Personage. But who or what is this Logos? Notice the explanation in verse 14:

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,

(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)

full of grace and truth."

When he was born as Jesus Christ, he was flesh and blood, materialistic, and could be seen, touched, and felt. But what was he? As God—as the Logos? That is answered in John 4:24, "God is a Spirit," and spirit is invisible. We know what was his form and shape as the human Jesus. But of what form and shape was He as the Word?


The Word, then, is a Personage who was made flesh—begotten by God, who through this later begettal became his Father. Yet at that prehistoric time of the first verse of John 1, the Word was not (yet) the Son of God. He divested himself of his glory as a Spirit divinity to be begotten as a human person. He was made God's Son, through being begotten or sired by God and born of the virgin Mary.


So here we find revealed originally two Personages. One is God. And with God in that prehistoric time was another Personage who also was God—one who later was begotten and born as Jesus Christ. But these two Personages were spirit, which is invisible to human eyes unless supernaturally manifested. Yet, at the time described in verse one, Jesus was not the Son of God, and God was not His Father.

submitted by Annie

The True Meaning Of Christmas

Monday, December 20, 2010

Amidst the tinsel, lights, presents, and holiday feasts let's take time to remember with our dear friend cartoon character Charlie Brown the true meaning of Christmas:

Charlie Brown: (shouting in desperation) Isn't there anyone out there who can tell me what Christmas is all about?

Linus Van Pelt: Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you. Lights, please.

[A spotlight shines on Linus] "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and Saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men." That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

Charles Schultz, "A Charlie Brown Christmas"

Shared By C.F.

PREPARED

This is the final week before Christmas - the final week of Advent. You may be familiar with Advent Calendars. They are special calendars used to count the days of Advent leading up to Christmas. Today, most are made for children and begin with December 1st and end on December 24th (even though the actual start of Advent varies each year from November 27th to December 3rd). They often have little windows that open, one each day, to reveal either a picture about Christmas or even a little gift or piece of chocolate. They originated in the early 19th century from German Lutherans who had various ways of marking off the days leading up to Christmas.

I have a new twist on the Advent calendar. I call it my Advent tree. It is my Christmas tree. But here's the story: I try to do the decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving, putting up the tree, and putting the lights and ornaments on it, decorating the house and so forth. The problem is, I always run out of time and never finish all the decorating on that weekend. So instead of stressing about preparing everything in one weekend or staying up all hours of the night to get it done, I decided some years ago to just get a little bit done each day. On the first weekend of Advent I try to get the tree itself up and the lights on it, and put out the decorations on the various tables, walls, doors etc. Then the rest of the tree gets done one day at a time throughout the month. Even if some days I only put a couple of ornaments on it, or just put the Bethlehem village nativity scene around the base. That way, it gradually looks more and more complete, and I can enjoy doing it a little at a time, without stressing out. Some years I have even finished putting the final touches on it on Christmas day! And this year I added a new twist - I have two sets of lights on the tree at the same time - blue ones that I plug in during the Advent season, and multi-colored ones that will also be plugged in on Christmas Eve and after. The key for me to enjoying the preparation is to relax amidst the frenzy, get the essential things done first, and know that whatever gets finished will be enough. This year I even am almost finished already!
First week:                                                                    Final week:

                                                                           

How about you - are you prepared for Christmas? Are you feeling stressed about it? There is so much that many of us put on our plates to try to complete. We have to remember that there are things we can choose to take off that plate. What do we absolutely have to do? What would happen if that did not get done this time? Will someone die or be harmed if it doesn't get done? Sometimes realizing we actually do have a choice makes a huge difference in how we feel about doing those things. A simple change in how we think about our preparations can change our feelings surrounding them.

The most important preparation, however, involves our hearts, as we trust in the One who came to earth as a tiny babe in Bethlehem so many years ago. God's prepares our hearts for faith in Him through the Spirit. We rejoice in the Savior with singing!

The LORD is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.

My heart leaps for joy,

and with my song I praise him.

Psalm 28:7 NIV

May your final preparations be blessed!

Written by Jan Andersen, heart-prepared

OvenCar

Dreams can be awfully revealing. I’ve had a recurring dream over the years that I’ve felt pretty confident of the meaning. When it comes up, I know it’s a sign to slow down and reevaluate my responsibilities and commitments, and see what I can do to lighten my load. Here’s how it goes. In my dream, I’ll find myself driving a truck. But it’s not just any old truck. It has always been one of three trucks…my husband’s truck, my father’s truck or my Suburban, and I just can’t seem to slow it down. It’s not that the brakes go out, it’s that they’re stiff and almost impossible to push to the floor. So, it takes all my strength to barely keep the vehicle under control. Bottom line is, I cannot control this vehicle, and my dire need is to slow down and come to a stop with not only the truck but with whatever’s going on in my life.

Now, when it’s my own vehicle, I know I’m feeling overwhelmed with my duties and responsibilities as a stay at home wife and mother, and I just need a break. When it’s my husband’s truck, I know the two of us need to sit down and consider if my load has stretched beyond my own plate and has started to take on his. And when it’s my father’s truck, I’ve learned to ask God if there’s something I’ve been worrying myself about that’s not my concern, but is His business.

It’s been a good way of keeping me balanced, not overdoing it, and not overstepping my boundaries. But I was somewhat confused with my latest “out-of-control-unable-to-put-on-the-brakes” kind of dream. That’s because in this one, I was driving…an oven.

Yes, that’s right…an oven. Specifically, I was driving a vintage oven. It was definitely something prior to my generation. In fact, I would say it was something right out of the 50’s. Now, it was also the first time that I had this sort of dream where I wasn’t alone in the dream. I had two of my four kids with me.

So here we were. I had with me my oldest child, my 19 year old daughter and my youngest child, my 7 year old son. We were all standing on some sort of platform that extended out from the back of the oven and we were soaring down the highway. My oven was getting faster and faster and I just could not slow it down.

So I voiced my panic, which I had never done before since in previous dreams, I was always by myself. And my daughter responded. She responded by saying, “Let me take the wheel!” And for some strange reason, I didn’t argue with her. I just leaned over still bracing myself and pushing on the brake with all my strength while she reached over and steered. And steer she did…she steered us right off the highway, through some bushes, and into a junkyard.

We were going so fast and we were so out of control, we hit something that made us launch and fly through the air like the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazard with the three of our voices harmonizing together with cries of despair. But praise God, we did not crash and burn, but instead landed in a cushiony pile of car seats. The moment we came to a halt, I was flooded with relief and gratefulness to my daughter who had saved us. All I could say was, “You did it!” And the three of us got up and dusted ourselves off.

As we walked away, leaving our oven vehicle behind us in the junkyard, we noticed some people standing nearby staring at our scene in disbelief, to whom my daughter spoke, “Oh, that’s our grandpa’s.” She was referring to the oven car. Then one of them, looking impressed, said back to her, “Looks like it cost a pretty penny!” Without missing a beat, she answered, “Ya, at one time!”

Wow! This was not my typical dream. How am I supposed to make sense of this? Where do I even begin? OK, first of all, why did I not have my two middle children with me? Well, now that I think about it, that would be a disaster! My 10 and 13 year old? The ones who fight all the time? Sneaking around… making me feel like it’s them against me? Oh right! Now, I know why they weren’t there. As I said, it would’ve been disastrous.

Come to think about it, I used to find some relief by buckling those two into the car just to gain a little edge over them. I must be longing for those days when they were younger and I did have a little more control. Well, that makes sense since we weren’t even sitting in seats but were hanging on for dear life standing on a platform. It was the cushiony car seats that broke our fall and saved our lives in the junkyard. But those seats were in the junkyard and we did leave them behind.

I suppose I need to let go of that desire to go back to the days when my boys were controlled by seatbelts. But the truth is, it’s a little panicky to just accept things the way they are. OK, here’s a thought…my daughter and I were once at that place where I felt like we were enemies, but now I trust her…apparently, enough to let her steer an out of control oven. And here’s another thing, when it seemed at first that letting go was a bad idea, it all turned out just fine in the end landing on a pile of car seats.

This truly is about letting go…letting go of the past and the junk…letting go of control. Hmmm, maybe God was in this dream after all. Let’s see…I had the oldest and the youngest with me…the beginning and the end, and I handed over the steering wheel to one of them…kind of sounds like a country song I know.

Now, I’m not quite sure why I was driving a 1950’s oven to which my daughter referred to as “our grandpa’s.” But I will say this…dear old Papa had been a mechanic all his life since he was a boy, and he could probably make anything driveable. Also, the oven did resemble GG’s old oven. And, oh that’s right, that observer in the junkyard did seem to have somewhat of an Oklahoma accent when he said, “Looks like it cost a pretty penny.” (That’s where GG and Papa were from, Oklahoma.)

You know, it seems like that little conversation was referring to worth. At one time, the old way of doing things had a lot of worth and a lot of results. Being a stay at home mom feels like it’s out of date, yet I know it still has worth. But are there still results? I believe I’ve seen some good results with my daughter. Now with my youngest being only 7, I still have a lot of years of work before I’m done. And not only do I stay at home, but I homeschool, so sometimes I wonder what would happen if I gave up, put them in public school, and went back to work.

Well, there was one more part to my dream that I neglected to mention. As we were walking away from the scene of the accident, I heard a voice say, “Quick, say a rhyme!” So I did, and my rhyme ended with the line, “It’s all bad, there is no hope, hickory dickory dock!” (Don’t ask me about the hickory dickory dock part…random things pop up in dreams.) But what I just could not believe were the other words that came out of my mouth…no hope. No hope? Unfortunately, I was woken up before I could go any further in my dream.

Now, it’s one thing to let go of control and walk away from the past, but if I were to walk away from the old way of doing things and just give up, I just might lose hope because I would be going outside of God’s will for my children. I can’t do that.

I wonder…if I would’ve finished my dream, would that old Okie-accented observer in the junkyard have told me to not walk away and to not give up hope, but to just let God take control. At least when He does take over, I know I’ll have a soft landing. (Sigh) I guess I’d better go. I have a lot to do. I need to run some errands in my 2005 GE oven…hickory…dickory…dock….

For God speaks time and again, but a person may not notice it. In a dream, a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber on their beds… Job 33:14-15


Written by Amie Spruiell

Seeing Clearly

“And I will give them a heart to know (recognize, understand,

 and be acquainted with) Me, that I am the Lord; and they will be My people,

and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.”

Jeremiah 24:7

(amplified bible)

This past weekend my Husband and I went to Santa Cruz. The hotel that we stayed in had a view of the ocean, and it was absolutely beautiful. It has always been our dream to purchase an ocean view house there someday to retire in.

During our stay we decided to drive down along the coast and look at some of the houses that were for sale. The houses that we loved the most had these huge, expansive windows that stretched from one end of the front of the house to the other. We loved how the owners were able to look out and see nothing but the ocean in front of them.

As we looked from house to house, I began to notice something. A lot of the houses that I saw had windows installed with sectioned off panes in them. The more houses that I saw like this, the more it bothered me. It bothered me because I wondered why anyone would have wanted to “obstruct” their otherwise “unobstructed” magnificent view of the ocean.

I began to turn that word, “obstructed” over and over in my head. I began to wonder how many things in my life had become like those houses. Although they were set in a wonderful place of privilege, and they were even “positioned” correctly to take in all of the beauty being offered, still many of them had an obstructed view of all that was before them. I began to wonder why they had allowed these obstructions to be there. Then I began to wonder if they even realized that they were there. It seems to me that if you continue to “look” out of the same windows day after day after day, they eventually begin to fade. After awhile, you simply become “used” to the view through those windows, and you simply accept it, without question.

Are there places with “obstructed” views in our lives also? Have we continued to “look” at certain situations, or even certain people, and somehow simply accepted our limited view of what it, or what they, really “look” like to us? Have we allowed our “sectioned off view” in these circumstances or situations to become all that we see, until we really don’t “see” these things clearly at all? Are we in the “correct” position in some areas of our lives, but still not able to “see” our way through them correctly?

If our lives are anything like these houses, then we must ask the Lord to give us an “unobstructed” view of any of these things that we are not seeing clearly. We must ask Him to reveal those places in our lives and then ask Him to show us what the “obstructions” are really made up of. Are they places of hurt or pain that have caused a division inside of us, or could they be places of sin that we have kept hidden in our hearts? Are there places of pride or unforgiveness that have been allowed to harden and form a barrier in between us and the Lord, or in between us and others?

“Dear Lord Jesus, I do not want to live a life built up with walls that only obstruct my ability to see clearly. I want to see You and to know You as You truly are. I want my life to be a living testimony of Your love and goodness to others. If I cannot see clearly myself, then I will never be able to help others see clearly either. Please, help us to see what is right in front of us, Lord, and also help us to see past it too. Give us a heart to appreciate the places of beauty and privilege that you have given to us. Help us to see, Lord, with Your eyes, and even more importantly, with Your heart. Amen.”

By Beverley A. Napier

Giving Gifts at Christmas

Devotional for Thursday the 16th

How do you choose presents? Do you consider price, usefulness, cool factor, wow factor or something else as your guide? I read about a dad who asked his kids not to give him any ‘thing.’ He explained that he had all the basics required in life, so he encouraged them to think outside ‘the box.’ One teen made him a plate of his favorite cookies; another washed his car and gave him certificates for future washings, another did a chore that his dad usually handled (I think it was washing house windows). I was impressed by this display of creativity and it really got me thinking about my own gift giving.

My mom taught that you purchase for someone else what you would like or what you are sure they would enjoy. This has been helpful through the years but not always successful. So, when gift cards became all the rage I was right on board. Even though it’s easier to be sure I am matching the right store/restaurant to the right person - this isn’t the answer for everyone on my list either.

When I started to consider my gift-giving with an eye for something outside the box my head hurt. But wait, my head hurt last year trying to come up with the perfect something for that wonderful someone! So I persevered in hopes the pain would ease and my gift-giving might be more personal this year.

I admit, looking over my list, the first idea came from that dad’s kids: homemade cookies, brownies or other treats. This food theme opened up all sorts of options: a package of favorite candies, a yummy treat like salami and cheese, salmon, or a package of premium coffee or tea bags. Clothes have long been appreciated by the dressy among us - but why not for the more practical person? I started another list of possibilities: a pair or package of high quality socks for someone who works in the cold or is on their feet all day, a jacket, work shirt, pants, even shoes or boots. Contributing to my friend’s and family’s warmth brought up the idea of cozy blankets, flannel sheets and comforters. Now, I see that I’ve gotten away from something I can personally make or do and back into purchasing. I do want to change my style of giving but I think it is going to be a gradual process.

If you are able to give gifts this Christmas season, I hope you will enjoy the pleasure of saying “I care about you” to your family and friends. If purchased gifts are out of the question, as they are for so many, remember that the most important gifts are always within reach. When my husband was unemployed during the Christmas season, my son told his sister, “I know it’s not a good thing that Dad doesn’t have a job, but I really like having more time with him.” Counting our blessings when things are good or times are tough helps keep our eyes on God’s gifts: life, love, family, friends, and forgiveness.

I Corinthians 13:13 (NLT) Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Matthew 7:10-12 (The MSG) Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn't think of such a thing. You're at least decent to your own children. So don't you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?

Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God's Law and Prophets and this is what you get.

Written by Mary M. Wilkin