GREETING GOD WITH JOY...NO MATTER WHAT

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Matthew 21:9 (NKJV)

One of the great pictures in the New Testament is the picture of Jesus entering Jerusalem during that last week of his life. The crowds that lined the road welcomed him with palm branches and cheers. He was the answer to their hopes! So, they happily welcomed him. They did not know that their joy would soon be lying with him in the grave very soon, and it would lie there with him for three days. It would not be until Jesus rose from the dead that they would truly see their hopes fulfilled.

Today may be one of those days you are feeling disappointed. Your joy, and hopes, and expectations, are lying in a grave. Great opportunities…things you praised God for… look like they’ve taken a turn for the worst. They are just not turning out the way you had hope, or expected.

Let me encourage you today to continue to greet God with gladness. He will bring your dreams to life again in a way that will make you truly joyful. He has made you a promise in His Word in Psalm 16:11... “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." 

Jesus, I greet you today with joy in my heart. I praise You that no matter how it may look, You are breathing life into my dreams. Amen

COMPLETE ME, LORD!

It is hard for us to comprehend in the middle of the painfully cruel place called incompleteness and discontent, that it is possible this cruel place has been put in our life for a very important reason. Because it is in these cruel and difficult places where we most often reach out for and search for God. How often would we turn to Christ if we were always filled with completion and satisfaction every moment of our lives?

What if our incompleteness was pictured as an empty box holding nothing but great expectations for us. We just know that we will be incredibly happy the rest of our life, if God would just fill our empty boxes with that special person, or special possession, or special giftedness, that could take all of our needs away and make us complete. So, we pray and pray for God to put that gift of completeness in our box. Yet, He remains silent, and leaves our box empty. We sit and wait. But, the box still sits empty,… and life just isn't quite as good as it could be without our box being full.

In fact, we begin to wonder how we can ever live without it full. So, we again pray deeply to God…if He would just fill our incompleteness box …and fill it soon! Rarely does a day go by that we do not think more and more about how very deeply we really need this gift from God. But, God has not chosen to give us the gift we want so deeply,…at least, not at this time. So, we sorrow over the empty box…I know I have. I have held up my empty box, and asked God if He would please give me the gift I desired, but, I found through His silence that His answer was “No.”

I wonder…what if instead of hanging on tightly to our empty box that is such a misery to us because we so long for it to be filled,…what if we offered it up to God, as a gift of great value? We all know that the empty ache inside, whether called lack of contentment, or loneliness, or unfulfilled desires and goals, has the capability of robbing us of joy for the rest of our life,…especially if we continue to cling to it, and nurture it.

We could make the freeing choice to give the empty box back to God, and tell Him that if it is not His will to give us the gift that would make us complete right now, then we are willing to give the empty box to Him,…and let it go. We could tell Him how very much we still do want our heart's desires, but we could ask Him to help us to untie the strings that will free us from your box. We could tell Him we don't want to live in loneliness and longing for what we don't have, but we want to live in rejoicing for what we DO have. We could ask Him to teach us how to be fulfilled, content, and complete in all He HAS given us.

What do you think it would be like for God, to receive such a gift…our empty box, worn from being clutched tightly, wet with our tears, and heavy with our emptiness and incompleteness? If we give our empty box to God in this way, we have given Him a gift of great value. We have given Him our trust that He knows best. We have given Him our faith in His perfect timing. We have given Him our humility, in accepting His answer of "No." We have given Him our love, and the knowledge that we know how much He loves us.

Just maybe He has a different gift He wants to give to us. A gift that needs a different size of box. It could be a gift that we would never have gotten, had we continued to cling so tightly to the box we valued so highly. And, just maybe, when we begin to look up with an open heart,…He will show us a new blessing,…a new joy…the one gift He has been preparing for us from the beginning of time.

Father, we know You see the empty boxes of our deepest longings. We trust today, Lord, that You will help us recognize we do not order our own steps,…You do. Teach us to allow YOU to guide our life and fill our boxes. So, we offer to You, Lord, the sacrifice of our empty boxes, trusting in You to fill them in the way and time that You know best. Lead each of us to Your perfect will in all things. In the name of our constant companion, Jesus Christ. Amen.

FOR EVERY TREE GROWING UP, THERE'S A TREE GROWING DOWN

“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers. But they delight in doing everything the LORD wants; day and night they think about his law. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail. Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper.” Psalm 1:1-3 (NLV)\

Looking for peace in the Psalms is not a random choice that we make. There is a reason we come to such places of comfort. Sometimes, we are seeking some understanding while facing a difficult situation. There are other times where we simply don’t know where else to turn. Whatever our case, we are looking in the right place…the only place true peace can be found…in God’s Word. We can always count on finding God in God’s Word!

Verse three of our Psalm today paints a picture of the person who meditates on God’s Word as a tree planted along a riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail,…leaves that never wither…prospering. Well, as real as the tree that can be seen, is the tree that can't be seen. And the hidden tree is the secret of the visible one. That hidden tree growing down draws its sustenance and its nourishment from a hidden supply.

It is impossible to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord without a daily time of nourishment from Him, whether it be in His Word, in meditation, in worship, or in prayer. Just as river waters nourish a tree’s roots…when we drink God’s Word, it goes deep into our heart and strengthens us. God’s nurturing truth gives us strength, and courage, and wisdom for whatever we face.

If you were to ask, "What is the primary problem that lies at the root of a withered Christian experience?" I think I would have to reply, "It is the neglect of the daily time of communion with God." We cannot do without it. There must always be nourishment for the soul. It need not be the first hour of every day that we give to God...but, it should be the best hour. You see, when we spend time with God,… and are nourishing that tree growing down...we need not worry so much about the tree growing up.

Father, I know that I haven’t come visiting the Psalms, nor this place of devotion, by chance. Thank you that Your Word strengthens my heart and nourishes my soul. Amen

THE GROWTH OF LOVE

In Philippians 1:9 the Apostle Paul prays, “This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge.”

A new love for God comes into our lives with the new life in the flow of the Spirit of God. But that love can and must grow. Although love may indeed be there, it may not be strong. This prayer of Paul suggests that the purpose of God, and the need of so many of our lives is that our love should grow..."that your love may abound yet more and more."

But, if it is to grow, it must be fed with the nutrients and bread of "knowledge." You cannot love a person you do not know, but this is just the mistake that so many Christians are making. They are trying hard to love a God they do not really know. And, they do not know God because they spend such a very little amount of their time with Him. Just how little of our spare time do we spend to be with God with our Bibles open, our knees bent,.. and most importantly...our wills bent, too?

Paul put it right in the very forefront of His spiritual ambition and program, "that I may know Him..." This should be our ambition, too! As we get to know Him through His Word and in His service, not out of "trying harder", but simply because His is so absolutely worthy, we will come to love Him "more and more."

Stop for a moment today and pause to ask yourself, "How much do I really love my Lord?" And, then... if you know there is a gap between how much you truly love Him, and how much you know you should love Him...then ask God, "Father, show me the reason. Help me get back in the flow of the Spirit."

OUR AWESOME GOD

I was thinking the other day of a word which we seemed to have diminished over time, probably from overuse, or casual use without considering what the word truly means. The word is “awesome.” Most of us know the word, but we just don’t really have a clue about its magnitude. We use the word as a label, like we would use a word to mean “wow” or “great” or anything that is superior. We could use it to describe my friend Bill Braden’s cookies. Bill is an “awesome” cookie maker!

But, when we come into the presence of our Awesome God the description of our worship should goes way beyond great cookies. Too often, worship can become as interesting as the vanilla Bill uses in his cookies, when we should be drawn into the wonder of worship that is far from vanilla,…it should be worship that shouts out to God, “WOW, GOD! YOU ARE INDEED AWESOME!” Because, God is indeed… AWESOME! 

When we encounter the only One who is truly awesome...we are left in wonder. Sometimes we may be left speechless…where we no longer have a word left that belongs to us…all our words belong to Him and Him alone.  Maybe speechless is the best way to approach God’s awesomeness. I mean, everything that is God is awesome and everything that is awesome is God. I’m beginning to thing it is a good idea that we make it a rule to not use “awesome” anymore for anyone or anything, unless we are referring to God. To call anything else “awesome” is a joke. Because, the real kind of awesome that God brings sends shivers up your spine.

Awesome means “producing AWE.” Look it up...you won’t find any warm, soft synonyms for awe. They are all serious and gripping words. When you are gripped by God’s greatness,....when you are seized by His awesomeness,…it is like a river of joy that flows right through the very center of your being. You know beyond any doubt that you were created for Him for this moment in time. God’s awesomeness takes you to your knees in complete and total reverence. His awesomeness brings you to worship without being self-conscious.

The prophet Isaiah knew all about God’s awesomeness. He proclaimed it without any apology to a very apathetic and aggressively wicked people. Even with the limitations of language, the Holy Spirit gave Isaiah the greatest description of God’s awesomeness ever written. In Isaiah 40:10-11, the prophet begins his description of God with what sounds like a contradiction. He says in verse 10: “Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might, with His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him.”  And then in verse 11, he says “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

Most people know either the God of verse 10,…or, the God of verse 11. However, both of them are true....both are powerful....and, both of them are awesome. The verse 10 God, is the God who rolls up His sleeve, and bears His powerful arm, and slams it on the table and says, “C’mon people....get it together. Live right....live holy…live life in the fullness I created you to live.” I am sure many or most of us have experienced that strong arm of God.

But, if that is the only arm of God you know, then I would encourage you to be gripped by His other arm that is described in verse 11. Here we see God as a shepherd, scooping up His lambs and carrying them close to Him. This is our awesome God who provides special treatment for our special needs. There are times our shepherd says, “This one is hurting. Careful of her wounds. We’re going to have to carry her for a while.” This tender arm of God reminds us of His unique and personal care for us. This is the arm of God that we feel as He gently holds us close to His bosom....comforting us....healing us... and strengthening us.

God has two arms....One arm is mighty and powerful, demanding holiness and righteousness,…The other arm tenderly cares for the weak and wounded. Almighty... yet tender....He truly is AWESOME!

A MEDITATION ON PRAYER

I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. (Psalm 116:1-2)

Who has time for prayer? My ‘to do’ list is always longer than my day. I run from the time the alarm goes off in the morning until I fall into bed at night. How can I possibly find time to do one more thing? When could I find even a few minutes to read the Bible or pray?” The question is not “Where do I find the time?” The question is, “Are you doing what’s important in your day...or only what is urgent?” I think for the most part, people do what they want to do. All of us make choices, and when we don’t make time for God in our day,...Let me repeat that...When we don’t make time for God in our day....when we don’t make time for the most important relationship in our life,…we are probably not making the best choices.

I remember a story told about a man who had nothing for his family to eat. All he had was an old shotgun and three bullets. So, he decided that he would go out and kill something for dinner. As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit and he shot at the rabbit and missed it. Then he saw a wild turkey and fired a shot at the turkey, and missed it. As he went a little further, he saw a squirrel in a tree and he had only one bullet,…but a voice came to him and said "Pray first, aim high and stay focused."  About that time, he saw a deer which was a better kill. He brought the barrel down and aimed at the deer. But, then he saw a rattlesnake between his legs about to bite him, so he naturally brought the gun down further to shoot the rattlesnake. Again, the voice said again to him, "I said 'pray, aim high, and stay focused."  So, the man decided to listen to the voice. He prayed, then aimed the gun high up in the tree, and shot the squirrel. The bullet went through the squirrel, bounced off the tree and killed the deer. In his shock he dropped the gun and hit the snake in the head and killed it. And, when the gun had gone off, it knocked him off balance and he fell backwards into a pond. When he stood to look around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and squirrel to eat. And, the snake, (Satan) was dead…simply because the man listened to God.

Pray first before you do anything, aim and shoot high in your goals, and stay focused on God. God greatly desires to spend time alone with us. After all, He created us....we are His children. He loves us. He loves us so much that He gave His only Son for our salvation. He knows you, and He wants you to know Him. The Creator of the Universe wants to meet with you alone daily. What an awesome thought! How can you say no to such of an opportunity!

The only requirement for a right time, right place, or right position with God is your willing heart. Jesus often slipped away to be alone in prayer, but even His prayer times varied. He prayed in the morning and late at night, on a hill, and in the upper room. Some people who spend a lot of time on the highways traveling to work use that time to be with God. Others get up earlier than the rest of the family for a quiet time of reading the Scriptures and praying. Some find morning is best....before the telephone starts to ring or they get involved in the day’s schedule. So, even though the times and places where we meet God will vary, the fact that we meet alone with God each day should be a constant in our life. After all, God had made it clear that He is interested in us who are His children. He wants to hear from His children.

Some say, “I don’t always know what to talk to God about.” No need to worry, God knows your heart and He knows what you want to say even before the words are spoken.

Time with God is never wasted. If you spend time alone with God in the morning, you’ll start your day refreshed and ready for whatever comes your way. If you spend time alone with Him in the evening, you’ll go to sleep relaxed, resting in His care and ready for a new day to serve Him. You can talk to Him anytime, anywhere....about anything. You don’t have to make an appointment to ask Him for something you need or to thank Him for something you have received from Him.

“I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.”  Why not make that a commitment in your life. It will make a difference in your life.

A CHRISTMAS REFLECTION

Long awaited Christmas has arrived. For some it is a time that brings joy and warmth, family and tradition, gift giving, sumptuous meals and fun-filled gatherings. But for others, Christmas, despite its glitter and its magic, leaves them cold, and the coming of Christmas makes them emotionally weary, and they would rather just get it over. Christmas could be a painful time that often brings feelings of sadness, melancholia and deep loneliness. Christmas has a way of opening up old wounds that have not been completely healed, but we would rather forget.

Perhaps we still yearn to have that great loving and welcoming family we wished we had, but when we look around all we see is brokenness. Perhaps we remember our loved ones who have died, leaving us aching for their presence, missing so much their embrace, touch and kiss that will never come again, at least not on this side of life. Or perhaps, since Christmas occurs at the dead of winter, we are confronted with our mortality, especially some of us whose bodies are breaking due to illness or the natural wear and tear of life. All these thoughts can dampen hope and joy of the season. Yet, we continue to hope for that life-giving Word in the midst of the long dark and cold wintry night of the soul.

The all too familiar Christmas story tells us that the Word so long awaited by the people of God living in grips of hopelessness came in the middle of a long cold wintry night. God came at night. He came, and He often comes in the middle of our darkness. God came and comes to His people in the midst of their deepest despair, and loneliness, and suffering. God’s spoken Word of love came as the faint voice in a poor manger. God’s spoken Word came as a call…a cry of a tiny, vulnerable infant who shares in our own vulnerability. The night was turned into the morning by the birth of the Word of hope in the middle of hopelessness.

The promise of God in the Christmas story is that he will come to us in our night of faith, that God will be born once again in the emptiness of our souls and aching hearts. The promise of Christmas is that there is a breathless love that awaits souls struggling in the dark of life. When we are feeling lonely and unloved, we read the Christmas story to remind ourselves that there is indeed a Lover waiting for us…the Lover in a manger in Bethlehem who awaits us with His loving arms.

The Spirit of God planted the Word of love in the womb of a woman. And, it is by this Spirit that Mary gave birth to the Word made flesh, Jesus,…the Joy and Hope of the world. This very same Spirit plants the Word of love and hope of in the wombs of OUR hearts, and the Spirit enables us to give birth to joy and hope. “The Love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given us.” (Romans 5:5)

We all have been given the gift of the Spirit in that we all have been given hearts with a great capacity to give love and receive love. Even as we ourselves feel emptiness and loneliness, we still can give out love and hope. We may never be able to take away each other’s unique pain or suffering, but we could speak the Word of love and hope to someone who needs it desperately. When we do reach out in love, we give birth anew to Him in the very act of giving love and hope and God’s love can be felt by someone yearning for love primarily through us.

Merry Christmas to you all. And, may God bless you and your family with His great love.

CHRISTMAS BLESSING

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
(Luke 2:10-12, KJV).

For all my friends, my family, and friends of New Covenant Church of God, know that the good tidings of great joy for this Christmas and every Christmas, is that God has been revealed to us in a babe born in Bethlehem. So let’s open our hearts to the presence of God in one another. May we remember in our hearts our neighbors, friends, and family, living both near and far…wishing them peace and good will. And, may our hope for the coming year be that the lamb and the lion lie down in peace. Let us remember those whose spirits are aching on this day…and pray the Spirit of God lift up those spirits today that they might be mended. And, may the Christ, revealed to us in Bethlehem's manger, take up permanent residence in our hearts and minds this day, and always. Amen.

HE COMMANDED, AND THEY WERE CREATED

“Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.” Psalm 148:3 (NKJV)

With the very first phrase in the Bible, the incredible history of the creation begins to unfold. In the beginning, God…who is limitless in power, wisdom, and love…wanted one thing. It wasn’t that God was needy, or lacking of anything. But, God IS love, and that love needed an object of His affection. He simply wanted someone with whom to share His love.

So he set about creating the universe and all that is in it. Words began to flow from His mouth beginning each time with “Let there be…” and there was. In the days of creation God began forming planets and stars, continents and oceans. Yet as detailed and amazing as they were, they were only the stage for His dearest and best creation…you. God created everything needed for you to live, and for Him to express His love to you. And, then He created you… in His image…with a heart that could accept His love and return it. God wants to share himself with you. Maybe today is the day to open your heart to Him.

Dear God, thank you for creating such an amazing universe and for loving me. Help me to know your love and show your love in return. Amen.

A PRAYER FOR MY WIFE AT CHRISTMAS

Lord, I lift the deepest most sacred part of my heart to You today for that which has brought me 38 years of joy and companionship. You have blessed my life with a wonderful wife, and my greatest supporter. I pray you will not allow my busyness, or the distractions of this life, to turn my heart lukewarm where I take my wife or marriage for granted.

Lord, please make the remainder of our time on this earth a great and holy adventure. Make our marriage a haven for our souls, and remove from us any temptation to be judgmental toward each other. We surrender to You every conflict and every burden that would threaten our harmony. You are the answer to all our doubts, or questions, and You are our rock on which our marriage stands. Help us to never forget that.

Bring us closer together in heart, and mind, as well as body. Take away the quick unthoughtful words and the temptation of the enemy to criticize or be cruel to each other. Lord, guide us in the ways of holiness. Make our marriage be a burst of light in a dark world. Make it a foundation of love and wisdom for us, for our family, for our community, for our church, and for our world.

Allow us Lord, that our marriage be a channel for Your love and healing for others who are traveling on our same journey. Make our marriage a vehicle of Your grace and power. And, as lessons come our way, and challenges confront us, remove from us the evil one’s temptations to forsake each other. Help me God, to always remember that in my wife you have given me the most beautiful woman, both physically and spiritually…the special person You ordained I would have in my life to repair me when I am broken,…and cheer me on when I am experiencing great victory.

Grant to us Lord, that we remain young in our marriage, yet, permit us to grow wise in it. Where we are needy, or do not know how to behave, or when we tend to control, or to judge, or to fix, or not be completely honest,.. please, dear God,… show us another way to relate. We surrender our love to You. May it serve Your purposes. May our marriage receive Your blessing and power.

Bring into our lives what You desire for us, and make us how You would have us be. Thank You, dear God, You who are the cement that binds us together. Thank you for the love of my life…my wife, Connie. In the name of Jesus, I pray…

MINE EYES HAVE SEEN YOUR SALVATION

It was a week after the birth of Jesus, that Mary and Joseph took their infant son to the temple to be circumcised. There they met Simeon, an old man who had waited years to see God's Messiah. With the aching and longing in his heart now relieved, Simeon exclaimed, "Lord, now You are letting your servant depart in peace." That word peace was significant. Did Simeon mean that at last he had peace in his heart, and peace of mind? I have no doubt he meant that. But, that wasn't all he meant when he spoke of peace. In the Hebrew language "peace" is a synonym for "salvation". And, Simeon goes on to say, “For my eyes have seen Your salvation.”

“Peace” means God's reversal of the distress which this world is cursed with because of sin and disobedience. “Peace” is the answer that no human action could achieve. This “Peace” could only be given to us by an Almighty Creator who loves us so much that His gift to us would be His only Son as our sin substitute. It is this fact, this gift that made Simeon's heart sing. It is because of this gift that mankind doesn't have to remain Godless, or our predicament hopeless! What we must crave to do, however, is simply to receive the gift. So often we waste our efforts intellectualizing that no such gift is needed, even though the historical and Scriptural evidence is this gift is our only hope.

I rejoice that this gift from God does not come with an impersonal label marked "mankind" on it, as if it were for no one in particular. I am thankful that it comes with my name on it. And, I am thankful that the gift has come to me in such a manner as to compel me to own the gift, and cherish this wonderful gift from God. And now, in gratitude to my God, I also can say along with Simeon, "Lord, now You are letting your servant depart in peace. For my eyes have seen Your salvation.”

Christmas also helps me reflect on what receiving God’s gift means to me. It means that the saved life I have been given in Christ I must now live in Christ. And God has given the empowerment for me to live that life through the Holy Spirit’s presence. When I received the gift, I wasn’t picked up from the salvage yard of life, cleaned up, given a makeover, and sent on my way. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 the Apostle Paul says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old thing have passed away, behold, all thing have become new.” So, I am not just a repaired, repolished; and recycled old John…I am a completely new creation. I am no longer shackled to my old habits and old sins, but I have been forgiven and freed from the bondage of sin. As Christians, we are to be the living sign that God has not abandoned His creation and will not abandon it. Impossible? Some might think so, except for the little fact that our Lord has pioneered this sin free life for us already. We need only follow Him on the path He has cleared for us.

Christmas means one thing more to me. It means that the ordinary is filled with eternal significance. The apostle John speaks of the Incarnation as the Word becoming flesh. He means more than the fact that God clothed itself in a human body: bones, blood, skin, hair, and teeth. He is telling us that the Word immersed Himself in every aspect of our existence. Nothing of our lives is foreign to God. Our Lord was born to ordinary parents; He grew up in an ordinary town; He worked at an ordinary trade, and ate ordinary food. He was so ordinary that at the time, many did not even see Him as noteworthy. Yet he was also the Son of God. And, His coming at that first Christmas is the occasion of God's most intimate presence with mankind since He walked in the Garden of Eden with man in the cool of the day.

Since most of our life is ordinary, then it is in the most ordinary moments of life that we will serve God. Instead of looking for the extraordinary moments, or the dramatic moments, we should understand that we are salt and light not just when we try to be, or are challenged to be. Because if we are salt and light at all…then we are salt and light all the time. Christmas, reminds us that this world in which we are salt and light is where God lives, too. He lives inside us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Life consists of the ordinary punctuated by what is sometimes extraordinary. As I sit and write this I notice how punctuation marks are found significantly less frequently than words. Punctuation marks may help us read a sentence, but they don't make up the sentence. In today’s world of texting and tweeting, punctuation marks are not even necessary. It is a sign of growing spiritually when we understand that even in the ordinary moments of life empty of the punctuation of the extraordinary, God’s grace abounds, and therefore, there is no ordinary moment that is insignificant to God.

Christmas is the celebration of the Incarnation….the Living Word, and will, and way. It is the Incarnation of God becoming flesh in our midst. Incarnation is the very foundation of everything pertaining to our Christian faith. Christmas began means a salvage operation that is nothing less than the salvation of God. This is what Christmas means to me.

GOD'S GARDENS

There is an old song that has been a song of comfort for people for many years called, “In The Garden.” Those familiar with the song know the opening line goes, “I come to the garden alone.” The garden is the place where we meet God. I would like to consider today some of God’s Gardens.

The first of course would have to be the Garden of Eden. If you took some time to read Genesis 2:4-17, you would see the account of God creating this first garden. God who formed the universe,…this God who created everything with a word, ‘Let there be’…now gets down on His hands and knees, and carefully plants a garden for us! How great is His love for us! This garden was more magnificent than anything we could ever imagine. And, what was it that made it so magnificent? It was the very company of God Himself. At times we still catch a glimpse of Eden, don’t we? But, God no longer walks with us like He did with Adam and Eve. What happened? Death happened in three letters…sin.  Adam and Eve gave in to temptation and disobeyed their wonderful God.

So, what’s the remedy? How can our paradise, our beautiful garden be regained? How can we walk with God once more? We might find the answer in another of God’s gardens. It is a little different garden than the beautiful Garden of Eden. This garden is one He waters with His own blood filled sweat. It is the Garden of Gethsemane.

It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that paradise was regained. Here in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus cried, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup [of wrath] from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."  It was here in in this garden Jesus submitted to become our death. And death in the ultimate spiritual sense is to be separated from God. The very instant Adam and Eve sinned, they died spiritually. Their relationship with God, the author and sustainer of life, was broken. Do you remember when you went to the garden of Gethsemane with Jesus? We have all been to the garden of Eden with Adam, and we’ve all lost that garden with Adam. Those who don’t know Jesus still live in paradise lost, and need desperately to come to the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus!

But, there is another one of God’s gardens I would like to think about. It’s the Garden of My Heart. Our hearts are, or certainly should be, a garden for the King. Our hearts should be a garden for the King of kings. How does the King flourish in your heart? Does He walk with you in the cool of the day? Come, Lord, and help make my heart a garden in which You would love to dwell. Make my heart God’s Garden.

‘And He walks with me,
and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share
as we tarry there,
None other has ever known’.

Think about those words as you sing them. The first line of the chorus tells of the return to the Garden of Eden, for Adam and Eve walked and talked with God in that garden. And, if we have placed our trust in the Jesus of the Garden of Gethsemane, we can sing that He again of how He walks and talks with us. That garden brings to us the reality of the second line. Because, it was there that Jesus sweat drops of blood in anguish of what He was about to go through for us. Through His love and by His death He bought us…we are His. He tells me I am His own. And then finally, the last lines proclaim the unspeakable joy that is not only ours but also God’s…“for the joy we share (that’s the King and I) as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”

And you know I believe it’s true when it says none other has ever known this joy. For I will experience this unspeakable joy in a way that only I can, and you will experience this unspeakable joy in a way that only you can. And God will experience this unspeakable joy differently with every one of His children! Come to the garden.

MY CHRISTMAS PRAYER

Dear Heavenly Father,

The Christmas story is such a beautiful story. It is full of such joy and celebration! It is simply the most wonderful story of all! But, Lord, every year it comes and goes…and often we get so caught up in all our lists and lines, we seem to miss it. And, when we miss it,…we miss You. Father, please let it be different for us this Christmas. Embrace us in prayer every day…early in the morning. Catch us before we’re off and running. Stop us just for a moment before we are off making our daily mistakes, our sins, our omissions. Tell us Your story, Lord Jesus. Tell it to me each morning, so that I can see it in all that I do.

As we plow through dozens of cookies; carefully baked pies and cakes; and painstakingly prepared Christmas feasts, help us remember why we bake cookies and make all these preparations for our meals at Christmas. Make the aromas of food remind us of the sweetness of a life with Jesus. Remind us that Christ is the bread of life, and it is He who sustains us. As we wrap the 100th gift, let us be reminded of the most perfect gift…the Christ child wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And, Father, speaking of gifts, help us remember as we write our letters to Santa, to tell our children about the mystery of Your gift, the miracle of Christmas. Help us to use this legend of Santa to paint a picture of how You give to us even when we don’t deserve it, and that you give without asking anything in return. Let us be reminded how Your gift is the gift of perfect, unconditional, and endless love.

Even Lord, as we decorate our homes…as we hang our fancy wreath on the front door, let us be reminded about circles…and, what it means to know love that has no beginning or end,… what it feels like to be encircled in Your love. As we light the candles and untangle the tree lights looking for the one bad bulb that keeps the aggravating thing from glowing, help us be reminded that the world was once a dark and hopeless place, and You sent Jesus, the light of the world. Help us to remember how Jesus brightens every dark spot in every life.

As we sing hymns and carols, let me take time to listen carefully, and learn the words, and for a moment just grasp why we sing at Christmas. Let us remember the Biblical story of the heavens opening up and about the chorus of angels that delivered the Good News to the shepherds and sang “Glory to God in the highest!” And, as we sneak a little treat of a candy cane, let us remember that the candy cane is like a shepherd’s staff, and that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and that we are His sheep. He tends to us, He calls us by name, and He will always find us when we are lost.

And Lord, when we are stuck in traffic and long store lines,…when impatience begins to swell up in us, and the whines and cries are welling up in our little ones, let us remember why we wait at Christmas. We wait so we can reflect, and daydream, and just breathe. I think maybe You gave us waiting for that special purpose this time of year. We need to wait…to be still…to know You. It gives us a special time to ask forgiveness, to cleanse our hearts and minds…and prepare for the coming of the Christ child.

As we fill our carts and bags to overflowing,…as we do our best to buy almost anything our loved ones have asked for,…help us Jesus, to remember the poor. Help us to try to imagine just for a moment what it must be like to be cold, and hungry, homeless, and hopeless. We know Jesus loved the poor, and that He was born a poor baby, and died a poor man. Father, can You help us to have compassion and help the poor this Christmas?

And Lord, as our families gather together, as we hug and laugh, as we get bossy or maybe start to brag,…as we get nosy and critical of each other, help us to remember about families at Christmas. Let us remember You created families. We were made for relationship. We were made for community with one another. Let us remember that we should love our families the way you love us…faults and all. Let us all remember why we worship at Christmas. You call us through each symbol and reminder during this season to come and be with You, to be joyful and to experience You through Your Son in the miracle of His birth. Thank you, Father for revealing these things to us…and to me. Amen.

HEAVENLY PEACE AT CHRISTMAS IN A BROKEN WORLD

“Sleep in Heavenly Peace” So many of our Christmas Eve services will end with that beautiful refrain of peace from “Silent Night.” Heavenly peace is a longing for all of our hearts, not only at Christmas, but throughout out year. But all too often, Heavenly Peace seems so distant in a world fractured by violence, poverty, hunger, and disease. It is all too easy to go about our lives…consuming, celebrating, and filling our appetites for more, pretending as if all is right with the world. But, Christmas is not a time to pretend. It is not a time to ignore those around us who are struggling to keep a roof over their head, warmth from the furnace, and food to simply survive. It is not a time to pretend that everything is right with the world. Not only that, but it is certainly not what we are taught as Christians.

So what should we do? Well, for one thing, maybe we should allow Christmas to increase our longing for the presence of our Lord and Savior. So many of us live in a shallow, self-satisfied stupor, accepting the brokenness of our world as the new norm, rather than as something in need of divine mending. The very theme of Heavenly Peace on earth…Shalom…should increase our longing… our ache,…for peace on earth. It should stir us to total dissatisfaction with violence and injustice. We should use our Christian heritage to shout to all our God given hope for the future, allowing it to move us to be peacemakers whenever and wherever we can in the brokenness of this society.

As we go about celebrating Christmas in our broken world, we need to take a moment to simply marvel at the reality of the birth of Christ. John writes in his gospel: "And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth." In the very first verse of the first Chapter of John’s Gospel we read that “The Word of God, who was with God, and, indeed, who was God,” became human in the baby Jesus.

Think of that picture! Rather than standing back from our broken world,… rather than fixing it from the glory and majesty of Heaven,…God chose to enter this world as an innocent and vulnerable baby…a baby not different from any other human child born into this broken world. And, as this baby grew, He would come to know pain, and grief, and confusion, and loss, and everything else that is common to human beings…except for sin. However, ultimately He would know even know the pain that is the result of our sin, as He "became sin" for our sake on the cross.

For the one who hurts at Christmas, or at any other time for that matter, part of the good news is that God has drawn near in the birth of Christ, and He still draws near today. Our God is not simply watching us from a distance. Rather, God has entered into the reality of our broken world in Jesus Christ. And, this God is always with us (Immanuel!) in our pain, and suffering, and hurts.

You see, there indeed is the promise of Heavenly Peace on earth…Shalom…the world of peace as God created it to be…the promise of the broken world made whole. The time will come when heaven and nature will indeed sing the song they were intended to sing by their Creator. We will once again be the people God created us to be. That which God did through the Incarnation is the beginning of true peace on earth, even though it's not yet fully here. The brokenness of our world, and, indeed the brokenness of our own lives, drives us to the only One who can and will bring wholeness through His marvelous grace. And, this is the One whose humble birth we celebrate at Christmas.

GOD AT HIS VERY BEST

The great preacher E.B. Hill once posed the question of when God was at His very best. It is a question that enters my mind from time to time. It’s the question of what is the greatest thing God has ever done? Have you ever wondered about that question? Have you thought about the possible answers to this question? What was His best miracle? What was His greatest invention? What was His greatest achievement? What was His greatest day…or His greatest year? When was God at His best?

I would have to say that one of the candidates would have to be that God was at His best the week He created the Heavens and the Earth? This was definitely a breakthrough week for God. He made a Heaven and a world one week in history. I don’t ever recall any one staking the claim to creating a universe and a planet in a week’s time ... Have you? You would have to say this has to be God’s best week! And, I agree, but what about his best day? Can we pick out one of the days of that great week of creation and say that was God at His best? God started with nothingness and then decided first he needed light to help him see what he was creating. It’s always so hard to see what you are doing in the dark. So God interjected Himself into that void... that hole of darkness, and His light cut through the darkness with a brightness that could create and sustain life! That was the day God turned the lights on! We have day...We have night...Amazing! I’m sure the angels were on the side line cheering...“Way to go, God!…You’re awesome! …Go God!”

What about the second day when He created the sky to divide the water. Or, the third day when He decided to create some dry land...and he added that wonder of dry land, a covering of vegetation. That was definitely a pretty impressive day for God, but I don’t think this was God’s best day. Maybe it’s the 4th day of creation when God created the Sun and the moon. Or, the 5th day and 6th days of creation when God made the birds and the fish and all the animals. Especially the 6th day because that was when He created man in His image. When you think of the human body, and our minds, and how it is so ingenious in the way it was made, and what it is capable of doing….WOW! And then, add another ingredient.... man’s spirit. This is an amazing day in the life and times of God.

What about when He came to earth personally. I wonder if God was at His best when He decided to be born through a Virgin named Mary. I will have to admit...THIS is pretty amazing! Immanuel ... God with us ... was born on the earth in human form. This is quite a move made by God. He becomes a human like you and me, and lives among His people. He is 100% God, still somehow running the universe, and yet, 100% man dwelling on the earth. His name was Jesus! The God who created the universe and the earth,… is living on it in physical form.

Many, who have experienced physical healing, or miracles from God, would say that God is at His best when He does miracles. Some might say it was the day Jesus died on the cross. Matthew 27 describes this day of horror for Jesus and hope for you and me. All four Gospels talk about this day. It was and is, one of God’s greatest days. For me, it’s one of the three greatest days for God that I know of. But, I can’t say it was God’s best day in my view. Some would say God’s best day was definitely the day He rose from the grave. What do you think?...It’s a day of triumph! It’s the day when we all shout “He’s Alive and I’m forgiven!” I believe this also is one of God’s really great days! And for me it ranks in the top two of God’s best days. But for me, it’s not God’s very best day.

I believe the day God was at his best was on October 8,1997. That was the day Almighty God visited a lost sinner who spent a lot of time gambling, and drinking, and living life as if no one else, and nothing else, but money, possessions, and personal pleasure, mattered. On that day God showed him just how much He loved him, and that He forgave him. It was God’s best because it was the day that I experienced Jesus Christ personally and intimately. It was the day that I repented of my sins, and asked for forgiveness, and God’s loving grace washed through my body like nothing I had ever experienced before in my life.

• I felt the warm embrace of His love.
• I felt the warm touch of his mercy.
• I discovered that the God who created the universes cared about what happened to ME.
• I discovered that God was not some entity out there somewhere, but that, He was a loving father who died for ME.

It was God at His best because He took time out of His busy schedule to touch a broken man’s life in Pekin, Illinois, and set him on a path of peace and joy…a life as His servant.

Friends that is when God is at His best. For each of you who are born again Christians, the day is different, but yet it is the same...it is the day He meets people like you and me personally and intimately, and saves our souls and make us whole. The most amazing – The biggest and best day in the life of God is when He reaches down out of Heaven. He stops his busy schedule and pours out his love and forgiveness on people like you and me. My friends....God REALLY loves us...This is so awesome! John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 It’s not until God reaches down for us and gathers us in His loving arms, and says, “I love you, and I forgive you.” That’s when God is at His best. If you haven’t experienced God’s best…you can…right now.