Christmas In July

 "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."  Matthew 1:23

Every year in July, a popular TV Network begins to air their Christmas movies to coincide with their Network Retailer's Ornament Premiere.  It's the kick-off to the Holiday Season that begins five months before the actual Holiday.

I'm a big fan.

As I walked around the store looking at all of the Christmas displays, I came across a Precious Moment's Nativity Scene.  As I looked at the intricate pieces in this set, I couldn't help but think about the waited anticipation of the coming Saviour.

I thought of Simeon in Luke 2:25-32.  The bible tells us that this man was a just and devout man, who waited patiently for the consolation of Israel.  The Holy Spirit had revealed to this man, that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord Jesus Christ with his very own eyes.

That day finally came.  He was in the temple, like he always was, on the day Joseph and Mary entered into the temple with Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law. Simeon knew the moment he laid his eyes on Jesus, that the promise made to Him had been fulfilled.

Vs 28-32, "Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of the people Israel."

Can you imagine how full Simeon's heart was when He saw His Promised Saviour?

Emmanuel!  God with us.  God is here!

The bible tells us of Anna, a prophetess, a widow that had served God with fastings and prayers night and day.  She too was waiting for the Promised Messiah.  (Luke 2:36-38)

Vs 38-"And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem."

Emmanuel!  God with us!  God is here!

And what about Mary? Can you imagine what was going through her mind the moment she held Jesus in her arms?  Luke 1:46, 47 gives us a tiny glimpse of her thoughts:  "And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."

Emmanuel!  God with us!  God is here!

For me, it was July 5, 1995, when I turned from my sin to my Saviour.

Emmanuel!  God with me!  God is here.

I cannot comprehend how God, who cannot be confined or contained, chooses to take up residence in the human heart of those who choose Him for their Lord and Saviour!

Emmanuel!  God with us!  God is here!  And He promises to never leave us or forsake us.  We are kept until He calls us home to be with him for all of eternity!

Christmas isn't just in December or July...

    Christmas is here...

          Every day of the year...

                But that's just me!

God with Us

Terrian 2019

Be not dismayed, fear not the darkness,

Jesus is here, He walks beside us,

Gracious is He, through all our weakness,

Forever faithful, forever good.

Lift up our eyes, to the Maker of Heaven,

He is our help, forever present,

Faithful is He, He is our constant,

Forever faithful, forever good.

(Bridge) No matter what, what storm may come,

Our God is here, our God is here,

When fear gives in, when darkness runs,

Our God is here, our God is here.

(Chorus) Emmanuel, Emmanuel,

God with us, living inside,

Emmanuel, Emmanuel,

God with us, Living inside,

Emmanuel

"By the light of nature we see God as a God above us, by the light of the law we see Him as a God against us, but by the light of the gospel we see Him as Emmanuel, God with us." Matthew Henry

Ignorant Sins

 "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Words of Jesus spoken while hanging on the cross.  Luke 23:34

"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent;"

Acts 17:30

"The Law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple." Psalm 19:7

"Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression." Psalm 19:12-13

When I was a little girl, sometimes I would get in trouble for doing things I didn't know were wrong.

I would do or say something, and my mom would look at me and say, "Don't do that; you know better than that!"  But did I?  Not always. Sometimes I would answer my mom's reprimand and say, "I didn't know that was wrong." But my mom always had a ready response to my excuse, "Maybe not, but now you do."

I found similar words in Leviticus chapter 4. This chapter talks about the sin offering that was made on behalf of ignorant sins.

Leviticus 4: 2 says, "Speak unto the children of Israel saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:" Verse 13 includes the whole congregation if they were to sin because of their ignorance. Verse 22 includes what must be done when a ruler sins in ignorance, and then in verse 27, the Lord also includes the ignorant sins of the common people.

But what stood out to me the most in this chapter, was that, although sins were done in ignorance, they would not be repeated in ignorance, because God revealed it for what it was:  SIN.

Leviticus 4:14a says, "When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known,"

Leviticus 4:23a says, "Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge;"

And Leviticus 4:28a says the exact same thing.

Leviticus 5:17 tells us, "And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity."

God told the Nation of Israel, that even unintentional sins require atonement.

Just like when I was a little girl, I might have done something wrong because I didn't know it to be wrong, but once my mom told me it was wrong...I better not do it again because I now knew better.

God told His children, that there would be times when they sinned against Him because they didn't know it to be sin, but God always revealed their sin to them, so they could make a sin offering and be forgiven, and so that they would not commit that same offence again.

So, how do we know what sin is?  The world has blurred the lines between what is right and what is wrong, but Psalm 119:11 says, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."

The more we read God's Word, the more He will help us to identify the sin that is in our heart.  He has given us His Holy Spirit to convict and convince us to do right in all things.

When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He paid for them entirely and completely:

Past, Present, Future.

But when God reveals to us that we have sin in our hearts, the proper response is to confess it and to forsake it, and then move on for the glory of God.

Sometimes, I didn't know...

    Now I do...

        But that's just me!

"We are to order our lives by the light of His Law, not by our guesses."

J.I. Packer

The Root of the Problem

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,"

Hebrews 12:1

I love to weed my garden after it rains; why? Because I can pull the weed out by its roots.  When the ground is hard and dry, most of the time, I end up breaking off the top of the weed, leaving the root behind.  The result: the same weed, in the same place, only rooted deeper into the ground. The next time I try to pull the weed out, it is more resistant and more difficult.  It may even require some digging!

I have a doctor's appointment later on this afternoon. I'm seeing a third doctor for the same problem.  Why? Because no one knows the root of the problem. I've only been given medications and suggestions for the symptoms.

Our besetting sin works the same way.  When we only deal with the symptoms of our sin, that sin will only get rooted deeper into the soil of our lives. It will continually weigh us down in the race we are running.

Isn't it funny how we will often times go to God and ask Him to deal with our sin symptoms, but we don't ask Him to remove the Root of our besetting sin? That's because we really don't want God to identify our problem, we only want help from the consequences of our problem.

But God wants to deal directly with the root of our problem; call it what it is, SIN.  

Why?

Because we are new creatures in Christ.

Because people are witnessing our race.  

We are to bring glory to God.

Because God has dealt with our sin problem.

Because we have been freed from the bondage of sin through Jesus' blood!

The list could go on and on...

Why carry the symptoms of sin when the root has been destroyed by our Lord Jesus Christ?

Proverbs 28:13 says, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."

Remove the root of the problem...

    Confess, Forsake, Surrender...

        We have a race to run, and people are watching...

        But that's just me!

Suffering in Silence

"Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence." Psalm 94:17 

Guzik writes, " This highlights that without God's intervention, the psalmist would have been overwhelmed and silenced by his circumstances."

A friend I've known for over 30 years revealed a heart-breaking secret to me the other day. 

You could have knocked me over with a feather as I listened to her hurt and what she has been dealing with for all of these years.

As I sat there and listened to her bare her heart to me, I couldn't help asking myself, "How did I not know this? How could I have missed the signs?  Have I turned a blind eye; not recognizing a friend who is hurting? Have my ears grown deaf to the silent cries of those who cannot speak for themselves? Have I become so busy that I forget to stop and sincerely ask how someone is doing?"

Suffering in silence brings a person to the point of not having the ability to speak out for help.

How does that happen when we are told to bear one another's burdens? (Galatians 6:2)

Is it pride? Fear of being judged by others? Fear of being exposed? Embarrassed?

Perhaps it's all of those things, but there is another side to suffering in silence; it's reaching out for help and not receiving it.

Her pleas for help fell on deaf ears.

As I held the hand of my friend, I assured her that I was listening and that I would help her, and even now, steps are being made to do so.

But as my friend waited all of this time for the help she needed, she is such a blessed example of our Lord Jesus Christ.  She is a faithful sister in Christ who has the Joy of the Lord in her life. Her testimony is and always has been a reflection of her Lord.

Charles Spurgeon wrote, "Our infirmities become the black velvet on which the diamond of God's love glitters all the more brightly."

My friend glitter's God's love...

    In my infirmities, I want to glitter too...

        But that's just me!

Isaiah 40:31

"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

-But- We are looking on the flip side now. We are no longer relying on our own strength, but the strength of the LORD.

-The Key? WAIT. That's the hard part, isn't it? But when we remind ourselves that God's timing is always perfect, it will help us to rest in Him.

Let's define some words based on Strong's Concordance.

Renew-Spring up, go on forward.

-The weariness of the world tends to slow our steps, yet God promises that if we wait on Him, there is a spring to our step!

Mount-Ascend, climb, excel, raise, recover, restore! I love that definition!

-The world, circumstances and situations in life want to weigh us down, but, when we wait upon the LORD we will continue to rise above the circumstances and reap recovery and restoration!

Run- Divide speedily, footman, bring hastily.

-I like to think of this term as 'divide and conquer!'

Weary-To tire and be exhausted. 

-When we wait upon the LORD, I'm reminded that the battle belongs to the LORD. When we wait upon the LORD, worldly cares will not slow us down! We won't quit!

Walk-To carry, lead, bear, march, prosper.

-All promises from God when we wait on Him.  We are told in Scripture to be soldiers! (2 Timothy 2:3) 

So, I love how we read the descriptions fit for a soldier in this verse:

-March!

-Go forward!

-Excel!

-Footman!

Faint-To tire or grow weary.

-Waiting on the LORD will allow us to keep on keeping on, no matter what! Waiting on the LORD means we have strength that never tires. It means that when the world wants to bring us down in defeat, the LORD will lift us up in Victory!  

All because of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Waiting on the LORD allows us to rest IN Him...

    While He provides every thing we need in the battle...

        But that's just me!

"There is the Runner, the Running and the Waiting; depending on the strength of the LORD."

Charles Spurgeon (condensed)

Sneaker Waves

"See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise," Ephesians 5:15

To walk circumspectly one needs to live carefully, wisely, and cautiously.  Look ahead, be prepared what is coming around the corner.

 I thought of this verse while I was caught unaware in deeper sea water than I realized.  I spent the weekend at the Oregon Coast with my sister and her husband, and even though I grew up walking the shoreline of the West Coast, my time on the Prairie removed my cautionary skills.  While the tide was out, we were able to walk on rocks that are usually hidden in high tide, and with my head down and my eyes focused on revealed starfish, sea anemones, agates, and algae, I was hit by a sneaker wave.  A sneaker wave is a large, unexpected wave that suddenly appears without warning.  Sometimes the force will cause you to fall down, but in this instance, it just allowed me to lift my head and see that low tide was suddenly becoming high tide, and I needed to get quickly back to shore.  Standing on a rock with water all around it, I weighed the options in my head; get off the rock into the deep water and waves, or calmly wait for the water to recede enough for another rock to be exposed and work my way back to the sandy beach?  I decided to calmly wait for the waves to recede and jump from rock to rock back to the sandy beach.  When I got there, I told my sister that I didn't realize how far I had gone out there, and I didn't realize how fast the ocean was making its way back inland.  To be honest, it was a little scary; I was not looking where I should have been looking.  I was so focused on looking down at all the beautiful distractions, that I did not see that danger had crept in.

Sin will do that too.  The circumstances of life will allow us to focus on the distractions of the world, earthy pleasures perhaps? Then the sneaker waves hit, and they pull you down, suck you in, your head is barely above water.

Funny how it takes getting hit by a wave to readjust your focus!

Paul warns us to live circumspectly.  Live to be prepared for what is coming.

Peter reminds us of the same thing: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" 1 Peter 5:8

Don't be hit by a sneaker wave...

    remain on The Rock, and be prepared for what is headed your way...

        But that's just me!

A Really BAD Haircut

 "But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering."

1 Corinthians 11:15

I think all women love to go and get their hair done, whether it's a new cut, the same cut, added color or curl.  Appointments are generally made for the next time even before leaving the salon; it gives us something to look forward to.

And excited I was! I was counting the days this past week, and at the same time telling myself, 'Don't cut your bangs yourself! It's almost time for your appointment!" (Confession, sometimes I get impatient and take the scissors to my own hair; it's never a good look!)

Knowing that I will be going on vacation in a few short days to see family I have not seen in a very long time, I was really excited for my hair appointment.

I walked out of the Salon mortified!  What happened? I tried to keep my tears at bay while telling myself, "Just go home, take a shower, style your hair just like you always do, it will be ok."

It's not ok. The tears fell.

As I held the mirror up to look at the reflection of the back of my head, Solomon's words entered my thoughts:

"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." Ecclesiastes 1:2

I whispered, "I know Lord, it's just hair, it will grow."

Did my whispered prayer remove my mortification? No, but at the same time I know that it will only last for about 6 weeks and it really will be ok.

The mistake is in the back of my head...

    I don't have to look at it...

        I just feel sorry for the person sitting behind me in church...

            But that's just me!