December 25, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Merry Christmas

”During the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent from God’s presence to an unmarried girl named Mary, living in Nazareth, a village in Galilee. She was engaged to a man named Joseph, a true descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Rejoice, beloved young woman, for the Lord is with you and you are anointed with great favor.” Mary was deeply troubled over the words of the angel and bewildered over what this may mean for her. But the angel reassured her, saying, “Do not yield to your fear, Mary, for the Lord has found delight in you and has chosen to surprise you with a wonderful gift. You will become pregnant with a baby boy, and you are to name him Jesus. He will be supreme and will be known as the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God will enthrone him as King on the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign as King of Israel forever, and his reign will have no limit.” Mary said, “But how could this happen? I am still a virgin!” Gabriel answered, “The Spirit of Holiness will fall upon you and almighty God will spread his shadow of power over you in a cloud of glory! This is why the child born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What’s more, your aged aunt, Elizabeth, has also become pregnant with a son. The ‘barren one’ is now in her sixth month. Not one promise from God is empty of power. Nothing is impossible with God!” Then Mary responded, saying, “Yes! I will be a mother for the Lord! As his servant, I accept whatever he has for me. May everything you have told me come to pass.” And the angel left her.“
‭‭Luke‬ ‭1‬:‭26‬-‭38‬ ‭TPT‬‬

”During those days, the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, ordered that the first census be taken throughout his empire. (Quirinius was the governor of Syria at that time.) Everyone had to travel to the hometown of their family to complete the mandatory census. So Joseph and his wife, Mary, left Nazareth, a village in Galilee, and journeyed to their hometown in Judea, to the village of Bethlehem, King David’s ancient home. They were required to register there, since they were both direct descendants of David. Mary was pregnant and nearly ready to give birth. When they arrived in Bethlehem, Mary went into labor, and there she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped the newborn baby in strips of cloth, and Mary and Joseph laid him in a feeding trough since there was no available space in any upper room in the village.“
‭‭Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭7‬ ‭TPT‬‬

”That night, in a field near Bethlehem, shepherds were watching over their flocks. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared in radiant splendor before them, lighting up the field with the blazing glory of God, and the shepherds were terrified! But the angel reassured them, saying, “Don’t be afraid, for I have come to bring you good news, the most joyous news the world has ever heard! And it is for everyone everywhere! For today in Bethlehem a rescuer was born for you. He is the Lord Yahweh, the Messiah. You will recognize him by this miraculous sign: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in the feeding trough!” Then all at once in the night sky, a vast number of glorious angels appeared, the very armies of heaven! And they all praised God, singing: “Glory to God in the highest realms of heaven! For there is peace and a good hope given to the sons of men.” When the choir of angels disappeared and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go! Let’s hurry and find this Word who is born in Bethlehem and see for ourselves what the Lord has revealed to us.” So they hurried off and found their way to Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in a feeding trough.“
‭‭Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭8‬-‭16‬ ‭TPT‬‬

”And on their way to Bethlehem, the same star they had seen in the East suddenly reappeared! Amazed, they watched as it went ahead of them and stopped directly over the place where the child was. And when they saw the star, they were so ecstatic that they shouted and celebrated with unrestrained joy. When they came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, they fell to the ground at his feet and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests full of gifts and presented him with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Afterward they returned to their own country by another route because God had warned them in a dream not to go back to Herod.“
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭2‬:‭9‬-‭12‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Merry Christmas! Let’s remember why we celebrate today.

Thanks to Michael Payne on Unsplash for the photo

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December 22, 2023 · 5:45 AM

Open Doors

When Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem, I’m sure they went to family members first looking for a place to stay. Everywhere they went though, they were met with closed doors. I don’t know how many inns they tried, but we know that the one mentioned in the Bible had no room for them. Just when they thought it was another closed door, they opened the door to the stable. It wasn’t much, but that open door became the place where the Messiah was born. Like the inn, our lives have a lot of compartments or rooms. How many of those doors do you have closed to Him? When we open the doors of our life to Him, He opens doors for us. Don’t just give Jesus a room or even a few rooms in your life. Open all the doors to every part so He can have His way and give you everything He has for you.

Here are some Bible verses on open doors.

1. Be like servants anticipating their master’s return from a wedding celebration. They are ready at a moment’s notice to unlock and open the door for him.

Luke 12:36 TPT

2. To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: “This is the message from the one who is holy and true. He has the key that belonged to David, and when he opens a door, no one can close it, and when he closes it, no one can open it.”

Revelation 3:7 GNT

3. I am the Door; anyone who enters through Me will be saved [and will live forever], and will go in and out [freely], and find pasture (spiritual security).

John 10:9 AMP

4. Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7 NLT

5. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Revelation 3:20 ESV

Photo by Roberto Huczek on Unsplash

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December 21, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Pursuing Peace

Years ago “The Lion King” was a huge box office hit. The main character, Simba, was tricked into believing that his father’s death was his fault. Rather than face the consequences, he let fear drive him far away from home. That’s where he ran into Timon and Pumbaa who taught him their life motto: Hakunah Matata. It means no worries. Simba adopted it as His life motto as well until he had to face his past and find peace. It wasn’t until he adopted that philosophy that he became who he was born to be.

What’s your life motto? Is it helping you to become who you were created to be? Or is it keeping you away from it? Every one of us have two fingerprints on our lives. We have the fingerprint of Adam that pulls us toward sin and away from God’s presence. We also have the fingerprint of God which holds our true identity. Each one of us allow one of those fingerprints to define our motto and how we live.

Psalm 34:14 says, “Keep turning your back on every sin, and make ‘peace’ your life motto. Practice being at peace with everyone” (TPT). God desires for every one of us to identify with His fingerprint on our life and to adopt His motto of peace. He is the Prince of Peace after all. This is a great time to put the past behind you and forgive those who have wronged you. Doing that will help you find peace internally and then you can begin pursuing peace with others. It’s not too late to adopt a new motto this Christmas.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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December 20, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Receiving Immanuel

Have you ever said, “It’s too much! I couldn’t accept this gift”? Why do we have such a hard time receiving gifts? We like giving them, but push back when someone tries to give us a gift. It could have something to do with pride because when we give, we get credit and recognition. It puts us in the driver’s seat of the relationship. However, when we receive a gift, it opens the door to intimacy in the relationship. The extent to which we fear intimacy is the extent to which we reject gifts. While it is more blessed to give than to receive, it’s often an act of obedience and humility to receive.

We all know John 3:16 and how God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only son. We usually don’t connect that verse with Christmas, but it is the quintessential Christmas verse. God demonstrated His love for you and me by giving the most extravagant gift ever: salvation through His son. It’s a free gift, but it’s one that we must receive along with the other gifts that He gives us. There’s a tendency in all of us to push back on this free gift because we fear intimacy with God. We like the idea of keeping Him at arms length knowing that receiving the gift of His son requires our soul, our life, our all. Intimacy is what He is looking for from us.

John 1:11 says, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (NKJV). When God gave us the gift of Christmas, the world’s initial reaction was to not receive it. The prophesy in Isaiah 7:14 said that His gift would be called Immanuel which translates to God with us. Since the beginning God has desired an intimate relationship with each of us. It begins when we receive His free gift, but is grown through our spiritual disciplines. We must open our hands and hearts to receive the gift of Immanuel that God gives. Your level of intimacy with Him is in proportion to the amount you receive Immanuel and trust Him with your heart and life.

Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash

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December 19, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Perfectly Wrapped

Like most guys, I’m not a very good wrapper when it comes to presents. If you get a gift from me, it’s going to come in a bag. My wife isn’t that way. She prides herself on her wrapping ability. At Christmas each family gets a certain color coordinated wrapping paper and bow. So one Christmas we had an assembly line going where I put the gifts in boxes and got tape ready while she wrapped. She would then ask who it belonged to and she would write their name on it. About eight presents in, I snuck her gift into the assembly line. When she asked who it was for, I told her it was hers. She hadn’t paid attention to what she was wrapping and laughed. I told her I wanted her to have a gift that was as beautifully wrapped as all the other ones.

At Christmas we can stress about getting the right gift and also the need to wrap it. However, about 2,000 years ago God sent His only son into the world as His gift to us. John 1 says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. At His birth, angels appeared in the fields near Bethlehem to announce to shepherds that the Messiah had come. They were told to go find Him. Luke 2:12 says, ”And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger“ (NLT). God’s greatest gift was wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a feeding trough rather than in kingly garments in a palace. His gift was to all people who would receive Him.

Jesus was God’s gift to us. What we do with Him is our gift to God. We can leave Him as a baby lying in a manager, but His birth isn’t what saves us. His birth was so God could be with us and identify with us. He knows our pains, our struggles and our temptations. His gift to God and us was His death on the cross which opened a way for us to be with God. He was born to die so that we may truly live. In response, our gift to God is a life wrapped in His grace, filled with His love and sharing His message to a world in need. When we unwrap the story of His life and what He did for us, we should desire to live a life that reflects that kind of love. The wrapping doesn’t have to be pretty and perfect because God doesn’t look on the outside like we do. He looks at our heart.

Photo by Jon Carlson on Unsplash

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December 18, 2023 · 5:46 AM

The Right Time

One thing I’ve learned is that God operates on His own time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve reached out in desperation praying to get an answer on my time. There have been times when He’s come through right at the deadline. There have been other times when my deadline has come and gone while I was waiting for Him to answer. I think of Lazarus who was sick when his sisters sent word for Jesus to come and heal him. While Jesus was waiting, Lazarus died. Four days after that, Jesus showed up and raised him from the dead. No matter what our deadline is, His answer will come at the right time. He sees a bigger picture than what we see.

For 400 years before Jesus was born, God was silent. Famine had struck the land a generation before Jesus that threatened to wipe out the country. The Romans took over the world, including Israel. Yet God didn’t answer their cries. However, it was the Roman’s who called for a census that would send Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem in order to fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah would be born there. It was because of the Romans that the known world had a unified language which allowed the Gospel to spread quickly. While people cried out for deliverance, God waited for the right moment to bring salvation to us.

Galatians 4:4 says, ”But when the right time came, God sent his Son“ (NLT). Looking back, you can always see that God answers when the right time came. I don’t know what you’re praying for, but don’t stop. Your deadline May have come and gone, but keep praying. There is nothing impossible for God. He can do what seems impossible to us. He won’t be early with His answer, but when the right time comes, He will bring you the answer that is in accordance with His plan. Don’t give up if you’re still waiting or if God seems silent. Keep asking. Keep knocking. Keep seeking. Keep believing too because God is at work and setting things in motion. He will send His son to answer at the right time.

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

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December 15, 2023 · 5:29 AM

Growing Deeper Roots

I was speaking with someone recently who in a matter of days was robbed, had their car break down, lost their job and had a family member diagnosed with cancer. They still trusted in God, and though they were shaken, they believed God would meet every need. A person like that has deep roots in their faith. A season like this will not blow them over, but actually cause their roots to go deeper. Have you considered how deep your roots in Christ are? In Matthew 13 Jesus told a parable about a farmer scattering seeds. Some fell in shallow soil and when the heat came, they dried up. Some fell among the thorns and the roots were chocked out. Some fell in fertile soil and the roots went deep. This person planted their roots in God’s Word and not only survived, but produced in every season. Determine today to plant your roots in Christ and trust Him no matter what season you’re in.

Here are some Bible verses on growing deeper roots.

1. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:7 NLT

2. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 ESV

3. Wickedness never brings stability, but the godly have deep roots.

Proverbs 12:3 NLT

4. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

Ephesians 3:16-17 NLT

5. There is hope for a tree that has been cut down; it can come back to life and sprout. Even though its roots grow old, and its stump dies in the ground, with water it will sprout like a young plant.

Job 14:7-9 GNT

Photo by AMAL BEN SAAD on Unsplash

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December 14, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Getting In The Wheelbarrow

I like to tell people that you will always act on what you truly believe, especially when you’re under pressure. It’s easy to say you believe something, but the proof comes when stress is applied. There’s a story of a man named Charles Blonden who famously put out a tightrope across Niagara Falls. He crossed it several times using different methods like stilts, backwards, blindfolded, carrying a stove and cooking on it. One time he pushed a wheelbarrow across it. When he arrived on the other side, the crowd applauded. He then asked who believed he could push someone in that wheelbarrow across the tightrope. Everyone cheered agreeing that he could. He then asked for a volunteer from the cheering crowd. The crowd fell silent and no one volunteered. Later his manager Harry Colcord did ride across on his back.

It’s easy to say we believe something until we have to get I to the wheelbarrow. In the Old Testament, God asked Abraham to take his only son to the land of Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice (Genesis 22). This was a faith testing moment. God had already told him that through Isaac he would have many descendants. He took Isaac to the mountain anyway because He truly believed God. David’s faith was tested too. He had been anointed king, but God delayed in that promise. He had several opportunities to kill Saul, the current king, but he trusted God’s timing instead. Many opportunities presented themselves, but he passed on them all as he waited for God’s perfect timing.

Testing is part of God’s means of proving our faith just like He did for those in the Bible. If He tested them, He’ll test us. 1 Peter 1:7 says, “Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed” (GNT). Testing purifies and solidifies our faith. Don’t back down from what you believe when hard times come or when you’re called out on it. Get in the wheelbarrow and trust God to carry you across Niagara’s Falls. He’s proven time and time again He’s able to, but it’s up to us to trust Him enough to get in.

Photo by Sergey Pesterev on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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December 13, 2023 · 5:29 AM

Eliminate Hopelessness

In the 1950’s a professor did an experiment where he placed rats in water to see how long it would take for them to drown. Several died within minutes. He then decided to introduce hope into the experiment to see if that changed anything. He placed more rats in the water and waited until they were giving up. Once they began to drown, he reached in, grabbed them and held them a few minutes before placing them back in the water. This time they didn’t give up. They continued to swim for much longer than before. He wrote that the rats quickly learn that the situation is not hopeless and when hopelessness is eliminated, they do not die.

When Abraham was 75 years old, he had given up on having kids. He began to reason and come to terms that everything he had acquired in life would go to his servant. He was hopeless at that point, but God visited him and told him he would have a son. Abraham was excited and believed God. However, a year passed without Sarah getting pregnant. Then another. Soon a decade passed. Then another. Because God eliminated hopelessness, Abraham continued to believe. When he turned 100, his wife finally became pregnant and had a son. They named him Isaac, which means laughter. God did the impossible for a couple and all they could do was laugh when He did.

Isaiah 40 was written to Israel while they were in captivity in Babylon. They were on the verge of giving up. God spoke to them on verse 31 and said, ”But those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. They will rise on wings like eagles; they will run and not get weary; they will walk and not grow weak“ (GNT). If God can give a 100 year old a baby and deliver an entire nation from captivity, He can meet your need. He will eliminate hopelessness from your situation and give you strength to keep going. When God is involved, it is never too late, never too far gone and never too hopeless. One word from Him and the situation will turn around. Receive His strength today to keep going and to trust Him.

Photo by Hu Chen on Unsplash

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December 12, 2023 · 5:40 AM

Lifted Back Up

My wife and I made our first trip to Haiti a couple of years after the catastrophic earthquake of 2010. As we made our way out of Port au Prince, we drove through what was known as tent city where thousands of people who lost their homes lived. We made our way north to a village where we were going to be working with an orphanage. The village was very primitive. The people would carry a 5 gallon bucket for several miles each day to get fresh water. I remember seeing them carrying that heavy load all the way back and wondering how many generations have been bent over carrying water that far. The organization we were with wanted to ease that load on the people. The next year, we drilled a well and installed a reverse osmosis system so the people could have free water and not have to carry those buckets so far.

In Luke 13:10-17, Jesus encountered a woman while He was teaching in the synagogue who was doubled over. It says that she was this way because of a demon held her in bondage. Jesus decided to heal her even though it was the Sabbath. The leader of the synagogue reprimanded Jesus for healing her. He then responded by reminding him that each person in there had untied their animals at some point on a sabbath to lead them to water. He then said that this woman had been bound up and doubled over for 18 years under this load. Should she be untied and lifted up? The leader was ashamed, but the people and the woman rejoiced that Jesus lifted her up.

Psalm 145:14 says, ”The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads“ (NLT). Commentaries say that this phrase “bent beneath their loads” is referencing people who are doubled over under their worries, their duties or their trials. God is one who lifts people up. He doesn’t want to leave you bent over under the heavy load you’re carrying. In fact, in Matthew 11:28 He offers for you to go to Him with your heavy load and He will lift you up and give you rest. He will take that load you shouldn’t be carrying off your shoulders and give you His burden instead, which is light. God can release you today from the things that are weighing you down. Release them to Him today and ask Him to take the weight off your shoulders. He wants to lift you back up.

Photo by Aditya Saxena on Unsplash

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