Merry Christmas from us to you...

I am taking a much needed break from blogging and working and whatever...

Back in the New Year with new thoughts and bigger dreams!

May God bless you heaps!

Locky

Christmas is the ultimate Birthday Party!

You can be forgiven for actually wondering what on earth Christmas is all about today? 
One minute it is portrayed as the ultimate shopping time of the year, another minute it is all about Santa, elves and mystical flying reindeer, and finally others see it as some sort of a special religious season.

I actually think Christmas is the ultimate Birthday Party!
At its heart and based on an amazing enduring tradition, this is a Birthday Party for a baby they simply called Jesus.

The historical account of this happened around 2000 years ago while his parents Mary & Joseph were visiting Josephs families ancestral home due to a census.
Mary had travelled to Bethlehem heavily pregnant and probably wasn’t expecting this to be the way she was to meet her little one, but in a panic had to find a place to rest and partake in the miracle that is giving birth.

As her contractions began another challenge presented itself to this young family.
Due to this census and lots of visitors to Bethlehem, they discovered there was no room at the normal places you would possibly stay back in those days. This was way before book-a-batch and googling available motels!
All they could find was a stable. A place where farm animals sheltered, slept and feed. 
And there in that most inauspicious of locales, Mary gave birth to Jesus.

Western cultures have excitedly for many generations built a celebration around this Birthday and we continue that tradition again today very proudly.
Just as we try to make a child’s Birthday something special and memorable, so to the first Christmas was something special and memorable.
Back then it was recorded that people celebrated with special songs, amazing things happened in the sky, and gifts were given and received. We mirror that sentiment today in our own way, culture and context.

May this Christmas be for you a Birthday Party for Jesus.
May you find joy, rest, hope and peace.

Something to think about...

Who wants it more?

Something I have been thinking about this week in line with the Holiday Season is who wants it more?
Do we want to be in God's presence more than God wants to be with us, or vice versa?

The more I thought about this the more curious I got.
The more I thought about this I found myself remembering scriptures about God's desire to be with and meet with us.
The more and more I pondered this, the more I realised God is all about being with us. He doesn't seem to move far away from that desire and goal. We seem to be the flexible ones in this divine relationship.

1. When God created the world and the first people, it is recorded He used to visit them during the "cool of the day". Beautiful imagery of God taking time to simply enjoy being with us.
2. When God promised a Saviour called Jesus He also named him something else, Emmanuel, which literally means God with us!
3. When Jesus was born it was in public and accessible for anyone and any station in life, again because He wants to be with us and not have social boundaries.
4. When kids were being brought to Jesus and some got upset that maybe this was disrespectful, He told them to never stop that from happening. He wants to be with them.
5. Just before Jesus ascended to heaven after His resurrection, He promised the Holy Spirit would come and minister to everyone. Jesus could only be one place at one time and yet the Holy Spirit can represent His heart and desire to be with us everywhere and at anytime.
You are probably getting my point by now?...

Acts 17:27 has this cool phrase "...he is not far from any one of us!"

This Christmas please know He wants to be with you, maybe even more than you realise and more than you want to be with Him.
Good cares about you not just from a distance, but right along your side.
Reach out for him today. Enjoy a God with you moment again and again.

Something to think about...

This Little Light of Mine

One of the seemingly most crazy things I ever experienced as a new believer in Christ was being in a Church and them singing an old song called "This Little Light of Mine".
Why was it so crazy?
For some reason the Pastor thought it a good idea to encourage everyone as they sung it to jump up on the chairs, to wave their thumb side to side like a candle, and sing it out with passion.
As someone pretty new to whole following Jesus thing it was a pretty strange thing to witness.
I didn't know whether to join in or hide.
Whether to laugh, cry or run screaming from the building...

The upshot of all this supposed craziness is that it left me with an indelible memory.
When scripture or someone else reminds me that God likes us be light to the world, I think back to that moment, I smile to myself, and then I think just how dramatic and impactful my light could be for Him.

As the song goes and the scripture it is based on, Jesus said this very clearly...
"Let your light shine"

You have a light that Christ gives you, and you also have the power to switch it on or off it seems.
Jesus goes on to explain you have light so don't cover it.
Try not to hide it.
He has made you a light for a very special reason I believe...

Sometimes when my wife and I go for evening walks it gets dark before we get home.
Suze is not a fan of walking over terrain that is rough in the dark so to give her what she needs in that moment, I turn on my phone torch mode and light our way home together.

Right now your light could bring comfort to someone who desperately needs it? To someone whose life journey and path has been rough and not kind.
Your light could bring them clarity. Bring them a measure of peace.
Your light could in fact lead them to Jesus!

Sing it with me..."This little light of mine, I'm gonna let is shine!"

Something to think about...

Avoid the Curse of...

Hopefully the title hooked you a little to read this?
Because while there is plenty of modern teaching on offence and how to potentially avoid it, deal with it, I just haven't seen much on how dangerous it can be to you spiritually.

There is an amazing and sobering warning given in scripture that I hope as I share with you today, causes you to avoid becoming offended. And if you are offended, you will be motivated to get rid of it as fast as possible...

King David was a passionate man for the Kingdom.
In fact he is so into it that God even refers to him "as a man after my own heart"!
That is a pretty flattering and lofty endorsement from heaven!

During his reign as King he finds the Ark of the Covenant and desires to bring it Jerusalem.
To give it a home in the spiritual and practical centre of his nation Israel.

As they are bringing it into Jerusalem it is recorded he is so excited and passionate that he removes his kingly robes to be like "any normal fellow" and dances before the Ark with everything he has got.
He doesn't care what anyone thinks.
All that matters is that he honours God as best he can.
As God looked on and honoured his zeal, it is recorded that someone else was also looking on...

16As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.
20When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”
21David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. 22I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”
23And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
2 Samuel 6:16, 20-23 NIV

The crazy thing for me is she got offended by his passion for God!
I believe her offence stemmed from her own issues, her own insecurities, the visual conviction that maybe she wasn't on the same spiritual page as her husband?
So she gets offended.
That offence brought a curse.
And she missed out on what God wanted to do in and through her life.

Her story is a sobering warning for us who believe in Christ to not let offence in, to take hold, because if left unchecked, it can curse us spiritually.
It could rob us of the full measure of the Kingdom.

If you are offended today please ask the Holy Spirit to help you and heal you. Ask God to forgive you (which He will!).
And please let it go and move on.

Something to think about...