Good morning my most Wonderful World Wide Family. I love you all so very much. It is Christmas Eve. Happy Birthday Jesus! This is a most wonderful time of year. A special time to celebrate our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. Also a special time to spend with family and friends. The fabulous thing about celebrating Jesus is that we can ALL celebrate. And we can celebrate Jesus every day not just at Christmas time.
To celebrate Jesus, we do not have to be a certain type of person, we do not have to have attained a certain social status or educational level and degree. We can be of any color, culture, creed and from any country. He calls us all unto Himself. We can be rich or poor, mentally stable or mentally ill, happy or sad, employed or unemployed, hopeful or hopeless. We can own multiple homes or currently be homeless. We can be at the most successful pinnacle of our lives or we can be experiencing the most brokenness that we have ever experienced. (This is me at this current time.) We are men, women and children of the LORD Jesus Christ, the Only Beloved, Begotten Son of His Father, Who is God our Creator.
This is one of those Truths that Supersede Fact; it does not even matter whether we believe that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the LORD because HE IS whether we believe it or not. Please don’t get me wrong; it is my heart’s desire that everyone of you and all of your generations accept Jesus Christ as your LORD and Savior and spend eternity in Heaven with Him, (and me). However, God is the One Who decided to give us free will. I have chosen to freely give my will to the LORD and to serve and trust Him with every aspect of my life.
Many of you have chosen other religions or world views. You may think that you receive great benefits from your choice and beliefs. The prayer that I have for you is that the Triune God; God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), God the Holy Spirit will reveal Himself to you personally and intimately before you pass from this life into eternity. This life is but a vapor compared to eternity and Jesus is the only pathway and door to the One and Only True God and eternal life in Heaven. This is just the TRUTH!
JOHN 14:6 JESUS ANSWERED, “I AM THE WAY AND THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME. (niv)
JAMES 4:14 YET YOU DO NOT KNOW [THE LEAST THING] ABOUT WHAT MAY HAPPEN IN YOUR LIFE TOMORROW. [WHAT IS SECURE IN YOUR LIFE?] YOU ARE MERELY A VAPOR [LIKE A PUFF OF SMOKE OR A WISP OF STEAM FROM A COOKING POT] THAT IS VISIBLE FOR A LITTLE WHILE AND THEN VANISHES [INTO THIN AIR]. (amp)
Dear LORD Jesus Christ, God Almighty, we come to You in prayer and adoration today and every day Father. We prostrate our hearts at Your Feet. You are Glorious and Worthy to be praised. We worship You. We thank You with all of our hearts and souls for giving Your Only Beloved, Begotten Son Jesus Christ to leave Heaven and be born as a baby into this world. He lived a sin free life yet He died the horrendous death of being crucified on the Cross of Calvary for us as the Propitiation for our sins. Jesus, the Lamb Who was slain before the foundation of the world. He was born to die for us. This love that You bestow upon us LORD is unfathomable, phenomenal, extraordinary and overwhelming. We love You. We magnify Your Name above all names. You are KING of kings, LORD of lords, MAGISTRATE of magistrates, the One and Only Great Potentate! Glory to Your Name LORD!
LORD please call all of your children unto You. Please make Yourself known to them all in the intimate, personal way that You are able to make them know You LORD. Protect them all from tragedy Father. Keep Your angels around them LORD. Give Your Dunamis Power and strength to those who are suffering persecution for You LORD. Let them know that You are with them. Fill us all with Your Peace that passes understanding and Your pure love. Teach us to love our fellow humanity the way that You do LORD. Please allocate Your provision to all who need help Father. Teach us to want to joyously and without hesitation, help others. Help us all to be prepared for whatever may come in 2018 and the future. We do not know what the future holds but we know that You alone hold the future in Your hands. Thank You LORD. In the Precious Name of Jesus. Amen. Glory to Your Name!
I actually started writing this letter to all of you on December 24th, 2017. I had the best of intentions of sharing my love and the love of God with you all on that date. I actually wanted to write to you all throughout the month of December about Jesus and celebrating Christmas which really is supposed to be about celebrating Jesus. However, in all honesty, I continued to be pretty broken this holiday season. I wasn’t my usual self. Which would have been great if I was becoming a better self, but I was pretty stuck in my grief from the loss of my loved one. I wasn’t really able to reach out to others as much as I usually try to.
I was able to decorate my house with a lot of festive holiday lights and my house really shone in my neighborhood. I put up my signs in my windows of “Keep Christ in Christmas” and “Jesus is the Reason for the Season”. I put up a wonderful well lit Christmas tree and lights and decorations and nativities all around the inside of my house. I sent cards and presents and donations and put on smiles and tried to say the correct encouraging things. I was really still broken and crying on the inside. I didn’t want to be, but I was. I guess we don’t really know when people are hurting and broken and when they are hiding behind their pretend smiles. I think this is a good reason to try to always be kind.
When we gathered as family for the holiday, we were all experiencing brokenness and loss and each one of us was dealing with this in our own personal way. We experienced some arguments, verbal altercations and anger. We did not handle these moments correctly as we might have at different time in our lives when we weren’t so broken. I can especially speak for myself. I apologized and I repented. The LORD forgave me, He knows my heart. He knows all of our hearts. He knows our brokenness and He is right there/here with us during our most painful moments. He never leaves us nor forsakes us.
So, I am especially glad that as a Christian, (Christ follower), who is at times victorious and at times overcome with human frailty; I can celebrate Jesus every moment of every day and not just at Christmas time. Jesus meets us right where we are but He loves us too much to leave us there. He has been doing a healing work in my life since the tragic loss of my son in law this past October. I am a work in progress. He is restoring me. This is what God does.
Prior to this time of loss, I felt like I was in a really good place with the LORD. I felt like I had never been closer to Him. Then life hit. (Again!) Boy did it hit. Tragedies catch us by surprise. But I choose to use this tragedy as the trajectory to propel me higher in my relationship with my LORD and higher in my love for my fellow human beings, God’s precious children. YOU. I depend totally on the LORD to succeed. Any and all victories that I will experience will definitely not be my own doing. I pray for more faith, mercy, grace and strength from my LORD for you and me.
I think I will close for now. I am glad that I was finally able to write to you all again. Until we talk again, please remember that you are always in my prayers and I love you and most importantly Jesus loves you. God bless you all and keep His angels around you and all of your generations.
ISAIAH 9:6 FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN, UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN: AND THE GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER: AND HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL, COUNSELOR, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, THE PRINCE OF PEACE. (kjv)
LUKE 2:1-20 AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THOSE DAYS THAT A DECREE WENT OUT FROM CAESAR AUGUSTUS THAT ALL THE WORLD SHOULD BE REGISTERED. THIS CENSUS FIRST TOOK PLACE WHILE QUIRINIUS WAS GOVERNING SYRIA. SO ALL WENT TO BE REGISTERED, EVERYONE TO HIS OWN CITY. JOSEPH ALSO WENT UP FROM GALILEE, OUT OF THE CITY OF NAZARETH, INTO JUDEA, TO THE CITY OF DAVID, WHICH IS CALLED BETHLEHEM, BECAUSE HE WAS OF THE HOUSE AND LINEAGE OF DAVID, TO BE REGISTERED WITH MARY HIS BETROTHED WIFE, WHO WAS WITH CHILD. SO IT WAS, THAT WHILE THEY WERE THERE, THE DAYS WERE COMPLETED FOR HER TO BE DELIVERED. AND SHE BROUGHT FORTH HER FIRSTBORN SON, AND WRAPPED HIM IN SWADDLING CLOTHS, AND LAID HIM IN A MANGER, BECAUSE THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR THEM IN THE INN.
NOW THERE WERE IN THE SAME COUNTRY SHEPHERDS LIVING OUT IN THE FIELDS, KEEPING WATCH OVER THEIR FLOCK BY NIGHT. AND BEHOLD AN ANGEL OF THE LORD STOOD BEFORE THEM, AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHONE AROUND THEM AND THEY WERE GREATLY AFRAID. THEN THE ANGEL SAID TO THEM, “DO NOT BE AFRAID, FOR BEHOLD, I BRING YOU GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY WHICH WILL BE TO ALL PEOPLE. FOR THERE IS BORN TO YOU THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOR, WHO IS CHRIST THE LORD. AND THIS WILL BE THE SIGN TO YOU: YOU WILL FIND A BABE WRAPPED IN SWADDLING CLOTHS, LYING IN A MANGER.”
AND SUDDENLY THERE WAS WITH THE ANGEL A MULTITUDE OF THE HEAVENLY HOST PRAISING GOD AND SAYING: “GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOODWILL TOWARD MEN!”
SO IT WAS, WHEN THE ANGELS HAD GONE AWAY FROM THEM INTO HEAVEN, THAT THE SHEPHERDS SAID TO ONE ANOTHER, ” LET US GO TO BETHLEHEM AND SEE THIS THING THAT HAS COME TO PASS, WHICH THE LORD HAS MADE KNOWN TO US.” AND THEY CAME WITH HASTE AND FOUND MARY AND JOSEPH, AND THE BABE LYING IN A MANGER. NOW WHEN THEY HAD SEEN HIM, THEY MADE WIDELY KNOWN THE SAYING WHICH WAS TOLD THEM CONCERNING THIS CHILD. AND ALL THOSE WHO HEARD IT MARVELED AT THOSE THINGS WHICH WERE TOLD THEM BY THE SHEPHERDS. BUT MARY KEPT ALL THESE THINGS AND PONDERED THEM IN HER HEART. THEN THE SHEPHERDS RETURNED, GLORIFYING AND PRAISING GOD FOR ALL THE THINGS THAT THEY HAD HEARD AND SEEN, AS IT WAS TOLD THEM. (nkjv)