Wednesday, December 23, 2015

King Herod is still part of Christmas

I was reading the Christmas story to my 3M's tonight before bed. After finishing, I asked them each their favorite person of  Christmas. Matthias quickly answered, "Jesus because he is the savior!" And Malachi followed quickly in his big brothers footsteps. Miracle she said she liked the angels who brought the good news and also the shepherds who went and told everyone about Jesus whom them had seen. 
Then, Miracle said, "Ask us the worst part of Christmas?" And they all answered, "King Herod!" Their faces cringed as if Christmas would be better without King Herod.
I challenged them to think about why King Herod was an important part of Christmas? Yes he was the mean King ; trying to be the death of Jesus, but he is also another reminder to us as followers ofJesus that God protects and leads those that are His. I asked them each to think of the meanies in their world right now. For Matthias it was his struggle to make a super long playdough hotdog just like his sister today...tears and frustration filled his body as the battle in his mind was so easily seen through my mom heart. I quickly called him to me and he squeezed me tightly with tears. I whispered truth loudly in his ear, "you are good, you are not measured by the playdough, you don't have to believe the lie that wants to ruin your fun of playing playdough."
What is it that is seeking to "kill" your life today, to keep the real Savior and King from claiming the throne in your heart and mind and entire life? I know for me, I recognized it as pride today. It's a monster that I wish I didn't have to admit. The silent loud whisper in my head...the control, the nagging angry rise to know ... If pride could just get to the stable where He lay...my 'King Herod'...plays to deceive...but God is greater! Because of 'King Herod's' in our lives, God has more opportunity to speak and appear more...continuing to prove His promise and Authority, and Rule and Reign! The silence was broken, and God's word fulfilled demonstrating that nothing can alter the sovereignty of God. Have you made it to the manger this Christmas because of a 'King Herod' that drove you to find Him? And are you willing to take a different route in obedience of God's warning? After all, the only reason you found Jesus the Savior was because God led you with the star in the sky...



Read the Christmas story account for yourself and ponder...it's time to breathe Him in! From Matthew 2...
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.”
Matthew 2:1-23 NIV
http://bible.com/111/mat.2.1-23.niv

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

God IS...

Immanuel! Yes God IS with us. This is ever comforting. He is my perseverance.
God is with you.
God is with me.
"Fear not, for I AM with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10
I find myself pressing into this truth in my emotional aches that pang me for understanding, peace and God's perspective, longing for contentment in this life for my man, and crying out for the ability to surrender my 3M's to the King of Kings because whatever this earthly life may bring..
I have to believe that God IS with us...and this changes my life.
And if God is with us, He is also FOR us...the world whispers that He is not, how could a perfect God be FOR this chaos, mass confusion and violence, why the suicide rates, and stone cold faces, the wide open mouths of disbelief every time we see the news, the thousands that lose the battle to cancer, the many situations that bring hopelessness, and I could go on...
"But if God be for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31
Just ponder that question. What if it's true that God is with us and that He is for us? I don't know your life but I know there are battles you fight daily that seem never ending. I can feel alone in my struggles...but something tells me that I'm wrong. Are our battles different yet the same? What are you believing in the midst of your pain - that God IS with you or do you just bank on that screen to be with you? I've tried that, oh facebook please rid me of my loneliness and deseire for adult conversation, or how 'bout all those times of hard to swallow news when you pick up your cellphone and can so easily call someone from your 'favorites list' ; they will know exactly what to say, right? But these days, I'm asking the Lord to help me to live like Mary as she journeyed with Joseph to Bethlehem. The quickest physical help she had was one earthly man named Joseph, and the faith that angels had been among her...yet without a cell phone she was tired, weary, and pressing on...she knew that God was with her and this MIRACLE that the angel presented to her was growing bigger and drawing nearer ever hour. This didn't seem to lessen the world's disbelief and the overwhelming bombardment of situations to try to detour and prevent and confuse...but guess what?
God is with us.
God is for us.
And if God be for us, who can be against us?
The stable held Immanuel and the animals sang his praises and the star shown brighter than the rest without doubt providing warmth, protection, and certain hope. A baffling overwhelming head shaking realization that this was not of the world....sustained by the One great God - the creator of the universe.
These days have me changing ... I've been kneeling on my knees. Not because I am holy but becasue I cannot stand any longer. I am undone, running out of words. From one conversation to the next, I fail to communicate God's faithfulness and sovereignty, seems the cracks in my voice and look on my face speak frailty to the others. I am a cracked pot. Here is the truth: God is faithful and this world is faithful to try to disapprove it. I won't let it. In the midst of my weariness, I find myself with tears running down my face with such passionate desire to trust that God IS good. I know that His love will endure...can His great faithfulness sustain you and me? 
Life is stepping towards another move...at this point, it can be hard to determine what type of move. It might be a physical and spiritual move, or it might end up being only a spiritual move within our hearts and minds. Whatever happens, I know it is going to be life altering. No one moves 5 times in 4 years without forever being changed and may it be because God is with us and God is for us. Yes!
This Christmas season, will you join me in fighting the tides of the culture and living the truth that "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, GOD WITH US." Matthew 1:23
And will you fix your eyes up with me...as we each look in expectation for the 'star' that shines so bright to show us the way to go in our 'merry go round' lives...
"When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." Matthew 2:10
There are tears along the way, but joy will soon fill us forever and ever.
Endure. Don't give up. Fight the good fight. The WORD is living and active sharper than any two edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12) Choose to declare it even when you and I ask 'why?' because
He
is
Immanuel.
God with us.
God for us.