Christmas is....

Many years ago, heaven and Earth rejoiced because the birth of the world’s savior had occurred. Jesus Christ was born – the perfect, holy, son of God was alive in THIS dark world. The world became a brighter place.  The best GIFT and most important GIFT in Creation had been given to us – Jesus was with us and He hasn’t left us since. We call this special day Christmas!

SO…Christmas is JESUS…Christmas is LOVE….God loved each one of us SO much that He reproduced Himself in Jesus, He spoke Jesus into existence and sent the Holy Spirit to impregnate Mary and our savior was born.  There was no true hope and light in this world until that day.  Jesus is our ONLY hope and way to enter into a relationship with God, our creator. KNOWING Jesus as a personal savior and trusting in Him for our salvation is the ONLY way to spend eternity in Heaven.  All other ways are a lie – being a good person, doing nice things for others, having a relationship with a church or a pastor – that’s not the way to receive salvation. We must reach out to Jesus personally, ask Him to forgive us for our sins, and then trust Him as He wipes our record clean FOREVER. 

My Christmas prayer and a prayer all the year through is that anyone who doesn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ – our savior - would turn to Him – would receive Him and would allow Him to LOVE them and to make them NEW in Him – a born again creation, cleansed and ready to do Jesus’ good works here on Earth.

In John 14:12, Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” 

Jesus isn’t lying in a manger in a nativity scene. Jesus is ALIVE and ACTIVE doing the same great works that He did thousands of years ago – DAILY in our lives in THIS world and THIS present time!

I am a witness of these great works of Jesus here on Earth SO to me, Christmas is a testimony of God’s goodness in all the ways He has manifested in my life….to me,

Christmas is….

-God asking me to reach out to my brother on Thanksgiving Day two years ago. While praying one morning, God reminded me that He wanted me to see Brad how He sees him – with compassion – so I spent some time praying for my brother.  Then, that same morning, I received a text from Brad saying that he needed something. We had not spoken in weeks.  The text wasn’t a surprise to me though – I knew God wanted me to help him SO I did and God overwhelmed me with LOVE because of my obedience. 

-hearing the doctor’s report of all the things that Luke is allergic to and telling us that he should not eat any product with nuts in it but now we watch him delight in a long list of foods included on that “Do not eat” list!  He doesn’t fear food like the doctor’s said he would…he delights in food. God sent His Word and healed Luke of His allergies so foods could nourish His little body like it was intended to do.  

-hearing the doctor’s report that our baby Kate was at a high risk of having down’s syndrome and then watching the ultrasound tech show us a beautiful picture of a perfect baby girl with all of her organs complete and whole at just 17 weeks pregnant

-God repairing my broken family (of the separation of my mom and dad and unexpected offspring from my brother) by bringing forth a Holy Spirit filled man (named Kim) to love and nurture my mom and by bringing into this world four precious children – Lexi, Caleb, Blaine, and Taylor – who He has a design and plan for

-Jesus rescuing me from a constant, suffocating fear by baptizing me in the Holy Spirit. For years, I turned to alcohol to run from my fears…Jesus sent the Holy Spirit and I haven’t wanted or needed alcohol since then. 

-being asked by the Holy Spirit to confess some hurtful sins from many years ago to a friend and to ask her for forgiveness and then to listen to her as she gracefully forgave me for every last detail and then to experience our friendship growing stronger

-in the small daily events – like God sending a life long friend’s dad to help me load $300 worth of groceries at wal-mart while I had both kids by myself – one of them having a huge meltdown. God knew I needed some help so He sent me some. That’s not coincidence – it WAS God caring about the small things in my life.  

-the supernatural strength that I get in the afternoons after being up 6 or 7 times at night with baby Kate and working all day – somehow I get a boost of energy when I get home from work that helps me enjoy my family. This supernatural strength could only come from the Lord.   

-God sending me to a place of worship where the Holy Spirit is always active and alive – where I have witnessed miracles just the same as the Bible records – body parts healed, diseases gone, demons cast out, fears replaced with peace, sins forgiven and salvation received 

NOW TO EACH OF YOU…I challenge you, this Christmas, seek your own heart, talk to the Lord, and think about what Christmas means to you….does Christmas mean Jesus to you? Have you accepted Him as your PERSONAL savior? Do you have a relationship and friendship with Him?  If not, today is the day of salvation.  Jesus is always waiting! 

In Luke 15:7, Jesus says, “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

Very soon, the Christmas decorations and lights will come down BUT the POWER of Jesus IN us will go nowhere.  The light of Jesus through His love and POWER will shine IN us and THROUGH us all year round!  I love each of you and God does too! Merry Christmas!