Heaven Above

From Heaven Above

From heaven above to earth I come to bear good news to every home; Glad tidings of great joy I bring, Whereof I now will say and sing:

"To you this night is born a Child of Mary, chosen mother mild; This little Child of lowly birth shall be the joy of all the earth. 

"Tis Christ, our God, who far on high hath heard your sad and bitter cry; Himself will your salvation be, Himself from sin will make you free."

Welcome to earth, Thou noble guest, Through whom e'en wicked men are blest.! Thou comest to share our misery: What can we render, Lord, to Thee?

Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child, Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled, Within my heart that it may be, A quiet chamber kept for thee!

Glory to God in the highest heaven, Who unto men His son hath given, While angels sing with pious mirth, A glad new year to all the earth.

Now that Christmas is drawing so near, do you think God is pleased with the way you have celebrated the season welcoming Jesus? Maybe we should have sang more carols or read and reread Luke 2. Would spending more time in prayer have brought me closer to the Christ-child? Should our church have planned one more service  and gone all out in inviting the community?  

It's true this is the time of year where prayer and Bible reading and worship services seem more abundant. I am afraid we often go through all the motions of performance when God reminds us that performing all the rituals of celebration is a long way from accepting the gift His Son brings. The message of the Christmas season is that Jesus is born. The one who loves you and will save you from your sins, is here. Then God's pleasure is seen when we believe, accept, trust, obey, and love Jesus as heaven's gift of life for the world. 

Martin Luther wrote the words to this song in 1535 and their message, almost 500 years ago, is the message of the good news about Jesus.  We focus our attention each spring on the Easter season with observance of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. None of that could have happened without the Bethlehem happenings. 

We place emphasis on the church, because the church is God's blessing for us in associating with Christians for worship and praise.  It is through the church we try to meet the masses with salvation's story. But the establishment of the church, the organization of the church, and the accomplishments of the church, would never have happened, were it not for the baby in the manger. 

I hope you can see that right now you can begin to share your faith and help others to see the importance of Jesus coming to earth. Our lives are strengthened in Him when we reflect on his birth, his life, his teaching, as well as his death.  Wise is the servant who will claim Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

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Come WorshipHim

The Happy Christmas

The Happy Christmas Comes Once More

The happy Christmas comes once more, The heavenly Guest is at the door,  The blessed words the shepherds thrill, The joyous tidings: Peace, good will. 

O wake, our hearts, in gladness sing, And keep our Christmas with our King. Like the sound of mighty water rolls.

Come, Jesus, glorious heavenly Guest, Keep Thine own Christmas in our breast; Then David's harp strings, hushed so long. Shall swell our jubilee of song.

Christmas is supposed to be a time of happiness.  The gift of God's Son, coming with a mission of love and salvation, was timed perfectly. For the Christian, this time of year is special, in that our world recognizes the celebration God's precious Gift to mankind.

When we look around us in the month of December, we may see preparations being made for celebrating Jesus. However, most of the things we see this month are geared toward a retail spending frenzy.  And while Christmas is a time of celebration, the celebrations are not centered around the birth of our Lord, but rather the celebration of us!

Think about this with me; we celebrate birthdays with family and friends and share gifts and exchange good wishes. Unless we are really famous, after we die, our family probably doesn't celebrate our birthday.  The reason is simple.......we aren't there anymore.  In the celebration of Christmas, this is our chance to become a part of a world-wide celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and He is present .  That is the message of this Christmas and every Christmas. Jesus is alive and present every year.

Jesus is waiting to be the special guest at your parties and gatherings this year.  In like manner, he wants to be the invited guest into your life every day. He longs to be welcomed into every activity, every decision, every event.  He is present for your family, your workplace, your school. He comes to reside in your heart. 

Come, Jesus, glorious heavenly Guest, Keep Thine own Christmas in our breast; Then David's harp strings, hushed so long. Shall swell our jubilee of song.

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Note:  One of the resources used in gathering this article is the book, Christ in the Carols, by Christopher and Melodie Lane, available through Tyndale House Publishers.

David's Message from God

Psalm 36 begins with these words:

^" I have a message from God in my heart
    concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
    before their eyes."

David, the man after God's own heart, says from the very beginning of this psalm, "I have a message from God in my heart."   The verse continues and we learn David's heart message concerns the sinfulness of those who are wicked.  David has detected this by noticing they have no fear of God.

I'm going to agree with David on one part.  That's a message that needs to be preached.  Even our preachers today sometimes begin their Sunday morning sermons by confessing their message will be about something that has been weighing on their hearts.

Let's see what else was on David's heart.  If you read the next three  verses, there will be revealed he was taking on the entire forces of hell with this message from his heart.....and he was.

In switching gears, David then begins to educate us on the greatness of God.  Verses 5-9 show us attributes of God like justice, righteousness, preservation, refuge and abundance.  Needless to say, those people described in the section about wickedness and sin, needed to be taught about God's goodness and His grace.

Now notice verses 10-11:

Continue your love to those who know you,
    your righteousness to the upright in heart.
¹¹ May the foot of the proud not come against me,
    nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

Did you see that?  Apparently God is concerned also with the heart of David.  Davis is praying in verse 11, " Don't let this message to the people be accompanied by my attitude of pride and arrogance."  Further, "Lord, keep me from the wickedness which my heart's message is combating."

I am praying that God continues to work in this same way in the presentation of the gospel today. It's a message people need to hear, from someone who has a heart motivated by love toward those who hear it.  And not only that, there is a message for the messenger, too.  God wants us to know we are doing HIS work, and proclaiming HIS message.  How foolish for us to depreciate the power of that message by making it about us.

Lord, we yield our hearts to you, praying you will fill us with your Spirit, our words to you, and pray you will take control of our lips to speak your word, our lives to you, praying we will be directed in your ways.   Amen.

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A Starting Place

The preacher kept his promise.  He said he was going to begin at the beginning.  Then he read aloud, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  Genesis 1:1

From that point, the listeners were enthralled with his description of creation and how God formed everything from nothing.  He created the galaxies.  He put things in motion.  The laws of nature were in place.

Then there was a question presented, which asked us to think a bit.  He wanted to know if we really believed a God who could bring everything into being, would also have the power to maintain control?  That was followed by another revealing statement.....revealing how we are sometimes different when we say we really believe, then try to take control ourselves.

The Apostle Paul was a believer, just like you and me.   He must have been addressing these same issues when we wrote to the Colossian Christians.

¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:15-20

Why do we read the Bible?  For learning, for life application, to prove we are right and everyone else is wrong, for answering difficult questions?  Whatever the reason, we are missing the point if we fail to see the message of the Bible is God's love story for us.  Yes, there are commandments, admonitions, difficult passages, and even a few things we feel should have been left out.  But overall, cover to cover, this is the story of how much God loves YOU!

Even when dealing with those whose lives were unfaithful and disobedient, our loving God was and is working to bring us to himself.  The things we have done that are outside his will, are forgiven in the blood of Christ.   It's hard for us to understand how God would be willing to give his only son to save the likes of a sinner like me, or us, but that is exactly the beauty of the love story.

Remember, he is still in control.  He created us and longs for us to be in relationship with him.

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A Problem

I have this problem:

I want my life to be perfect..........but it's not.

I want to demonstrate nothing but good coming from my life...........but sometimes the bad shows up.

Paul is the one I turn to when I have these thoughts.  He says in Romans 7,  "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I  know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."

Am I alone in these feelings?  If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit even as Christians, the power of sin is still very healthy inside us.  I'm glad Paul didn't stop writing when he penned the above verses.  Our dilemma finds some answers in his words as they continue, "So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Knowing and actually believing these things relieves us from the battle of seeking perfection based on our own merits.  As much as I strive for my perfection, I will fail.  But there is more.

God would have us to know, in the middle of our attempts to be perfect and good, HE is the answer for which we search.  We find it easy to accept the fact of our failures, but so difficult to accept the sovereignty of God himself  as the help we really need.

Here is another verse which helps us see this truth, Psalm 103:19, "The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. "   (Even my imperfections and mistakes and blunders.)

Our problems grow in intensity when we forget who God is and all he is doing through us and for us.  His love continues to abide, and his presence with us elevates us above all the bad stuff.

Still another verse we need to absorb.  From Psalm 62:6-8, " Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.  ⁶ Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.  ⁷ My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.  ⁸ Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge."

Problems with perfection and constant goodness?  Trust in him at all times!

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Trust in Him

I was looking forward to WhataBurger, but needed to stop for a few supplies at Wal-Mart.  While doing my shopping, I could hear the rain outside becoming more intense.  And since the rain storm was increasing in intensity, I decided to eat at Subway, because it was right there inside Wal-Mart.

While finishing my lunch, my cell phone began to emit a warning tone.  It wasn't just happening on my phone, but every cell phone in Wal-Mart, and Subway.  I reached for my phone to read the message, thinking it was just another of the numerous severe thunderstorm warnings everyone had been receiving.  But the message wasn't about the rain.  In fact, you could feel the fear of everyone reading their phone message.  "Tornado Warning for your immediate area.  Seek a place of safety immediately."

Being raised in Texas and actually seeing numerous tornadoes over the years, I wasn't too afraid, but I am admitting to some fearful thinking running through my head.  I had thoughts of a tornado actually hitting Wal-Mart.  The continuing thoughts concerned me not having a safe place to hide. Was this storm going to take my life?  Am I ready?

Then my thoughts took on a little humor when I realized my obituary would state I had died inside a Subway at Wal-Mart.  That wasn't what I had in mind for my final moments. I had rather die while sitting in church, surrounded by my friends. That even seems impressive because dying at church sounds better than dying on aisle 6 while looking at fishing rods.

I don't know how long I pondered these things, but it was long enough for me to realize the rain storm had stopped. Everyone would be safe because the storm had passed.  When I walked outside I could see the beautiful rainbow, and a hint of sunshine making its way between the clouds.

That's when my thinking turned to "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork."  I further realized  I belong to God and he belongs to me, and regardless of the outcome of my fears, I am in agreement with his will.  Look at Psalm 28:7 "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him."

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