Christmas

Why is it meaningful?

Jesus was Born.  

In this there is love expressed, that he descended from his divine throne and descended below all things, even that he made himself a little lower than the angels.  He took our  burdens & brokenness on his shoulders & made himself low to lift us up.  

This makes me think of a parent with their little child, bending down to their level to communicate something really important.  This parent wants to make it as easy as possible for us to understand how precious we are in His heart, how deeply he loves us.  He doesn’t just stand up & leave when he has communicated this, he lifts you up, carries you, feeds you, comforts you, and teaches you.  How joyous it is to be in His arms!

The Circumstance:

The circumstance was about as humble as you can get.  In a foreign town, in a cave, surrounded by animals and their smells, only his mom and stepdad were there when the King of Kings was born.  After a few special moments with their new little one, the Father announced the birth and called his first visitors to come and see his son. Who were these honored guests to be?  Would they be royal? Would he choose a priest? Would they be well known?  Would they be men of repute in society?  No, the father chose shepherds who were watching their flocks at night.  They are just shepherds, and they are the first to see their Savior.  To me, the circumstance of this great event and the first chosen guests are an evidence of how God thinks about us.  He’s not worried about your job, your humble home, your place in society, your amount of influence.  This was the moment Glory came to Earth, arguably one of the most momentous occasions and select few were to behold Emmanuel as a baby.  The Father’s choice of his first guests says to me, “You do not have to be famous, wealthy, or in a specific job or high circumstance for me to want to reach out to you and show you the most marvelous things of my kingdom.  You, in your messiness, in your humility of circumstance, YOU are important to me.” Do you think that you are not important enough to warrant being on the scene of God’s miracles?  Think Again.  If you think God does not work in such humble circumstance, you couldn’t be more wrong.  He chose a cave for the birth of His Holy son.  Do not pride yourself- that your ability is limiting to what God can do through you.  Tell me, who was Mary? Would we know her name if God had not called her? He poured favor over her and magnified her to be the mother of His Holy son simply because she said yes to the call.  Who are you? Are you Rich or Poor?  Famous or Private? Are you simple or complex? Whoever you are, God knows your name.  He has a beautiful purpose for you to birth.  Mary could have said no, and so can we.  In saying yes though, we have to trust him.  Do you trust him?  What about when things seem to be going sideways & suddenly, you’re 9 months pregnant on a donkey to another city? Then you are shown a cave full of farm animals and this is your delivery suite? As you submit to God’s plan and let him steer your course, submitting to His plan and trusting His providence, He puts you where you need to be & watches over the details.  Perhaps, Mary was grateful for the privacy and for those few moments with her new little family before her babe was handed over to his purpose: to bring Joy to the world, to establish our peace, to be our light.  She had these moments first, she held him, & fed him, & kissed his little face.  

Mary is such an example of submissiveness… from her response to the call which Angel Gabriel spoke to her all the way through the chill “God’s got us” attitude she seemed to express as she entered a cave of farm animals to deliver a baby.  She received the “Holy Rest of God” which is a gift of the Holy Spirit and allows you to be at peace regardless of circumstance.

Then there is Joseph.  I imagine him sometimes being just stunned by revelations, but moving forward because that’s what you do.  I imagine him carrying toddler Jesus on his shoulders, showing him how to walk, telling him that it hurts when you tug on beard hairs.  I imagine this and think of how remarkable these simple moments are, Jesus would carry the world on his shoulders some day.  He would walk on water, He would turn the other cheek to those who would “pluck out the hairs”.  Joseph taught the trade of carpentry to his stepson.  I wonder at that too- that Jesus could likely identify the wood he carried, and many times he had nailed pieces together to frame different works, how many times did he accidentally hit his thumb before hitting the nail?  How sad it is to think that the carpenter’s son would meet this end- with nails and wood.  I think of his prayer in the garden… when he says, “Not my will, but thine be done.”  He had humanity, a desire to not experience pain, a desire to eat every time his tummy grumbled, a desire to continue his life, but he chose the will of the Spirit and lived not under the rule of those mortal desires.

So, it’s his Birthday- or the day we celebrate his birth anyways.  We celebrate the firstborn of the Father.  We celebrate the impact he has had on our lives.  We celebrate gratitude for our Lord who came and lived among men.  He who then died for our sins, yet, through his eternal nature, he rose again! He took down the victory of death and offered us Eternal life & resurrection to wholeness.  He tore the thick veil in the temple because we are now invited into the presence of God and His temple is in us.  We are Living stones built off of the chief cornerstone! We are a Royal Priesthood under the Son of David!  Why are you grateful for Jesus?  What would he want for his Birthday?

I hope you have a Merry Christmas.  I hope that even if you have humble circumstances this year, or even if you are alone, that the Holy Spirit is there with you and comforts you and reminds you how valuable and important you are in His heart.

Prayer- The forgotten weapon

I have been in a season of learning a lot about prayer. For most of my personal journey, I have focused on understanding and applying scripture to a good walk before God and prayer has always been a part of that- like turning in my research paper and getting a sticker on it that says, “Good job!”. When I went full on into research mode and ended up leaving the faith tradition which I was raised in, my faith journey had become very logical and cerebral. I needed to have a lot of information about something before I would be open to experience. In building up my understanding of theology and who God is, I had unknowingly developed a theology that put up walls between me and God in many areas. It started to be a very intense process on my end to come before Him and experience His love. I had to climb a mountain of research and learn something and then God could touch my heart about what I had learned. 
 It is so good to learn things about God and His word, but in 1 Corinthians 13, it says that you could speak with the tongue of angels and it would be as a tinking cymbal if you do not have the love. Love is the spirit that fills the caverns of knowledge with light and meaning and purpose. Love makes food out of words. I got to a place in my logic based journey with God where I didn’t really believe in the power of God among men- I didn’t believe in 1 Corinthians 12 or 14, I found them curious, but didn’t quite understand what they meant for me. That kind of makes me laugh because of how much I treasured the chapter in the middle. I drew near to God with my lips, but my heart felt lonely and far from him. I had a form of Godliness in understanding text, but denied the power of God in action. 
 I am in an almost constant state of self reflection, but without allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to me, my self reflection had become surprisingly dense. I didn’t realize that I had been eating the fruit of the enemy. Opening the door for him to stir up anger and bitterness and self pity and relational strife. I didn’t realize there was a spiritual warfare going on around me. Even if I had, I didn’t know how to fight. It seemed like believing in spiritual warfare was just an archaic way of looking at mental illness. Because I hadn’t experienced anything “supernatural” like ghosts or demons, my logic said that they must be rather inactive in my life if they existed. I thought I was just being impacted by a circumstance that sucked. I didn’t realize the enemy could use the circumstance to gain power over my emotions and by so doing, influence my whole household. I didn’t realize I could pick up power to live above circumstance in the peace and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. How does one retain the Holy Spirit in the midst of circumstances that aren’t ideal? Scriptures help, but if your heart is stony (as mine had become), it is hard to partake of the healing and nourishment there. I wondered why God had left me alone and I needed to feel His love, I was desperate for it. What could I do when all I had done before brought no breakthrough? 
 My thoughts on this subject were closing in on something important as I pondered over this experience, “Why is it this hard for me- I have a lot of experience with God and His word, Why is it so hard for me to feel him near? If it is this hard for me, how does anyone come to Christ? Surely not everyone is required to climb this mountain of research. Not everyone can research- how do they meet with God? Is their experience just designed to be less fruitful and full? That doesn’t seem correct, what am I missing? God doesn’t love me more because I can research- He loves us all with the same eternal love.” I was praying, don’t get me wrong. But I was in a state of spiritual illness, the poison of the enemy had plugged up my senses so that I couldn’t experience God. I didn’t know it- I didn’t know I was in a warfare, I didn’t know how I got so far from God. So in my reaching, I needed to hear how people became converted to Christ. I looked it up on Youtube and I heard these remarkable stories of God moving in power.

I watched these people tell their stories and I am a digger, and I had so many thoughts and such skepticism as they spoke of these miraculous encounters… Are these people being honest? Why did God give these very physical physical evidence of the spiritual world? I concluded that demons are likely scary and I should just be glad they aren’t around me. I said a prayer and told God I was grateful that I had never encountered an evil spirit. I then decided on a whim, without even an ounce of expectation (I wouldn’t even know what to expect), I said, “Just in case, if there is an evil spirit on me, I remove it in the name of Jesus Christ.” Immediately, my back felt hot, bright, peaceful, and joyous… just my back. It was peculiar. I wasn’t angry or bitter, my self pity was gone. I had love- a lot of love for the Mormons. I had a person in mind immediately who I needed to reconnect with. God had moved. I prayed and thanked him for showing me that he works in this way. I started listening to different people. Charismatics… who even am I right now? But this unlocked an important truth to me. People need a real God. I had always connected with God in a way that is honestly, not readily available to a good percentage of people. I have a strange passion for learning about God intellectually and it’s good, but it’s not everyone’s path to a fruitful relationship. People need God to move- they need to feel the Holy Spirit. If you are in a conversation with someone who is angry and convinced of their position- should you join with them to argue? Should you leave them to their demons? I think that prayer is the sacred weapon that I had forgotten about. It takes courage for a girl like me to ask someone if I can pray over them. I had always worked only with what God had already planted in me, I hadn’t tried actually inviting God to the situation. So, prayer. It’s like this feather at first- it looks weak and is easily missed… but then it grows into this great and powerful eagle. It draws an army to your side, it calls down the fire of heaven and it is earth shaking. Prayer carries all the gifts of the Spirit- it is our channel to God. God Almighty, Omnipotent, Love Eternal, our Counselor who desires to speak with us ALWAYS! Seasons of silence are not God’s plan. This is only the first step. What a beautiful step it is! What power exists in understanding God wants to be near you more than you want to be near him. He died to be near you. Pray. Lean in.