She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21 ESV
Though it was released in 1946, the classic film, “It’s a Wonderful Life” continues to touch audiences, generation after generation. Though social mores, technology and politics have changed, the human heart remains the same. And of all the scenes in the film, perhaps none is more loved than the final minutes as an entire community comes together to help George Bailey. One by one, his friends, coworkers, neighbors (and even a few enemies), show up to donate the money needed to keep George out of jail on Christmas. Let’s listen to the words to the Christmas carol they sing:
Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!
Maybe we are moved, because deep within our hearts is a longing for reconciliation, and George Bailey is discovering the wonder of reconciliation for us all. He has learned to pray; He has learned to trust God and He has found that God has answered his prayers through the love of a community. Everything in George’s life suddenly looks different to him, because of reconciliation. Even the name “Jesus” means, “Jehovah saves” and part of that saving was His becoming the sacrifice for our sins so that when we put our faith in Jesus, then God and sinners just like you and me can be reconciled! Hark the Herald Angels Sing by Charles Wesley and George Whitfield. Music by Felix Mendelssohn 1739
Caligiuri, Peter. A Christmas Treasury: Large Print Edition (pp. 8-10). Kindle Edition.
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Luke 2:8 NKJV
When I was growing up, I hated the rule at our dinner table that said, “Children are to be seen and not heard.” Now, today I realize that it wasn’t that our parents didn’t care about my sister and I, but that they wanted to talk with each other after a long busy day. So, as a young Christian, when I read things in the Bible like, “But the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him.” (Habakkuk 2:20), I just figured that God also was not interested in what His children have to say. But, nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, in the silence of that first Christmas of sleeping sheep and shepherds, God sent them His message of joy. Because of the quiet, they could hear Him tell them that He had sent a Savior, and then that silent night didn’t stay silent for long! Those shepherds hurried to find the baby in the manger and their joyful shouts of praise woke up that whole little town of Bethlehem! Today, you might feel that all God wants is for you to shuffle into church on Sunday, sit silently in the pew and then go home. But the wonderful news is that God cares about every detail of your life. He listens to your heart and cares about your problems. The silence God asks us for is so that we can hear Him calling us to come to Him. He is longing for us to discover that He loves us so much that one day He stood silent before His accusers and then allowed them to nail Him to the cross so that His message of love could be heard around the world!
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23 NLT
That Sunday morning, no one, least of all Diane, was ready. At 7:45 A. M., she was still snuggling down under the blankets and thinking of how wonderful it was that her father’s job with the Navy had brought their family all the way from Connecticut to Hawaii. The temperature the day before had been in the upper 70’s, and compared to snowy Southern New England, which felt like heaven! Then she heard the sound of planes flying over their house, and she sat up and looked out the window caught a glimpse of a red circle on one of the wings as the formation turned towards the harbor. Immediately the phone began ringing, and she heard the door to her parent’s room creak open and her dad’s footsteps going into the kitchen to answer. When Diane slipped out of bed and tip-toed to her doorway, she saw daddy running back into his bedroom and heard her mom yelling for her and her older brother Don to wake up. Then from the direction of the harbor came the sound of explosions such as she had never heard before and in a moment her world was changed. That little girl Diane was my mother and her dad, my grandfather, was the captain of one of the destroyers at Pearl Harbor. That morning he made it to His ship and engaged the enemy. After the attack, his ship was sent out to sea and my grandmother with mom and two brothers moved back to Connecticut, and never returned to what they had thought was heaven on earth.
Today many of us are no more ready for what lies ahead in our spiritual lives, than my family was on December 7th, 1941. Just as no one knew that the Japanese planes were coming to attack our fleet that morning, we also can never know what challenges or difficulties await us in the future. Pearl Harbor became the worst military defeat in our history because we left the harbor unguarded. Today’s verse tells us that we must also guard the harbor of our hearts, and there is no better way to do that than by prayer. But the kind of prayer that is needed means more than just sitting up in bed and watching out the window as the enemy attacks. Prayer that guards our hearts will supply ammunition for the anti-aircraft guns that protect the harbor and, watches God’s radar for any enemy incursion of our airspace. That kind of prayer doesn’t just fearfully huddle in a corner wondering what to do, but it boldly rushes to battle stations and engages the enemy. Now there are certainly times, even when we pray, that we will still face temporary defeats. But just as the Navy repaired its ships after Pearl Harbor and recruited and trained thousands of seamen and went on to win the war, we can do the same. We can begin that process by contacting our spiritual Naval headquarters. And find out what new orders God has assigned us and then, trust His command as we launch out to sea. Then, even with a war raging on, we can be thankful for His promise that He will be with us through every danger and will lead us on to victory no matter what lies ahead!
The family photo is of my mom, her brother Don and my grandparents, The bottom photo is of my grandfather, Captain A.J. Detzer, taken in 1945. This post is a reprint of an article which appeared in the 2023 Spring Issue of Breakthrough Intercessor magazine.
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