Christmas

12 Gifts of Christmas / Day 3- Prayer

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But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:32 ESV

Can you remember a single time in the life of Jesus when he said, “I’ll be praying for you!”? He prayed when He was woken from sleep in a storm and He prayed in the desert for forty days. He prayed when people were hungry to multiply bread and He prayed for God to forgive His enemies from the cross. Everywhere and always Jesus prayed because He knew that His Father was listening. We probably already knew about those prayers of Jesus but did you ever stop to think that Christmas is in fact, the ultimate answer to every person’s prayer. God heard and He sent us His Son.

Prayer is also the greatest gift we can give to anyone this Christmas, every needs Jesus and anything is possible when we pray. Those who feel alone can experience His presence; He came as Immanuel – God with us. For friends who have lost their way, the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem answers their prayers for forgiveness because He came as God’s sacrifice for sin. For the friends or family who feel life is very dark with this pandemic, He is the light of the world.

For those feel week, He came as to be our strength. For those of us who know we have done things wrong and hurt others, Jesus shows Himself as the friend of sinners. no matter our need, Jesus is the answer to our prayers . What greater gift we could give to someone else is there than to be able to honestly say “but I have prayed for you”

Gift of Kindness 12 Gifts – Day 2

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Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.  A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”…The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) John 4:6-7; 9 ESV

When we think of kindness we often think of giving, but kindness is really about sharing and sometimes sharing begins when we ask for help. Asking for help tells someone else that they have importance and value. Notice in the story today, just how amazed the Samaritan woman was, when Jesus asked her for a drink. “After all,” she reasoned, “I am just a woman, and a Samaritan one at that.! Because in her experience not only were women treated with badly, but Samaritans, in particular, were the object of racial discrimination by the Jews.

But then Jesus began speaking to her and offering a living water that He had for her to drink. Now, both a little startled and confused, she began asking some questions of her own. To her surprise, she found that, unlike other men she had known, He was patient and willing to listen.  At that moment, it was not His mighty works or miracles that unlocked her heart, but His kindness.  What greater gift we could give another than the kindness of Jesus, that says to them, “I have time for you, and you matter to me!” So on this second day of 12 gifts, why not ask, “To who can I give a gift of kindness today?” We won’t need to go searching high and low. Just leave the searching to God. He has a funny way of bringing us just the right someone if we’ll just sit down by a well and rest!

Find and Seek

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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 in the East and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:1-2 NIV

The hidden beauty of the wise men’s journey is that they came seeking a king without knowing who he was. Of course the films depict them as coming to find God’s Son, but if that were the case then why would they have asked at Herod’s palace for him? So, they traveled a thousand miles across deserts and mountains with costly gifts to win His favor.

But God has something far greater in mind than those Magi ever suspected. Instead of finding favor with a king, somewhere along the way they started to realize that who they were seeking was greater than any earthly king. Once they left Herod, they saw the star again and followed it to Bethlehem. Most likely that is when they began to understand that the someone they were looking for was mysteriously greater and more holy than they first imagined. Then the star came and stood over a humble house in a tiny village and they were filled with awe, in the presence of God’s Jesus and they bowed and worshipped Him. Our good news for today is that their joy of finding Jesus that night, can be ours as well this morning. Just like them, we can find Him if we seek Him, because, all the while we are seeking God; He is seeking us!