Prayer

Christmas Eve – 12th Gift – Love

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

12th Gift of Christmas – The Love of God

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

We often think of the baby in the manger as the giving of God’s ultimate gift. But looking more deeply into the story we see that yes it was at Bethlehem that God’s gift came, but it was not until the cross that His gift was given. God’s gift of love became ours as the blood poured from the wound in Jesus’ side. Why not make Christmas the start of a new life’s journey that will last forever? He has given you these twelve gifts and so much more. Christmas is the perfect time to give your life to Him!

Here is my poem for you as my gift and the Mullett girls singing on a fresh new video about the Glorious Night Jesus was born! Merry Christmas all!

 12 Gifts of Christmas

 The gift of being a neighbor
 Do I know my neighbor’s name?
 The gift of Kindness
 That puts prejudice to shame
 The gift of Prayer
 That calls help down from God
 The gift of Faith
 That believes when times are hard
 The gift of Hope
 That sees our Lord in all
 The gift of Joy
 That helps us when we fall
 The gift of Grace
 That washes away sin
 The gift of Rest
 That spends sweet time with Him
 The Living gift of Water
 That fills our thirty souls
 The gift of Mercy
 That answers law’s demands
 The gift of a Star
 That guides us through strange lands
 The gift of Love
 The greatest one of all
 And Jesus - gift of gifts In a manger low and small! 

12 Gifts of Christmas by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright 2017 All rights reserved

Looking Ahead – Following Behind

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Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Mark 10:9

For those of you following my 12 gifts of Christmas series you might be wondering; “Aren’t we getting our 12th gift today?” Sorry! You cannot open your 12th gift until Christmas Eve! It is scheduled for noon tomorrow so have some hot chocolate and Christmas cookies and be patient. I confess with my wife away caring for her sister I am sometime having an extra cookie right after breakfast! But enough family talk – let’s take a closer look at today’s verse.

Most of us connect Jesus’ riding into Jerusalem on a donkey to Palm Sunday and the Easter season But it is also a key here for every day; whether it is Christmas, Easter or the 4th of July. Remember Jesus teaches us to pray by starting with “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done.” And how else does His kingdom come but humbly riding in on a donkey every morning of our lives?

So as you begin your busy day, so close to Christmas, remember that This is still the – Day that the LORD HAS MADE. We can rejoice like those people did who went ahead of Jesus as He came riding into the city that morning 2,000 years ago. Just like them, we don’t know yet what Jesus might be doing today; but we can give him praise because we believe it will be great!

Then, tonight as we lay our heads on our pillows we can be like those other folks who followed behind Jesus and we can look back and say; “Hosanna! What a blessed day Jesus has given!” We will probably never understand all the details of His plan even for a single day. What we can do is to give Him praise as our day begins and ends. Have a blessed day! What you can give God praise for today?

12 Gifts of Christmas / Day 4- Faith

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Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 ESV

When I was a young boy I hated moving. It wasn’t so much the packing of my little suitcase or the new address or bed that bothered me. What I struggled with was being the new kid (again) with not fitting in, not knowing where my seat would be in class and wondering if I could make friends. It felt like my life was just one big problem that no one knew the answer for. Now that I am an old guy I still have problems but I have found that I can bring them to God. But today, while I am busy asking in faith for God to help me with my problems and give me blessings; it occurs to me how little I have paused to use my faith to ask for others. What kinds of mountains do the people around me face? I really admire one guy from our men’s group who, always asks His waiter or waitress “How can I pray for you today?” Maybe you and I don’t do that very often because we have been afraid of what people might say, or maybe we have just been too busy with our own problems.

As Christmas nears why not ask for God to help us see into someone else’s world? After all God saw us. He came and to Bethlehem became a part of our world. He willingly chose to be the new kid on the block, to not fit in, to be rejected and to die in order for our mountain of sin to be moved. What mountains are our friends and neighbors facing? Why not give them a Christmas gift of faith and come and be a part of moving their mountains today?