how much is enough?

Now that our gifts are opened, and hopefully all the trash has been taken out... are we thankful for what we received?  
Many of us receive more than what we actually need, and those gifts are blessings.  So think of your gifts...could you do without some of them?  What about your kids' gifts?   Could they have not received as many and still be satisfied? Have you or they complained because you didn't get the one gift you REALLY wanted?
I'm so thankful our nation is blessed and we can bless others, including our family.  One of the traditions we have with our two youngest children is to spend time with them - at a movie, or game room, taking a trip, etc.  Christmas presents are temporary, but our Presence with them will always be in the minds of the children and the adults' memories. 
Maybe next year, 2011, you can think of something different that will enhance your time together as a family or with friends....times that will be thought of in future years, not thrown away or sold in a garage sale because of not using it/them. 

it's time to experience Joy !

Since December and the celebration of Christmas comes every year...at the same time, all around the world, why do many people insist on having a Scrooge attitude? Whether we believe in the birth of Jesus, the child from Nazareth, or we believe in the idea of a Santa Claus, this season brings joy and cheer as lights are put up, presents are bought, economies are positively affected, and many families meet together just to enjoy being with each other.  Grandparents and parents smile when their children and grandchildren open gifts, single parents rejoice to see their kids smiling and laughing in a way that is possibly unfamiliar throughout the year due to stress and the hardships of a single-parent family.  

Isn't it interesting the angel announcing the Messiah's birth stated. "I bring you good news that will bring GREAT JOY to all people"?    So Heaven must have known the joy that comes when we give to others and the pleasure we get when receiving gifts!

Maybe you've had a difficult year and are not anticipating a good Christmas season, or your plans for the holidays have been shattered or altered.   I encourage you to receive the JOY that comes from God, in the form of His Son, JESUS. Physical gifts can't impart eternal joy, but a relationship with the JOY Giver can eternally change your life... and allow you to experience true joy every day of the year!  

power of being thankful

You and I have experienced the roller coaster feelings of happiness/ sadness and situations that life can bring;  choices are given to us numerous times in a week as to how we respond to people when we are faced with life.   You have probably been through some challenging times this past year that you never want to face again.   Because we live in a world that is saturated by the power of the devil, it is our choice whether we allow him 'room' to manipulate us OR we take the promise of Life that we find in Jesus " I have come that they might have life".

The nation just celebrated a national day of Thanksgiving, first initiated by the earliest settlers to Virginia and Massachusetts, to take time for recognizing God's hand of blessing on our nation and our families.  Many of these early settlers had experienced the death of family members and the harshness of life, yet they chose to be thankful for what they had....not complain about what they didn't have or had lost. 

I challenge you to take God at His Word:   Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses...Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!  (Deut 30:19)

Choose life, choose to be thankful!

Are the gifts of the Holy Spirit for today?

1 Corinthians 13:8-10.  In light of doctrine that is taught in different church organizations, there can be questions about these verses.

Christ followers and Bible teachers should  strive to understand and teach all scripture in context and apply it as it was originally intended.  These specific verses, along with verse 12,  are spoken in a future tense.  Paul was explaining the power of God’s love being eternal, even greater than temporary gifts we are given by God to be used while we live on this earth.  If we read this letter without the chapter divisions, which were inserted to make the reading easier, the context is specifically dealing with the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in an individual’s life and in a local church body (see chapters 12 & 14).  In chapter 14:2-5, Paul uses the present tense of speaking in tongues, not a past or future. 

Paul is stating that the Love of God is eternal and should be applied in and flow out of every believer’s life;  he is showing the contrast of eternal love (that empowers these gifts working in our life) with temporary gifts that are also subject to the believer’s use of them (see 14:32).   The emphasis is that believers in Christ  can ‘operate’ in these gifts of the Holy Spirit, yet the power of the gift can be nullified  by our carnality and lack of godly love.    

So Paul is saying we need God’s love to flow through our lives as we operate in these gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Only when the “perfect” will come will the gifts not be needed anymore;  he is not referring to the Messiah, for Jesus had already come and died.   He is referring, as in other statements throughout his letters, of the coming of the Lord in what we call the ‘rapture’ and then the 2^nd Coming.  After the physical earth is no longer of importance to us, we will not need the gifts working in our life.