As this New Year starts, I ask myself what do I need to change?  What do I need to keep on doing?  What difference will I make this year?   These questions are different than making New Year’s resolutions as they ask us to reflect on our lives and take a few minutes to analyze our motives and direction.

What do I need to change?  King Saul was anointed King by the prophet Samuel.  Samuel describes Saul’s transformation in 1 Samuel 10:6-7 “Then the Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.  Now when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do for God is with you.”  Samuel told Saul the Lord would empower him through His Spirit to do the things he needed to do.  What about you?  Are you trusting the Lord to help you change what needs to be different in your life’s circumstances or character?  You are not without power. You have the indwelling Holy Spirit to help you achieve that which seems impossible.  ” For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1: 37

What do I need to keep doing?  Here you and I need to analyze what we’re doing that is working and glorifying God.  Pray and ask God for direction and guidance whether you need to keep on or turn in another direction.  Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” 

What difference will I make this year?    One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 55:11  “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”  What this says to me is that God has a purpose and a work for you and I to do.  If we keep our focus on Him, He will do the achieving and He is always successful.  God is sovereign and His will for us will be completed.  We just need to be willing and step out in faith; He will do the work.

I pray these simple questions stimulate your thinking as we begin 2016.  God desires that we honor and glorify Him in all we do and say.  Let it be so for each of us in this New Year.

Blessings anew,

Linda

I’m still in the contemplating mode as we end this year.  Yesterday I was printing out my most recent blogs for my binder and making a list of titles and categories.  I had let this chore slide for quite a while, so I was at it for several hours.  Anyway, when I was done I stood in awe, with thanksgiving in my heart, at the work God had allowed me to do this last year.  I counted the number of posts I’d written in 2015 and discovered I had blogged 123 times!!  When you multiply that by about an hour of writing and editing for each post that is about 123 hours.  That is 5 days and 8 minutes.  Who would have thought I’d have that kind of time, energy, direction and thoughts.   God did!  He knew the kind of blessings I would receive by doing this.

I want to share a verse that has come up again and again this year for me.  Psalm 37:5  “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. “  (Day 14 promise in Promises for Dynamic Living) I have seen this over and over in 2015.  When I faced decisions, God reminded me that I need only commit my way to Him, and then He would do the work.  It was not my job to make things happen but His privilege as Sovereign God.   Because of His work in the past for me, I know I can commit and trust Him for the future, 2016.  How about you?

Thank you my readers for spending even part of the 123 days with me.  I pray it was a blessing to you.

Linda

I trust you had a meaningful Christmas and are getting ready this week to usher in a New Year, 2016.  In preparation for the New Year, I was contemplating God’s mercy and faithfulness during 2015.  Tangibly we can see ways God has provided for us physically but we need to consider all the ways He has provided for us spiritually as well.  All the times of discouragement, despair, weariness, lostness and purposelessness that come in a year and then how He has given encouragement, hope, strength, courage, guidance and purpose in His work.  The examples are different for each of us.  Isn’t that amazing, we have such a personal Creator God.

We can pray for God to show us His mercy as we struggle.  In Exodus 33:19 God is preparing to show a glimpse of his glory to Moses. “And the LORD said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD in your presence.  I will have mercy on whom I will have compassion.’”   God’s mercy is given at His discretion and is not earned by us in any way.  Moses needed to see who God was and God in His mercy revealed a glimpse of himself to Moses.  Micah 8:18 adds another aspect of God’s mercy for our thoughts.  “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?  You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”  Have you every thought that God delights to show mercy to you?  It is part of His character to be merciful and delight in showing mercy.

As you think on God’s mercies to you in 2015, praise and thank Him that you were the recipient of His delight and that He chose you to receive special mercies exactly when you needed them.

Grateful for His mercies in 2015,

Linda

God was especially merciful to me this year in allowing me to travel to these places with good friends.  He is truly a gracious and merciful God.

Crater Lake, Oregon

Old Faithful, Yellowstone

The Alhambra, Spain

La Sagra Famailia Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain

Merry Christmas!!  The long awaited day has arrived both children and adults anticipate this day’s arrival all year long for many reasons.  Children are wide eyed about the gifts and adults the joyful looks on their children’s faces.  That first Christmas the Christ child was welcomed to earth by Mary, Joseph, the animals in the stable and praising shepherds.  Both Joseph and Mary were told to name their child Jesus.  Jesus was the name of hope for the coming Messiah, the long awaited savior.  The angel told Joseph “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21   I’m sure they gazed on their child with hope and great desire knowing that God’s promised the Messiah had finally arrived and would bring salvation to their people.  God’s intent was that salvation would be for all the world and would reach far beyond that humble stable.   Do you know the salvation that Jesus brought?  God’s desire is that all should know and receive the gift of salvation that Jesus brought.

Today as you praise God and thank Him for the salvation He sent in Jesus, remember:  Acts 4:12 “And there is Salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”         1 Thessalonians 5:9-10  “For God has not destined us for wrath , but to obtains salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us sot hat whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build on another up, just as you are doing.”  Jesus brought the hope of salvation from sin to mankind.  He is our hope and Savior.  Greet Him with joy and thanksgiving this Christmas.

Joyful in the Savior,

Linda

Today  on this Christmas Eve our word is Immanuel.  The angel appeared to Joseph and spoke these word in Matthew 1:21-23 “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people form their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call his  Immanuel –  which means, ‘God with us'”   Matthew wanted to be very sure that his Jewish readers understood the connection to the Old Testament prophecy from Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”     In these verses we are told several truths about Jesus:   He would be born of a virgin, He would be called Jesus, His purpose in coming was to save us from our sins, He would bring God to us to be with us.

What does it mean that ‘God is with us’?   One of my favorite verses is Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified because of them for the Lord your God goes with you ; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”     Jesus also gave this assurance  in Matthew 28:20 “And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.”   I take great comfort in knowing that God is with me no matter what I am facing.  What about you?  Will you be encouraged today because you know that Jesus’ birth means that ‘God is with you’?  Claim faith in His son Jesus in your life and experience the fullness of ‘God is with you’ for yourself.

Living with His presence,

Linda

Today I am focusing on multiple names given to describe Jesus in Isaiah’s prophecy made in about 700 B.C.   Isaiah 9:6b “And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  What is unusual about  each of these names is that they contain 2 descriptors of the coming Messiah and King.  Wonderful Counselor speaks of Jesus as a king that will reign and have power that is beyond human capabilities. He will have wonderful, marvelous plans for our good.  Mighty God speaks of Jesus as the divine warrior who is our protector and champion.  He is mighty and fair or just in all things. Everlasting Father speaks of Jesus as the coming benevolent Father. A king who cares for His people for eternity.  Isaiah 64:8 describes this relationship “Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.  We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”  Psalm 103:13 gives yet another aspect of this relationship “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.” The last name of Jesus in this verse is Prince of Peace.  This refers to Jesus as the king who will reign in peace.  He will bring wholeness and wellness to all his subjects.

Which of these names of Jesus speak to you today?  Is He your Wonderful Counselor, your Mighty God, your Everlasting Father or your Prince of Peace?  He can be all these to the one who trusts and believes in Him. David put it this way in Psalm 31:14 “But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my God.'”  Is He your God today?  Is He reigning as King of your life?  Good  questions to ponder and answer as we approach the day of His birth.  He came to be our Messiah King to reign forever and ever.

A child of the King,

Linda

I know my title today is a bit weird.  I was rereading the story of the angel appearing to the shepherds in Luke 2:8-12 “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'”   The angel’s request of the shepherds was to not be afraid and to be open to the good news of God’s arrival on earth.  The Christmas story is filled with commands to key players to not be afraid.    In Matthew 1:20  Joseph was commanded by an angel of the Lord to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife.  In Luke 1:13 Zachariah was  told by an angel of the Lord not to be afraid that his elderly wife would bear him a son who would be the fore-runner of the Messiah.  In Luke 1:30 the archangel Gabriel came to Mary and told her she was favored by God and would bear the Messiah.  In each case, God was revealing the arrival of His plan to save us from our sins.  This plan was good news then and is good news now.  Jesus came as our savior and we do not need to fear life, death, abandonment or dire and troubling circumstances.  Jesus is the answer. 

Will you join Joseph, Zachariah, Mary and the Shepherds today and step into a life with Jesus and experience No Fear?  The command ‘Do not fear’  is for us too.   God wants us to know this Christmas that Jesus is the answer and He will lead us through all circumstances, people and places to a life of security, hope and peace in Him!  Timothy put it this way in 1Timothy 4:9-10 “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”   Be a believer today and serve the living God.  It is a life of  ‘No Fear’ through Jesus.

Learning to live fearlessly,

Linda

Isaiah  9:6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given….He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.  The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.”   Isaiah penned these words thousands of years ago.  They foretold of the coming of Jesus and His Kingdom.  Once Jesus appeared on earth, as a babe, his kingdom had arrived.  He established himself with us and it is forever.  Matthew wrote in his gospel account many words that Jesus spoke concerning His Kingdom.  We learn from Jesus that His Kingdom is good news to those who hear about it (4:23), it belongs to those who are humble and persecuted (5:3,10), it is a place of the first being last and the last being first (11:11), it grows and expands within the believer’s life (13:23-24) and it is hard to get into because the way is narrow (19:23-24).    John adds to this list in 18:36 that His Kingdom is not of this world or is other worldly.  Paul says in Romans 4:17-18 “For the kingdom of God is not of matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.”   The reality of the Kingdom of God was ushered onto earth with the birth of Jesus.

Are you a member of God’s Kingdom?  Do you experience joy, peace and righteousness through the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life?   Jesus said, ” I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6   The way is indeed narrow.  Jesus is the only way to God and the only entrance into His kingdom.  Believe today and walk into His forever Kingdom.

A child of  the King,

Linda

I bet when you think – holiday- love, you would immediately think of Valentine’s Day?  I would submit to you that Christmas is the LOVE holiday.  Today in churches around the world Advent wreaths are being lit with the candles of joy, hope, peace and love.  The Christ candle will be lit on Christmas Eve.  Why love?  God sent Jesus to us to give us a way to restore our relationship with Him that was broken by Adam and Eve when they opened sin to the world by eating of the Tree of good and evil.  Sin creates a barrier that we cannot erase.  We cannot do enough good works to overcome it.  We cannot live perfect lives.  There was no way without Jesus for us to be restored into a relationship with God.   “God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16    God’s motivation for sending Jesus was and is rooted in LOVE.   God knew what awaited Jesus on earth.  He knew about the suffering and death on the cross, yet He sent him anyway.  That is how much He loved us.  Jesus also told us in John 15:13-14 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.”  

As we light the candle of LOVE today, let it seep into your heart.  Accept the love that Jesus has for you and then give it out to others.  This is the season of the greatest LOVE.  Thank you Jesus.

Love to you in the name of Christ,

Linda

This last week before Christmas is often a frenzy of shopping, baking and cooking in preparation for our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day gatherings.  We love to give the gifts we’ve shopped for and wrapped but what about receiving?  What will you do with the gifts you receive? Most of the time we look at our gifts and think about when we will wear the new items of clothing or use the new appliance, perfume, jewelry or when we will have time to read that new book.   Jesus received gifts of praise from the shepherds and angels the night of his birth.  Later, some say as much as 2 years, Jesus and his family were visited by Wiseman from the East.  The story is recorded in Matthew 2 and tells of their following the star, coming before Herod and arriving in Bethlehem to worship Jesus.  “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him.  Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, and of incense and of myrrh.” Matthew 2:11  Those were expensive gifts worthy of a king.  Why would Jesus need such gifts?

“And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”  “When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were 2 years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.” Matthew 2: 12, 16   In the meantime, an angel appeared to Joseph  and said, “Get up” and “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.  Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” Matthew 2:13

God provided funds for this coming escape to Egypt.  The gold, incense and myrrh were very costly and could be used in trade for their travel to Egypt via camel perhaps, their places to stay or food to eat.  They stayed in Egypt until Herod died which would have been several years.  Later, Joseph was also told by an angel when it was safe to return and they journeyed back to Israel and settled in Nazareth.   All this traveling and staying would have been expensive.  God miraculously provided for Jesus and his family.

Do you have stories like this in your family of God’s miraculous provision?  This time of year we need to be ready to give but also to receive.  Do you have the attitude that the gifts you receive were especially meant for you?  How grateful are you for the things you receive?   Jesus’ family did not know where or when they would need the expensive gifts they received but God did.  He knows exactly what you need and when you need it.  Thank Him ahead of time for the gifts he has planned for you to receive this year.

Learning to receive with a grateful heart,

Linda