Merry Christmas

I’ve tried all day long to figure out this angst in my heart.

It was a good day. Everyone was happy – though slightly under the weather. The gifts were good. There was no quibbling between siblings. It just wasn’t Christmas.

One of my gifts was an amazing book called the Christmas Sweater.

One sentence at the end of the book caught my heart, and actually I added more than Mr. Beck had intended when he wrote it.

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of the Christ child, but by doing so, sometimes we miss the real meaning of the season. It is what that infant boy, then perfect man did at the end of His ministry that makes the birth so special.

Without His death, the birth is meaningless.

It is so very, very true. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has been the focal point of history. It’s power changes lives, forgives sin, makes a relationship with God possible, brings joy and hope to everyone who receives the great gift.

But there is more…so much more. Because He isn’t done. He’s returning and coming back to set everything in order. “To make wrong things right.” “To make all things new.” There is a second Christmas if you would want to call it that.

That’s my longing today. The second Christmas. I love my family. You blessed me today. I love being your mom and wife. But the thing I long for most is just Jesus. The power of that longing surprises me and is more than I can put words to. And praying into that and preparing the way for that moment, and preparing God’s people for it, I think that is now my life’s goal. This isn’t just a one year resolution. It is the longing of my heart.

Even so Lord Jesus, quickly come!

Christmas Bells

Things got a little silly in staff meeting last week. I have no idea how we even got to the subject, but suddenly we were in a middle of a discussion about handbell choirs. Steve told Kathy to go find out how much a set of handbells would cost, but staked his claim on the big low note bells at the end. You can see a handbell choir in action at this youtube video.

Jingle bells, silver bells, Christmas bells, everytime a bell rings an angel gets his wings. It’s just a bell time of year. Prayerleader blogspot has a great post on the Christ Bell and knowing who I am in Christ. I’ve been trying to replicate the bell here, but now I’m hearing bells and seeing stars, because for some reason I can’t get it to reproduce on my blog. As you’ll see below, I can only get it to come up as half a bell.

No matter. It is great at this time of year to know Him, but also to know who you are in Him. Read the post here. Then print it out. It is a great tool to meditate on in ‘09.

THE BELL
I KNOW WHO I AM
I am God’s child (John 1:12)
I am Christ’s friend (John 15:15 )
I am united with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17)
I am bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20)
I am a saint (set apart for God). (Eph. 1:1)
I am a personal witness of Christ. (Acts 1:8)
I am the salt & light of the earth (Matt 5:13-14)
I am a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27)
I am free forever from condemnation ( Rom. 8: 1-2)
I am a citizen of Heaven. I am significant (Phil 3:20)
I am free from any charge against me (Rom. 8:31 -34)
I am a minister of reconciliation for God (2 Cor 5:17-21)
I have access to God through the Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:18)
I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6)
I cannot be separated from the love of God (Rom 8:35-39)
I am established, anointed, sealed by God (2 Cor 1:21-22 )
I am assured all things work together for good (Rom. 8:28 )
I have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit (John 15:16 )
I may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3: 12 )
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil. 4:13)
I am the branch of the true vine, a channel of His life (John 15: 1-5)
I am God’s temple (1 Cor. 3: 16). I am complete in Christ (Col. 2: 10)
I am hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).. I have been justified (Romans 5:1)
I am God’s co-worker (1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1). I am God’s workmanship (Eph. 2:10)
I am confident that the good works God has begun in me will be perfected. (Phil. 1: 5)
I have been redeemed and forgiven (Col 1:14). I have been adopted as God’s child (Eph 1:5)
I belong to God
Do you know
Who you are?

One of those moments…

On Saturday morning, I was getting ready to leave the house to go to prayer when suddenly it turned into one of those moments when God took four different things He’s been working in my life and tied them all together. He spoke to me just one word and with one word, He had me undone. He even laughed when He said it. I know He did, because I heard the lilt of laughter in the tone.

Last Sunday night, at the kids Christmas program at church, one little phrase caught my attention.  “No Room”.  I didn’t ponder it long that night.  My brain just registered the phrase. “No Room”.

I had just read the account of the raising of Lazarus a day or so earlier. My mind noted again verse 5 where John tells us that Jesus loved Martha, and parenthetically also loved her sister and brother. The whole Mary and Martha story replayed in my mind again and Jesus loved Martha even though she was the one who got scolded. My brain just registered again that “Jesus loved Martha”.

As we get ready to go to One Thing over the break, I’ve been focusing again on Jesus as the coming King. I’ve read and re-read Revelation again and focused on Chapter 5 where John weeps because there is no one worthy to open the scroll. Then Jesus makes His entrance into John’s vision, and I have been filled with longing for Jesus to return. My brain registered “how long oh LORD, worthy and true until you return?”

So Saturday morning…I was blow drying my hair and thinking about the dilemma of the day.  We were supposed to have the staff Christmas party at our house on Saturday night, but the blizzard warning sounded pretty threatening. I didn’t want to call off the party, but I didn’t want everyone to start cooking and then have the party called off. What to do…what to do? Then there was always the tantalizing thought that no party meant no hurricane of cleaning for the day. And I thought to myself, “It would sure make my day easier to not have to get ready for everyone.”

And He laughed as He whispered in my ear, “Martha!”

I was undone. He took my breath away. I laughed too as I recoginzed myself, and I repented and cried and took a good long look. What on earth am I doing? I’m longing for Him to return, and at the same time saying, “No Room – It’s too much work.”

What does it take to make room for Jesus in my life this year?
What does it take to get the world ready for Jesus to return?
Where are we telling him that we are too busy?

Jesus loved Martha and her need to get the work done. Jesus wants to return. God longs for the world to be set right under the rulership of His Son. (Isaiah 9:7 – The Zeal of the Lord God Almighty will accomplish this) Is our lack of prayerlessness in a sense telling him “No Room!”

2 Peter 3:12 says that we can hasten the Day of the Lord. We don’t have to sit around longing for Him to have His Second Christmas/Coming. We can hasten the day.

I’m done sitting around waiting for Him to return. I’m going to do the work. And it starts by sitting as His feet.

Knee Wrecking, Ear Straining, Eye Squinting, Heart Wrenching Prayer

 

One of my favorite bloggers is Zack Hensley    at http://zackhensley.wordpress.com/.  My kids were super blessed at ATC this summer in KC where Zack did a great job of organizing and leading a whole mass of teenagers seeking Jesus for two weeks.  They have commented on how amazing and funny he was.  Thanks for being a model of a man following hard after God’s heart.

Zack has been doing a series of posts on the emergent church lately, and I was touched by a phrase in his blog which I borrowed to title my post here.  As I read farther, I was challenged by Zack’s thoughts on prayer and what’s wrong or right with the church today. 

Here’s the link to the full post. http://zackhensley.wordpress.com/2008/12/10/confession-time/

Enjoy!