Struggling To Find Ourselves

This was something that I found in one of the old bulletins from the church that someone had left in the back of one of their service books.  I thought it was a NEAT story!!!

Just a week before Christmas, I had a visitor.  This is how it happened.  I just finished the household chores for the night and was preparing to go to bed, when I heard a noise in the front of the house.  I opened the door to the front room and to my surprise, Santa himself stepped out next to the fireplace.

“What are you doing?” I started to ask.  The words choked up in my throat and I saw he had tears in his eyes.  His usual jolly manner was gone.  Gone was the eager, boisterous sould we all know.

He then answered me with a simple statement….”TEACH THE CHILDREN!”

I was puzzled.  What did he mean?

He anticipated my question and with one quick movement brought forth a miniature toy bag from behind the tree.  As I stood bewildered, Santa said, “Teach the children!  Teach them the old meaning of Christmas. The meaning that now-a-days Christmas has forgotten.”

Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a FIR TREE and placed it before the mantle.  “Teach the children that the pure green color of the stately fir tree remains green all year ’round, depicting the everlasting hope of mankind, all needles point heavenward, making it a symbol of man’s thoughts turning toward Heaven.”

He again reached into his bag and pulled out a brilliant STAR.  “Teach the children that the star was the heavenly sign of promises long ago.  God promised a Savior for the world, and the star was the sign of fulfillment of His promise.”

He then reached into his bag and pulled out a CANDLE.  “Teach the children that the candle symbolizes that Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this great light we are reminded of He who displaces the darkness.”

Once again he reached into his bag and removed a WREATH and placed it on the tree.  “Teach the children that the wreath symbolizes the real nature of love.  Real love never ceases.  Love is one continuous round of affection.”

He then pulled from his bag an ORNAMENT of himself.  “Teach the children that I, Santa Claus, symbolize the generosity and good will we feel during the month of December.”

He then brought out a HOLLY LEAF.  “Teach the children that the holly plan represents immortality.  It represents the crown of thorns worn by our Savior.  The red holly berries represent the blood shed by Him.”

Next he pulled from his bag a GIFT and said, “Teach the children that God so loved the world that He gave His begotten Son.” Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.

Santa then reached in his bag and pulled out a CANDY CANE and hung it on the tree.  “Teach the children that the candy cane represents the shepherds’ crook.  The crook on the staff helps to bring back strayed sheep to the flock. The candy cane is the symbol that we are our brother’s keeper.”

He reached in again and pulled out an ANGEL.  “Teach the children that it was the angels that heralded in the glorious news of the Savior’s birth.  The angels sang Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will toward men.”

Suddenly I heard a soft twinkling sound, and from his bag he pulled out a BELL.  “Teach the children that as the lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it should ring mankind to the fold.  The bell symbolizes guidance and return.”

Santa looked back and was pleased.  He looked back at me and I saw that the twinkle was back in his eyes.  He said, “Remember, teach the children the true meaning of Christmas and do not put me in the center, for I am but a humble servant of the One that is, and I bow down to worship Him, our Lord, our God.”  -Author Unknown

I am reading the first part of the book of Exodus already in my Bible reading!!!  As I was reading to my son tonight before he went to bed, we went over most of the plagues that God had Moses send upon Egypt before Pharoah would let the Israelis leave Egypt on their way to the land that God had promised to give to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  I began to wonder what was going through the minds of the nation when Moses and Aaron kept asking Pharoah for permission to leave, and then he denied them, and a plague would come, and Pharoah would change his mind until the plague was gone, and then denied them permission to leave again?  I would HAVE to guess that it would be VERY easy to become discouraged in a situation like that, wouldn’t you?  Look at it this way:  You’re already a slave for someone who’s a brutal, unreasonable person.  You ask permission to go worship God, and you’re told you can’t, so God sends these plagues, and the Pharoah says you can go, only to change his mind after the plague has been discontinued.  I feel like I’ve been at a place similar to that at several times in my life, and I have to tell you that I HAVE gotten discouraged…sometimes beyond belief.  What about you?

We have been standing on God’s Word for His provision in MANY areas of our lives over the last few months.  This last week, we have received partial answers to our prayers, and we can only chalk it up to God’s provision.  And, we foresee answers in a couple of other major areas of our lives in the next 2 or 3 months!!!  God IS good, and we thank Him for his provision that He has already given us!!!  But we are NOT going to slack off of our standing in faith any, just because we see partial victory!!!

God Bless!!!

A church in this area recently got a new Pastor after being without one for almost a year.  I HAVE to admit, this new Pastor (who’s not really an official Pastor yet….more on that later…) has brought some GREAT ideas with him that he is slowly incorporating.  One of those ideas is adding an insert (or two) to the bulletin on Sunday mornings.  On one of these inserts here a couple of weeks ago, there was a little paragraph about one of the things that the church is supposed to do.  It said something about bringing encouragement and faith to those who are feeling down and lost because of “the cares of this world”.  Too many times, that little act of caring gets lost in the hustle and bustle of daily life.  And I HAVE to admit that, as a member of ANY church, it is one of the things that some people need the MOST!!!

Think about it for a minute….do the people of YOUR church do that?  Do they offer endless encouragement when things get rought?  Are they available, no matter how dark the days get?  Is there that certain someone who ALWAYS has the warm smile and encouraging word and the warm hug JUST when you need them?  I don’t think a church can TRULY serve and worship God WITHOUT those qualities!!!

Maybe I’ll write more about what this new Pastor is doing another time, but for tonight, I guess that’s your “Food For Thought”, so you can put that thought on simmer and mull it over for awhile.

Yep, that’s about all I can say it was…a strange happening.

My buddy and I went out to the car last week after dark to go get Dad just before the holiday, and as I was walking around the car to help him get in, I noticed my dome light was on.  Now I hadn’t been into the passenger compartment of the car since the night before.  I HAD used the dome light the night before, but I am pretty sure I turned it off.  Anyway, the REALLY strange thing was that my car didn’t even act like it had been on very long.  It started like it normally does.  Interesting, ain’t it?  All I can say is that it was God’s protection keeping my battery charged…for which I’m VERY thankful!!!

Galatians 3:13 & 14 says that we ARE redeemed from the curse!!!  The curse, for those of you that don’t know, is in Deuteronomy 28.  We ARE redeemed from anxiety and fear!!!  We ARE redeemed from things that steal peace from my household!!!  We ARE redeemed from MY child being given to other people!!!  We ARE redeemed from poverty!!!

James 4:7 says that we need to “resist the Devil and he WILL flee”….not that he MIGHT flee, but that he WILL flee!!!

Revelations 12 says that we have overcome the adversary by the blood of the Lamb, and by the WORD of our testimony!!!!

Mark 11:23 says to “say unto your mountain ‘Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea’, and if thou shalt not doubt, but believe in your heart, it WILL be done for you!!”

Okay, folks…just trying to overcome a feeling of…anxiety today….things have been getting…interesting around here…..More news later…*hugs’n'love*

My son and I went to church across the street from our house last week.  We wouldn’t have gone if it hadn’t been for one of the neighbors who was walking down the street saw my son outside and asked if he could go to church with her.  I told her it was okay, if he wanted to go, which he did.  And I just kind of tagged along a couple of minutes behind them.

Anyway, the reason I told you that is that the Pastor told a story that was kind of funny.  He told of a young Pastor who was just getting into the ministry and was wondering what he was supposed to say, especially at weddings, which he was eager for.  The young Pastor was talking to an older, wiser Pastor about his…..unsureness….of what he was supposed to say.  And the young Pastor mentioned to the older Pastor that he was kind of nervous about forgetting what he was supposed to say next.  The older Pastor gave him some wise advice…..He told the younger Pastor that, if he ever forgot what he was supposed to say next, all he had to do was quote Scripture.  ESPECIALLY at weddings, the older Pastor told him, ALL Scriptures are a good choice to quote.  Well, a short time later, the younger Pastor had the opportunity to perform his first wedding.  Everything went smoothly until he got to the part where he was supposed to say “I now pronounce you man and wife”.  His mind went blank and he started to panic.  Remembering what the older Pastor had told him…that he could quote Scripture to fill in until he remembered what he was supposed to say…..the younger Pastor quoted the first verse that came to mind….

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“Oh, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

I got the monthly magazine from Kenneth Copeland Ministeries yesterday in the mail.  In it, there was an article about forgetting the past and such.  But in that article was something that I think is meant for us, even more than forgetting our past.

About three-quarters of the way through the article, Kenneth Copeland is talking about turning the tables on the Devil.  He says that when the Devil starts tempting you to think about whatever you did in the past (or, as in our case, the fears and anxieties about our situation right now), Kenneth says to shut the Devil up with what God says about the situation.  “Go after him with a vengence.  Get revenge on that disobedient thought by assaulting it with the Word.”  He goes on to say that you can’t do it silently…that you HAVE to fight thoughts with words.  “Words always overcome thoughts because the moment you open your mouth, your mind must stop thinking and listen to what your mouth has to say.  That’s the way human beings are created, and there’s nothing the Devil can do about it.  ….If you’ll speak the Word, you’ll defeat him every time.”

As much as I’d like to say I HAVEN’T been having to deal with negative thoughts…and fears….and anxieties….and despair in all of our mess right now, I can’t.  I, honestly, HAVE been having problems with those, and more.  But, I have also found a few scriptures that I know by heart now, and I TRY my BEST to cling to them when things start getting me down.

“GREATER is He that is in me than he that is in the world, and GREATER is He that is in me than he that is against us.”

“NO weapon formed against us will prosper, and EVERY lying tongue that rises against us we DO condemn, for this is our heritage as a servant of the Lord.”

“We HAVE been redeemed from the curse, and ALL of this mess IS under the curse.”

Kenneth Copeland also teaches that WORDS can and DO change what is going on around you….sooooo, here’s hoping and praying that they are right and things DO start changing!!!