Lessons From The Christmas Story

The bible is truly a treasure book full of God’s wisdom for living. Unfortunately, we often don’t seek His wisdom because seeking can be tasking but there really is a lot to find. Just meditating on the birth of Jesus again in this season, my life can never be the same. Does anyone ever graduate from the School of life? The older I get the more I find that there is yet a lot more that I need to know and still don’t know.

Luke 2: 8 “That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angels reassured them. Don’t be afraid! He said. I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Saviour – yes, the messiah, the Lord – has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David.”

1.       God announces us to the world at the right time; you don’t need to struggle to put yourself out there. God has His ways of announcing people. It is true that the world teaches us to sell ourselves - branding and marketing (nice words to describe it). Truthfully, without Jesus in one’s life, it is easy to feel the need do these things - like ensuring you put yourself out there so that people see and hear about you, all you have done and/or can do. Fortunately, it is different with God if you let Him. As you live your life pleasing Him, He ensures that He announces you in the exact way and place you need to be known. The thing about God is that He does not even tell you that He is announcing you; He does it quietly so that you only know when you begin to hear people talk about you in a light you never saw yourself. God indeed notices all you do.

Mathew 2: 9 “After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was.”

2.       If God elects to lead you, rest assured He will do so to the end. If He goes silent, don’t panic; be still for He has not forgotten you. His silence is sometimes to prove us. That isn’t the time to turn to the flesh; the consequences of doing so may be heavy. God always intends to take us to His predestined end. The wise men started their journey following the star, at some point they saw it no more so they turned to the arm of flesh. They wanted to finish in the flesh, a journey started by the Spirit of God. Interestingly, the star was waiting to continue with them. If only they had been a little patient, they would not have asked the King. Maybe God wanted them to rest from the journey, we would never know but they were in too much of a hurry. 

Mathew 2: 18 “A cry was heard in Ramah – weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.”

3.       The wise men did not know that their turning to the arm of flesh for directions would cost some families their sons. Though they meant no harm, their action cost irreparable damage to some families. The fact that you did not mean to cause harm by your action would not change the consequences. It does not make it okay that people died because the wise men did not intend to have them killed. The sons died and the bible records it as a sad story and communicates the pain caused to the mothers. I don’t think God was pleased about it. Their impatience and/or lack of trust led them to rely on the arm of flesh which caused other people their lives. If only they had waited just a little longer. The fact that they sincerely thought they were lost and needed help did not make the death of the sons less painful.

Think On These Things – Mary and Elizabeth

It’s another Christmas season- another major reminder of the birth of our Saviour. There is for me an intensity that comes with this time of the year which makes self- evaluation very relevant; not to make anyone feel bad but to facilitate the making of decisions that will take one forward. What would be the point in celebrating the birth of our Saviour if one is unable to tap into the benefits of His coming to earth? We must profit from our Saviour stepping into the world and that not just eating and drinking but getting all that is ours on earth and ultimately, eternity with Him. It will be very sad if all we do at this time is eat, drink and buy new clothes; after all coming down to earth was not the easiest experience for Christ. That would be too much a price to pay just for people to party away.

James 1: 25 “But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” 

Whilst it is true that scripture admonishes us to provoke one another to good works, we are also admonished not to compare ourselves with ourselves; the bible says it is not wise to do so. If therefore, we choose to make this a personal stock taking season; the word of God must then be the mirror against which we check our lives. If we compare ourselves with ourselves, we run the risk of getting into unhealthy competition and/or rivalry. These things lead to envy and stir up all sorts of evil emotions. Sadly, it can happen with your best friend or even sibling because it often starts with seemingly good intentions but as they say “hell is paved with good intentions”. These are tricks of the enemy from which we must guard our hearts and apply all diligence to doing so. The sad thing about entering this kind of competition is that you will always play catchup.

Luke 1: 42 “Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believe that the Lord would do what he said.”

Mary and Elizabeth were two different people who realized they were made for different purposes and were content with their God-given roles. Elizabeth could have wished she was chosen to bear the Messiah especially since she faithfully served God for so many years despite that she was barren. She could have argued that it would have been nice for her to have been honored with the privilege of carrying Jesus but instead, she appreciated her role and was content being who she was made to be so that Mary’s visit only provoked good thoughts in her so much so that her baby was impacted. She knew that great honor had been conferred on Mary while she carried a “less special” baby yet she blessed Mary. Elizabeth was happy to bear Christ forerunner; a role that couldn’t have gone to just anyone.  

Ephesians 1: 11 “Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.”

God made every one of us special and unique. We must never forget that to fulfill our purpose, we must remain in our roles. You have failed if your own role is found vacant. God should be proud whenever He looks at our duty post. There will always be many wonderful people all over the world excelling in their own area but you don’t need to be any of them to excel. All you need to be is the “you” that God made, running your race with the right heart and great love for God. Not everyone will deal with Presidents at the level of Dr. Myles Munroe of blessed memory but you can be known all over the world just because you applied yourself to fulfilling your purpose in caring for the poor like Mother Teresa

Be Thankful – Don’t Let Life’s Challenges Steal Your Blessings

As the year comes to an end, are you thankful? To some people thanksgiving may seem out of place right now because they have been through so much this year; yet that is the very reason to thank God. Some people went through much less than you have been through and did not come through but you are still here. The truth that is often hidden is that a lot of people have reasons to be sad or feel ungrateful to God if they dwell on all they have been through but one must be reminded that God brought them through. It takes a mind that is really thoughtful to appreciate the goodness of God. Flighty, shallow and selfish people are unable to look beyond the immediate and as such, may find thanksgiving tough at this time because what we see is often not like God’s purposed end result.  

Luke 2: 7 “She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there no lodging available for them.”

With God, it sometimes seems like one doesn’t have a reason to give thanks but you do. He would often shroud good things in a wrap of seemingly bad things. Why, for example, would our Saviour be born in a manger? Mary and Joseph had to travel all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem on a donkey and ended up without an apartment to rest because all the hotels were fully booked. God could have chosen a better time for the birth of our Saviour so it wouldn’t be too hard on Mary. Indeed they had to stay with animals, I can only imagine the stench; yet Mary carried the very Son of God who is indeed God. It must have been tough for them. At some point, carrying the King of Kings, the miracle for deliverance of mankind must have seemed more like a burden but one couple was willing to pay the price. I often wonder if like us, they complained and murmured all the way. 

Luke 1: 30 & 38 “Don’t be afraid, Mary, the angel told her. For you have found favour with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his kingdom will never end.”

 Mary chose to pay the price for mankind out of love for God. She offered herself a willing sacrifice and God found her holy and acceptable. She considered it a privilege to carry the Son of God despite the challenges that came with it. She trusted God to bring her through though she did not understand how it would work. She became pregnant with the seed of God and immediately, she was faced with the loss of her fiancé. Thank God for eventually speaking to Joseph but not before Mary had dealt with the issue of him no longer wanting to marry her. Mary changing her mind would have been costly so abortion was not an option. No wonder! God would not take such a risk on just anybody. 

Luke 1: 38 “Mary responded, I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”

 

Of course, it doesn’t get easier for anyone as some people would like to think. Mary was a young girl like several others today yet she went through it. We must learn to lean on God tapping into His grace; especially at tough times. It is not possible to do the will of God in one’s own strength. It could not have been easy for Mary but at the end of it all she had reasons to thank God. We may not always understand as God starts to unfold but as we let Him complete His work even without understanding what He is doing, we will find at the end of the process that we survived and have become a wonder. So we must learn to appreciate Him coming through the process with us.

It Is Your Time To Shine… Breakthrough/Open Heavens

I have come to learn that God’s seasons in our lives don’t necessarily have anything to do with seasons as defined by man but I honestly believe that we are currently in a great season for believers – one that could be described as “open heavens” and this is not because the year is coming to an end but because we are entering an era of great blessings. Though times will get tougher, the light of true believers will, in this season, shine brighter and not because they make things happen for themselves but because God is causing things to happen for them and they work with Him to ensure the manifestation of that which He already worked. Clearly, God’s desire is for us to go higher in every level of our lives not necessarily because of you and me but for the display of His manifold wisdom.  

Ephesians 3: 10 “God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

Sadly, when God takes us higher as He is doing, it is also a season of goodbyes; not just to people but to an entire phase of life so that one may be released to another life much bigger and higher than that which you lived. So God separates us from one life as He takes us into another. It is about fresh opportunities opening up as older ones pass away. It definitely hurts when people have to leave but we must be willing to let go with sincere good byes. If people are not released to move on when it is time to do so, the relationship becomes an emotional trap. The entire process is an act of God’s mercy despite that it may hurt sometimes. We must allow the death of anything God terminates; for with God, fresh life always comes forth from death.

1 Corinthians 15: 36 “What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it does.”    

  

The truth is coming to a higher level is not often immediately the fun one expects and so many of us leave such breakthrough seasons the same way we entered it; no improvements to our lives. This is often because our expectations are often totally different from the way God chooses to begin to unfold the physical manifestations of the blessings and as a result, our responses and/or decisions are wrong. When our decisions are wrong, they inhibit the full expression of God’s workings in our lives despite that God is desperate for a manifestation of His goodness in our lives. Breakthrough or Open Heavens season sound great and bring so much joy but they come with a lot of changes that may leave one confused and feeling a desperate need to make decisions or do something so no one thinks one is foolish. Under this kind of pressure, we forget that it is okay to be still with a knowing that He is God who is in control and also that this terrain is higher than one ever walked. Indeed people think you foolish if you jump into action immediately. 

We need to carefully take in all that is happening around us whilst leaning on the Holy Spirit for help. As soon as one gets a hang of this new level, you will be required to work harder than you did previously because coming up higher suggest an enlargement of one’s coast. We have lost many blessings and/or breakthroughs because we made decisions too fast which bind and prevent us from fully enjoying the full benefits of these new levels. Those quick decisions we make often turn out wrong because they are often influenced by our past level and not suitable for this new level. We must rely on God who knows the terrain.

Change – A Must If We Must Move Forward

There is no doubt that consistency makes life easier. It’s just easier to have things remain the same but that is not reality. I wish my friends could remain the same and we would always live happily forever but nice as it seems, it is not real. Change must naturally occur to move us forward and sometimes in different directions. People must be born; they must grow and leave the earth at some point. Even growth evidences change. Funny as this may sound, change is sometimes more fearful when one walks with God though it ought to be the opposite. As mere mortals, our flesh first instinct is often to reject the changes God brings into our lives but if we are patient, we would find that it would ultimately work good for us. God, in making these changes in our lives, takes complete control leaving us helpless and unable to determine how everything would eventually turn out; we must then find comfort in the fact that God has a great plan for us in all He does so that it is never change just for the purpose of change. 

Ezekiel 21: 27kjv “I will overturn, overturn and overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it to him.””

We often talk about God taking us higher in life and believers coming up higher even in our walk with God. These things sound very good but the out working is often not a likeable process neither is it anticipated so that one is not immediately certain if their life is worse or better off. One should not be in a hurry to make that decision; I think we should at that point just try to follow God and eventually, life would let us know whether God’s change worked out good for us or evil. It gets tough sometimes when it appears a lot of painful changes are going on in one’s life when another person’s life appears sane and normal but we must be reminded that God can be like that sometimes; believe me, it would be the other person’s turn at another time and they may be going through their own thing which you are not aware of. God makes these changes to establish us in His ‘promises.’ Sometimes the changes make people treat one differently, even in ways one may not appreciate but please take no offence; it is time for change that you may fulfill your destiny.

Hebrews 10: 9bkjv “He taketh away the first that He may establish the second”

The Israelites went through a lot of changes to get to the Promised Land. Sadly, God had to take away the first set of people to ensure that a certain group of Israelites entered the Promised Land. I guess if most of the initial people did not die, no Israelite may have entered the Promised Land because they would have impacted the younger generation wrongly. Joseph went through several major changes that He could not understand or explain but which ultimately brought him to the role of Prime minister in Egypt. It is hard to fully understand where God is going until He completes what He is doing. We must however, trust Him enough to let Him take away the first that He may establish the new in our lives. If it wasn’t necessary to take it away, He wouldn’t; He does not go out of His way to inflict pain. Our pain does not give Him pleasure and be certain that He will be with you through it all. Fear of pain or the unknown must not cause us to hold unto the old.

The long awaited answers to our prayers are here but shall we receive them or let go of them because they have not met our expectation or are taking us out of your comfort zone? Just taking a few steps higher on a staircase changes everything. One’s perspective changes completely because your view is wider, the risk of getting wounded if you fall is higher and you would most likely become more visible. Things definitely change. Going from glory to glory is a lot of change but it is the goodness of God. You can’t insist on remaining in the same place and hope to enjoy the goodness of God. Climbing is never the easiest thing but it takes us higher and to a new and different place.