DECEMBER 2018

What Does Christmas Mean 

to You?

DEEPER MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

I would like to take this opportunity of wishing you all a very Blessed and Happy Christmas!  As the Christmas season comes and goes this year, may hope be found in the truth of God’s word and the knowledge of His unchanging love for you every day of the year.

Across the globe we celebrate Christmas every year almost as a ritualistic routine and festivity. We know it to be a time for family, friends, socialising with special events and reconnecting with people that we do not have the time to catch up with throughout the year.

Christmas is just a date on the calendar for so many.  This year, I would like to share with you the true meaning of Christmas:

The Word became flesh (John 1:14)

While God had walked in the garden with Adam and Eve and showed up in various forms and moments in Israel’s history, the event of the birth of Jesus Christ was different. Why so?  Because this time, He didn’t take the form of an angel or just do some incredible, unexplainable feat. This time, He came as One of us! The Eternal God became a finite man. He entered history at a specific time and place as a member of His Creation. The angel Gabriel announced His coming to Mary and God also sent a message to Joseph. He caught the attention of the magi from the east who came looking for the Messiah King. Angels appeared to shepherds in the field praising God and announcing the birth of the Saviour. God broke 400 years of silence with a different sound…the cry of a baby! This was a holy, truly awesome moment in time that changed time for all eternity!

Christmas Divides History

No other birth in the history of mankind has carried greater significance. This event  literally split history in two. Take a moment to ponder on this.  There is no king, emperor, prophet, or spiritual leader ever who has influenced the course of history more than Jesus Christ. 

While Christmas is a time to remember the birth of Christ, it also marks a gigantic, God-sized day in the history of man’s relationship with our Heavenly Father. 

Many have tried and some have made noticeable ripples in history, but none like this. Jesus was a carpenter’s son and itinerant preacher. He didn’t lead armies or write books or earn rewards and honours and accolades. He didn’t try to organize people (though they were drawn to Him) or even really spread His teaching (though it spread like wildfire). Yet, He changed history like no one ever has or ever will simply because of who He is. 

Immanuel

What a name! What an earth-shattering reality. God with us. Our Creator God who formed the heavens and earth and all the universe with but a word was here as one of us. Not to mete out judgment and wrath, but first to reconcile to Himself all who would believe. He is God with Us who will never leave or forsake us. This is the significance of the birth of Christ. This is why the angels announced it to the shepherds and the star led the magi to Bethlehem. God, Himself was here, the silence was finally broken, and Salvation was coming!

So…Spread the Word!

The birth of Jesus is the moment in history when God stepped into His Creation not as Creator, but as one of us. And not as a ruler, politician, or military figure. But as a baby, the son of a carpenter, born in a place for animals with a feeding trough as a bed. From that humble beginning, He turned the world as we know it upside down. God is with us! God is with you right where you are now and Salvation and everything that it embodies is now at your disposal. 

I pray that this season when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ that it will also bring new life to you and your loved ones in Jesus name.

May 2019 when it arrives bring with it a new dimension of

change, victory and success!  

Prayer Points For the Christmas Season

1. That Christ will reawaken our spirits and return in our thoughts and thinking and become the main focus of our lives. In the Name of Jesus we pray.
2. That as Mary had her encounter with God, that we will also have an encounter that will change our lives and impregnate and impact us with new authority and power to live our lives for the better and good of others also.  In the Name of Jesus we pray.     
3. That every distraction, disruption, disappointment and delay will fail in their assignments against our successful outcomes.  In the Name of Jesus Christ we pray.

NOVEMBER 2018

WHY DO WE NEED TO PRAY?

For the month of  – November  I want to put the subject of prayer under the microscope and look at why you and I need to pray.

A Christian philosopher who was also a scientist - Blaise Pascal (1623-62) wrote, "The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing … " Over the next few months I am going to serialise why we need to pray.

God's Word Calls YOU and I to Pray!

The primary reason we need to pray is because God has commanded us to do so. If we are to be obedient to His will, then prayer must be part of our life when we are in relationship with Him. Where does the Bible call us to prayer? There are several passages that are relevant:

• "Pray for those who persecute you" –Matthew 5:44 (NIV) [1] 
• "And when you pray …" –Matthew 6:5 
• "This, then, is how you should pray …" –Matthew 6:9 
• "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." –Romans 12:12 
• "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests." –Ephesians 6:18 
• "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." –Philippians 4:6 
• "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." –Colossians 4:2 
• "Pray continually" -1 Thessalonians 5:17 
• "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone …" -1 Timothy 2:1

Prayer is an act of obedience. God  has called you to pray and if you are intending to establish a working relationship with Him you need to respond by so doing. 

Scriptures are taken from the NIV (New International Version)