Be Blessed This Year!

   For those of us that have made Jesus the Lord of our life; we stand to inherit all of the promises of the Word if we will just receive them. For those that do not have Jesus in their life, there is absolutely no reason for you to remain poor in your spirit because if you will receive Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven is also yours. Having said that I want to wish everyone, everywhere a Blessed 2013 that is full of peace and prosperity in every area of your life!

    Christmas is such a time of excitement and wonder. That night when the angels praised God saying “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”, they were announcing the greatest gift ever given. We like to give gifts at Christmas to celebrate that amazing gift. But, soon after the gifts are opened, the food is eaten and eventually the trees and decorations come down and are all properly tucked away for next year we get geared up for the new year and the resolutions made, Valentine’s Day is all over the retail world even before New Year’s Day, vacation plans for the year are discussed, our Life Plan’s are revisited for tweaking and we transfer events to our Day Planner’s and off we go into another year. The wonder of that day is exchanged for the rote of another year. I would like to suggest here that we take the message of that day and make it our priority for the year. Write that into your Life Plan and daily into your Day Planner. Spend time with the Lord and walk in a really close and intimate relationship with Him everyday. Christmas should not be a holiday, everyday should be Christmas. Talk about Jesus like you do your children, or your dog, or your next vacation. Share Him as easily as you do those things. Give the gift that keeps on giving, Jesus.

   There is a quote of questionable origin, but I really like it. I am a “Word” girl and believe in the power of the tongue but this quote has its merit. The quote is, “Preach the Gospel, use words if necessary.” I do think words are always a powerful tool to be used, but people tend to watch what you do more than they listen to what you say. That being the case I think the best way to start to give Jesus to the world is to show love to others. In the last recorded thing we have that Jesus prayed before He was betrayed He asked God that not only His disciples walk in love and unity, but that all future believers would do the same. Can I just say Jesus was not talking about denominational quasi tolerance for each other or some of the fake fellowship that can be seen in a church? No, He was talking about the kind of oneness in the body of Christ that would be passed down through all generations, the kind of oneness that would manifest God on earth, bringing glory to God in that others through the visible love of God would believe on Jesus and make Him Lord and Savior. Here is what Jesus prayed.

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me."  John 17:20-23 (NLT) 

   The song “Go Tell it on the Mountain” has been on my heart this Christmas season. It has never been on of my favorites and I honestly do not even think of it even at Christmas. Be that as it may, God has put that tune and that song in my heart for weeks now. “Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, go tell it on the mountain, our Jesus Christ is born!”

    Let’s start to be a blessing by walking in the love and perfect unity Jesus asked the Father for us to walk in so that we can give the gift of Jesus to others ~ everyday.

 Where is your mountain? Where can you tell others about Jesus?