Christmas Time is Coming

Luke 2:10 – 16 - Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.

There is an old Christmas song that I have thought about lately. It was written by Benjamin “Tex” Logan, a Bell Labs engineer and fiddler, and recorded in 1951 by Bill Monroe and his band, the Blue Grass Boys. The lyrics of the chorus read:

“Christmas time's a comin'
Christmas time's a comin'
Christmas time's a comin'
And I know I'm goin' home.”

The theme of the song is a longing to go home for Christmas. Several lines in the song say, “my old hearts a callin’” “and my old heart's a yearnin' for the folks at home.” When the angels appeared to the shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks at night and announced the birth of our Savior, there was a desire to go to Bethlehem. Luke writes in verse 16, “they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.”

I believe God has placed a longing the heart of every believer for home. The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 3:20, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” In 1 Peter 2:11 that we are strangers and pilgrims in this world.

The baby born in Bethlehem to the announcement of angels in a lowly manger made this statement in John 17:16, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” He declares that our home is in heaven. In Hebrews 11:10 Abraham sought a city “whose builder and make is God.” As believers there is a longing in our heart for home. Jesus made this promise in John 14:2-3, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

There are a number of popular songs about being home for Christmas. We long to be with the ones we love to share a meal, exchange gifts, and spend time reminiscing together. We long for the simple joys of home. What a reunion awaits us when the Lord calls us to our heavenly home. What joys awaits us in the place Jesus has prepared for us.

Rebuilding the Broken Altar of Prayer

In Matthew 21: 12-13 , “ Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” Jesus made this declaration, “My house shall be called a house of prayer!” I believe that God is calling us back to the altar of prayer. For several weeks the Lord has dealt with me about rebuilding the broken altar of prayer in our personal and corporate lives. If we are going to see spiritual breakthrough in our churches and communities then we must rebuild and return to the altar of prayer. Wayman Rogers writes, “The ministry of prayer is the most important of all ministries in the church. Prayer creates the atmosphere and binds the powers of darkness so the gospel of Jesus can go forward and the church can prosper....

The Fifth Month - Av - The Month to Hear

--> The Fifth Month – Av The Month to Hear For a number of years I have been studying and praying for insight into how the Lord moves and works in time. We learn in 1 Chronicles 12:32 that the Sons of Issachar had an understanding of the times and knew what Israel ought to do. They were masters of the Hebrew calendar. In Exodus 12:2 the Lord established the Hebrew calendar. “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.” The Hebrew calendar begins at Passover in the month of Nissan. This calendar was God ordained and introduced in the Bible. To better understand how God moves in times you can study the Hebrew calendar and the patterns that have been established in the Word of God. Our Gregorian calendar is on a different time cycle than the Word of God. The Bible refers to the month of Av as the fifth month counting from Passover. It corresponds to the months of ...

The Shout of a King is Among Them

Numbers 23:21 - “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, And the shout of a King is among them.” In this passage of Scripture, the king of Moab had hired the prophet Balaam to speak a curse over the children of Israel. He saw Israel as a threat to his kingdom. Numbers 22:2-3 – “Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was sick with dread because of the children of Israel.” When the enemy sees the people of God rising up in faith, he becomes very concerned and moves to keep us from fulfilling our assignment. We learn in Numbers, Balaam could only speak what the Lord gave him to speak. Instead of a curse he speaks a blessing. The enemy seeks our destruction, but God! Listen to the conversation between God and Satan in ...

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