The King Has Arrived

Bethlehem.  The name means House of Bread.  It was the place that was chosen for the birth of the Bread of Life who has come to be our sustenance for every day, to feed us with all that heaven holds.   He is the whole loaf, fully on the table.  How much do you want?  It has always been up to us to determine the answer.  The day on the hillside when more than five thousand were fed should help us to see that when thanks is given and bread received, the supply will more than meet the need.  Remember the twelve basketsful that were left afterward.  He has never been worried about running out, and is longing for those who would come and test His character, who believe that He meant what He said and stake their life on it.

Welcome Baby

The laboring woman gave one final push and the baby made a grand entrance, announcing his evening arrival with a loud and lusty first cry.  He was checked quickly by the doctor and nurses even though he appeared to be perfect, then was wiped clean, wrapped in a soft blue blanket, and placed into his mother’s waiting arms.  His father had been attentive throughout the pregnancy, looking after his wife and anticipating with her the arrival of their first baby.  Parenthood for them had already held more than a few setbacks and complications.  Now he was one proud and grateful daddy, amazed at the sight and size of his tiny new son.

The father moved to the head of the delivery table and began to wheel his wife and son into the corridor, but instead of taking the expected right turn toward the recovery room, he proceeded through the hospital hallways straight toward the infectious disease ward, and once there, moved from bed to bed, placing his tiny son into the arms of each person there.  The startled patients were not used to having visitors in this sparse and depressing place.  It wasn’t safe here.

No one could have anticipated this absurd scene, yet it really shouldn’t strike us as odd or unfamiliar.  After all, it’s precisely the story we celebrate every Christmas.  It was that amazing night when God the Father sent His Son here to planet earth, where there was not even one person who could be considered “well” in His eyes.  All of us were deathly ill, trying to fight off with fleshly knowledge and sheer determination what we were not equipped to conquer.  We had already been given the news and the report was not good.   “It’s terminal,” they’d told us as gently as possible.  We knew we were dying before they said the words.  We could feel it.  And then the Father brings His tiny Son here, right into the thick of the mess and says to each of us “Would you like to hold the baby?”  In our arms now was the miracle cure we were afraid would not come in time.  But He has come.  It is very good news.

Anita Hickinbotham©2008

A Good Soak

What is God up to?  Give that question a moment to sink in, then consider both how widely He can work and how immense His power is.  Soak in that wonder.  He has come,  and is coming still. 

Who Could Imagine?

It’s the best miracle ever.  We were given Jesus for Christmas.  He is a gift that will not tarnish or break, whose batteries will never wear out, whose end we will never finish discovering as we plumb His depths and gaze at the wonder of who He is and what He is doing in His universe.  We begin by accepting the gift, untying its red ribbon, and lifting the lid of the gift that will fill our desire and fulfill our destiny.  There are more layers there than you could ever imagine.

He is healing, provision, protection.  He is the missing piece you have been hungering for your whole life, the one that brings peace, for that is who He IS.  He is astonishingly good.  Dare to pray a prayer that if any of it is true, your eyes will begin to see, your heart will begin to feel it, your spirit will have the courage to dip its toe into the stream and see where the river is going.  Once you get your first mouthful of these waters you will never regret doing whatever it takes to swim there for the rest of your days.  Pay the price to turn from the tinsel and find the gold.

The Gift

You’d think that the evidence of His strength and attention to beauty and detail and goodness would have been apparent with a sky full of stars, cascading waterfalls, fields of sunflowers, and lands full of animals in endless varieties, but He went a few big steps beyond even that.  He decided to come in person, to visit us, and to show us what He was all about.  It wasn’t for state dinners (He preferred the company of those who had true curiosity, no matter what economical class they were in), or pampering (He was pressed and stretched more days than not).  Jesus came to display some of the love and power of His Father’s kingdom, what was important there, and offering all of it to any who would dare to take Him up on it.  He lifted the weary, healed the blind, lame, and lepers, put a few from the tomb back into the company of their families, and lit the flame in hearts that didn’t yet understand the significance of what was going on.  Then He bled, died, and rose to ensure that we wouldn’t miss the point of the power He holds. 

He places much in our hands…time, resources, gifts chosen specifically for us by Holy Spirit and invites us to come back to Him with them all, open handed, to discover what He had in mind when He distributed those magnificent ingredients.  We can’t do glorious work and bring what He intends from heaven to earth if we decide we can manage it adequately without His guidance. 

You may be wrapped up in all the trappings of the holiday, but He doesn’t care if your paper is a bit torn and your ribbons crushed in this hectic season.  Just come, and bring Him the Christmas gift of you.  Let Him open you up and decide what He will do with your precious life.  His plans are stunningly beautiful and not at all dependent on the condition we are in when we come to Him.  He is utterly gifted at taking something that most would consider far too damaged and revealing its true beauty and worth. 

Stop holding on.  Stop stepping from the Christmas rush right into the resolutions of the coming year marked with your own goals and see what He has for you, miracles all of them, as you walk it out learning how trustworthy and brilliant He is. 

You are the gift He wants most.

Getting Our Wings

I love that God has never tried to mask over the depravity of humanity.  He is big enough for our real stories, our true damage, our great need.  He gave us Himself for Christmas.  It’s mind-blowing…honestly, think about this…GOD IS WITH US. We become so aware of His presence  in which we are encompassed, that our circumstances are then rightly seen as the outer layers of reality, not the most close and influential ones and our freedom truly begins to be our experience.

Take Joy

A Christmas gift from me to you...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euA0Ypy_jqE