You Are Loved! Thoughts for the New Year

It's a New Year and a time for new beginnings.  Leave the old behind and step forward into your future with the knowledge that you are loved by the Creator of the universe.  You. are. loved. Don't forget that!  Not only are you loved but, if you are His, you have been called for a purpose…. to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him.

God wants you to have a life that is full of His goodness, abounding in the riches of His love. A life filled with purpose.

The enemy, the devil, wants to destroy you…plain and simple.  He wants to plant thoughts in your head to make you feel like a failure, with no purpose.  In John chapter 10, verse 10 we read the words of Jesus, "The thief comes only to kill and steal and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Jesus wants you to live a full life filled with the purpose of His love.

When we respond to the invitation to follow Jesus and try to live as He lived, even in all of our imperfection, He promises that our joy will be full. (John 15:11 and 16:24).  When He tells us that we would have life to the full in John 10:10, the word for full here in Greek is, perissos...it means "super-abundant, superior in quality, over and above. It is an extravagant, abundant word, full of promise and hope." (see Keri Wyatt Kent's, Deeper Into the Word, New Testament).

Sometimes we allow ourselves to be swayed by the standards of the world and begin to tell ourselves lies that we are 'less than'…not pretty enough, not smart enough, not organized enough. Enough. enough.enough! Stop the lies dead in their tracks and replace them with the truth of God's word. We are to 'take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.' We are to take back our thought life, putting it under the authority of Christ and His word.

 When the world or the enemy of our soul tries to tell us that we are 'less than', we tend to let it sink deep into our thought life. The lie takes root and our emotions become engaged, dictating the way we interact with the world in which we live. It can begin to take over, stealing our focus and causing feelings of helplessness. It becomes a stronghold in our lives, holding us down and keeping us from becoming all that God created us to be.  It drains our emotional energy and keeps us from fulfilling the abundant life that God has called us to. This is exactly what the enemy wants.  We need to turn away from the lie of 'less than' and turn to the truth of God's Word.  HE IS ENOUGH so we don't have to be.  We don't' have to strive to be perfect…to have the perfect family, perfect kids, perfect body, perfect life.  The truth is no one is perfect but the one who created us. And HE IS ENOUGH. We are perfected IN HIM and HE.IS.ENOUGH.

 Instead of letting the world define you, or listening to the enemy as he whispers lies into your ear, lies of worthlessness, and hopelessness…allow God to lead you into a full life….a life of joy and purpose. Allow Him to take your less than and turn it into more than enough.

I want to live that kind of 'full' life, a life that is more than enough! Don't you?

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.    ~2 Corinthians 10:3-5

The Good News...So Grand!!

So it seems I have taken an incredibly long sabbatical from the blog world, unintentionally.  Sometimes life just gets in the way and taking the time to sit and write takes backseat.

 Thank you to all who have continued to visit my blog and read my past posts.  I plan to begin blogging regularly in 2013!  Really!

The good news is that I have a beautiful new grandson!

Judah David Terry. I am learning the new role, privilege, and joy of being a Gigi(Grandma Gay).  What a wonderful Christmas gift he is to all of us!! I don't think I need or want anything else for Christmas...just to hold this precious bundle of joy in my arms!!

It makes me think of that very first Christmas so very long ago. The best good news...when God became man, in the form of a baby, totally dependent on His mother for all of His needs.

It is mind-boggling to think of this...Jesus Christ is God and Jesus Christ is man...fully God, yet fully human, in fact, so fully human that He subjected Himself to be born of a virgin. The Virgin Mary, the mother of our Savior also in need of a Savior, just as we all are in need of a Savior.  Born...traveling down the birth canal just like every other human child...and without the assistance of a doctor or the cleanliness of a hospital room.

The birth of the Messiah, the savior of the world occurred most likely in a cave in which livestock was kept. In those days the custom was to build homes near caves when it was possible to use as a stable.  He was wrapped in swaddling cloths and placed in a manger, a trough used to feed the livestock when they were unable to graze in the pastures surrounding the city. This birth was nothing unusual, except perhaps that they were forced to be in the cave instead of a family member's guest room, because of the census no one had room to spare.

This birth in a Bethlehem stable probably went unnoticed by many. But out on a hillside, all of Heaven made it known to lowly shepherds, of all people, that the Messiah was born. I could not tell the story any better than God Himself...this is one of my favorite passages in His Word...

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
                                                                                     Luke 2:8-19

That last verse gets me every time I read it. I used to think, I wonder what exactly was Mary 'pondering'?  Was it just an overwhelming wonder of all that had just occurred back from the time of first hearing from the angel that she was going to conceive and have a baby...and not just any baby but the Messiah!  For surely Mary knew from the words of the angel that this baby was to be the Savior she had learned about from the time she was a young child, the Messiah they were all awaiting.

Or as she looked into those tiny little eyes as she held Him in her arms, did she think about what He would grow up to be?  His life purpose? His greatness? You know, those things all mother's wonder about as they hold that precious child in their arms for the first time.  Feeling that overwhelming love come over her...I cannot imagine the overwhelming love of the mother holding LOVE itself.

But I can almost, in just a shadow of a way, imagine it as I hold my grandson in my arms...knowing that I love this child because of who he is...not for what he will be when he grows up.  Love so overwhelming...so grand!

I love that God gives us little glimpses of heaven on earth...those little glimpses of His love for us.  Because of those hints of His love for us, we can almost comprehend the sacrifice He made in sending His one and only Son to die on the cross for our sins...His blood covering our sins so that we could have a relationship with Him and spend eternity in Heaven.

Overwhelming love...so GRAND!!!


So...now I have to ask...what will you be pondering in your heart on Christmas morning?

     

(Gigi)

For God so loved the world the He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ~ John 3:16