#Birth of Jesus

[walkswithmyfather]

Micah 5:2 (NASB). “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”

Luke 2:10 (NASB). “But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;'”

“Our Coming Hope” By In Touch Ministried:

“This Christmas season, remember and celebrate the joy and hope we have in Christ.”

“The Old Testament is filled with prophecies about the coming Messiah. A few of them probably left people wondering how one individual could fulfill such lofty promises. The birth of such a person would be “good news of great joy,” just as the angel proclaimed (Luke 2:10). The Messiah would be ...

A descendant of Abraham seated on David’s throne. Matthew and Luke trace Jesus’ genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38). God promised that all nations would be blessed through Abraham (Genesis 22:18), and Isaiah prophesied that Christ would reign forever on David’s throne (Isaiah 9:7). The gospel writers showed that Jesus could claim direct lineage from both of these men.

A man born in Bethlehem yet called out of Egypt. Though the Messiah’s predicted birthplace was Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), He was expected to come out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1). We know that a census brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem just in time for Jesus to be born. And Matthew’s gospel explains the rest of the mystery: To avoid Herod’s jealous rage, the family fled to Egypt, returning to Israel only after the king was dead (Matthew 2:13; Matthew 2:20-21).

God was specific in describing the Messiah so people would recognize the Anointed One and take joy in His coming. Today, as Advent begins, let’s remember this good news and rejoice.”

[Photo thanks to Josh Harrison at Unsplash]

[sugas6thtooth]

The IDF wishes everyone a merry Christmas! Nothing shows Christmas spirit like bombing the birthplace of Jesus. /s

[beardedmrbean]

[scribeforchrist-blog]

What I Really Needed Is Peace

MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK

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+ James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your    passions

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VERSE OF THE DAY

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+ Psalm 4:8 In peace I will lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

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** SAY THIS BEFORE YOU READ; HERE’S SOME CHRISTIAN TRUTHS **

I AM AT PEACE

I AM HEARING GOD

I AM WAITING ON GOD

I AM NOT ALONE

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READ TIME: 9 Minutes & 45 Seconds

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THOUGHTS:

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  I can remember thinking life was so simple because if I got my liquor on Friday. I had a good movie to watch; that was my life, something simple, nothing complicated, and a lot of times, I would think it couldn’t get better than that, and I had to learn that life could get better, as I gave my life to God he made me see that life was better with him and what I wanted to do was just be in peace.

We see our life as full with peace because we have all these things and money. We think we are at peace, but peace is only obtained when we trust God. We must trust in God for peace, but the peace he can give us is everlasting. I could remember thinking that weed and drinking could make me feel so good that nothing else is better, but as you smoke, you always have to smoke to keep your high; you always have to buy it, but the peace of God, I didn’t have to buy it , it came freely his word says “Freely you have received; freely give.” And he gives freely to us when we allow him to give.

 John 14:27 peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

  See, the world can only give us so much peace; the world can give us only what it has, which is so tiny; we can sit here and say we were in peace when we were sinning, but sinning only puts us in a loop of the same thing which is sin. Then we are back at the empty place, over and over again, but with God's peace, we don’t have to worry about it; we don’t have to worry about being in this endless loop of the same feeling, we just have to let go of the mindset that what we are doing is right to obtain peace, peace starts with us, we can allow our day to be messed up by something someone does, or we can ignore it and give it to God now when you first do this you're going to be irritated you're going to be frustrated. Still, as you do this more often, you learn this is what we are supposed to do all along.

 Psalm 4:8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

  When we are in peace with God, we learn we can sleep in peace because we have the safety of the Lord. I'm not going to lie to you that peace is hard to get sometimes when thinking about finances, life, problems, and our love life, but our minds don’t know how to let go. I don’t care what you do; whatever you try to use for peace instead of God won't last. Still, when we depend on God, our life becomes easier, and sleep becomes easier because we are then leaning on God, and that is what peace is about: leaning on God for everything; peace is about knowing that we can get it from God, not from our things here on earth. There is so much out there to give us peace: weed, drinking, gummies, pornography, relationships; it all is there to help us gain something, but are we gaining something? No, we are opening doorways into our lives for spirits to attach themselves to us.

 Hebrews 12:29 for our “God is a consuming fire.

  We talked this week about the fire that God has that can consume anything that we have that’s not of him when we submit to him. His fire cleanses what in us that’s of the flesh, but this comes from time spent with God and building a stable relationship with him, not just talking to him a little at a time, but when we fully allow him to be our everything. Some might find this hard to do, as the Holy Spirit said above, because we have allowed things to be our peace, and we start to allow the Holy Spirit to be our friend, guide, and teacher; we begin to see what we are doing wrong.

 1 Samuel 1:15 Not so, my Lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord.

  It's different levels. I noticed that we get on with Christ; sometimes, we are on this unique level, pouring our souls into him. Then we have these levels where we don’t engage enough, but whatever season you are in, don’t give into the temptation to draw away but ; pour your heart out to him and allow him to hear you speak; allow him to hear what your feelings when I go to the prayer closet I often time am pouring my heart to him because I don’t want it to be ever a moment that I'm not showing him I do care. Yes, he knows, but when we let him know, we are doing this by doing what Hannah did, we are pouring ourselves out to him.

  Proverbs 1:5: let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance—

  We listen with our ears, but do we truly listen to the voice of God? We learned this week about how sometimes we don’t listen with our ears; we allow our habits and actions to tell us what to do, but every day, we should be listening to the voice of God, and when we do this, we will see and hear what the Holy Spirit is trying to say to us we can live our whole lives and never hear the voice of God. Still, it’s because we don’t try to sit quietly and wait for him; we allow what we think we heard to lead us. We can't allow that to happen; we must be sure that what we heard was of the Lord.

  Proverbs 27:19 As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart

  When. We look in the mirror, and it won't lie to us; what we see is what we see that’s like our heart; we learned this week that our heart reflects our true intention; it reflects what we are feeling and a lot of times, we might say no this isn’t my true feelings, but when we give ourselves to the Lord he can see into our true thoughts its nothing we can hide from him, we must be able to be real with God it's some people I can't be real with I can't even tell you countless of people that pretend to be something they’re not just to make someone happy, but we can't pretend with God.

  ***Today, we learn that we need Jesus to give us peace; a lot of times, we think other things will bring us the ultimate happiness, and it can money, people, and things can bring you happiness, but what I am looking for right now in my life is the joy I want the joy of the Lord I want the peace that doesn’t leave, I want that more than anything, we can sit and think how many times we have had pure happiness that didn’t end so quickly not so much but when we give ourselves to God we can guarantee what he gives us is real, and it's true that’s what I need

  1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.

But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

We also discussed some of the topics of the week, and one of them was about how weak we can be and how God won't allow anything to take us over that he won't provide a way out of; we might say, oh, I got myself in a situation, but with every situation God has given us a way out he's just waiting for us to escape, that’s something I use to cry to the Lord about because I will be so overwhelmed. I say, Father, please help me, and he will because I asked him to; how many times have you asked him to help you? He might not help you the way you like. Still, he will at his timing and his speed; we must be patient with him; today, if you feel this way you go to him and say, Father, I need you to help me to be more like you, help me to call on you, it's okay to be in a place in your life where you need help. Still, we must be ready to allow him to free us from it and be willing to let go of it. ©Seer~ Prophetess Lee

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PRAYER

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for today; we ask you to help us take what we learned this week and apply it to our lives. Father, forgive us if we have done anything to offend the Holy Spirit. Lord, give us strength today; help us to get peace from you and not from things here on earth; we love you, Father, and we ask you right now to tear down anything the enemy has for us and his plans. We rebuke it in Jesus' Name Amen

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REFERENCES

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+ 2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.

+ Isaiah 26:3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

+ Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God

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FURTHER READINGS

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 Proverbs 9

Judges 3

Job 12

Ecclesiastes 11

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[palatinewolfsblog]

Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox;

that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.”

C.K. Chesterton.  

Closed Society (for my dear friend @rubenesque-dollyd-93 ).

[christliche-kunstwerke]

Adoration of the Shepherds, 1617 by Gerrit van Honthorst

(1617, Öl auf Leinwand)

[tears-that-heal]

This morning, I continue to stay in bed as I recovery from being sick. Thank you Lord that my fever broke last night. 😅Anywho since I’m home and not able to attend church, I watched last year’s “Christmas with The Chosen: O Holy Night” on Amazon prime. 🎄❤️✝️ And…WOW!!!! It was incredibly, beautiful!!! Super well done with the cinematography, script writing and cast. It seriously brought me to tears. 🥹

The video below was my most favorite music video performed for this Christmas special! 💖 🎼

This coming week is the celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday, and I’m beyond ready to give praise to God, YHWH, with a grateful heart. ✝️😷 It’s because of Adoni that I’m here, not simply existing, but happily living. Despite the flaws and imperfects of the human body, I am living this life abundantly and humbly gracious to God; King of the Universe.

[charlesreeza]

The Presepe Cuciniello at the National Museum of San Martino in Naples is said to be the largest nativity scene in the world with 160 characters, 80 animals, 28 angels and over 400 miniature objects. The lighting continuously cycles from dim to bright to give the impression of different times of day.

Photos by Charles Reeza

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Visit of the Magi

1 Now when Yeshua was born in Beit-Lechem of Yehudah in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Yerushalayim, saying,

2 "Where is he who is born King of the Yehudim? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him."

3 When Herod the king heard it, he was troubled, and all Yerushalayim with him.

4 Gathering together all the chief Kohanim and Sofrim of the people, he asked them where the Messiah would be born.

5 They said to him, "In Beit-Lechem of Yehudah, for thus it is written through the prophet,

6 'You Beit-Lechem, land of Yehudah, Are in no way least among the princes of Yehudah: For out of you shall come forth a governor, Who shall shepherd my people, Yisra'el.'"

7 Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared.

8 He sent them to Beit-Lechem, and said, "Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him."

9 They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was.

10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

11 They came into the house and saw the young child with Miryam, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12 Being warned in a dream that they shouldn't return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way. — Matthew 2:1-12 | Hebrew Names Version (HNV) The Hebrew Names Version Bible is in the public domain. Cross References: Genesis 41:8; Numbers 24:17; Judges 17:7; 1 Chronicles 5:2; Ezra 2:21; Job 33:15-16; Song of Solomon 3:6; Isaiah 60:6; Jeremiah 23:5; Matthew 1:20; Matthew 2:16; Matthew 24:6; Mark 13:7; John 7:42; Acts 24:22

[everlastinghistory]

[fountainoflife-blog]

[walkswithmyfather]

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:15‭-‬23‬ (‭ESV‬‬). “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

“Waiting with Joy” Devotional 16th December:

“Be Thankful for Someone” By Words of Hope:

“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” (v. 16)

“Over the years I’ve tried to cultivate the habit of starting each day by thinking of someone to be thankful for. I’ll be brushing my teeth, or shaving, and I’ll think: Who should I be thankful for today? Once I even put a sticky note on the bathroom mirror: Be Thankful for Someone. God has sprinkled so many wonderful people into my life, and being grateful for them only seems right and proper. Beyond that, gratitude has a way of making me feel peaceful and calm. What a pleasant way to begin the day.

Again and again in his epistles Paul thanks God for friends and fellow believers: “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,” he says to believers in Philippi (Phil. 1:3). Here in Ephesians, Paul says, “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” Paul is generous with gratitude.

If you’re anything like me, you have a lot of people to be grateful for. Some people we can name—parents, teachers, mentors. But many are anonymous—the fellow who held the door open for you, the driver who allowed you to merge into traffic, the hospice nurse who was so loving to your grandfather in his last days.

Your Advent activity for today may seem profoundly simple, but its effect can be simply profound: Be thankful for someone.”

(Photo by Ben White at Unsplash)

[rainydaydream-gal18]

Isaiah 9:6 (ESV)

“For to us a child is born,    to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder,    and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

[scribeforchrist-blog]

Will We Listen?

MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK

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+ Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man

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VERSE OF THE DAY

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+ Matthew 15:20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally, they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.

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SUBJECT: Will We Listen?

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** SAY THIS BEFORE YOU READ; HERE’S SOME CHRISTIAN TRUTHS **

I AM OBEDIENT

I AM BEAUTIFULLY, WONDERFULLY MADE

I AM POWERFUL

I AM HUMBLE

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READ TIME: 7 Minutes

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THOUGHTS:

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 Jesus wanted his disciples to know about the hard times they would face. A lot of us don’t get warnings about what will happen in our lives, and maybe some of us do, and we ignore it. I can remember my parents telling me; you're going to wish for days that your back sitting under my table and not having a care in the world because life is tough. I remember thinking to myself I won't, and as I got older, I wished every day to go back to being a kid and not having a care in the world; I didn’t realize how life can be tricky and dealing with life would be challenging,   

   As I gave my life to Jesus, he makes it so much better. And some of us lack that in our lives; we lack guidance and truth, and Jesus can give us this if we listen to Jesus and he can comfort us if we let him. It's about letting him guide us; he guided his disciples because they wanted that from him. Do you desire that from Jesus

  Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

  God can instruct and teach us, but will we be willing to learn? He even said in a verse if they will listen to me, they will listen to you, a lot of people heard Jesus speak, and a lot of them didn’t hear anything he had to say, but Jesus made sure anyone that had ears could hear him, but it’s a difference in hearing someone and listening, I can listen all day but am I hearing, & am I applying what they say, Jesus was willing to teach, but not everyone was willing to change their ways to adapt to his ways, God is trying to get us to adapt to our new lives with him but are we hearing him.

  Isaiah 30:21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or turn to the left.

  We can hear him now telling us which way to go, but a lot of us don’t want to listen because we think the way he is telling us isn’t right or the way he is telling us could be wrong, and I'm going to be transparent I have had those days were I didn’t listen, but as I got older I regret being stubborn, we must ask God to help us to release us from the spirit of stubbornness and disobedience, God can't make us change, but he can get it where we see we need to ,he can show us that its best we do, but until then we will never hear him and do what he said until we realize we need him, I realize that I need him in my life and I can't do anything without him going forth in my life , the lord loves you and wants you to follow him in everything you do

 John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me

  If we call ourselves God's sheep, we must hear and follow his voice. Many of us say we are his, but do we listen to him when he whispers, don’t say that, or don’t do that? We allow our ways to take over then his. And he also says, and I know them, Jesus knows the ones that are trying to strive to do what is right, and he knows the ones that do what’s right just to get a blessing; he knows we are just doing that to get what we want, we can’t fool God we can fool man, but we will never fool God.

  John 8:47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.

  Some of us have gone so long and have ignored the voice of God that now we don’t hear anything, and the reason is that we have ignored him repeatedly, and the word tells us the reason we don’t hear him it’s because we aren’t of God. Every day, we must place ourselves in the presence of God and allow ourselves to soak in his presence. Do you soak in his presence?

  ***Today, we learned how our stubbornness and disobedience could cause us not to hear the voice of God; we sometimes go through seasons in our lives where we ignore God's voice, but we shouldn’t; this is how we know when we are wrong and when we are right the lord is trying to guide us, but if we continue to go on this road, we will not be able to hear him when he speaks.

  Luke 11:28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it

  It’s hard to keep the word of God because we want to do it our own thing. Many of us find it hard to keep it because we have already made up our minds about what we want to do, but this mindset is leading us to the road of destruction. This kind of mindset has ruined tons of people's lives, but we want to follow God and be obedient children; a lot of people look at obedience as a sign of weakness, and it isn’t obedience is submitting to God and allowing him to guide us, because he’s our shepherd if you say he’s your shepherd allow him to lead you today. ©Seer~ Prophetess Lee

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PRAYER

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for everything; help us to hear your voice and to follow you, lord; we need you to guide us; lord, continue to help us to hear your voice and to hear you when you speak. Lord, if we are stubborn or disobedient, please help us to turn around and submit to you. Lord, we are so gratified for everything, and we praise you in Jesus' Name Amen

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REFERENCES

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+Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart

 

+ John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

 

+ Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

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FURTHER READINGS

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Proverbs 27

Exodus 26

Numbers 35

2 Samuel 22

1 Kings 5

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[majormisunderstanding]

Detail from The Star of Bethlehem, by Edward Burne-Jones, 1888-91.

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

[peaceinthestorm]

Wlastimil Hofman (1881-1970, Polish) ~ Narodziny Pańskie, 1913

[Source: desa.pl]