What is a year? 365 days?

     The holy language of scripture calls a year shannah, which also means the duplicate or the repeat.  The nature of nature is to repeat; winter, spring, summer and fall.

     So, now I have a new year before me, and what kind of year will it be?  I am such a creature of habit and gravitate towards doing what I have done before i.e.: same routines and courses, even if they are harmful to me.  (I’m thinking of the 17^th Grill’s cinnamon knots.)  So, what will this New Year, the shannah, be for me?

     Shannah has a double meaning.  It not only means the repeat…it also means the change.  How can the same word mean the opposite?  The way of the world is to repeat – but the way of God is the way of newness and change.  You can’t know God and not be changed by knowing Him, and His will.  The New Year ahead will be not a time of repetition, but of change and new beginnings, new steps, of breaking out of the old.  This comes from the choice He gives us.  If you want to experience a year of new things, you must choose to live, not in the repetition of the natural, but in the newness of the supernatural.  Choose to walk not in your will, but in the will of Him who is beyond the natural and all that is old. 

     The scriptures tell us that He makes all things new.  Instead of making New Year’s resolutions that I typically do not keep, my mission today is to step out of my old ways, habits, and steps and do what I’ve never done before, but should have.  Walk in the newness of Spirit.

Happy New Year or Shannah

Faith

Scripture references:  Isaiah 43:19, Romans 6:4, II Corinthians 5:17

*From my new devotional book by Jonathan Cahn, The Book of Mysteries.

The Blossoming 

Isaiah 35:1-2 "The desert and the parched land will be glad, the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom, it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy."

In the week following Christmas, I always enter into a time of reflection. Some personal, some about the future of my ministry, some about immediate needs and some about short and mid-range goals. In the midst of such serious assessment, a simple truth has softened my usual self analysis about "how did I get here? and where am I going now?" That simple truth is that nature sure is good at letting things unfold naturally.

Recently there has been some rain. Much needed and appreciated.  As a result, things are blooming already. Funny how that works. Rain plus sunshine plus time equals newness. Lately, the tears of grief, the sweat of hard work and the flood of drama has been saturating my life. It has been a long season of a lot of it. I am so ready for the blossoming to come now. With it will come new joy and gladness.

Isaiah mentioned crocuses. They are part of the Iris family. They grow from bulbs.  They are very hearty, can bloom in every season and literally burst open when they bloom. I am praying for blossoms as we begin a new year. Looking forward to the joy and gladness they will bring with them. May we remain planted in Him rejoice with every sign of a bloom-filled new year.

With Hope,

Pastor Fred

"O God"

Psalm 51:10-12 "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast Spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing Spirit, to sustain me."

This may very well be a near-perfect prayer. It is mine today. It is confessory, it is exalting, it is petitioning, it is boldly honest and humbly real. Pray this prayer with me as we seek Him together toward the new year.

May the Lord indeed create in us a pure heart and renew us. May He be ever-present with us and activate His Holy Spirit within us. May our joy come from our restoration and may we be willing to be sustained.

In Jesus Name,

Pastor Fred

The Deep Deep Love of Jesus

The Deep Deep Love of Jesus

Ephesians 3:18-19 "I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Sometimes songs just get to me. They reach down inside of me and pull out my own feelings. They say what I feel and how I feel. One such song is "The Deep, Deep Love Of Jesus", written in 1875 by Samuel Trevor Francis. As a despondent teenager, contemplating suicide while standing on a bridge overlooking the River Thames, he had an epiphany about the depth of God's love. The first stanza goes like this...

"O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free.
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me.
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love.
Leading onward, leading homeward, to Thy glorious rest above."

Not sure all the reasons why this resonates with me so much. Perhaps my love of the ocean, coupled with my constant effort to surrender to His love, is a combination that speaks deeply to my soul. Oh how I desire to go with the flow of the current of His love. To do that I must relinquish control of everything to Him. After all, the only omnipotent one knows best, right? Fullness comes from Him, He measures it all and made it all and understands it all. So I need His love to help me with that. When I do surrender to Him, everything is indeed lovelier. Hope you do that today too.

 In Him,

 Pastor Fred

The 1st Christmas

What Was the First Christmas Really Like?

“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her first-born, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

            Luke 2:4-7

            I love the Christmas season.  I love the cooler weather and the activity of the season.  In the past, I sometimes let that activity get to me, as I was scrambling to get those last minute gifts, most often during the day of Christmas Eve.  I would then huff and puff into Christmas Day, thankful that it had finally arrived so it could be over.  As I have grown older, however, my perspective has changed.  I seem to focus more on those close to me in my life and the love that exists between us.  

Therefore, when I knew that I would be authoring a Devotional during Christmas week, one thought kept running through my mind.  What was it like for Joseph and Mary, this young couple in love, during that first Christmas season?  What was their first Christmas really like?  It is really all summed up in the Scripture above.

Mary is pregnant, and not by Joseph.  They are pledged to be married, which had to bring ridicule to them even before their trip began.  They had to travel a distance of approximately 70 miles, and probably took one of two routes, the most direct route being very rugged.  Now, they did not travel in a luxurious SUV with heated seats and surround sound.  They walked and rode on a small donkey, exposed to the elements along the way.  They did not know where they would sleep each night on a journey that likely took at least five days.  Hotels and bathing facilities along the way?  Not likely.

How many of us would sign up for that trip?  Men, is this your ideal hiking trip with your wife?  Ladies, do you want to walk and ride 70 miles over relatively rugged terrain just as you are about to give birth to a child? 

When they arrive, it does not get better.  They are tired, dirty and likely hungry.  The baby is probably moving in the womb, causing great pain to Mary.  They cannot find lodging.  They have absolutely no clue what is going to happen, but for the fact that a baby will soon be born.  So they improvise.  They find a cave or stable.  Are there showers for bathing?  Is there a comfortable bed for Mary as she endures the pain of child birth?  Are there doctors and nurses tending to Mary?  Again, not likely.  Did they ever expect that the birth of their first child would be in this way and in this place?  What a way to start the parenting phase of their relationship!  Yet, it is in this setting and under these circumstances that God chose to bring the Savior of all mankind, men and women alike, into the world. 

So, on Sunday, when friends and relatives are over to your house, everyone is opening gifts before a fireplace, a huge feast is prepared, and as you begin to give thanks to God for all of the blessings in your life, pause and think about Mary and Joseph:  for them, what was that first Christmas really like?

Christmas blessings,

Gerry

The Gift, Part 4

Shared by Margie Johnson

To love the Lord with all your mind,

With all your heart and soul;

To live for Him, is great reward,

And to serve Him…your pleasure and goal.

Please know that His love is so real and so great;

It is yours, if you want it…or not.

But only the one who follows His Son,

Is forgiven of every blot.

My prayer is that this Christmas you’ll see…

Far greater than all you can gain for a fee,

Is the gift that’s not under the tree!

John 1:14

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Gift, Part 3

Shared by Margie Johnson

It’s the gift of life God offers to man

Through His Only Begotten Son;

It’s not mine to give ~ only mine to share,

And it’s offered to everyone.

In order to receive and call it your own,

You must first think, once or twice…

The gift is free; it’s through Jesus given,

Because He paid the price.

So before I go, I must let you know

Though you can’t earn God’s gift of life;

It will still cost you dearly; giving up your own will,

To deny self…is your sacrifice.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.