Jesus’ birth brings meaning and purpose to us all.

We don’t know the actual day Jesus was born. The key truth, though, is that He was born. Born into a long family lineage from Adam to Abraham to David to Mary, who chose to believe the impossible could happen, and to Joseph, who adopted and raised Him as his own.

He was born to a set of parents who would face ridicule by family, friends and their community due to the circumstances of their pregnancy.

He placed Himself into the hands of Mary to care for Him at His most vulnerable time – conception, embryo, birth and infancy. She would have to take care of herself so He could grow and develop within her womb.

He placed Himself into the hands of Joseph to protect Mary from those would want to harm her on the way to Bethlehem, and from Herod, Satan’s dupe, who wanted Him dead. Yet, He was born as a human in a real town, Bethlehem, in a real country, Israel, just like the rest of us.

The circumstances surrounding His birth were not ideal by any stretch of the imagination. He knew these circumstances would stay with Him for the rest of His life and be thrown in His face by His brothers and Israel’s religious and governmental institutions.

He knew all this; and yet, He came. Jesus, as God, made the choice to become human at conception. Jesus, as a man, made the choice to love His Father with every step He took in order to fulfill the mission given by His Father – born, live, die, and rise again – to give all humanity hope.

Maybe the circumstances surrounding your birth or childhood were less than ideal. But you are here and loved by Someone who understands you and gives your life meaning and purpose with every step you take.

Jesus gets you. So, may you reflect on this truth this Christmas and show your love for and to Him by listening to and following Him a little more today than you did yesterday.  

Sometimes God changes your situation; but more often than not, He changes you in the midst of the situation.

Change means entering into the unknown, something we have not experienced before or someone we are not at the moment. At times, this process can be downright discouraging to the point of quitting.

What do we all need? Encouragement. Abraham is a prime example. Talk about moving into the unknown!

He was asked to leave a stable home in Ur of the Chaldees to become a nomad who move from place to place in a tent. He was asked to leave a highly sophisticated and advanced culture (the Chaldeans gave us the concept of 60 seconds, minutes) for the desert life.

He was asked to leave the only religion he’d ever known in order to listen to and follow only One God. He was asked to leave the comfort of being surrounded by family and friends, which he only partially did, to travel with only his wife to a place neither of them had been.

Who did the asking? God Himself, who appeared to and had a conversation with Abraham (Acts 7:2-3). He asked Abraham to leave his comfort zone to find something or should I say, someone who could give him what his prior life could never give – God Himself.

And throughout his journey, God kept encouraging Abraham to keep growing, even when it was tough. He knew the power of encouragement, which is why He commands us to be part of His encouragement team (Hebrews 3:13).

Especially in the culture in which we find ourselves, leaving known thoughts, feelings, pasts, beliefs, culture, family, jobs, etc. behind in order to discover the unknown of who God is and what He can do in and for you will not be easy. Therefore, we all need encouragement.

Who needs an encouraging text, call, card or face-to-face meeting? Encourage them today, as in now!

Who is encouraging you? Don’t let your pride get in the way. Let others know your business so they can encourage you today, as in now! The process of change isn’t going to get any easier until you do.

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21

Words have tremendous power, especially our self-talk, the words we say to or call ourselves. I don’t have to give examples. You already know what I’m talking about. These words can be the difference between victory or defeat as we seek to become more like Jesus.

David, a shepherd, who was too young to be a soldier, faced a literal giant, Goliath, who was already a seasoned warrior. Yet, neither King Saul nor Goliath’s words could discourage David from stepping into a faith-based victory.

David had already faced his share of giants while shepherding his dad’s sheep. God was preparing him for tomorrow’s Goliath with today’s lions and bears (1 Sam. 17:34-35).

And, maybe the following is what David had learned from that preparation, “The LORD is my shepherd (I follow The Shepherd). Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (lions and bears), I will fear no evil (I run toward life’s challenges), for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me (my sling in God’s hands will bring victory).”

Okay, maybe David didn’t quote the words he penned in Psalm 23. But his words in 1 Samuel 17:45-46, however, do reflect this same sentiment, “I come to you in the name of the LORD. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”

David’s truth-based words were about what God could do. The LORD was his shepherd. The LORD would defeat his challenges. And these words became reality when he faced Goliath. They were all about what His God could do, not him, his past or what others thought of him.

Truthful words are very powerful, especially as they roll off our lips or are rehearsed in our minds. Therefore, are your words the fruit of victory by focusing on what the Spirit can do or the fruit of defeat by focusing on your self-talk?

Choose your words carefully. Victory over your giants to become like Jesus depends on it.

God is still writing His story in you. Let it develop.

Let’s say you move to an arid land where no one has made anything of it. Yet, you see its possibilities and purchase it.

You put in the sweat equity by making sacrifices today for the benefits of tomorrow. At the beginning, all you could afford was to live in huts while building your farming business. Eventually, it turns profitable enough to build houses and winds up supplying your country with a majority of its vegetables.

Then your government forces you to walk away from it all while paying you pennies on the dollar for what it’s worth.

What do you do? You grudgingly start over in a new location. Repeat the process with the same results. Guess what? War breaks out and you lose it again! What do you do? You start over again.

This actually happened. A group of people banded together to start a successful farming business. Had their government give it to someone else. Started over again to have their enemies destroy it, only to rebuild it one more time.

Their faith in the truths found in God’s word and His direction for their lives gave them the strength to start over a second time. They are a modern-day Isaac, who faced similar life challenges (Gen. 26). Guess what happened? Those watching could draw only one conclusion: the LORD was with him.

You can lament the past with its losses and stay stuck there. I mean you were wronged, big time, right!?! Who loses? You do, if you stay there.

Life on this planet isn’t lived in bubble wrap. We live in a broken world where evil happens and life isn’t fair. Who can make sense of it? The Father, as only He can see the end results of the entire cycle.

Life grows through adversity, if you let it. Jesus knows. Look what happened when He trusted in God’s words and direction for His life – life came through adversity/death.

Choose life and let others see Him in you!

“Small daily practices accrue over time and become transformative.”

Our Father wants to move us beyond what we know about Him to actually being transformed by what we know. In accomplishing this goal, He sometimes allows us to experience a sense of emptiness.

This is what He did with me. (Last week’s entry.) In this case, He wanted the truth that He is the God of heaven and earth to sink into my character. He knows that where He is taking me, my prayer life would have to reflect this truth both in waiting for to Him act and in insights into how to pray against the forces who want to block His purposes.

The LORD did this with the Israelites. Abraham knew his God was the God of heaven and earth (Gen. 14:22). Maybe his descendants knew the story behind his belief (he defeated a four king coalition with only 318 men to rescue his nephew) in their head.

If they didn’t, they had front row seats to see this truth in action. They saw the God of heaven and earth defeat Egypt, the earthly superpower at that time, without one Israelite lifting a sword.

They may have had the story in their head, but they surely saw it with their eyes. Would this truth now make the transition from their head to their heart through faith steps in their personal choices?

So, the Lord tested them: without water and bread in the middle of the desert, would they ask the God of heaven and earth to provide both? Or, would they stay stuck in their head knowledge about Him (Deut. 8:2)?

Water comes from heaven in the form of rain clouds. Bread starts from seeds planted in the earth. If the LORD is the God of heaven and earth, He could supply both, even in unorthodox ways, correct? All they had to do, then, was ask, “LORD, we are out of water and bread. How do You want to supply it?”

Again and again they chose not to believe He could fill their emptiness, their hunger. And so, they missed where He was taking them. In this case, it was the Promised Land.

What about Him is He asking to develop into your character to prepare you for what He has for you? Take steps, even small ones, each day to let it change you. Eventually, your life will be transformed by it. I am and am.