HAPPY NEW YEAR.!!!
I pray that each of you had a wonderful Christmas as we celebrated the birthday of Jesus, our Christ, our Messiah, and that you are excited about the plan the Lord has for us as we go into the New Year.
Until Jesus comes again, we who believe in Him are privileged to celebrate the birth of the King; He who will deliver us totally from the evil that we face each day as we journey on. There will be no evil in Heaven, so there will be no need to look for the fulfillment of the promises made to mankind that a Savior will come again when the time is set. But for now we do. We must realize we are in a battle until He returns. Our job is to believe that He will indeed return, (John 6:29) and that He has a reason, and a purpose for us being here until He does. Knowing His promises is what gives us peace, and power.
The Word says we are here by design. It is our time. The Word says in (Acts 17: 24 -26), “Our God who made the world, and everything in it, marked out our appointed time, and the places we would be.” What we do with that time and place is left up to us, but He told us what to do. We who believe that we are here for a reason knows it is to tell the Good News. The Good News is He loves us unconditionally, whatever our past, and He wants us with Him in Heaven. He has provided for that through Jesus, and we are to tell and show those around us in words and actions.
Jesus came to this earth as a Baby for those who were here at that time to see, and testify that He was, and is, the manifestation of God’s Love. He is our Messiah – now and forever. In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, we read of a man by the name of Simeon, who had been told by the Holy Spirit that He would see the Messiah before he died. The Word says, “On the 8th day, Joseph and Mary had gone to the Temple to have Jesus circumcised as was required by the Law at that time. (Jesus totally fulfilled the Law.) While they were there, Simeon came to where they were. Simeon took Jesus into his arms and praised God saying:
‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, You may dismiss Your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” As the Lord had told the Shepherds on the night of His birth, and on the day of fulfilling the Law through circumcision, the Lord had told the prophets there, Simeon, and Anna, as He had told Joseph, and Mary, Jesus is our Savior. Even though the Good News is for all, He did not make it a large public announcement, He made it a selective announcement. The Lord wants the Good News in the hands of the Holy Spirit, and those the Holy Spirit uses when and where He decides. Sometimes it is one on one being told the Good News, sometimes it is thousands, sometimes it is millions. He makes the call. That is why the Disciples were told to wait on Him, and receive the power He brings to tell the Good News; and take it to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
As we begin our New Year, let us be open to the Lord using us to tell the Good News of the Love, and Grace of our Abba Father. He has promised to be with us until the end of the age as we do.