Jesus

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel has come to thee!

Some five hundred years before the arrival of Emmanuel, the prophet Isaiah prophesied that Emmanuel would come: ” Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

Thus, when it was nearing the time for Emmanuel’s arrival, God sent the angel Gabriel to tell the chosen virgin of His plans:

“And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God.

And behold thou shall conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name JESUS” (Luke 126-31).

But when Joseph heard the news, he was distraught.”How could this be? He thought. Mary and I have not come together yet! I must divorce her before everybody finds out.”

“As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20).

“So it came to pass that there went Joseph up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town 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 firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them” (Luke 2:4-7).

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O Come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny.
From depths of Hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o’er the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Day‑spring come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here,
And drive away the shades of night,
And pierce the clouds and bring us light.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, thou Key of David,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!


Jesus is the gate-keeper for heaven

I took photo with Canon camera in Shamrock, TX.
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Check your credentials with the gate-keeper

A few days ago I was at work meditating on the Lord, when (John 14:6) came into my spirit: “Jesus saith unto Thomas, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” I have read this scripture many times before, but I have never tried to analyse it until now. I suddenly realize that this scripture was clearly telling me that Jesus is the gate-keeper for heaven, and every believer will have to check their credentials at the gate.

To go beyond the gate, each believer’s credentials is check for status and validity. Lets use the example of a person coming to the USA for the first time. Landed at one of the points of entry, maybe New York. Goes into Custom where an immigration officer check their documents. This person would only be allowed to enter the country, if the immigration officer verify that the documents presented, were in good standing and the person had nothing illegal on their person or in their luggage. The person would then be free to move about in the USA as they see fit.

Jesus is the immigration officer at the gate to heaven. Once he has decided that your credentials are in good standing, you are free to move about in heaven as you please. He said in His Words: “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9).

Not everyone will go beyond the gate. Some of us will not  make it pass the gate-keeper, because our credentials are not in good standing. And Jesus will not negotiate. The time to negotiate is now. The gate-keeper is under strict orders to turn away anyone whose credentials are not in good standing. He foretold His disciples that those who have been denied entry will try to negotiate with Him, but He will have none of it. “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22,23)

Give your trials and temptations to Jesus

Trials And Temptations

Everyone goes through hard times (Trials and Temptations). It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Sometimes our prayers help us to avoid them. Sometimes not. It’s the attitude we have when we go through them that matters the most. if we are filled with anger and bitterness, or insist on complaining and blaming God, things tend to turn out badly. But if we go through them with thankfulness and praise to God, He promises to bring good things despite of them.

In the book of (James 1:2-6 NIV), He says: 2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”

Believe it or not, when we serve God, His love attends every moment of our lives. He is always there in our midst, working things out for good–when we pray and look to Him to do so. “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). His purpose for our trials is often to bring us humbly before Him, to cleanse us of our unrighteous, and to draw us closer to Him.

Walk in the Spirit and not in the Flesh

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As a believer in Jesus Christ, I find it necessary to remind myself daily that it is important that I walk in the Spirit, and not in the flesh. The flesh adopts the old sinful Adamic nature, but the Spirit adopts the nature, and characteristics of Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:17 states: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”

Walking in the Spirit may sound like a fairy tale or a fantasy, but it is an important characteristic every believer needs to adopt and practice in his or her daily life. The Christian life cannot be manifested through the workings of the flesh. The old Adamic nature– the flesh, failed in the Garden of Eden— rendering itself unreliable.

But there is hope in Jesus. The God I serve designed the perfect escape route—which was activated the moment I had confessed my sins and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord Savior. “And you hath He quickened, (made alive) who were dead in trespasses and sin” (Ephesians 2:1). “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

So, I am a believer who is made

alive by the Spirit of God. Therefore, I should allow the Spirit to take over my life and direct my footsteps.

Still, walking in the spirit is not an easy task. It does not matter whether I am a Christian for one week or fifty years. The Apostle Paul, himself, a stalwart and role model of the early church struggled with the flesh. In 1 Corinthians 9:27, he said: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27).

In a letter to the church in Galatia, Paul admonishes its members to walk in the Spirit: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). He was responding to disturbing news he had received that the disciples in Galatia had returned to their old Adamic ways. In Galatians 1:6 , he writes: “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel.” Paul knew from experience that the Christian life is impossible without  the Holy Spirit‘s guidance.

Like the Apostle Paul, I am aware that the ways of the flesh are sinful.  And I cannot rely on my knowledge of the Word of God to live the Christian life. I need the Spirit of God to indwell me and be with me every day.  Without the Spirit of God I am apt to fall back to my old ways. Hence the reason I remind myself daily that I should walk in the Spirit, and not in the flesh. I protest by your boasting which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily (1 Corinthians 15:31):

Jesus wants us to walk the path of holiness

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A man’s walk is the way he journeys through life–his direction, his focus, the steps he takes. Every day he chooses a path. One path will take him forward. All others will take him back. The way he walks affects every aspect of his being–how he relates to other people, how he treats his family, how people view him, even how he looks.

I have seen men who were unattractive by any standard change radically as they learned to walk in the Spirit of God. as His image became imprinted upon theirs, they develop a richness of soul, a glorious purity and an inner confidence of knowing what direction they were going. This gave them a strength and a sense of purpose that is not only attractive and appealing, it’s magnetic.

The Bible reveals much about the kind of walk we should have. We are to walk with moral correctness because “For the Lord God is a a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). We are to walk without fault  because “whoever walks blamelessly will be saved” (Proverbs 28:18). We are to walk with godly advisers because “blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly” (Psalm 1:1). We are to walk in obedience because “blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways” (Psalm 128:1). We are to walk with people of wisdom because “he who walks with wise men will be wise” (Proverbs 13:20). We are to walk with integrity because “he who walks with integrity walks securely” (Proverbs 10:9). Most of all we are to walk a path of holiness. “A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness, The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray: (Isaiah 35:8).

Jesus said there is only one way to get on the right path, one door through which to enter. “I am the way,” He says (John 14:6). The way that leads to destruction is wide and broad and many choose to go that route. but “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14).