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; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:10-11 NASB1995
Merry Christmas! Jesus is the reason for the season.
You may be enduring a contrary wind in your life. On top of the already difficult life changes due to Covid19.
A contrary wind battering the boat doesn’t mean that God didn’t command you to set sail.
‘Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. ‘ Matthew 14:22-25
Immediately “He made” the disciples get into the boat!
Do you think Jesus didn’t know a storm was brewing?
He knew.
Yet, He also knew that nothing would stand in His way when He was ready to get them.
Where are you? Are you worried you are too far away for Him to reach you?
My Jesus created the winds and the waves. And He holds my life in His hand even when I am standing right here on dry land.
I’ll praise Him either way.
Taming the Flesh and Extending the Mission,
Johnathan
Then, test the spirits.
Don’t let your heart be fooled by eloquent speeches or unproven theories of origin.
Self focused affirmations are not an illuminating force.
Don’t let your faith be shaken by the enemy of your soul.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
1 John 4:1-6 NASB
In Genesis 8, God noted that man’s heart is intent on evil from youth.
It is only the Spirit of God in us that leads us and helps us rise above our own selfish intentions.
The Spirit guides us to a Christ centered sticking place. And when we can’t hold on, He will never let go.
For the past 3 years my family has received the Baptist Global Response (BGR) Christmas gift catalog by mail.
We started a tradition where I’ll give the catalog to my children and allow them to circle the gifts that they would like to purchase for those in need.
We like to do this with BGR because we generally get a letter back from them with stories about how our donation was used to help bless the people in the way that was represented in the catalog.
Because we own chickens of course one of the items we always purchase is chickens. And because it’s such a great need we also now add in water filtration systems. You may remember the Global Relief Run I directed with my local church last year was raising funds for water filtration.
It’s such an uplifting experience to get the letters back from BGR and to hear the stories of how these gifts are actually used.
I’d encourage each of you to take a look at the online gift catalog and select a gift or two to purchase this year. Make it a yearly tradition for you and your family.
BGR Christmas Gift Catalog link
We have clues that the fish are here. They should be here, it’s fertile water with plenty. The waves are calm and there have been fish before at these depths at this time of year.
Throw out the nets and be prepared for the catch. What reason would there be for anything other than success.
Let the nets settle in and posture yourself for the pull, it’s going to be a heavy and laborious haul. Pull! Catch them all, don’t let any swim free, close up the net!
But nothing is there. The net has no tug except from its own weight and drag. The net itself is the only burden, dragging up through the water. The fish were not there.
Surely we simply missed and we’ll just slightly move and try again. And again we try and try again. Until we’ve worked all night and caught nothing but despair.
Whose voice is telling you to cast your nets? And will you obey? For when Jesus is the captain the fish will swim your way.
Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.
Luke 5:5-7 NASB
