Christmas 2009 Newsletter

Christmas is here!

just like to share all the gifts that we got this Year 2009...

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Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, and a Blessed Year Ahead! 

December 13 - The Unspeakable Price

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

To all who did accept Him and believe in Him He gave the right to become children of God.  John 1:12

While we lived in Rio de Janeiro, we met several American families who came to Brazil to adopt children. They would spend days, sometimes weeks, immersed in a different language and a strange culture. They fought the red tape and paid the large fees, all with the hope of taking a child to the United States…

Hasn’t God done the same for us? He etered our culture, battled the resistance, and paid the unspeakable price which adoption required. Legally we are his. He owns us. We have every legal privilege accorded to [His] child. We are just waiting for Him to return. We are, as Paul said, “waiting for God to finish making us His own children”. (Romans 8:23)

December 12 - God Isn't Hard To Find

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6

What a surprising way to describe God. A God who pursues us. 

Dare we envision a mobile, active God who chases us, tracks us, following us with goodness and mercy all the days of our lives? He’s not hard to find. He’s there in Scripture, looking for Adam and Eve. They’re hiding in the bushes, partly to cover their bodies, partly to cover their sin. Does God wait for them to come to Him? No, the words ring in the garden. “Where are you?” God asks, (Gen 3:9) beginning His quest to redeem the heart of man. A quest to follow His children, until His children follow Him.

December 11 - Just Pray

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

Anyone who is having troubles should pray. Anyone who is happy should sing praises. James 5:13

Do you want to know how to deepen your prayer life? Pray. Don’t prepare to pray. Just pray. Don’t read about prayer. Just pray. Don’t attend a lecture on prayer or engage in discussion about prayer. Just pray.

Posture, tone, and place are personal matters. Select the form that works for you. But don’t think about it too much. Don’t be so concerned about wrapping the gift that you never give it. Better to pray awkwardly than not at all.

And if you feel you should only pray when inspired, that’s okay. Just see to it that you are inspired every day.

December 10 - Prepared Like A Bride

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

The bride belongs only to the bridegroom. John 3:29

John’s description of the future [in the book of Revelation] steal your breath. His depiction of the final battle is graphic. Good clashes with evil. The sacred encounters the sinful. The pages howl with the shrieks of dragons and smolder with the coals of fiery pits. But in the midst of the battlefield there is a rose. John describes it in chapter 21…

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband...

In this final mountaintop encounter, God pulls back the curtain and allows the warrior to peek into the homeland. When given the task of writing down what he sees, John chooses the most beautiful comparison earth has to offer. The Holy City, John says, is like “a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”

 

December 9 - Grace Upon Grace

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have and with everything that happens. Philippians 4:11

Test this question: What if God’s only gift to you were His grace to save you. Would you be content? You beg Him to save the life of your child. You plead with Him to keep your business afloat. You implore Him to remove the cancer from your body. What if His answer is, “My grace is enough.” Would you be content?  

You see from heaven’s perspective, grace is enough. If God did nothing more than save us from hell, could anyone complain?... Having been given eternal life, dare we grumble at an aching body? Having been given heavenly riches, dare we bemoan earthly poverty?...

If you have eyes tor read these words, hands and fingers to use to type on the keyboard, the means to have a computer and internet connectivity, He has already given you grace upon grace.

 

December 8 - Prayer Reminds Us

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

Prayer Reminds Us

When a believing person prays, great things happen. James 5:16

Prayer is a recognition that if God had not engaged Himself in our problems, we would still be lost in the blackness. It is by His mercy that we have been lifted up. Prayer is that whole process that reminds us of who we are.

I believe there’s great power in prayer. I believe God heals the wounded, and that he can raise the dead. But I don’t believe we tell God what to do and when to do it.

God knows that we, with our limited vision, don’t even know that for which we should pray. When we entrust our requests to Him, we trust Him to honor our prayers with holy judgment.

December 7 - No Worries In Heaven

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, sadness, crying, or pain. Revelation 21:4

What have you done today to avoid death? Likely a lot. You’ve popped pills, pumped pecks, passed on the pie, and pursued the polyunsaturates… Why? Why the effort? Because you are worried about staying alive. That won’t be a worry in heaven.

In fact, you won’t be worrying at all. Some of you moms worry about your kids getting hurt. You won’t worry in heaven. In heaven we’ll fel no pain. Some of you fellows worry about getting old. You won’t in heaven. We’ll all be ceaselessly strong…

We are not made of steel, we are made of dust. And this life is not crowned with life, it is crowned with death.

The next life , however is different. Jesus urged the Christians in Smyrna to “be faithful, even if you have to die, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelations 2:10).

 

December 6 - A Heavenly Affirmation

Grace for the Moment

I will be your father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:18

Each of us has a fantasy that our family will be like the Waltons, an expectation that our dearest friends will be our next of kin. Jesus didn’t have that expectation. Look how he defined his family: “My true brother and sister and mother are those who do what God wants” (Mark 3:35).

When Jesus’ brother didn’t share his convictions, he didn’t try to force them. He recognized that his spiritual family could provide what his physical family didn’t…

We cannot control the way our family responds to us. When it comes to the behavior of others toward us, our hands are tied. We have to move beyond the naive expectation that if we do good, people will treat us right. The fact is they may and they may not – we cannot control how people respond to us…

Let God give you what your family doesn’t. If your earthly father doesn’t affirm you, then let your heavenly Father take his place…

[And] don’t lose heart. God still changes families.

December 5 - God's Thoughts

Grace for the Moment

Lord You have done such great things! How deep are your thoughts! Psalm 92:5

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts nor are they even like ours. We aren’t even in the same neighborhood. We’re thinking, Preserve the body; He’s thinking, Save the soul.

We dream of a pay raise. He dreams of raising the dead. We avoid pain and seek peace. God uses pain to bring peace. “I’m going to live before I die,” we resolve. “Die so you can live,” He instructs. We love what rusts. He loves what endures. We rejoice at our successes. He rejoices at our confessions. We show our children the Nike star with the million-dollar smile and say, “Be like Mike.” God points to the crucified carpenter with bloody lips and torn side and says, “Be like Christ.” 

December 4 - The Soul Killer

Grace for the Moment

When people sin, they earn what sin pays – death. Romans 6:23

Sin does to a life what shears do to a flower. A cut at the stem separates a flower from the source of life. Initially, the flower is attractive, still colorful and strong. But watch that flower over a period of time, and the leaves will wilt and the petals will drop. No matter what you do, the flower will never live again. Surround it with water. Stick the stem in soil. Baptize it with fertilizer. Glue the flower back on the stem. Do what you wish. The flower is dead…

A dead soul has no life.

Cut off from God, the soul withers and dies. The consequence of sin is not a bad day or a bad mood but a dead soul. The sign of a dead soul is clear: poisoned lips and cursing mouths, feet that lead to violence and eyes that don’t see God…

The finished work of sin is to kill the soul.

December 3 - The Cure for Disappointment

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

The ways of God are without fault. Psalm 18:30

When God doesn’t do what we want, it’s not easy. Never has been, never will be. But faith is the conviction that God knows more than  we do about this life and He will get us through it.

Remember, disappointment is cured by revamped expectations.

I like the story about the fellow who went to the pet store in search of a singing parakeet. Seems he was a bachelor and his house was too quiet. The store owner had just the bird for him, so the man bought it.

The next day, the bachelor came home from work to a house full of music. He went to the cage to fee the bird and noticed for the first time that the parakeet had only one leg.

He felt cheated that he’d been sold a one-legged bird, so he called and complained.

“What do you want,” the store owner responded, “a bird who can sing or a bird who can dance?”

Good question for times of disappointment.

December 2 - God Is For You

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

He will rejoice over you, You will rest in His love; He will sing and be joyful about you. Zephaniah 3:17

God is for you. Turn to the sidelines; that’s God cheering your run. Look past the finish line; that’s God applauding your steps. Listen for Him in the bleachers, shouting your name. Too tired to continue? He’ll carry you. Too discouraged to fight? He’s picking you up. God is for you.

God is for you. Had he a calendar, your birthday would be circled. If He drove a car, your name would be on His bumper. If there’s a tree in heaven, He ‘s carved your name in the bark…

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?” God asks in Isaiah 49:15 (NIV). What a bizarre question. Can you mothers imagine feeding your infant and then later asking, “What was that baby’s name?” No. I’ve seen you care for your young. You stroke the hair, you touch the face, you sing the name over and over. Can a mother forget? No way. But “even if she could forget,… I will not forget you,” God pledges (Isaiah 49:15).

December 1- The Winner's Circle

Grace for the Moment by Max Lucado

The Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free. Ephesians 6:8 NIV

For all we don’t know about the next life, this much is certain. The day Christ comes will be a day of reward. Those who went unknown on earth will be known in heaven. Those who never heard the cheers of men will hear the cheers of angels. Those who missed the blessing of a father will hear the blessing of their heavenly Father. The small will be great. The forgotten will be remembered. The unnoticed will be crowned, and the faithful will be honored.

The winner’s circle isn’t reserved for a handful of the elite, but for a heaven full of God’s children who “will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12 NIV)