The reality of Christmas...how I long to ask them!

Mary, did you realize who it really was you were holding and caring for? Did you feel any power of holding the great I AM? Did you know how blessed among women you were to be chosen for such an honorable task?

Joseph, how heavy did the weight of responsibility feel upon you? Could you see beyond that tiny human body for who He really was? How peaceful did that little stable feel that night?

Elizabeth, do you understand how vital of a role you had in bringing about the Messiah? Did you ever hear the words of the prophet Malachi and ever dream to imagine it would be you that would bring about the next prophet of Israel? How special did it feel to hold your precious little baby boy?

Zacharias, in your silence, did you grasp the importance of these events? Did you come to terms of what you were specifically chosen to do? Did you also know the words of the prophet Malachi and realize your little son would one day prepare the way before the Son of God? Did you realize that when your silence was broken, so also was the silence in Israel about to be broken?

Innkeeper, if only you knew who it was that needed a room! You would have cleared out the whole Inn, had you known! Did something draw you out to the stable to see who had been born, and did Mary or Joseph tell you this was Jesus, the Son of God? Would you have believed if they did tell you?

Shepherds, did you realize that when you laid your eyes on that babe, you laid your eyes on the One true Shepherd that would one day lead you to everlasting life through Him? Did you understand that this whole time is was you that was really the lost sheep, and here before you, lay the One to open the door to salvation!

Wise Men, were you brought to your knees in humility in the presence of this little toddler? Did all the wisdom of man melt away at the sight of the King!? Did you realize how foolish man is in his sins?

Herod, now you are aware of your folly. Didn't you know you never really had a kingdom of your own, but that all belongs to God? Didn't you realize you weren't a king, but a servant, a slave of Satan!? Oh, Herod, didn't you know that little Child you tried to kill could have freed you from your chains? And now, what would you want to say to those ignorantly following in your footsteps?

And Simeon, we have so much of patience to learn from you! Was it worth the wait?

Anna, do you know how special your prayer of thanksgiving for the Redeemer was?

Isaiah, did you get to witness all of this? How did it feel to finally see your Immanuel as man on earth?

Malachi, how did it feel to see Jesus Christ, the Messenger of the covenant, come to save the souls of the Israel God so loved? What did you think of Israel over 400 years later? Did the Messiah come in the way you expected Him to come? Do you yearn still today for all the Jews and Gentiles to come to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to ask for forgiveness of their sins!?

Oh Israel, didn't you know this was your long awaited King!? Why weren't you watching Bethlehem? Why didn't you heed the words of your prophets? Didn't you know so many times He wanted to gather you like a hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you were not willing? Didn't you realize all those thousands of years was built up to this one moment in time when YHVH would come to be born as a man on this earth to save the people from their sins? Israel, don't you know He came for you first? Jesus Christ, your Messiah, came for you first. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile." -Romans 1:16

Angels, did you experience different emotions? Did you know that the King of Kings would be brought lower than you? How did it feel to see God's plan unfold and know the Christ would have victory over death? How full of joy were you!?

And Father, You, what did You feel? How did it feel to place Your beloved Son in such a vulnerable and innocent body, in such a wicked and shameful world? Did you comfort Your Son that night? Did You ensure Him You would comfort Him every day of His long journey ahead of Him? Father, why were You silent that night? Why didn't You sound trumpets for all the people on the earth to hear that Your Son, their Savior, had finally come!? Was Your silence to be louder than heavenly trumpets? Are we to learn faith through Your silence? Or could Your silence be sorrow? How heavy did the burden of the people become? Were you looking into the future when this little babe would one day be a man and You would have to place all the burden of the sins of the people on Him? Were His words ringing in Your thoughts, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani"? Lord, You sacrificed Your only begotten Son for the sins of this people, is this why You were silent? Or are Your first spoken words that broke Your silence since Malachi to be all the more heavier and paid attention to, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."(Matthew 3:17)? Father, perhaps You did speak that night? Not in words, but in manifestation. Your Son, You tell us (John 1:1-5), is the Word of God. Did Jesus break Your silence, because HE is Your Word? Was Your love for mankind so great, You found utter joy in sending Your beloved Son to this earth to save them from their sins? Oh Lord, how could it be!? How could Your love be so great that You sacrificed Your Son for wretched sinners like us? We are so undeserving of Your gift, and yet, Your joy and beloved Son has been given to us and has filled us with His joy! Father, to us, that was a glorious night! The night that You sent Your Son to be a Savior to us, must be the most special night of our year. Thank you, Jesus, for giving us that wonderful night to remember, and thank you, Father, for manifesting Yourself to us through Your only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that precious silent night.

"The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory." -Psalm 97:6

"For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" -2 Peter 1:17

This year, let's truly focus Christmas on Jesus Christ for who He truly is!

Adam  1 Cor. 15:45;  Advocate 1 Jn. 2:1;  Almighty Rev. 1:8; Alpha and Omega   Rev. 1:8, 22:13;  Amen Rev. 3:14;  Apostle of our Profession Heb. 3:1;  Arm of the Lord   Isa. 51:9, 53:1;  Author and Finisher of our Faith   Heb. 12:2;  Author of Eternal Salvation Heb. 5:9;  Beginning of the Creation of God Rev. 3:14;  Beloved Son  Mt. 12:18;  Blessed and only Potentate   1 Ti. 6:15;  Branch  Isa. 4:2;  Bread of Life   Jn. 6:32;  Captain of Salvation   Heb. 2:10;  Chief Shepherd  1 Pet. 5:4;  Christ of God   Lu. 9:20;  Consolation of Israel  Lu. 2:25;  Cornerstone Ps. 118:22;  Counselor Isa. 9:6;  Creator Jn. 1:3;  Dayspring Lu. 1:78;  Deliverer Ro. 11:26;  Desire of all Nations  Hag. 2:7;  Door Jn. 10:7;  Elect of God  Isa. 42:1;  Everlasting Father  Isa. 9:6;  Faithful Witness  Rev. 1:5;  First and Last  Rev. 1:17;  First begotten  Rev. 1:5;  Forerunner  Heb. 6:20;  Glory of the Lord  Isa. 40:5;  God Isa. 40:3, Jn. 20:28;  God Blessed  Ro. 9:5;  Good Shepherd  Jn. 10:11;  Governor Mt. 2:6;  Great High Priest  Heb. 4:14;  Head of the Church  Eph. 1:22;  Heir of all Things  Heb. 1:2;  Holy Child  Ac. 4:27;  Holy One  Ac. 3:14;  Holy One of God  Mr. 1:24;  Holy One of Israel  Isa. 41:14;  Horn of Salvation  Lu. 1:69;  I AM  Jn. 8:58;  Image of God  2 Cor. 4:4;  Immanuel Isa. 7:14;  Jehovah Isa. 26:4;  Jesus Mt. 1:21;  Jesus of Nazareth  Mt. 21:11;  Judge of Israel  Mic. 5:1;   Just One  Ac. 7:52;  King Zec. 9:9;  King of the Ages  1 Ti. 1:17;  King of the Jews  Mt. 2:2;  King of Kings  1 Ti. 6:15;  King of Saints  Rev. 15:3;  Lawgiver  Isa. 33:22;  Lamb Rev. 13:8;  Lamb of God  Jn. 1:29;  Leader Isa. 55:4;  Life Jn. 14:6;  Light of the World  Jn. 8:12;  Lion of the Tribe of Judah  Rev. 5:5;  Lord of All  Ac. 10:36;  Lord of Glory  1 Cor. 2:8;  Lord of Lords  1 Ti. 6:15;  Lord our Righteousness  Jer. 23:6;  Man of Sorrows  Isa. 53:3;  Mediator 1 Ti. 2:5;  Messenger of the Covenant  Mal. 3:1;  Messiah  Da. 9:25, Jn. 1:41;  Mighty God  Isa. 9:6;  Mighty One  Isa. 60:16;  Morning Star  Rev. 22:16;  Nazarene  Mt. 2:23;   Only Begotten Son  Jn. 1:18, Jn 3:16;   Our Passover  1 Cor. 5:7;  Prince of Kings  Rev. 1:5;  Prince of Life  Ac. 3:15;   Prince of Peace  Isa. 9:6;  Prophet Lu. 24:19, Ac 3:22;  Redeemer Job 19:25;  Resurrection and Life  Jn. 11:25;  Rock  1 Cor. 10:4;  Root of David  Rev. 22:16;  Rose of Sharon  Song. 2:1;  Savior Lu. 2:11;  Seed of Woman  Gen. 3:15;  Shepherd and Overseer of Souls  1 Pe. 2:25;  Shiloh Gen. 49:10;  Son of the Blessed  Mr. 14:61;   Son of David  Mt. 1:1; Son of God  Mt. 2:15, Jn. 9:35; Son of the Highest  Lu. 1:32; Son of Man  Mt. 8:20; Son of Righteousness  Mal. 4:2; True Light  Jn. 1:9; True Vine  Jn. 15:1; Truth Jn. 1:14; Witness Isa. 55:4; Word Jn. 1:1; Word of God  Rev. 19:13

Do we praise His Name?

    Perhaps your answer to that question is yes, as mine was when I asked myself that, but then I really started to think about how I actually show that in my life. Yeah, when I pray, I pray in His Name and end in His Name. I don't use the Lord's Name in vain. Really, the only time I use His Name is in adoration of it. I know that most, if not all, of those who claim the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, loves it and cherishes it, but what of those who don't adore His Name and those who curse His Name? When you are out in public it is inevitable to hear the Lord's Name used as a curse word. But...would if you had control of when you did or did not hear His Name being used as a curse word? Would you chose to not hear His Name being used as a curse word?

This brought to my mind the times I had allowed myself, as a lover of His Name, to sit and comfortably watch His Name being used as a curse word for my own entertainment. Perhaps you have never noticed that the majority of new movies uses the Lord's Name as a curse word? I wonder if we are immune, so to say, to hearing Jesus' Name being used as a curse word because we hear it so often in public? I certainly never noticed it in movies until I actually took the time to look into it. I'm not really in to new movies, but I will watch an occasional one with friends and my sisters that we'd considered to be a "good" movie, you know how it is.  Anyways, I took the most recent movie I had watched and counted up how many times the Lords Name was used as a curse word in it. screenit.com is the website I used to do this, and it is a parental coverage of movies which lists out in details all the "bad" things in movies, including the Lord's Name being used a a curse word. The movie was, "The Time Traveler's Wife" which I had watched with some friends, but I didn't remember any curse words in that movie so I wasn't going to bother, but I checked it anyways. To my shock and surprise, in that movie, the Lord's Name was used as a curse word 7 times! I honestly don't even remember hearing it once. It didn't even affect me or faze me at all, not even once. This broke my heart. How had I gotten to this place of complacency? If I really loved the name of Jesus I would have noticed people slandering His Name, wouldn't I? Was I being deceived or am I making a big deal out of nothing? All kind of thoughts filled my head. I wondered if other people around me were feeling the same way?

I started an experiment. I wanted to see how many times me and my Christian friends had collectively witnessed our Lord's Name being used as a curse word in the last movie we had seen? Now, I am not trying to do this to refelct badly on anyone I know, in fact, a lot of Christians I know don't watch movies at all, or if some of us do watch a movie it would be a movie that is usually considered to be a "good, clean" movie, which is exactly the point I am trying to make; that even in the "good, clean" movies we don't even notice that the Lord's Name is being used as a curse word. I sent them a quick email asking them for the last movie they had just recently watched. I got replies from 20 people, but with 14 movie titles (some had watched the same movie, which I counted each on it's own). I added up the numbers...as a group of Christians we had witnessed the Lord's Name being used as a curse word 180 times (on the dot). That was in just ONE movie we had all recently watched. Out of curiosity, I added up all the other cuss words in this list of movies and it came out at 933 cuss words. I shutter to think of the total number of times His Name was used as a curse word in all the movies I have seen in my lifetime so far. What's truly far more worse...I shutter to think what the Lord must think of this?

     If I, as a follower of Christ, loves to hear His Name and speak His Name, but was letting that same Name be openly mocked and cursed in His presence and in other Christians presence, and have now come to be truly grieved by that, how much more worse must it be for our Lord to witness this? This really shook me. What's worse? Me actually saying that Name as a curse word out loud or me sitting by and watching it be said as a curse word for my own entertainment? That's a tough one for me to answer. I searched for verses in the Bible about this and the first verse I found was a beautiful one:

"Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; Praise Him, O servants of the Lord, Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely." -Psalm 135:1,3

     I couldn't help but ask myself, am I praising His name? Are we continually praising His lovely name? We know that He was cursed for us, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree")" Galatians 3:13, and of those who don't love His Name it says, "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing..." 1 Corinthians 1:18 and "The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil." John 7:7; "He who hates Me hates My Father also." John 15:23. I know that this is who the Lord is to many people in this dark world; a curse and only a name to be used as a curse word. But to me, to us, what is He? "...He is precious..." 1 Peter 2:7. He is precious. Did you get that?    He is precious to us.   He became a curse for us and in humility became obedient to the point of death, BUT...God has "highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name..." Philippians 2:9. This really makes me smile! :) His Name is above every name!!! Wow. I don't want to keep sitting by while watching His precious Name being slandered for my own entertainment anymore. What, will I lose something by giving up movies that curse His Name? No, I don't think so! In light of what I have been learning of the sacredness of His Name that the Father so loves and has so exalted, I don't see it as worth it anymore.

     If we want to gain Christ in our life, we have to be willing to leave the things of this world and follow Him, do we not? I've learned that the smallest things that we might consider to be "innocent" cause the most destruction over time. Satan is no fool. It's more often the smallest things Satan uses to slowly lead us away from our Lord; to make us stop thinking about Christ, to make us gradually put down our Bible to pick up a TV remote or laptop instead, and to wander in thought during the little time we give to prayer. I think if we would put more of the world away from our lives, we would find ourselves more excited to pick up the Bible and spend time with Him in it, anxious to get on our knees to pray to Him, eager to share the Gospel with a stranger, heartbroken for the lost and wanting to change that, wanting to serve Him for that purpose to show others how wonderful your life is in Him and how wonderful theirs could be too if they ask for forgiveness for their sins and accept Him as their Savior. Our life could be so much more richer in Him if we would just listen to Him, obey His Word and desire to live a life for Him and not for ourselves. This I know - the Lord is the guardian of my heart in all things...my strength comes from Him. "Watch, stand fast in the faith..." 1 Corinthians 16:13. Let's praise His lovely Name, because, truly, it is so lovely and it is so very precious!

"Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You." Psalm 5:11