The Blessing of His Birth

Christmas….it comes into our lives and changes things…once it enters, nothing is the same.

Those were my thoughts yesterday as I packed away the rest of my Christmas decorations. 
Nothing interrupts, invades, or changes my life and surroundings like Christmas does.
My ordinary days, surrounded by everyday mundane things, are suddenly transformed by Christmas!

A tiny Christmas village completely overtakes the table in front of my window, and the other table in my hallway holds a small Christmas Tree filled with various sentimental ornaments collected over the years.  Varied other decorations are placed here and there around the house, a nativity, an advent wreath….all reminders of Christ’s birth.  Christmas Carols, Christmas Cards, and Christmas lights all add to the joy of the season.
Oh, my home and life are so changed by Christmas, just as the world was changed, on that first Christmas so many years ago!

For when Christ came, His presence changed this world forever. 
His birth was a miracle–one never to be repeated–It was a life changing event for many.
His birth interrupted some shepherds ordinary night, and their life was forever changed.
His birth transformed a lowly stable into the birthplace of a King.
As His star shone in the sky it changed the lives of the wisest of men.
His coming changed the world then and it is still changing lives now. 

How blessed we believers are to know Him and celebrate His birth as Christmas.
How blessed we will be to be a part of His second coming–which will change our lives even more!

“looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”  Titus 2:13 NKJV
“Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”  Revelation 22:20 NKJV

The Blessing of Abundance!

Christmas Village 2011

My three grand-children were visiting for the weekend and even though it was still two weeks before Thanksgiving, we decided it would be a good time for all of us to set up our Christmas Village.  It was early, but since we were all together, the Christmas spirit and excitement was in the air to get “The Village” set up.  

For the past 12 years,  usually the day after Thanksgiving, I and the grand-kids have set up our Christmas Village.  When the tradition started my youngest grand-son was 4 and the the Village, like him, was pretty small.  Each year we would add one or two new things to our Village and so it has greatly grown over the years.  What started out as a tiny village, this year seems to have become a mighty metropolis!  And, as the Village has grown, so have the grand-children.  However, each still wants to have a part in “setting up the Village”.  This year as the boxes were brought out from the closet, my grand-son asked what was new and I replied that I had only purchased one small item as an addition, since the Village was really too big now and I wasn’t sure there would be room to fit it all in my small apartment. I announced that we had an Abundance of houses and people!    We had a “more than enough” Village !  

As Believers we have been blessed with Abundance.  God has given us “more than enough” blessings to use in our daily lives.  

The dictionary defines Abundance as: an extremely plentiful or over sufficient quantity or supply or overflowing fullness
To me that simply means “more than enough”.  God has blessed me, and all believers, with “more than enough”.
We have an infinite daily supply of all that is needed to succeed. We just need to know what we have been blessed with and then how to use it in our lives.

Think about what you feel you need to succeed in your daily life.  I would say I often need Strength, Wisdom and Power, coupled with Boldness, Confidence, Hope and Favor.
That’s just a few things I can think of off the top of my head and I have often prayed that God would give these things to me.  

However, I have come to realize that the book of Ephesians tells me that when I believed and received Jesus as my Savior, I received all those things and more.
  Ephesians 1:3 says I was blessed “exceedingly abundantly” beyond all that I could ask or think.  

So now, each day whatever my need might be I just thank God that He has already given me more than enough to handle it, then I ask Him to bring it into being through His Holy Spirit Who dwells within me.
 Strength?  I am abundantly supplied.  Wisdom?  I have all I will ever need.  Power?  God’s Power, the Holy Spirit, dwells within me.  Boldness?  Confidence?  I have an over sufficient quantity.  Hope?  I have more than enough.  Favor?  I am blessed to overflowing.    These are but a few of the Blessings believers receive in Christ.

Just as the Christmas Village keeps growing each year, because my grand-son and I want to add just one more new thing to it,  so does our Abundance in Christ.  We have a never ending supply of blessings we can use everyday, we just need to decide what we need for the day and the best place to put it into action.  

So let’s begin each day by thanking God for blessing us exceedingly abundantly with everything we need to succeed and then ask Him to manifest whatever we need to walk in that day.
I think we will be amazed at the change we will begin to see in our lives as we walk daily in  the Blessing of  Abundance!