Amidst all that is going on in your life, please look carefully. Jesus is there somewhere. Sometimes He is present in our lives out front and center. But other times He comes in ways that we can miss seeing Him, if we’re not looking intentionally. Whatever you do, it is our hope that you don’t miss your God moment by not looking for it… or rather, looking for Him.
Please prayerfully read the following description of Jesus’ birth (presented in The Word for You Today Devotional) where author Max Lucado explains what we are trying to say here.
He Writes:
“The ground is hard, the hay scarce. Cobwebs cling to the ceiling…Mary looks into the face of her Son. Her Lord. His Majesty. At this point the human being who best understands who God is and what He’s doing, is a teenage girl. She remembers the angel’s words, ‘His kingdom will never end.’ Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Honor in the filth of manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable. This baby had once overlooked the universe. His robes of eternity were exchanged for the rags keeping Him warm. His golden throne room abandoned in favor of a dirty sheep pen. Worshipping angels replaced with shepherds.
“Meanwhile the city hums, unaware that God has visited their planet. The innkeeper would never believe he’d just sent God out into the cold. And people would scoff at anyone who told them the Messiah lay in the arms of a teenager on the outskirts of their village. They were all too busy to consider the possibility. But those who missed His Majesty’s arrival that night missed it not because of acts of evil or malice. No, they missed it because they weren’t looking for HIM!”
We hope you will look for him and not miss your blessing. With all of the distractions you have surrounding you, be intentional in your search. Sometimes He makes His presence known through a “low whisper” as He did with Elijah. Other times, the Light of the World appears in other ways.
Gentle Lights
Max Lucado, in his book, In the Eye of the Storm writes about the visitation of Jesus in ways that we may not expect through:
“Gentle Lights… God’s solutions for doubt storms …not thunderbolts …not explosions of light …just gentle lights …visible evidence of the invisible hand. It’s soft reminders that optimism is not just for fools.
“‘When God comes,’ we doubters think, ‘all pain will flee. Life will be tranquil and no questions will remain.’ But because we look for the bonfire, we miss the candle. Because we listen for the shout, we miss the whisper. But it is in the burnished candles that God comes and through whispered promises he speaks: ‘When you doubt, look around; I am closer than you think.'”
Jesus Is Our Light
Lastly, God tells us in the Bible in Daniel 2:22, “It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things. He who knows what is in the darkness. And the light dwells with Him.” In those “hidden things” —those times when you need His blessing, it is our prayer that God will shine His “Gentle lights” upon you. We hope He will help you to see things closer to the way He does. Please look for them –don’t miss what He has for you.
In John 8:12 it is written that Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
May His Light shine upon you and bless you within your marriage,
Cindy and Steve Wright
Filed under: Marriage Insights
As we are a number of hours ahead of you, I just left church where we celebrate the birth of Christ. The story is not new, but to me it feels new every year again. As one of many I am struggling in my marriage for already as long as we are married. I have made choices over the past years without consulting God/Jesus and again tonight it felt that new chances have been given to me as also Christ again was announced to be born during the night, while God lit the whole environment waking up shepherds (the lowest in the society at that time), making them aware that the promise God ever made to their ancestor (David, also shepherd) that the redeemer would come from his tribe for the entire world
Also due to all your messages I feel that chances are being offered to us again and again and God will never stop calling us. All we have to do is keep looking for Him.
Thanks a lot and I wish you both and your family a wonderful time and good preparation for the new year, wishing that violence as we experienced during the course of this year in the US, Europe and the Middle East will finally stop soonest.