Sing Your Praise to The Lord

   Amy Grant performed a song awhile back called "Sing Your Praise to The Lord".  I listened to it this morning, and thought to myself, "I need to praise Him at all times"!  Hallelujah?  Even when life is challenging and hard, I need to praise Him.  We all do.  I've seen struggles in friends' and family's lives and I struggle as well with difficult situations, but we still need to give praise where it's due, and give it to Whom it's due...Jesus.  In just a few months we will be celebrating Jesus' birth.  He was born fully human and fully God.  He knew no sin.  He grew to the age of 12 and by then was teaching in the temple.  Years would pass and by age 30 he called 12 disciples and began a ministry that would change the world.

     A few months after we celebrate His birth, we celebrate the very essence of why He was born into a world of sinners.  They questioned His ministry and Him.  They mocked Him.  They arrested Him and beat  Him.  They scourged Him and flogged Him.  Spat upon Him and they Crucified Him.  He bled and died for our sin.  God had turned His back on His only Son, so that we may have eternal life.  Then something amazing happened 3 days after His death.  He arose from the borrowed grave He was lying in!  He conquered Death and Hades!  Salvation came to us by His blood, to whoever believed!  How amazing is that?  So yes, we can sing our praise to the Lord in any given situation, because He gave His life for us!

     You may have had a loss or you may have a health or a financial issue.  Family problems or job problems arise, and you are at the end of your rope.  What do you do then?  Give Him praise and glory, just because He died in your place.  Life is hard and we cannot minimize that.  But the truth is that we can praise Him in the midst of our problems, because He gave His life that we might live.  Jesus is our only source of strength.  Jesus is our only source of joy and praise.  Sing your praise to the Lord!

Singing Praises,

Sabrina

Mary Did You Know?

Did Mary know all this when she said to the angel after the announcement of her pregnancy, in Luke 1:38..."Behold the maidservant of the Lord!  Let it be to me according to your word".?  I believe she believed God, but to what extent I do not know.  She knew He was the Son of the Most High, but did she believe that He would do all this?  This is one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs because Mary, who carried the Savior for nine months, raised Him, and saw Him work, might have not known the full impact of His coming.  But she did know He was the Savior.

Do you know?

May there be Peace on earth.

Sabrina

When God Stepped Down

     There are several times in the Bible where God stepped down in order to help us see Who He really is.  In Genesis 2:7 He even stooped down, picked up dust and created mankind.  In the Gospels it tells us of how He stepped down to human form, as a baby, so that He could save us from our wretchedness.  In Revelation it tells us He will step down to fight the devil at Armageddon, then create a New heaven and New earth.  From creating the universe, the world and mankind, from coming down as a baby, living in human form, yet still being God, suffering, dying and rising again, giving us a chance of redemption, to fighting the final battle for us and creating all things new in the end, God stepped down.  He did it for us because He loves us.
     There are countless times in the Old Testament where He came down from heaven, and from mountains.  He showed us glimpses of Himself throughout the Old Testament.  Then He came to us in flesh.  Now, if we have faith and believe in Him, He steps down to us, and dwells in us.  What other god would do that?  What other god died and rose again and lives forever?  What other god would come to our level, and chase after us?  No other god would, and cannot, because they are lifeless.
     Jesus was there when God picked up the dust and will be there to create the New heaven and earth.  Christmas can be a time to acknowledge that.  This Christmas, will you acknowledge that He stepped down for you?  Mary's pregnancy was like no other.  Jesus' birth was like no other.  And the way God had all of it played out, with Him lying in a manger, in such a humble way, God had to have stepped and stooped down low enough for us to touch Him.  That's how much He loves us.

May your days be merry and bright!

Sabrina