Do you have all your shopping done yet?
There are some people that are hard to shop for, you have no idea what they need or want, you don't know what size or color, as they are just plain picky people.
Our Heavenly Father God Almighty knows exactly what we need. He gives us good and perfect gifts. To keep our spiritual focus in these last days leading up to Christmas God brought to mind some of His wonderful gifts that He gives to us.
The gift of the Savior- Luke 2:11 "Unto YOU"
If there ever was a gift where "everyone needs one, "one size fits all", or "you can't do without it", the “gift of the Savior” is it.
It was a promised gift- Genesis 3:15 (New International Version)
15 “And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."
It is a perfectly timed gift- Galatians 4:4 (New International Version)
4”But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law”
The gift of salvation - A personal relationship with the living God
John 3:16 John 3:16 (New International Version)
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (New International Version)
8”For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast”.
Rom. 6:23 Romans 6:23 (New International Version)
23”For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
The gift of the Holy Spirit- John 14:16-18, 26
16”And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you”
John 14:26 (New International Version)
26”But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you”.
An indwelling Person, an empowering Person, an educating Person
The gifts of grace - Giving- 2 Corinthians 8:19 (New International Version)
19”What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help”.
Serving - Ephesians 3:7-8 (New International Version)
7”I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. 8Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ”,
What do we do with a gift?
Many parents have had the experience of searching for some special gift for their child and then after all the effort in selecting the gift, watching our child spend more time playing with the box the gift came in than the gift itself. The feeling we experienced at that time is somewhat the feeling God must have about some of us as Hiss children with our attitude towards His gifts to us.
Thank God for it - II Cor. 9:15 (New International Version)
15’Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift’!
Use it- 1 Timothy 4:14 (New International Version)
14”Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you”
Share it - II Timothy 1:6-7 (New International Version)
6”For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline”.
Add to it - 2 Peter 1:2-8 (New International Version)
2”Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord”. 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Recently while I was shopping for a gift for someone I experienced that parking spaces were hard to come by, there were long lines, crowded stores, rude people, and grossly inflated prices. In one long checkout line, I heard a grumpy man say, "They should kill the guy who started Christmas." A wise and godly woman in the line behind him responded, "His name is Jesus and they did kill Him when they hung Him on the cross."
My Prayer: Heavenly Father God Almighty, I pray that we are mindful this Christmas Season that as we prepare to celebrate Christmas day we are reminded that it is not a day about us dearest Lord but a day to celebrate Your birthday dear God and to be thankful for all of the wonderful gifts You have given to us. The greatest gift dear Jesus, is the sacrifice that you made because You love us dear Lord. It is because of You dear Jesus that we have the freedom to chose if we want to live with You eternally in heaven when we go to our final resting place. Thank You dear Jesus for preparing the way for us. This I pray in Your name this day, Amen.
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