How We Avoided the Christmas Hangover: Setting a Tradition that Honors Christ

My wife and I were approaching our first Christmas together. We were both so excited. We were coming off a busy and crazy time in our lives. We'd just got married and moved to Chicago. We were working for The Salvation Army in separate areas, raising money and meeting needs. 

It was December 24th midday, and we were both tired after a kettle season that started in mid-November.

We met up at our downtown Chicago on-campus apartment at The Salvation Army seminary, exhausted but hopeful. 

We wanted to avoid something we'd felt many times previously on Christmas. We wanted to avoid the Christmas hangover. It's a feeling we'd experienced many times, the sense that we missed the heart of Christmas. 

Among all the unwrapped presents and delicious meals we would sit on Christmas and think to ourselves... we missed what Christmas is really about. We would feel engorged, stupified, pleasure-filled but empty hearted.

So we decided for our first Christmas together that something had to change. 

Here is what we did, and the effect was absolutely electric. 

We gathered in our apartment in downtown Chicago, a place we didn't want to be, yet providence had led us there. In the little apartment our Christmas tree was glowing, the ornaments and decorations were beautifully displayed, candles were burning, lights glowing, the environment was set.

We had several activities planned for ourselves on Christmas eve. In the morning we woke up together and the first thing we did was we prayed together and thanked God for His goodness. 

Immediately after we parted ways, my wife headed to Midway, I headed to Gary, and later that day we came together again around 3pm after work.

First, we sat down on the floor in our living room, wrapped ourselves in throw blankets, and we lit candles and incense. We pulled out our phones and one of us would suggest a hymn, we'd pull up the lyrics on our phones, and then we'd sing it together, worshipping God. Many were Christmas songs, but not all. We took turns, my wife picked one, then I picked one, back and forth we went.

It's very easy in a group setting, or with your loved one to do a hymn sing together. Simply take out your phones, and use google to search for the lyrics of a particular song. A great resource for this is GCCSATX. You can find almost any hymn lyrics on the website, along with piano accompaniment for most of the songs. 

Some of the songs we sang include:

Silent Night

Joy to the World

O Come All Ye Faithful

We Three Kings

Hark the Herald Angel Sing

O Holy Night

Angels We have heard on High

The next thing we did was make Christmas cookies together. My grandma had a wonderful recipe for ginger bread cookies. We found a nativity ginger bread cookie cutter set at Hobby Lobby in town and used that. 

After that we went through the nativity story, reading the account from the book of Matthew and Luke, with both our Bibles open, talking about the meaning and purpose behind what God did. 

Scriptures we read: Matthew 1:18-25, Matthew 2:1-23, Luke 1:26-56, Luke 2:1-40, John 1:1-5, John 1:10-18

This was very powerful, as we read each scripture the historical nativity spoke into our current moment. We reflected on what those involved must've been feeling and thinking. We asked questions. We were inspired. We were touched. We were confused at times, amazed in others. Scripture is so powerful, and the verbal reading of the word shifted the environment around us. 

After that, we shared favorite memories growing up from Christmas and the Christmas traditions of both of our families. We talked deep about the meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus, and how Christmas affected us growing up, as well as how we see it now in light of our personal faith journeys. 

Next, we opened presents together. Often the opening of gifts is the center piece of any Christmas gathering, but we knew something was wrong about that, the center piece should be Jesus, and the presents should be secondary. We realized at the time, that by making the gifts secondary, and Jesus and his birth central, we had touched on something essential. 

At night we watched a Christmas movie, it's a movie that we've developed as a tradition in our relationship. We watch it every year during Christmas since we first began dating. It's a movie called "The Nativity." It portrays the events of the birth of Jesus in a thoroughly biblical, meaningful and powerful way.

After the movie, my wife and I once again got together and had a time of prayer, thanking God for his amazing gift. We burned candles, and played Christian Christmas music. We enjoyed more deep conversation together, reflecting on everything that had happened recently, and where God was leading us. 

Every Christmas I've experienced in my life I've always sat back a day later and felt like I'd engorged myself on food, consumerism, and selfishness. I had missed the real heart of Christmas. I had ruthlessly fed my pleasures and tagged Jesus on the side of it all. 

This was the first Christmas where I sat back after everything and realized, I had really found the heart of Christmas, because we had made it about Jesus. 

If you're sick of the Christmas emotional hang over, try setting a new pattern this Christmas. Make Jesus the center of your Christmas celebrations and watch God bless you as a result. 

Say goodbye to the Christmas hangover and replace it with the joy of knowing you honored the Master who loves you! 

When Light Breaks Into Darkness: Zechariah and Elizabeth learn of the Birth of John

To begin today, we must go back 700 years before Jesus was even born, to a prophecy written by the prophet Isaiah, to a nation struggling and divided in a time of great darkness.

From Isaiah 9:1-5 "Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.

2 The people who walk in darkness
will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,
a light will shine.
3 You will enlarge the nation of Israel,
and its people will rejoice.
They will rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest
and like warriors dividing the plunder. 
4 For you will break the yoke of their slavery
and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders.
You will break the oppressor’s rod,
just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.
5 The boots of the warrior
and the uniforms bloodstained by war
will all be burned.
They will be fuel for the fire.”

We see a time of great sorrow for the nation of Israel. We go back to the year 734 BC. That’s 2,750 years ago. It was the iron age of humanity. Israel was becoming more and more broken, more and more full of false religions and sin. Their leaders were corrupt, and wicked.

It was a time of darkness, and soon the nation would be conquered by Assyria in the north, and Babylon in the south. They would be taken into captivity for their many sins. But, the prophet Isaiah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, shared a prophecy that though the nation would suffer greatly, there was a new hope coming in the distant future.

What is a prophecy? A prophecy, is a word from God about the future given to humanity.

This scripture in Isaiah predicts the coming of a messiah hundreds of years before it would happen.

And it says this, “6 For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 His government and its peace
will never end."
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!”

A new movement, created by God, would center around this messiah who would be born.

There is great power in a move of God. And we see the great move of God being prophesied here. A child is born, a son is given, and he will be the Prince of Peace. A movement often starts very humbly, very simply, and this one starts with two babies being born.

In the darkness of the lostness of Israel, a light would come. But really, there would be two lights. One greater, one lesser. We speak of the lesser today.

Fast forward 728 years forward, to 6 BC, and we come to our primary scripture for today, in Luke 1, starting in verse 5.

Luke 1:5-7: 5 “When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.”

We’ve fast forwarded through a lot of events. Israel had split into two nations, as Isaiah prophesied, the northern kingdom was conquered and taken into captivity by Assyria, and the southern kingdom was conquered and taken into captivity by Babylon. But they had returned from captivity, and rebuilt their nation. And for hundreds of years they prospered. They rebuilt the temple, and the walls of the city of Jerusalem. 

But, soon a new enemy would appear on the world stage, the Roman empire. In BC 63, the Roman General Pompey besieged and conquered Israel, placing them under the authority of the Roman empire.

In 37 BC, Herod was appointed king over Judea, by Mark Antony, though Antony was later defeated by Augustus Caesar who ruled over the Roman empire from 27 BC to 14 AD.

I want you all to notice something, Herod, Antony, Augustus, Pompey, Jerusalem, Rome, we see the events of the Bible are firmly placed within recorded history, not myth, not legend, but recorded and verifiable historically documented events.

Our faith is not myth or Greek gods and goddesses or alternative realities, but based in fact and documentation and records.

But notice we see our two main leaders, Zechariah and Elizabeth, two godly people, they were both blameless in their walk with God.

Also notice it says, they were careful to obey all the Lord’s commands. That stuck out to me, these were people who were careful to obey God’s instructions. And I wondered to myself, could the same be said of me? Could the same be said of each of us?

Are we carefully looking into the word of God each day, saying, how do I obey this word from the Lord? Or do we take it as something suggestive, but not really binding?

Zechariah and Elizabeth took God’s word seriously. I hope the same could be said of us, that we really do look into it, and say, "This is how I’m going to live my life" carefully studying and obeying it.

Also notice in our first portion today, that we see there is a problem, Zechariah and Elizabeth are both very old, and yet they have no children.

Next, verses 8-10: “8 One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. 9 As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. 10 While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.”

This was a great honor for Zechariah to be chosen to go into the temple and burn incense before the presence of the Lord. He was chosen by chance, but we know with God there are no accidents. Zechariah was meant to be chosen that day. So he went into the temple, burning the incense before God. Like the incense, Zechariah’s life and obedience was a fragrant offering before the Lord. At the same time, everyone outside prayed.

Second point today, watch for God lining things up in your life, for your favor. There are no accidents. He does things for a purpose. Sometimes we may avoid and dodge His purposes, but we can always repent, and turn back into the flow of His will.

Next, 11-15, “While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12 Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. 13 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. 14 You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord.”

We talk about history, manuscripts, archaeology, but here we see the inevitable entry of the supernatural into the moment. God shows up.

When you talk about a supernatural experience, these are rare. I’m sure this was new for Zechariah or Elizabeth, to have a supernatural encounter like this. They are rare, but they do happen.

Just thinking about this church, numerous people here have had supernatural experiences. There are approximately 2.6 billion Christians in the world today. Something like 600-900 million of them will be in church on any given Sunday. I wonder how many have had some form of a supernatural encounter. They are rare, but they do happen.

I think of Jan, Joe, Eileen, Jennifer, Wayne, my friend Jenny, Chelsey, Scott, my uncle Art, my Mom Karen, they’ve all shared with me supernatural experiences where they heard the voice of God, or saw vision, or God did something that changed their life, protected them, showed them a dream.

Third point today, dare to believe in the supernatural. Expect that God may give you just such an experience at some point in your life.

In Zechariah’s experience, he sees an angel appear before him, and his first response is terror.

Angel’s response: Don’t be afraid.

Notice, the angel cites the fact that Zechariah has been praying. The angel confirms, God has heard your prayer, clearly the prayer was his desire to have a child. And the angel confirms, your wife will become pregnant, and you are to name the child John.

Why does this supernatural event take place?

Several reasons for any supernatural event, one, it’s to communicate a message. In particular, it’s often to communicate something that will happen in the future. And in particular, it’s to get someone, like Zechariah ready for what’s coming.

This son would bring Zechariah great joy and gladness. It’s a reason for excitement and rejoicing. We will see that over and over in this series, that the nativity is a reason for celebration and joy. It’s a gift and a treasure for all of us, every day.

One last thing to notice here, the word says John will be, "Great in the eyes of the Lord."

Fourth point today, what we view as great is often very different from what God views as great. We as humans look at how popular someone is, how much money they have, how well respected they are, how often they appear on television, how eloquently they speak. But God looks at the heart.

I had to figure this out, that being great isn’t what I thought it was at all. I thought it meant clicks online, and videos, and subscribers, and money, and influence. But God doesn’t view greatness that way. John the baptizer was great beyond imagining, and he lived in the wilderness, and ate bugs and honey, and had wild hair, and preached a message of radical repentance, and baptized people in the Jordan river. That is God’s idea of greatness. And that’s the only definition that really matters.

If you want to be great, follow God’s design, not man’s pyramid chase for popularity and power.

Next, the angel continues his message, “15b He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. 16 And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”

John would turn many to the Lord in Israel. Another translation says he would, "persuade many to turn to God."

We also learn that John would have the spirit and power of Elijah, the great prophet of the Old Testament.

John would come before Jesus, to prepare the way for him. John’s role was to prepare the people for the arrival of the true messiah.

There’s a fascinating line here, it says he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children.

John’s ministry would bring restoration to the most important unit in society, the family unit. Selfish, selfish interested fathers would be brought in the heart, to love their sons and daughters. John’s ministry brought humility, and real heart love. That’s the key to all this, is a change of heart, not just being forced to follow rules, but a deep-cutting message that got into the peoples hearts, and convicted them, and brought humility, a humbling that led to an honest devotion to God.

Point number five today, God wants our hearts. He doesn’t want outward obedience and inward distance. He wants us to search our hearts and humble ourselves, and fall in love with Him.

Second statement there says, John would, "help disobedient minds accept godly wisdom" one translation says.

The key word there is "accept." That is the great difficulty for our entire world, billions of people with different ideas, different philosophies, different concepts of what life is really about, and the power of God’s word, and God’s people, is to cut through all those ideologies and systems and concepts and philosophies, from post-modernism to unitarian universalism, John would be one who would have unique wisdom, marked with an anointing of the Holy Spirit, that could convince people to turn to, accept, receive, and live in God’s wisdom.

And when we say God’s wisdom, it’s simply the truth of what the world really is. Not the deceptions, not the half-baked philosophies out there, but the actual, base truth of what is really going on in this universe.

Point number six, we have the ability as Christians, with the help of God’s word and the Holy Spirit to communicate with people in such a way, that they will be able to see through the lies, and accept Godly wisdom. And it will radically transform their lives. And ultimately, that leads to a person, to Jesus himself, who is the way, the truth, and the life.

And frankly, God's word has that same power in our own thinking processes, to convince ourselves of some area where we’re struggling with a lie or deception, to instead embrace God’s truth. And it will change our lives too.

Let’s see how Zechariah responds to the angel.

Verses 18-20: 18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.”

19 Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! 20 But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.”

Zechariah flat out doesn’t believe the words of the Lord here. Ironic that God is going to give Zechariah’s son John such wisdom to turn hearts, but Zechariah’s own heart needs to be turned. I guess it kind of proves why John is needed, even his own dad needs him to be born.

I love the messenger’s response: I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God.

Gabriel’s words make it clear, this message came from your God. And it was good news! But I get it, Zechariah is very old, he’s thinking, how could me and my wife ever have a baby!

In any case, Zechariah is given a rebuke for this. He is told you will not speak until John is born.

Next, verses 21-22: “21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out of the sanctuary, wondering why he was taking so long. 22 When he finally did come out, he couldn’t speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures and his silence that he must have seen a vision in the sanctuary.”

The supernatural event ends, and Zechariah is profoundly affected. Just like us, an encounter with God will change our lives. But, we do have a choice. We can run with it, and chase it. Or we can ignore and minimize it.

For Zechariah, he really embraces what God said. All the people around him are affected as well. They gather around and they can tell, he’s seen a vision from God. Our supernatural encounter often becomes part of our testimony.

If you’ve never had a supernatural experience with God, don’t take that as a bad thing either. The only experience we really need is with Jesus Christ, to call upon Him, and receive His salvation. Anything else is extra.

Lastly, verses 23-25: “23 When Zechariah’s week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home.

24 Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months. 25 “How kind the Lord is!” she exclaimed. “He has taken away my disgrace of having no children.”

It really happened. The word of the angel came true. It went from something spoken, to something fulfilled. It really happened. It confirmed everything God had said.

What was Elizabeth's response? She went into seclusion for five months, I’m sure in deep prayer and communion with God.

God had finally taken Elizabeth’s disgrace away. In those ancient times, it was the big thing for a woman as far as her status in society, to bear children. The fact that Elizabeth couldn’t I'm sure meant she was treated poorly, treated like she didn’t matter. But, God reversed all that and she became pregnant.

Disgrace, shame and guilt had turned to favor, honor, and joy. But Elizabeth took it very seriously, she went into seclusion, to seek God’s will and pray.

Seventh point today, this is what God did for Israel, and what God does for us. The people had been disgraced, but now, through Jesus, they would receive hope and victory. That’s what Jesus did for us too.

It’s just like the prophecy of Isaiah 9, the people in darkness would see a great light. The disgrace would be replaced with hope.

This Christmas season, remember the events of the birth of John, and ultimately that birth of Jesus. I remember for many years looking at the nativity scenes, and the Christmas lights, and the trees, and the ornaments, and wondering, what’s it really about? Why does Jesus matter so much?

And it’s like you just can’t grasp it, until you’ve encountered Jesus yourself. That’s the most important supernatural encounter, when we really turn to Jesus, and say Lord Jesus, I need you, come and be my savior. And suddenly, it all makes sense.

Christmas occurs in a time of snow and winter and darkness, just like Isaiah’s prophecy, a time of darkness and suffering for Israel, but in the darkness, a light would suddenly burst forth, and that light was Jesus, and for those who embraced Jesus, and accepted Him, that light would burst forth within them. A supernatural change, a new birth, a transformation, in which we suddenly understand what Christmas is really about. It’s about Jesus.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of the birth of John. We thank you that he prepared the way for Jesus. This Christmas help us to see past all the flashy lights and gifts and parties to the truth about what Christmas is really about, it's about you Lord Jesus, and we worship you, be at the center of our Christmas preparations, be at the center of our celebrations, help us to change our traditions to refocus them on you Lord Jesus! Be glorified in everything we do this Christmas, in Jesus name, amen. 

The Blessing of the Presence of God

Have you ever seen the movie Interstellar? It’s one of the most powerful science fiction movies ever made, by Christopher Nolan, staring Matthew McConaughey as Cooper.

He was a pilot serving in Nasa, but later became a farmer after global changes on Earth that put humanity in danger of extinction. The story follows his life, as he is called into a heroic adventure to launch off into outer space, to try to save humanity, by finding a new home for the species on a new planet.

It would otherwise be impossible, any habitable planets would be much too far away for colonization. But at various points in the film, we see a mysterious force that guides Cooper forward, first by providing coordinates to lead him to Nasa, then by providing a wormhole for their space craft to travel through to find habitable worlds. We keep seeing in the film this mysterious hand reach out and make a way where there seemed to be no way.

If you’ve seen the film, it’s an adventure beyond imagining. And I’m telling you guys, if you live your life looking for the hand of God in the small things and the big things, your life will become a surprising and peculiar quest you never imagined was possible.

Many climb mountains, visit exotic cities, go on safaris and cruises, they jetset across the globe, but without the purpose of God leading this adventure, it's just consumerist pleasure seeking, there is no greater meaning to it. Do you long for something more? 

We can’t do it without him. It’s impossible without Him. But when we allow Him to be our God, our life becomes a mysterious adventure. If, we let God lead us.

As it says in the word, “The Lord is my shepherd, I have all I need” 

-Psalm 23:1

We began this series 12 weeks ago, with that simple phrase. The healing journey we’ve gone on together has led through many ups and downs, highs and lows, it started with God leading us, and it ends now, with God continuing to lead us.

Our topic today, is the blessing of God’s presence. Our scripture today is Psalm 139.

I’ve found in my life that in any hurt or trauma, once it’s healed, the presence and power of God in my life grows stronger. My heart was hard, now it’s soft. And so I’m able to sense and respond to the presence of God in my life much more clearly.

The gift of having experienced real healing, is the presence of God on the other side of the journey. For many of you, you’ve experienced healing in this series. You’ve taken it seriously. You’ve reflected on past hurts. During the prayer times you’ve honestly sought God. And he’s answered. For some of us we’ll need to continue to seek healing.

This series has laid at each of our feet a simple spiritual toolkit, a toolkit labeled “How to find Healing.” I encourage you to continue to utilize this toolkit for your past hurts, and for future pains you may face. But we find the final piece of the puzzle today.

Let’s dive into our scripture today, verse 1-2:
“1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
“You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.”

The NIV translates it: “you have searched my heart!” God has through this series, been searching (or examining) our hearts. Exposing hurts, and guiding us to lift them into the light, to be healed. He’s been softening areas, healing areas, exposing sins, teaching us repentance, and building faith.

God knows everything about us. God is closer than we think he is. Sometimes we think of God as far away, up in heaven, we look up and talk to Him. This is good, because the word of God tells us Jesus looked up to heaven when he prayed (John 17:1). But also understand that God is very very very close.

I remember I was going through a hard time, praying and fasting, and at the end of the fast, I was seeking a word from God. And at 4pm I ended the fast, and not a few minutes later I got a message from a salvationist women in London I’d never spoken to before. And she said she had a message from God for me. It was powerful, spoke directly into my situation. But in the message she included this simple statement, from God, which said, “I am near you, nearer more than your Carotid artery.”

God is very very close to us. He is literally living within you, as the Holy Spirit.

Next, verses 3-5: “You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.”

The NASB renders verse 3 I think a bit more clearly, it says you scrutinize, or you winnow my path.”

Winnowing is the process in farming of separating the wheat from the chaff, the good product from the waste materials. God winnows our path through life, separating what is right from what is false or wrong in us. He clears away the useless, and he prunes the good branches, so that they will produce even more fruit.

Next it says God knows what we are going to say, before we even say it. God literally knows what we’ll do next, before we even do it.

God’s knowledge is infinite.

I love that next line, God goes ahead of us, and behind us. The NASB says he circles me in. God is so present and active in our lives that he literally goes into the future ahead of us to forge a path for us. He also follows behind us, as a rear-guard protecting us when we don’t even realize we’re being protected.

God places his hand of blessing on our head. In the context of the word of God, there are both curses and blessings. We often use the word blessing when talking about something good that happened. But a biblical blessing from God is a big deal. Isaac blessed Jacob, and it meant Jacob had authority, influence, and favor handed down from his father to him.

The blessing we seek today is for God to bless us with His presence... To sense his presence, to walk in His presence, to enjoy His presence.

We’ve made our hearts ready. He’s searched our hearts. He’s poured oil into our wounds. We’ve walked into the dark valley, of those hidden memories, those intense traumas, we’ve wept the tears, and we’ve faced our demons head on. We’ve faced sins, repented of evils done, and forgiven others those evils done against us. We’ve come out the other side, healed, hearts softened, mind’s cleansed, and now we seek God to lay his great blessing upon the victory, the blessing of a new level of His presence in our lives.

Our cups overflow. As it says in verse 6: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!”

His blessing, His presence is too wonderful for me to understand. Too perfect. Too good. Too righteous. So far beyond us. Yet here He is, with us, loving us, arms wrapped around us, protecting us, and simply, with us. In every way someone can be with us, God is with us.

Next, verses 7-8: “7 I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.”

Where could we go to escape from God’s Spirit? Could we go into some hidden place, a dark room, or a mountain top, or into the depths of the ocean and escape him? No. God is everywhere.

Even if we died, and went to heaven, God is there, if we went to the realm of the dead, God is Lord even of that place.

His love pursues us. His authority defines reality itself.

Next, verses 9-12:
9 If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you.”

Wherever we are, we can rely on the fact, that his hand will guide us, show us what to do next, and his strength will be our support. I rely on God’s strength constantly, when I’m weak, the Lord provides the strength I need.

But next it speaks of light and darkness. Could we hide from God in the darkness?

I remember one night, a night I’ll always remember, I was in my early twenties, my friend Greg and I had traveled to southern Wisconsin, and we were visiting our mutual friend Brad. And we stayed up all night that night in the basement, doing things we shouldn’t have been doing, and playing music, talking, and then the morning came, and the light begin to break into that dark basement. They began to cover the basement windows with tape, to try to block out the sun. I don’t know why exactly, but that image has always stayed with me.

If only the darkness could stay darkness around me! Let the darkness hide me from the face of the one I knew might really be there. In a deep dark corner of my mind, I knew the answer might really lie with Jesus. Yet my life did not match his standard, and I did not want to have to make the effort necessary to make it match.

We do things in secret as humans. In the darkness. We tell ourselves, God doesn’t see. We do things in front of the computer when no one is looking, on our phone in secret, when no one is home, and we assume, its safe, no one saw me. But God saw it all.

Our entire civilization has interpreted and re-interpreted everything from marriage, to entertainment, science, psychology, morality, philosophy, all of it re-interpreted to exclude the reality of God and His word. But in the end, they cannot dissolve God’s light, they rely on it even as they reject it.

The famous philosophy Voltaire said, “"One hundred years from my day, there will not be a Bible on earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity-seeker" 50 years after Voltaire had passed, his predictions had not come true, and the house he had lived in was in use by the Geneva bible society as a place to store and print bibles and Christian literature.

So if you have things you’re hiding from God, he already knows. What God asks, is that we stop hiding them, he wants us to bring them into the light, of our own choice. Because one day all things will be brought into the light by God himself, for judgment. Bring them into the light now, confess it to God, ask God to forgive it if it’s sin, ask God to heal it if it’s broken.

There are no separate categories of our lives that God isn’t allowed into, there is no division between our religious life and our personal life, it’s all one thing. It’s all before God’s eyes.

Judge yourself now, and bring those things into the light. As Ephesians 5:13 says, “ "But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light."

In verses 13-15 it says, “13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.”

In all the endless thousands of years before you, all this human history took place, and then one day, through your parents, you began to exist. And God wove you together in your mother’s womb.

Lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas, muscles, tendons, ligaments, all forming together in a magnificently complex series of pre-programmed functions written into your DNA.

If God can cause your mother’s womb, your DNA, and all those functions to weave together to form your birth, how much more can God be trusted to weave the strands of your life together to form a blessed and holy adventure?

All of this, from the intricate design of your body in the womb, to the intricate weaving of your life journey, all proves one thing about God:

He is love.

And when we see this incredible love of God in action, it causes us to trust Him.

But here’s how the journey works: We’re going through a rough reality on Earth, we’re walking through the curse of the fall.
So on our journey, God is training us.

It starts with love, and as we love God, and God loves on us, we learn to trust God.

Love and trust are deeply and intrinsically linked.

So then we learn, through love, to trust.

But what about when a difficult trial occurs in our lives? Or some traumatic event?

We remember God is love at the source. We’re going through a trial though, and its painful. Yet we do still sense God’s love for us through it. So we hold on to the two realities, of the fact of His love and the sense of His love, to continue to trust.

But as God weaves our journey together, he winnows our path as well.

So what happens is, we go through even tougher trials. And then we also don’t sense God’s love through it. He even feels distant and cold at times. Far off even.

It’s in those moments that we can’t sense his love, and we are in suffering, that all we have to hold on to is, the fact that we know God is love. And, during those hardest moments, if we remember God is love, we will trust, despite the distance and the trial.

Next verse 16: “You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.”

Not only did God form us in our womb, not only did he fashion our soul, not only does he weave our lives together through trials and joys, he also saw us before we were born.

This is a profound mystery, but some claim to have memories of before they were born. They were with God in heaven, about to be sent to Earth, into the womb of their mother. This of course can’t be proven. Whether you believe this or not is up to you, but the word of God does tell us, even before we were born, God saw us.

We get another interesting fact about our journeys on Earth, we’re told our lives are written in books in heaven. There is a book in heaven describing the events of your life and the choices you’ve made. It’s all recorded in heaven, every time you helped a homeless person, or prayed with a family member, or showed kindness to a waitress, or loved one of your children. Your book is in heaven, and will be opened on the day of judgment, and we as Christians will be able to say, every page where I sinned, it was washed away with the blood of Jesus, and that page would then be blank, and God would be able to search our book, and say, well, I only see the good things you did, because Jesus covered the bad. And we’ll be rewarded.

For those who did not receive and faithfully follow Jesus, they will be judged based on the sins recorded in their book in heaven. And the good won’t be able to make up for the bad. Only Jesus can forgive sins.

Verses 17-18 tells us: “17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!”
18 I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!

Like the grains of sand on a seashore are the thoughts of God toward you. He is working on you in so many ways. And the best way to have the language and mindset to interact with those actions of God in your life is to know His word deeply, and to spend times in deep prayer, listening for His voice, and to spend time in heart felt worship. As you do those three things you’ll be engaged in the process God is doing in your life, able to Hear, and respond to His voice.

But I also want you to keep in mind the healing process that we went through together. It is vital to keep this process as a toolkit in your life. New traumas will come, new challenges will occur, and we can face them with the healing principles God has taught us in the psalms.

Let’s review the process God has taught us. The first message dealt with Psalm 23, seeking the restful healing God provides. 2nd, we talked about healing through prayer, Jesus will heal us through times of deep prayer. 3rd we talked about building faith, that by studying the evidence for God we can strengthen our faith. 4th we examined where suffering came from, how it came about through Adam and Eve’s fall. 5th, we talked about racing thoughts, and the tool of wrestling with God through these racing thoughts. 6th we talked about overcoming fear by allowing God to be our deepest foundation. 7th we talked about the dark night of the soul, that the rock bottom experiences actually bring us closer to God if we allow them to train us, 8th we talked about how we call our souls to hope in God after a dark time, 9th we talked about Joy coming after we’ve repented of sins, and found a clear conscience with God, 10th we talked about Gratitude, how we can choose gratitude by counting our blessings and rejecting negative thinking, 11th, we talked about humility, and how through God’s help, we can be freed from pride, remain humble, and lastly, today, we talked about the blessing of the presence of God, that after we’ve healed from trauma, and we’ve come out the other side cleansed, renewed, humbled and softened in our heart, we experience a deeper anointing of the presence of God, the greatest blessing imaginable.

Last portion, 18b: “And when I wake up, you are still with me!”

This is a great reminder. Going forward, life will continue to happen. We will face new challenges, and new trials, and new losses. We will also enjoy new blessings, new joys, and new adventures. 

But the most wonderful thing about our walk with God is, than when we wake up tomorrow, the word tells us, “God you are still with me.”

He is there each day for us, ready to walk us through no matter what may come. He has future grace for us tomorrow. Even knowing life still happens, I can trust you God. I do trust you God.

I remember finishing writing this message, and thinking to myself, I’m missing something. There were all these elements of the message, healing, God’s presence in our lives, His overflowing love for us constant each day, difficulties we face and how God guides us through them, real trust that God develops in us, where we just trust him completely, how he weaves and winnows our path through this world, all God’s endless thoughts toward us, the records of our books in heaven, how God sees it all, and how he’s so much closer than we think.

And I thought to myself, all of this culminates into the heart of what it means for God to be the king of our lives, the one who loves us, and guides us, the one we trust through the hardest difficulties of life, it’s all the blessing we receive after we’ve accepted Jesus Christ into our hearts. And it’s active every single day we continue to follow Him. It’s the active blessing.

It brought to mind Numbers 6:24-26: Let this word be your prayer over you and your family: 24 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Prayer: Lord, today we thank you for healing us. Please continue to heal us of our deep heart wounds. God please bless us today with your presence in our lives, in every moment, may we sense, enjoy, and bask in your presence Father, as you bless us along this journey of life, in Jesus name, amen. 

Choosing Humility through Prayer: Breaking the Chains of Pride

Are you a Lord of the Rings fan? Lord of the Rings was written by J.R.R. Tolkien a close friend of CS Lewis, and a devout Christian. So you’ll see in the books and in the movie adaptations, extensive Christian themes and ideas, as he wrote Christian concepts into every detail of the book series.

Frodo the main character carries a ring with him, one he must destroy. But the ring tempts him to put it on, to take control. It symbolizes our struggle against ourselves. The desire to be our own god vs. letting God be God. In a way, we all carry this same ring with us, the temptation to pride, the temptation to want to run our own lives.

We like Frodo, must carry the ring with us, resisting it’s temptations, until one day it can be destroyed. For Frodo he seeks to cast the ring into mount doom, for us, the temptation will at last end when we reach heaven safely.

I love how Frodo’s friends all go to great lengths to protect him, guard him, keep him safe, and then even to let him go on his own, all to protect him, so he can do what needs to do, destroy the ring. Similarly, we all need each other in our battle against pride, against ourselves, to win the victory. We need each other.

Today we’re addressing the topic of Humility, and how God takes us from pride to humility.

And for most of us we stand on the other side of that story. We’ve been humbled by God, we’ve been trained in the ways of God, and it brought us to salvation, the state we stand in now. But pride can still affect us after becoming a believer.

Pride, if we allow it to slip in, can begin to draw us away from God. Pride in self. Pride in our own abilities. Or we can begin to feel prideful in our religious activities, or our own preferences and ideas. Pride is a deadly enemy to the Christian life.

On the healing journey, pride will prevent healing.

In the recovery community, people will often share that they feel like an ego-maniac with an inferiority complex. I had a close friend in my twenties who seemed to bounce between these two extremes, he felt deeply insecure much of the time, but to protect himself he had created a barrier of pride and ego. 

Sometimes, to protect ourselves from the deep hurts we’ve experienced, we allow self-pride to feed our ego. It gives us a positive feeling, but it never resolves the underlying trauma.

So the goal is to going to be, to clear out some of this ego pride in our lives, to ask God to heal what’s underneath, and then to choose humility going forward.

Let’s dive in, Psalm 107. We don’t know the author of psalm 107, but it takes us through several scenarios related to God’s deliverance: Lost in the desert, captive in jail, illness, and in a storm at sea. We only have time today to go through half the psalm, but I think we’re going to see this theme of humility come to light again and again.

Scholars also believe this psalm relates to Israel’s return from captivity in Babylon. The nation of Israel had been blessed by God, but as the generations went by, they forgot all God had done for their ancestors, they became prideful, worshiped foreign gods, and as a result, God judged them, and they were conquered by Babylon, and taken into captivity. This psalm looks back on those events to help the nation remember, we must always remember what God did for us in the past, so we do not become prideful again in the future. That’s why it’s so important to teach our children and grandchildren about all God has done for us.

Psalm 107 begins like this, verses 1-3:
“1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
his love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
3 those he gathered from the lands,
from east and west, from north and south.”

“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so”, is the KJV, I like that better. Tell your story. Remember. Give thanks to God, be grateful. Gratitude is vital. Look back on the things God has done. Remember it all came from Him.

He has gathered each of us, from all the corners of the Earth, a peculiar people, odd, different, unique, but gathered together, all with different stories, but all with one thing in common, God has humbled us, and we belong to Him now.

Next, verses 4-7: “Some wandered in the wilderness,
lost and homeless.
5 Hungry and thirsty, they nearly died.
6 “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble
and he rescued them from their distress.
7 He led them straight to safety,
to a city where they could live.”

The first example we have today is those wilderness wanderers. Any wilderness wanderers out there today?

Sometimes when I see someone going for long walks alone, drifting into quiet places, isolated, melancholy, desperate even, I see someone God is working on in a mighty way.

They are reaching for bottom. I was this person for years. Climbing downward, something within me knew, if I get low enough, my pride will be gone, and I will be able to turn to Jesus and be saved.

Isn’t that something? That someone homeless and addicted could actually be closer to their moment of salvation than a millionaire in an Armani suit? Never judge by externals.

This person calls on God one day, when they’ve had enough, and immediately God delivers them, he rescues them, he takes them along a road of safety, to a city where they can dwell in peace. So it is with Jesus.

This is the first humbling, the humbling of the wanderer.

As JRR Tolkien wrote, "Not all who wander are lost." Sometimes we must wander for a season, so the Lord may purge the pride from us, and bring us down to humility once again.

Verses 8-9 says, “8 Let them praise the Lord for his great love
and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
9 For he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.”

As we praise the Lord, the focus goes off of us, and onto God. This guards against pride in the future. Perhaps the best guard against pride is worship and praise. In the lostness, God satisfies what we really longed for, it wasn’t more of self, it was Him.

Prayer: Lord, some of us today have wandered from you God. We’ve begun to rely on self. It’s caused us to wander away within, even while we still come to church. But no longer today Father. Forgive us Lord for the pride of relying on self, the pride of wandering away from God. We repent, we renounce this pride, we choose humility, we put on humility as a garment today, Lord Jesus heal our wounds, we declare today, we can do nothing without you Father, you are our God, not self, not ego, in Jesus name, amen.

Next example, 10-13: “10 Some sat in darkness and deepest gloom,
imprisoned in iron chains of misery.
11 They rebelled against the words of God,
scorning the counsel of the Most High.
12 That is why he broke them with hard labor;
they fell, and no one was there to help them.
13 “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.”

The power of the enemy is to imprison us in iron chains of sin. He traps us. In this second example we see someone who sits in darkness, could refer to someone in prison, but just as much, someone held captive by their own decisions. They rebelled against the words of God, it says. That’s where captivity begins.

Me myself, I feel like I don’t really understand just how deeply I need the word of God. I have to fight myself to read it consistently. I’m so prone to want to scroll social media, and entertain myself on YouTube.

When we neglect the word of God, or ignore certain bible verses that make us uncomfortable, we allow the door to begin to open to pride, reliance on self, and thinking we don’t really need God.

This is profoundly dangerous.

Because when we rebel against the word of God, and go on our way, we began to head down a road of rebellion. And rebellion leads to pride, and pride triggers a response from God, that he will humble us.

"Those who exalt themselves will be humbled", as it says in Matthew 23:12.

But another danger we face is religious pride. The word of God tells us that “knowledge puffs up.” If we’re always learning head knowledge, it can lead to pride, pride in our understanding, pride in our place in the church. The antidote to this is to always give all the glory to God.

Any form of knowledge based pride leads to spiritual imprisonment. God responds by humbling us, to help us. It says in verse 12 that God broke them with hard labor. They fell and no one was there to help them up.

This may seem tough, but it’s actually very important. If God didn’t humble us in our rebellion at times, we’d head off in our own direction. Thankfully God gives us this gift of breaking us, to the point that we call out, "God help me", and then God delivers us.

Verses 14-16 depict this journey: “14 He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom; he snapped their chains.
15 Let them praise the Lord for his great love
and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
16 For he broke down their prison gates of bronze;
he cut apart their bars of iron.”

It reminds me of the scripture in Acts when the angel leads Peter out of prison. The chains fall off, the prison doors open, and the escape is made. 

Every time I think about what Jesus did for me, it brings me back to my first love, which is Him. I needed Jesus then. I still need Jesus just as much today. I can’t do life alone. I can’t make decisions alone. I can’t rely on myself only. I must rely on God. I love Jesus. Jesus loves me. He is everything to me. He shattered my chains. He broke the prison doors that held me.

I must never forget! I must always remember. Jesus saved me. He is everything! Lord keep us humble.

God is able to deliver us from this, the pride of knowledge. Make this your prayer today. 

Prayer: Father, some of us today have been imprisoned by wrong attitudes, wrong ways of thinking, negative thinking, self-reliance, self-condemnation, we judged ourselves too harshly, and it’s created a prison for us. Father forgive us for this unbelief, forgive us for this pride in self-thoughts instead of you. We renounce pride, we renounce these unfaithful thoughts in Jesus name, forgive us Lord, we renounce that pride of knowledge in Jesus name, and we cast off the spirit of self knowledge, in Jesus name, and we put on the garment of humility. Heal those hurts in our minds and hearts Jesus, and fill our minds with the mind of Christ, in Jesus name, amen.

Third example today, 17-20: “17 Some were fools; they rebelled
and suffered for their sins.
18 They couldn’t stand the thought of food,
and they were knocking on death’s door.
19 “Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them,
snatching them from the door of death."

We see someone here who was acting foolishly. They were living in rebellion against God. And they began to suffer due to the sins they were practicing. This led to trauma.

They became sick, didn’t even want food, and death seemed right around the corner. Again, they were humbled by God. The pride was expunged from them.

Their eyes went from themselves, to their problems, and finally up to God who could help them. It’s so hard to look up to God, when we face a problem we want to fix it ourselves. But finally, when the pride is gone, humility comes, we realize our need and we call out to Him.

And again, God delivered them. It also says, he sent out his word and healed them. God spoke, they were healed.

Once the pride was gone, the ego was deflated, they were ready for healing. The barrier and defensive wall was gone. They called on God, and God sent his word. Jesus is that word become flesh.

For this third example we see a fool, someone who made poor choices, and they suffered. They were wounded mentally, spiritually, emotionally. In this pain they used pride to block out the hurt. But it left them so empty they couldn’t even eat. At last the pride was gone, the barrier was gone, and they called out to God.

This is the third humbling, the humbling of the barrier. 

Third prayer, perhaps today you’ve desired healing, but it hasn’t come. There is a wall blocking the healing. We will pray, and set aside that wall, so Jesus may come in and heal the hurt.

Some of us have been as a wounded animal being tended to by a veterinarian, the vet tries to clean the wound, but the animal attacks, because it fears the vet may wound it. But we can let our barrier down, and let Jesus in to clean, dress, and pour oil into the wound. He is trustworthy.

Prayer: Lord, we confess the pride of protection. We’ve wanted to protect ourselves from the hurts. We’ve been through such trauma. Our ego is so fragile, we feel so weak, so we guard ourselves with pride, but now, at last Lord Jesus, we repent of this barrier. We can’t protect ourselves, only you can protect us. We repent of the pride of self, we cast off pride, we reject pride, we renounce the spirit of pride, and we embrace humility of the Lord, we put on the garment of humility. Now that the pride is gone Lord, we ask you to heal the wound beneath it, please heal us Jesus, by your stripes we are healed, in Jesus name, amen.

Verse 21, “Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.”

Praising the Lord is the key, whenever you really worship God in a moment, you are killing pride. It’s always a temptation for us humans. It’s the original sin of Satan. Our flesh wants to be in control, our flesh wants to play God, our flesh wants to be important and show off.

Like Frodo and the ring, we must keep that temptation in check. God will help us. If you recall, in the end Frodo succumbed to the temptation, but, he was still saved in the end and the ring was destroyed. 

For us, to guard ourselves, we should serve others humbly. The greatest of all of you, will be the servant of all, as Jesus said. If you want to be great in God's kingdom, always remember it's an upside down kingdom. But if that is your ambition, to be great in God's kingdom, not the world, then reason in your thinking, that to do this is to serve others in great humility. 

Service, and worship. As it says: Praise the Lord, receive His love into your heart and think about all the wonderful things he’s done for you. Service will keep you humble, but so will worship.

Lastly, verse 22: “Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and sing joyfully about his glorious acts.”

Let us then offer a particular kind of sacrifice, the sacrifice of humility, by choosing thankfulness and gratitude to God. Each time we choose to thank God for something, humility grows and pride dies. Sing joyfully about his glorious acts, worship God in song, as we sing to Him, it kills pride, and builds humility.

Humility ultimately can only flourish in an environment where you are plugged into the presence of God. You really feel his love. You slow down and simply sit with your Father. You take time each day to worship Him. And that presence in your life feeds your soul. Without that presence, you will have to feed your soul with pride and ego and self. But with that heart presence of God, you’ll be at peace, and humility will reign.

One last thought on humility and pride. Remember, we are all in a spiritual battle. It's not just me vs. my flesh. There is another X-factor, the demonic forces that seek to tempt us toward pride. So one thing I want you all to do is keep a prayer in your mind, a prayer I want you to start praying every morning. It’s the armor of God prayer in Ephesians 6. Put on the full armor of God, because you are in a spiritual battle. Notice one thing here though, I always add one piece to my armor. It’s from 1st Peter 5:5, “Cloth yourself with humility.” After I've prayed the armor of God, I always put on the garment of humility last. 

How deeply do you believe the word of God? God's word says there is "Armor of God" that we can "put on." It's either real or it's not. If it's real, then put it on every day!

Prayer: Father, today we put on the full armor of God, we put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness we put on, the belt of truth we put on, the shoes of the readiness of the gospel of peace we put on. We take up on the shield of faith, and we are armed with the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, upon all this we put on the garment of humility, in Jesus name, amen.