Author: princessleah

The dramatic events that led up to the birth of Jesus, demonstrate how intricately God orchestrated this world altering event. Before Jesus birth, there were angels, one who came to Zacharias in the temple (in Luke 1:5-10), one who came to Mary, and multitudes who came to the shepherds abiding in their flocks through the night. In the heavens, not only did angels light the sky, there was a new star in the sky that led worshippers to the place where the baby lay. Even getting Mary and Joseph to the little town of Bethlehem, where it was prophesied as the birthplace of the savior, took an act of the government. They were required to register in that particular town, just as Mary was about to have a baby. Amazing how all of these events lined up, to bring the Light of the World, the living Word to this earth. All of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus were facilitated because of obedience. From Zacharias and Elizabeth walking in righteousness before God, and obeying the word of the Lord brought to them by an angel, to Mary’s words of submission to the will of the Lord, even to Jesus submitting to the will of His Father in heaven, each one lined up their will with God’s, so that Jesus could be born in a stable, in the little town of Bethelehem, to human parents who could have no earthly idea how this little baby would change the world.

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Jesus, the light of the world has come! When He came, through his birth, his death and his resurrection, He made us the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. In Jeremiah 33:14-16 it was prophesied that when Jesus would come He would be called a branch of righteousness. Because He was born as a baby into our world, now through Jesus, we are engrafted into the branch of righteousness. Righteousness means right standing with God. It also means that we are welcome in the presence of God at any time. Since the night when the angels proclaimed the birth of Jesus to the shepherds on the hills, watching over their flocks in the night, we have been invited into the presence of God. The shepherds got up and immediately went to where the baby Jesus lay. God came near, and desires for us to come near to Him. One of the most important things we can teach our families is to be familiar with and comfortable in the presence of God. The Spirit of God lives within, and abides with us always. Being with other believers and worshipping together ushers in the presence of God. Make it a habit to be in church whenever the church doors are open. Take time in your personal devotions to spend time in the presence of God. You can draw nearer to Christ this Christmas season.

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There are so many amazing prophesies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah. In the verses in Is 11:1-5, the author tells that out of the lineage of Jesse, a Branch shall grow, and the Holy Spirit will rest upon Him. It is pretty amazing who all are in the line of Jesus. Jesse was David’s father, and Jesus was born to His line all those generations later. All of the names from generation to generation are listed in Matthew chapter 1. We are now in the bloodline of Jesus through salvation. We can now be found in Him, in His royal bloodline, and He in us. It was also prophesied that the Holy Spirit would rest on Jesus. Even before Jesus was born, the Holy Spirit was upon Him in his mother’s womb. Since the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the earth, we now have the same opportunity. The Spirit of the Lord can rest upon us. We can be filled with the Spirit of God, just like Jesus was! Today and everyday, we can yield our life to the Holy Spirit. During this season of Advent, we can be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and be at the right place, at the right time, so we can minister to people in our world. In Jesus’ Name, I thank you God for sending a light to the world in the form of a baby. Help me to be a light in the darkness around me. Thank you for your Holy Spirit’s help in believing your Word and walking in the truth. I will say yes to the voice of the Spirit of God. In Jesus Name, AMEN.

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Christmas is coming. We are preparing to celebrate a baby born in a manger, and the Light of the World arriving. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with your dailyeword for Advent. This year along with the radio program, the podcasts and written dailyeword, you can follow along with a Bible Reading Program on our website at agf.org. I hope you make it a daily habit to read the Word and take time to talk with God. We celebrate that Jesus came as The Word made flesh to be the Light of the World, so that we could have a dynamic relationship with Him. We can know Him and personally connect with The Word and The Light. Here is your dailyeword!

Have you had the electricity go off at your house recently? While I was staying with my mom in Denver, the day before she was having hip replacement surgery, a tree down the road from her home fell on a power line, and we were without power for 7 hours. They had power across the street, but our side was all dark. So was the road behind us. We could see lights on across the street. They had power to heat up a cup of tea, or to warm the water heater, or turn on the heat, but we didn’t! We were longing for some warmth and light! Thank God for a flashlight on my iphone! In Is 9:2-7 this passage says that those who have walked in the shadows, or have stumbled in the darkness won’t have to do that anymore. Jesus was coming to bring light. Not only was there a light in the sky, from a new star, Jesus was there to bring light into the darkness. We can say along with the words of Isaiah, we have seen a great light. The light brought salvation! Everything we would ever need would be found in Him. When light comes on the scene, everything changes for the better. We can see clearly, we don’t have to stumble around, we can see the path to walk on, and He brings light to our path.

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I’m not sure what you do when you are faced with a problem, but I have taught my kids to do certain things to help them remember that they can get through any situation or temptation when you begin remembering how BIG God is. Whether it is something small, or huge, God is concerned about all of your life.

I usually tell my kids to think about how God has helped you in the past. When it comes to taking a test, or trying something new, it is always good to remember when God helped you before. Maybe you were stressing out about something big, and it ended up way better than you would have imagined. Now it the time to think about that again.

Another thing I tell my kids to do is to think about tomorrow. By this time tomorrow, the test, or challenge, or whatever, will be over, and you can look back and remember that you made it through. Yipee!

The last thing I usually tell my kids is to think about the miracles of Jesus. Do you remember the story of the loaves and fish? How about how Jesus healed a little girl? Or how He walked on water? Or how He calmed a storm? Or how he opened blind eyes? When you remember how much God loves you, you will realize that he did all of those miracles out of love. So can you make it through any situation? Yes you can, and yes you will! God loves you, and will be with you to make it through!
What works for kids, works for adults too. Remember God is BIG, He helped you in the past, He’ll do it again. Tomorrow will be here before you know it, and you’ll have made it through, and the miracles Jesus did in the Bible, he still is doing today.

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Mountain you’ve got to move. The Bible tells us to speak to mountains. When struggles seem insurmountable, we can have confidence that mountains will move! Matt 21: 21 says that, as does Mark 11:23. Mountain you’ve got to move. As I was meditating on mountains, I thought back to Isaiah where obstacles were removed from the path. Is 40:4 says that Every mountain and hill will be made low. The crooked places will be made straight, and the rough places made smooth. Is 45:2 says that God will go before us and remove barriers that keep us from moving forward. Is 49:11 says that God will make a way in the mountains. Mountains are things that are in our way. It is amazing to me to see tunnels burrowed through great rocky mountains and instead of having to go around, or over the mountain, a way is made right through it. I love to see the creativity of God when a barrier or mountain is in our way. Whatever it can be, when we give God the opportunity to work, and begin speaking to our mountains, circumstances begin to change. Is 42: 16 has great words of encouragement. I will bring them a way that they knew not, I will lead them in paths that they have not known, I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things I will do for them….I will not forsake them. What comfort and encouragement those words bring! God is faithful. Let’s remember and be thankful. What He has done, He will do again. What He is doing, He will continue to do. He is ever faithful!

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God has brought you this far. He won’t fail you now. Sometimes when you are in the midst of junk, it is hard to think about victory. We get so focused on the circumstances, we forget that God is faithful and dependable. Do you remember this song from years ago?
He didn’t bring us this far, to leave us
He didn’t teach us to swim, to let us drown
He didn’t build His home in us, to move away
He didn’t lift us up, to let us down.
Think about that! He is at work in you, and in your circumstances. We can depend on and trust in Him. We know Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever. Let’s give Him some room to work in our lives. Ps 77:11-12 says for us to remember the miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works, Oh God. How about this old song
When I think about the Lord
How he saved me, how he raised me
How he picked me up, turned me around
How he placed my feet on solid ground
Makes me want to shout hallelujah,
Thank you Jesus, Lord you’re worthy
Of all the glory, honor, and praise
Makes me want to shout!
God has brought you this far, He won’t leave you. Think about, remember, meditate on His goodness in your life. You’ll be encouraged from the inside out! Start the fire on the inside and your life will change dramatically. God has done great things for you.

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Happy Thanksgiving today! I hope you enjoy a great celebration remembering God’s faithfulness. One of the things that often happened in the Bible was that people had a party to remember God’s faithfulness. They killed the fatted calf, they brought out the fancy clothes, they celebrated with gusto! It sounds a lot like the first Thanksgiving. I love that idea. We have a party for many things in our world… from a daughter finishing driver’s education, or getting her license. (All the girls turned out to be great drivers, just like her mom!) We celebrate loosing teeth (if you’re 7, not 27!) We celebrate adoption day. We celebrate an A on a project. We celebrate a job promotion. We celebrate whenever we can. I think there is something really special about saying even small things are worthy of a celebration. Communion might be the most common spiritual thing that we do to remember Christ’s death until He comes again. We commemorate His resurrection on Easter, we celebrate His birth at Christmas, but daily we should celebrate His faithfulness. His mercies are new every morning. Why not thank Him everyday for your salvation, for His provision, for walking in divine health, for the life of God that flows through you, for the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life. There are so many things that we can remember and be thankful for. A daily habit of gratitude is powerful. The Bible tells us even when making requests to God to thank Him in advance. Phil 4:6 says, “ Be careful (or anxious) for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, WITH THANKSGIVING, let your requests be made known unto God”. What a great pattern for life. Let’s live in grateful remembrance. God has done great things for us!

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Do you know that if you ask almost anyone about their most vivid memory, most of the time it is a negative memory. I remember as a 6th grader, my teacher did an experiment with the whole class. He asked for each kid to share their most vivid memory. Out of 30 kids, only 2 had positive memories, and I was one of them. I’ve always been a glass half full kind of person, but I remember even as a young girl being surprised that 28 out of 30 remembered something negative. What about you? I hope you have lots of positive memories. If not, let’s turn it around….instead of thinking about the bad of the past, find the good! Good is just God elongated. Let’s find ways to celebrate God’s goodness. It does take capturing thoughts that are contrary and changing them immediately. We can’t focus or dwell on the negative. There are far too many positives, let’s count and recount our blessings. We have so many blessing as believers, not only a great life here on earth, living in the peace of God, but a home in heaven that with which nothing can compare. If you need some help turning things around in your life, think of this. Jesus is our perfect example – his pain and agony in the Garden of Gethsemane became the garden of victory as He submitted His will to the will of the Father. How about the cross of Calvary? It too was a place of pain and agony, but it has become a banner of victory for us, death, hell and the grave were defeated! Even with communion, as we remember what Jesus went through for us, we can have sadness, but it turns to joy in the victory the enemies defeat. What will you remember? Let’s remember God’s faithfulness.

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One of my favorite things to do when I am faced with a difficult challenge or circumstance is to immediately go into remembrance mode and begin to rehearse past victories. Once I get past the moment wondering how this will turn out, it is almost automatic for me to just start thanking God for how He has moved heaven and earth for me in the past. The best example of this in the Bible is the story of David and Goliath. The mighty Philistine army was taunting the Israelites and no one was willing to fight the Giant. Up comes a little shepherd boy to bring supplies to his brothers and he decides to accept the challenge. Saul wasn’t so sure that this boy would deliver, but David was the only willing warrior. David rehearsed his past victories to Saul. The Lord has delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, and he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine…..so Saul said, go for it, may God be with you! When you need courage for the battles you face, why not try doing what David did. It can be as simple as saying, “God you’ve been faithful to me before, you’ve supplied my needs, you’ve healed my body, you comfort me when I need it, you give me peace in the midst of strife, you have proven to be all I need. So this challenge or circumstance is no match for you. You have delivered me before from the paw of many challenges, and you will be my deliverer once again. You are faithful to me, I will be faithful to trust you.” After hearing yourself say words like those, your faith will be encouraged! God stands ready to move on your behalf. The power of remembrance will move you from fear to faith, and the power of God will be activated for you. Giant you are going down! (I Samuel 17:34-37)

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