365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 30

Our sermon series at church for Advent has been on Isaiah 9:6 A child will be born to us, he will rule over us. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. Our former senior pastor John Stevens gave the sermon about the fourth name in this scripture: Prince of Peace. He made it clear that Jesus is the only way to get the peace that our hearts desire. We often will resort to our human condition and try to find peace in other ways but true peace can only be achieved with Jesus in our hearts. As I prepared to write up something this morning, I was watching Fox News channel and heard what happened to Father Jonathan Morris who is a regular on Fox News. He had gone to visit an 80 year old man who was dying just the day before. As had become a tradition for him, on the way out he asked the nurses if there was anyone who had no family or friends, nobody visiting. The nurses were hesitant but with his request they took him to see another man aged 45 dying of some horrible disease. The second he entered the room that man became very agitated. The nurses urged him to just leave but he took a step closer and the man got really angry. Instead of giving up, he took a step closer and the man got even angrier. He prayed to Jesus for help and ended up on his knees with his hands put together in prayer. Immediately, the man calmed down and repeated the words Father Morris had said, “Jesus knows me and loves me”.  The man was filled with peace and ended up praying a prayer the Father was amazed by. That is the power of the love of Jesus. When all else had failed to give comfort and peace to this dying man, the Prince of Peace showed himself in Father Morris in the simple act of being on his knees with his hands in prayer. The love of Jesus brings peace and so much more. May you find his love for you and realize that he knows you, knows what you are going through and loves you with an unfathomable love.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 331

I am working on my Isaiah 9:6 faithbooking project that I will be submitting to the church to be displayed this Christmas season. It is coming together beautifully. The faces all around us can and do reflect the roles of Christ as they are written to us in Isaiah 9:6: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. I cannot wait to share the finished project but am thrilled to be in the midst of learning how very much we see Christ in everyone around us. Thank you Lord for the opportunity the church is giving to artists to share their passion and heart with others.

2 Timothy 1:6 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.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 319

My church has over the last couple of years had on display artwork from artists in the church. They create pieces that have to do with an upcoming sermon series and often are shown on the big screen during the sermon as a visual. After seeing a piece of jewelry that someone had made on display this last go around, I realized that I should look into this so I can submit a faithbook page. So, I went to the recent meeting for all artists with our new pastor to go over his thoughts and expectations and we went over a little bit about the upcoming series which will be called Faces on the scripture Isaiah 9:6. The sermons will specifically be about the names in the scripture: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.  These are the faces of God but because we are made in God’s image and have the Holy Spirit dwelling within, we can be a humble glimpse of these faces of God, we reflect in little ways these faces of God in our own faces. A counselor is someone who listens and shares truth and wisdom. We get this all the time from our spouses, parents, friends and co-workers. The friend who listens patiently to you all the time when you need to express the challenge you are facing or the co-worker who empathizes with you as you vent your frustrations or your spouse who will hold you as you cry out your hurts. We see our Mighty God in the faces of people standing up for their faith, in people loving in big ways and in the creative people in the world who can express how great is our God. We can see a glimpse of our Everlasting Father in the dad that has sacrificed his career to take care of his daughter, the mother who in her exhaustion still shows her love to her children, the friend who is always there when you need them. And finally our Prince of Peace can be seen in the face of a family member suffering from cancer with a smile on their face, the friend who lives cheerfully with chronic pain and the neighbor who brings you fresh baked cookies just because. These faces of God are all around us but do we see them in our daily busy lives as the faces of God? Start living each day looking into these faces and recognize that God is with us and working through us all each day. Thanks be to God for showing us who He is, in and through those that are all around us.

Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.