We’re all on a journey.
Dessie’s journey just crossed the threshold of 90 years
young.
Her friend Shirley, also around 90, just crossed the
threshold to forever young on streets of gold.
You are blessed if your journey, crossed their journey.
If you could zoom up and look at the journey of their lives, you’d see through all the twists and curves, peaks and valleys, joys and sorrows, their journey followed the nail pierced footprints of Christ.
Dessie is still making tracks, blazing a trail
straight to Jesus.
Shirley’s journey on earth is through; she’s heard those
glorious words: “Well done”.
There’s another journey that crosses all our journeys.
Joseph and Mary’s from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
It’s likely their journey was around 90 miles, took around 9 days, give or take, depending on how round young virgin, around 9 months pregnant, handled the journey.
We’re all on a journey.
Depending on how we respond to their journey when it
crosses our path, determines if we are blessed, or cursed.
The Beginning
Their journey began long before they were ever born. With
a different couple. Way back in a garden.
Adam and Eve were presented with an impossibility.
God said: Don’t eat from that tree, if you do, that
very day, you’ll die. Genesis 2:16-17.
The sneaky snake hissed, “No you won’t.” Implying, God
lied, God made a mistake, God didn’t mean what He said. Genesis 3:4-5.
That is impossible!
Preposterous! God cannot lie! Would not lie! Will never lie! He is Truth.
But the couple, instead of saying, “Impossible! Preposterous!”
They forsook God’s Word, looked at the fruit, licked their lips, took the bait
and the bite.
In that instant, His Presence that clothed them from
the inside out, departed.
God is Life.
Separate from God, by definition, death.
There they stood, naked, ashamed, dead, dead, dead.
Oh, their bodies kept walking and talking but they
were dead men walking.
You are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live inside
a body.
Just because your heart is beating, doesn’t mean you are
living.
They were dead, just like God said.
Don’t doubt it, try to redefine it, make it fit in
your logic, or you’ll be doing just what they did.
So, they were dead, but God is good and He doesn’t give
up on His kids so quick.
So, He showed up in the garden with an eviction
notice, because God is just.
And a new
wardrobe, because God is merciful.
And a plan, because God is Love and Love never fails.
The plan was to:
Kick the legs out from under the sleezy, slimy,
sneaky, snake.
Make labor hard for both, birthing a life, and making
a living.
AND, for the grand finale, The Master Plan,
to fix what we broke, He would...
become a Baby.
What? Seriously?
Yep.
Matthew 1:18-25; quotes Isaiah 7:14,
saying all this was done so that which is written would be fulfilled:
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a
sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name
Immanuel. MEANING GOD WITH US
That’s what CHRISTmas is all about, because the best
presents are HIS PRESENCE.
The Lord laid out the plan like this:
Genesis 3:15.
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
With those words to the serpent God was saying, there’s
coming a day, when the Seed of the woman will crush your
head (which implies a virgin birth, because women do not produce seed). And you,
slimy, sleazy, serpent will bruise His heel; referring to Christ’s crucifixion.
With that opening declaration, the battle was on
between the serpent and the Seed.
God wasn’t quiet about His plan. Through the ages, over
and over He spoke of it through various people in various ways.
Amos
3:7
Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His plan to His
servants the prophets.
His plan was doable because God saw that, ahead
through the ages, there were enough faithful folks to carry out His plan.
Are you faithfully walking out God’s will and plan for
your life, today? Do you know what it is? You can. You should. It’s the only
way to true joy and peace.
Noah who found grace in the eyes of the Lord and built
the boat to save his household—and thereby, the world.
Abraham believed God and offered his beloved son, Isaac.
Jacob’s son Joseph forgave his brothers saying, “what you
meant for harm, God meant for good.”
By faith Moses considered the afflictions of following
Christ of greater reward than the pleasures of sin.
David was a man after God’s own heart.
Isaiah prophesied 700 years before Jesus came as a
Babe.
Isaiah 9:6-7.
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
And then, he followed up by saying:
Isaiah 7:14.
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
We’re not done.
Queen Esther went to the king, saving the Jews from slaughter
saying, “If I perish I perish”.
Malachi prophesied, 400 years prior:
Malachi 4:5-6.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of
the great and dreadful day of the Lord .6 And he
will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike
the earth with a curse.”
John the Baptist came like Elijah, the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, “prepare the way of the Lord.” John 1:23.
We can’t forget our dear Joseph who believed and
obeyed the command of the angel and married dear Mary, and called her first
born Son, Jesus.
And then there’s sweet Mary, who said, “Behold the handmaiden
of the Lord, be it unto me according to your word.” Jesus echoed this sentiment
saying “Not My will but Thine...”
They all obeyed by faith and carried God’s plan forward.
None of them, were forced.
Today,
God’s looking to you, to look to Him who is invisible, trust what seems
impossible, and carry His plan forward.
The Journey is Impossible (and
that’s the easy part)
Luke 1:26-38: Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary
What God asks Mary (and us) to believe is the
impossible.
You will not have had sex with your fiancé Joe,
or anyone; yet you will conceive and bring forth a Son, and you shall call His
name Jesus.
That’s impossible!
Matthew 1:18-25: Mary & Joe, break-up and
make up, thanks to an angel and a dream.
Joseph is a just man, he loves Mary and doesn’t want
to shame her publicly and run the risk of her being stoned to death for
cheating on their betrothal. So, he figures he’ll just break up with her privately.
But an angel shows up in a dream and says Joe, don’t be
afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the
Holy Spirit. She will bring forth a Son. You shall call His name Jesus. He will
save His people from their sins.
Joe could’ve said. “How can Mary get pregnant without—by...
huh? what? That’s impossible!”
Is God asking you to conceive the impossible? (To
conceive the impossible we must get our, mind, reasoning, logic, out of the way. God
is under no obligation to fit into our logic).
The impossible part is the easy part, because
only God can do the impossible. So, it’s all Him.
What He asks of us is to believe and conceive.
Perhaps it would help to add a statement of faith to our
prayers. Something like, “I believe I received when I prayed.” Or “I believe I
conceived when I prayed.” Not that there’s any magic formula in words, but
words are seeds. Therefore, seeds of faith produce faith, just as seeds of
doubt produce doubt.
When Mary was presented with her impossible journey
she simply said:
Luke 1:38. “Behold the maidservant of the Lord. Let
it be to me according to your word.”
And just like that, Divinity entered humanity.
The Light of the world was in the dark womb of woman.
The serpent crushing Seed (from Gen. 3:15) was planted
inside the virgin Mary.
Matt. 1:24-25. No words were ever recorded from Joseph
in the Bible. He simply sprang into action. He jumped out of bed and wed his
dear Mary.
Silent
Joseph, speaks volumes. It wasn’t about him. But about protecting, providing,
promoting, pursuing, God’s will, God’s impossible plan and purpose.
Okay, that’s the easy part, the impossible part, now
comes the hard part.
The Journey is Hard
Luke 2:1-7: Journey to Bethlehem. Jesus born in a
barn.
Not always, but usually, for most, conception is easy.
What comes after, that’s a different story.
To conceive correctly is to willingly, joyfully,
receive and accept, to faithfully protect and nurture, to patiently provide
time and space for the Seed to grow and develop and mature until the right time
for birth.
That ain’t so easy.
It’ll take patience, perseverance, and endurance.
Joseph and Mary, by faith, believed and conceived God’s
plan.
They probably had some difficult conversations with
mom and dad and family.
They undoubtedly had to deal with rumors and whispers
and snickers behind their backs.
But that was just the beginning.
They yielded to God’s will and were weaving their
plans around His.
Can you imagine sweet Mary sewing baby clothes and
blankets, while Joseph prepares a place for them, along with baby crib and
rocker too.
It was hard, but happy and good.
Then, they got blindsided.
The Roman government demands they register for some
stupid census, a tactic to take more taxes!
But that’s not the worst part. They command all return
to their ancestorial homeland.
How could this happen?
Mary is carrying, God. Joseph is building a house for
Him.
Why did He allow this to happen?
“Mary’s about to pop! How on earth can she travel that
rugged terrain? It’s not right! Can’t You do something about this?”
Joseph perhaps said to the Babe in her belly.
“We trusted You with the whole virgin birth thing, but
this, this, this is too much!
“The shortest route straight through the hill country
is way to rough and dangerous for Mary.
“Even if we take the Jordan river valley, which is smoother
and closer to water, it’s still a long hard week and a half or two at least of
travel. Not to mention the dangers of bandits and wild animals.
Lord God, You know everything, why in the world did
You plan the pregnancy to happen now?
Lord, surely you don’t want to happen to Mary what
happened to Jacob’s beloved Rachel who died on the side of the road to Bethlehem
giving birth to Benjamin.”
What a scary thought.
Have you ever had that happen?
Just when you’re starting to get in the groove, things
are going smooth and BAM life happens!
Do you blame God? You could’ve stopped this?
Question Him? Why would You let this happen?
Only God knows, but remember, God doesn’t possess
people to control them like the devil.
He allows free will while watching and lovingly weaving
His wonderful ways through the wicked ways of man.
So, maybe, just maybe, Joseph wouldn’t have listened
to another angel telling him, the Baby is the Messiah and the Messiah must be
born in Bethlehem, the city of David, to fulfill prophecy.
Maybe the only way for Joe to go was to weave the
timing of all this into the greedy census of Rome.
We won’t know this side of heaven.
We do know this side of heaven, God is good, and we
can trust Him with all the circumstances of life.
So, off they go, Joseph and round young virgin heavy
with Child.
On their journey they probably passed thousands of
olive trees. Perhaps, ate from many of them. For pregnant Mary it might’ve been
better than pickles and ice cream.
As they skirted Jerusalem from east to south they may
have passed through an olive garden still around today with some of the oldest
olive trees in the world, over 2,000 years old.
The garden is called Gethsemane, which means Olive Press.
Where olives were pressed under heavy millstones until the precious oil would
flow like blood.
Where Jesus on the night in which He was betrayed,
under such excruciating pressure would sweat, great drops of blood.
These timeless trees bear silent witness that the crushing
journey our timeless Savior took, was not in vain, and still bears much fruit
to this day.
Likewise dear Saint, the impossible hardship of your
journey for Christ, is not in vain, don’t quit, stay the course, you will reap
a harvest to the glory of our Lord.
On the last leg of their journey did Mary ride the donkey
down the Mount of Olives, toward Jerusalem? Foreshadowing what the Child in her
womb would do a week before He’d hang on an old rugged cross and say of His
journey in this life, “It is finished.”
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, please help us, in our journey,
to follow Your nail pierced footprints all the way to heaven.
Thank You.
We love You, forever.
Amen.
Prayer Requests:
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Email: pray4measap@aol.com
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Manger
This was feed for you to read. Now it’s
Seed for you to sow.
Thank you for sharing.
