Category Archives: Christmas

Christmas, Guests, Rubies For Jesus - Elaine Olsen

Gladness

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Thursday, December 16, 2010 *** 9 days till Christmas Day!

Christmas Song # 11 *** Every Light That Shines At Christmas *** By Ernie Haase and Signature Sound!


I am encouraging each of you to visit Peace For the Journey, particularly Creating Interest for the Kingdom.  Elaine gives an understanding of the Parable of the Talents that is superb!

You turned my lament into dancing; You removed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. Psalm 30:11

I read that verse in my Journey marked for Wednesday, December 15. Immediately, I said in the quiet halls of my head: “One true, believing gaze at JESUS would do this for a soul — any soul, every soul and that is what He came to do.

John 1: CEV 14The Word became a human being and lived here with us. We saw His true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. From Him all the kindness and all the truth of God have come down to us.

All that is required of us to have His fellowship which for sure will bring us gladness and dancing (yes, even Baptist .. :)  ) is to lament over our sins. Grieve over them, agree with Him that our sins are evil, unholy, ungodly and worthy of  death. I remember this kind of  lamenting. Heartbroken, soul in anguish, just all messed up, and finally agreeing with Him and indeed He did turn my lamenting into dancing.

Lamenting. Proper lamenting would be a wonderful Christmas gift — don’t you think?

But praise Him, not a ‘gift’ to hold onto forever! You see lamenting is as the wearing of sackcloth. Not my desired Christmas Attire.  For more sackcloth information click here.

And right here I am praying earnestly for dancing and gladness. You see  from the word ‘here’ of this post a cyber glitch has dumped ‘lamenting’ all over me by taking away my FULLY completed post.  Praise Him, praise Him the prayer is not forgotten — by HIM that is (and He is answering it even though only I got to pray it).  Me? Well, truth is it’s gone and recreating it as it was?  Well …. it ain’t gonna happen.

SO.  I pick up again, but before I do I need a walk to the kitchen.

One walk to the kitchen, a phone call, more praying, and waiting and waiting and waiting — Finally

I  read the  Journey selection in its entirety, here is the pertinent part:

. . . or watched something precious crumble right before your eyes? Unfortunately most of us will face our share of crises and the tumult that goes with them.

It’s during such times that we must be prepared to call upon the faithfulness of our God like never before. We are wise to prepare ahead by getting to know Him now, by immersing ourselves in His Word, and storing it in our hearts. Then, when He has faithfully walked through our crises with us, we will be able to say with the psalmist (Psalm 66:16),  “Come and listen, all who fear God, and I will tell what He has done for me.”

Amen and amen!

John 15: (Amplified Bible)11I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing.

Praying for These

ABBA, this is so not what it was but I trust You. I trust You, HOLY SPIRIT, to answer this prayer and the earlier one and in the process squash my pride which I now confess before You and thank You for clothing me in Your Gladness. I pray our IDOKs and Readers will now come before You in their closets of prayer and give You glory in their own lamenting, fully receiving Your Gladness. The Gladness You prepared for us before the Foundation of the World in our Savior JESUS.  Amen and amen.

Christmas Gladness and holy hugs to you all, kt

Christmas

Out of Wine

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IDOK Devotion for Thursday, December 9, 2010

** Day 9 of our Countdown to Christmas **

Our Christmas Song # 6 is Come on Ring Those Bells.

I looked at more You Tubes than I can tell you to select our song for today — this is the one that did it for me. Hope it does you too.

(NASB) John 2:1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2. and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding, 3. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”  4. And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come. 5. His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

This just thrills me. Reading it has been so fun! Verse 3. Mary expected Jesus to care that the host family had run out of wine.  Moreover she expected Him to do something about it.  Do you? Do I?

Do you expect Him to care about what you care about? Do you expect Him to do something about what you bring to Him for His attention?

Well, do you?

You should.

I should!

Because He does!

Don’t you love that?!

Doesn’t that just make your day?

JESUS cares! And JESUS responds when we run out of ‘wine’!

Praying for These

Thank You, LORD, that You care and more than caring You are all power, all wisdom, all strength, all purity and holiness and yet You love us.  It’s more than we can comprehend, but we accept! And we are bringing our  need for ‘wine’ to You now — people we love with many and varied needs, needs for jobs and healings, peace of mind, wisdom and direction, ideas and motives to give and do for others, sacrifices of praise to come from our lips when our hands and feet are so weary, music in our souls, eyes and hearts to see and feel for the hurting and hands to help, and our IDOK Troops we dare not forget them and pray that family and friends will send material comforts and helps to them and that You, HOLY SPIRIT, will speak peace and safety to them. All these things we bring in Your Name LORD JESUS. And, ABBA, thank You for this ministry, for this IDOK Family, lavish us with mercy and grace so much so that we cannot help but splash it abundantly on others. Amen and amen.

Holy hugs and Christmas Grace and Peace to you all! kt

Update on Emory: Hi, Janet, .Well, Emory had the procedure we talked about.  They put a stint in the ureter tube to keep it open.  They can remove it in the Dr.’s office.  Within a few hours he was not having the pain in his side or as frequent urination.  Praise the Lord!  Also the CAT scan showed the colon was moving and looked good.  He walked down the hall 5 times today and his appetite is picking up.  If all goes well, he’ll come home Fri.  God has been so good to us.  Thank you and Steve for your prayers and thank you for putting him on the prayer lists.  Keep praying that he will continue to recuperate without complications.  Love, Gloria
Christmas

HE

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Wednesday, December 8, 2010 

You raised me up to walk on stormy seas — those were the words I heard walking through the kitchen this morning.  I stopped to listen and I’ve been rejoicing since.

He raised me up to walk on stormy seas.

HOLY SPIRIT, help me put on this screen what You have lavished in my spirit with the words of this song!

HE RAISED ME UP — JESUS the CHRIST has not come to put us down! He came to raise us up! Storms come. Storms come to every life. Lost or saved lives, storms come. Storms come to you. Storms come to me.

BUT JESUS came to raise us up to WALK on those tumultuous seas!

Not to drown.

Not for the life to be choked out of us but for us to WALK on those contrary waters!

Those gale-forced wind-tossed seas.

Those deep, dark, icy cold seas.

Yes, those seas!

Those very gale waters that are ripping around us right now.  Look up and get up!

Right now GET UP in JESUS’ Name GET UP and Walk on them!

It’s your heritage! It’s His will for you! In JESUS Name rise up and walk, rise up and stand!

Romans 8: (New King James Version) 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

But that’s not all I heard. I heard, ‘You raised me up to more than I can be.’

You raised me up to more than I can be.  Yes! Yes, HE did!

He has raised us up for more than we have ever dreamed we could be! That is His heart for you. That is His heart for me – for us to be more than we alone can be!

1 Corinthians 2: (New King James Version)9 But as it is written:

“ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Yes. Hear HIM today.  He has raised you up for more than you are today! Believe it! Live it! That’s why He came! Hallelujah!

HOLY SPIRIT, I ask You to do what only You can do, make this message come alive in the heart in the spirit of each reader. Speak this song, speak this Scripture to each soul, help them believe and receive this lifting, the raising up that You so desire to do for each one of us. Peel back the darkness and show the glorious Light, the truth of this Gospel that You came LORD JESUS to raise us up.  In You, we stand on mountains. In You, we walk on stormy seas. In You, we are more than we have yet to dream! In YOU LORD JESUS. In You!

Blessings and holy hugs, kt