Not Just a Number..

I was wondering what to write that would cover not only the Christmas season that is slowly unwinding, but also the soon approaching end of the year as well as what is to come for the next.  It made me realize that it is and always will be all about Jesus.  If Christmas is not about Him being born to die for us, then no tomorrow or next year can bring a good future.

I can spend a lot of time telling you about the amazing life changing things I have learned this year - and yes I am in the process of uncovering an abundance of the “more” which is the reason why I started this blog in the first place - but mostly this year was about unlearning things that didn’t represent Jesus or the Father in the right way.  The Lord helped to heal and cleanse and purge my heart from lies and half truths about His character, why He came and who He wants to be in my life.  

It is so important to evict these lies and remove the half-truths and prevent them from renting any further space in our hearts.  If we don’t, our lives as Christians will not look like the overcoming victory it is supposed to.  

1 John 5:1-5 NKJV - 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

The more we see the truth and get to know who God is, the more we will see how amazingly gracious and loving His intentions are towards us.  

Rom 2:4 MSG - His kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

The opposite is also true.  The more we believe that He is out to get us and punish us, the more fear will make us want to hide and not seek Him and His goodness.

2 Pet 1:2-4 NKJV - 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The problem with humanity has always been a lack of knowledge.  That does perhaps explain to some extent why this world is in the mess we find it.  But the more you get to know God, the more grace and peace will be multiplied to you.  Also, the more you grow in knowledge of Him, you will start to see that all things that pertain to life and godliness are already yours.  Jesus coming to the earth was a well-orchestrated plan from before the foundation of the world.  His life was planned and His destiny mapped out perfectly before He was born.  He didn’t come to wing it.  He was born with a purpose so He could die for humanity, and He did it calculated and disciplined, and He made doubly sure that nothing was left undone.

When Jesus sat down in Heaven after His ascension, all of His redemptive work was concluded.  It was finished, all of it has been fully done - no more sin to atone for, no more wrong to make right.  But that is not where the story ends, and this is what brings hope for the coming year.  He didn’t sit down and fold His arms saying that He now washes His hands of us and that the next time we see or hear anything more from Him is when He comes again.  No, when He died, He left His written will that states that we are now joint heirs with Him.  But what is even more amazing is that He is here to help us get the fullness of the inheritance that He left us.  

Rom 8:16-17 NKJV - 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

He still has many roles to fulfil in each of our lives on a daily basis.  He is our High Priest who intercedes for us with the Father.  He is also the High Priest of our confession of faith that makes sure that the words that we speak come to pass.  He is our Good Shepherd making sure all our needs are met, that we get rest for our souls and that goodness and mercy are never out of our sight and reach.  He is also making sure that the captives step out in freedom and that as we focus on Him, we live in His peace that passes understanding.  He came to die as the last Adam so He could be resurrected as the firstborn from the dead - the first of the new creation.  Every one of us who are born again are now part of that new creation.  

2 Cor 5:17-19 NKJV - 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Because of what He did for us; we can also now step out and have a relationship with God the Father - Jesus came to make it alright.  He came to give us unlimited, unrestricted access to the Father, His throne, His time and all of Heaven’s resources - all we have to do is shift our focus and be intentional about looking to Him.  

Eph 1:3 NKJV - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

And even though our lives right now might not look all perfect and wrapped up in a shiny bow, we can know that He is intentional about His love and affection for us.  He is not distant but is willing and able to help and take care of us.  Even more than that, we have a future in Heaven as children of the Most High God.  That future's so bright and amazing that we have to squint to even glance at it.  We as the redeemed of the Lord will for all of eternity stand out as being connected to Jesus - the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  We will look like Him and rule and reign with Him.  All the bad stuff down here will not be worth remembering.  This life is but a dress rehearsal with the best yet to come.

At the start of the year 2024 I made the decision that I would apply and make personal the things that I was going to learn.  It helped me so much.  It is easy to feel like you get lost in a crowd and that you are just a number or a face among many.  But with God, that is not the case.  If you were the only person on this planet that needed to be saved, Jesus would have come for you.  You are that precious and unique in His estimation - and He is that good and loving.  He showed me that it is like Him looking through a telescope throughout the ages to find that one face - my face - and for Him to know that I was going to need a saviour, that I was going to need a healer, a provider.  He saw me and I mattered even then already.  I am nothing more special than the next person, but I matter to God and so do you.  He looked through His telescope and He found your face and said “She needs me.  I will come for her.  I will take care of it all for her.  I will make it right.”  He knows you and He loves you and yes, it is personal.  I don’t know how He is able to do that with all His children on the planet, but I know He is able, and so I don’t need to know how He does it - He is God!  

We are all unique in His eyes and He wants a personal and special relationship with each of us that is just as unique as we are.  Our family is expecting a new baby in 2025 and even though she is only a few weeks old in womb-time as she is growing and developing in her momma’s belly, she is already an important somebody in the Kingdom of God with her own tiny fingerprints.  They are unique to her, and it just shows that God sees her and that she is already so very loved by Him. 

It is easy to get to know the Father.  Jesus said that if you have seen Him, you have seen the Father (John 14:9).  If you want to know what the Father is like, look at Jesus.  Look at Him in the Word, look at how He dealt with people when He walked the earth.  Look at how He loved.  Of all of humanity who ever had the right to judge and condemn people, He had the right, yet He never did, even to those who were the worst sinners and most deserving.  He was always kind, never condemned people, never made them feel useless and inadequate, never gave them a cold shoulder or told them to try harder next time.  He always left people better than He found them - the Father is like that.  He is goodness and loving kindness in a person.  

I am not someone who likes to make resolutions for a coming year but I do like to set a goal or two even if it is informal.  They say if you aim for nothing you will reach it every time - I prefer not to be part of that statistic. I would rather achieve some small thing than nothing at all. My goals are simple.  I want to get to know God the Father better by spending time with Him but also studying the Word and looking at Jesus.  I want to get better at being aware of the realities of Heaven and that even though we are living in this world, we are not of this world - we can bring Heaven into everyday situations.  

John 17:14-16 NKJV - 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 

Lastly, and probably most importantly, I want to purposefully keep my heart soft and full of love for Jesus and for the Father.  I am seeing that the enemy is trying to trip me up with thoughts of defeat and despair and he is trying to shift the blame to God so I can harden my heart towards Him.  But I am onto him - I know who my enemy is. It is simple, if it is something good, then it comes from God, but if it is bad, then it is definitely from the enemy.  I don’t ask questions, I don’t look down by interrogating myself and trying to find the fault, I LOOK UP!  I look at Jesus because as He is, so am I in this world (1 John 4:17) - He is my standard.  He is and always will be the Alpha, the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.  He has the last say and victory - my victory - is already accomplished and therefore guaranteed.  I sure like the sound of that.

In closing I want to say thank you to all who faithfully read these blog posts.  I am always amazed at how the Lord meets not only my needs, but also the needs of others through these simple words and truths.  2025 is around the corner and even though the future is unknown, we know that the One who holds that future in His hands, is always faithful. He knows the end from the beginning.

Is 46:9-10 NKJV - 

9 Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’

From my house to yours, may you have a really blessed 2025!  

Do I know when He is coming?  Nope, but He said to expect Him and be ready.