Tag Archives: Christmas

Wise Up-The 29th Day of Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

On the 29th day of Christmas my true love gave to me wisdom to help me daily (1 Kings 3).

He was a king with great splendor and wise above all. This was King Solomon, known for his wisdom, a gift from God, foreshadowing Jesus, the King of Kings, who the Scriptures say “became for us wisdom from God” (1 Corinthians 1:30). That’s a lot to take in, but here’s what I want you to remember. Solomon was the wisest man to live the earth and he was rich and powerful and famous, but none of these came from his might but from the power of God after Solomon asked for “an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad” (1 Kings 3:9). Solomon impressed God because he only asked for an understanding heart, not giving a thought to his personal comfort or mortality. He wanted to be able to serve well in the position God placed him in and knew that having an understanding heart was his key.

We have all been placed in a position where we should seek to serve God well and having an understanding heart gives us the wisdom that we need to serve well; wisdom and understanding go hand in hand. “Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [therefore] get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7). I have had so many strong black women tell me that God gave them intellect so they count on it to make all their decisions. I think intellect can be a bonus, not a substitute, to having wisdom from God. Intellect apart from God’s wisdom is foolish; that’s what God says. If we submit our gifts and talents, including intellect, to God, He can show us how to use those to make wise decisions. But it first takes seeking Jesus who is wisdom from God and lives in our heart (Ephesians 3:16). The power of God resides in us to make wise decisions regarding our homes, jobs, children, marriages, friends, finances, and future. We can ask God for an understanding heart and He will give us wisdom and whatever else we need or He wants to give so that He, not we, gets the glory.

What have been some hard decisions you were able to make with wisdom from God? What were some bad decisions you made purely based on your intellect? I would love to hear your comments on the blog.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Click here to learn more about this blog series, The 39 Days of Christmas.

Get Low-The 30th Day of Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

On the 30th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a glimpse of eternity (2 Samuel 7).

Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips (Proverbs 27:2).
A few years ago I had Joshua memorize that scripture to counter his constant boasting about a new pair of jeans or toy, how fast he could eat or run, what he knew about the Bible or just about anything else he had learned. He needed a scripture to help him learn humility because he was too young for the ultimate teacher of experience, perhaps King David’s greatest teacher.

David learned humility in the pastures with his sheep, under his brothers’ oppressive hands, and from the prophet Nathan’s indicting rebuke. For the most part, he allowed his experiences to humble him so he knew how to respond when he faced something big, like God promising him a royal offspring and an eternal kingdom.

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.'”—2 Samuel 7:12-16

This promise to David was a foreshadowing of the promise to Mary about Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”—Luke 1:32-33.

David (and Mary too) responded to God with praise and prayer. He focused on how small he was and how big God is, he recognized that he didn’t deserve any honor from God, but praised Him for giving it to him, and he prayed that God would indeed confirm His word. There is no record where David (or Mary) bragged about such a great revelation from God the Father. God spoke both about David’s physical and spiritual heritage. He spoke about Solomon, but the ‘forever’ makes it clear that this kingdom would transcend Solomon, pointing to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who also was David’s descendant and, yet God Himself. If we received an eternal revelation, many of us would be like Joshua, tapping everyone who came in our path and telling them just how special we are, but from David we not only learn about our coming Messiah but also how to respond when we get a word from God. There is no room for self praise but plenty of room for us to get low and lift up our Savior who doesn’t have to tell us a thing.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

All We Need-The 31st Day of Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

On the 31st day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a prophet, priest and a king (1 Samuel 7).

Some of us have good girlfriends that are spiritual warriors who we count on to get a prayer through, the fun ones to shop and go to the spa with, and the heady ones, who initiate some deep, stimulating conversations. Then there is the rare friend who is all three and more. Before I became a Christian I used the many friendships model to build my faith system. I took the truth I learned from my Muslim boyfriend, the humanistic views of my revered intellects, the common sense my mama taught me and mixed it with my lifelong Christian lessons. I thought I had the perfect faith until I met the Perfect One.

When I met Jesus, I was uncertain about how He was who He said He was, but I couldn’t ignore His call to me and believed that He is God. My God is prophet, priest and king, and the biblical Samuel—prophet, priest and judge, was a type of Christ, foreshadowing the three-fold ministry of Jesus Christ.

And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, [then] put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.—1 Samuel 7:3-4

And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered [it for] a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.—1 Samuel 7:9-10

And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.—1 Samuel 7:15

As prophet, Samuel spoke to the Israelites for God, as priest, he spoke to God for the Israelites, and as judge, he settled matters between Israelites, pronouncing consequences for their actions. When Jesus walked the earth, He was a prophet, who spoke the words of God the Father; a priest, who made an offering—himself—as a sacrifice to God the Father for the sins of humankind and still intercedes for His disciples as He sits on the right hand of the Father in heaven; and a king, who will judge all after His second coming to earth. Jesus is the God of more than enough, the One who speaks to us and for us and makes everything with us right as it should be. With Jesus, there is no need for (nor can there legitimately be) additional gods. He is all we need.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Total Sacrifice: The 37th Day of Christmas

Posted on by
2

On the 37th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a burnt offering for all of my sins (Leviticus 1:1-17).

    “Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid? Your heart does the Spirit control? You can only be blest, and have peace and sweet rest, as you yield Him your body and soul.”

This is the refrain from the classic hymn Is Your All on the Altar? The title is a good question to ask when things are going haywire in our lives. I typically check to see if I have an unresolved issue with someone because when I don’t have peace and sweet rest and it seems like God’s blessings are skipping over me, I usually have to get something straight with somebody. This ought, as the Scriptures call it, often keeps me from being able to answer yes to the hymn’s questions. Sometimes I have not laid that issue on the altar; I think I have a right to have an issue so I don’t try to resolve, it. I want and go my way.

But Jesus Christ, the Him that the hymn refers to, yielded His body and soul to God the Father, even to the death of the cross. Jesus is the only way that we, Christians, can yield our bodies and souls to God, to walk in God’s will, and be accepted by Him. We see a symbol of Jesus’ total sacrifice in Leviticus with the burnt offering.

If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. [B]ut its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD (vv. 3-4 & 9).

Hebrews 10 tells us that Jesus came to be a burnt offering, once and for all, for those who accept Him.

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (vv. 1-10).

Just think about this: When you want to do like I do and hold on to something, remember that Jesus Christ died for that something. His death symbolized the total consumption of our flesh so that we wouldn’t have to be consumed by it. Through the power of Jesus, we can lay our all on the altar and have peace and sweet rest. Is it a sacrifice? Yes, but Jesus made a greater one so we wouldn’t have to.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Deliverer to Come: The 38th Day of Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

On the 38th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a deliverer to set me truly free (Exodus 3).

Watching the classic movie The Ten Commandments gives me chills. I marvel at the elaborate production to recreate the Israelites’ exile in and exodus from Egypt with Moses as the great deliverer. The bejeweled costumes, the lush and plush sets and, of course, the parting of the Red Sea simply amaze me. We see earth’s riches and heavenly riches, giving us a visual glimpse of the grandeur of God. This is the account in Exodus, the second book of the Bible. And though there are no messianic prophecies here, Jesus Christ appears as a type with the great leader Moses.

Moses led Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, gave his people commandments to stay out of bondage and led them to Canaan, the Promised Land, a place with rich spacious land and luscious fruit where God intended for his people to prosper.* We see the same with Jesus Christ. Jesus leads those of us who believe in him from our bondage of sin, gives us biblical commands for how to live bondage-free, and shows us what our promised land, our place of living, looks like when we obey him. “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (John 15:7-9). When we seek God’s word for our lives and obey it, our lives, just like Canaan, will bear much fruit.

In Genesis we get the prophecy of what Jesus will do for those who believe in him. In Exodus we get a picture of how he will do that. If you have made a decision to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, he took you from what would be the ultimate bondage, that of eternal life in hell. But freedom from bondage starts on earth. With Jesus, you can live free from whatever has you bound, be it a substance, an attitude or a person. So abide in Jesus—get into him so he gets into you and then you’ll be able to have a prosperous life, one where an abundance of good—thoughts, words and actions—springs forth from you. Get rid of your broken crutches. Walk straight in your promised land, with Jesus, the great deliverer.

*The Israelites could not keep the more than 600 commandments God gave them nor did God suspect that they could. God wanted them to see just how much they needed a savior, preparing them to receive Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the one who fulfilled all the commandments.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith