Tag Archives: The 39 Days of Christmas

Repeat Your Belief-The 9th Day of Christmas

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On the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, three reasons to always believe Him (Obadiah 15-21).

Two hours before she was to preach, she had a fever and no voice, but her husband laid hands and his faith on her throat and she wrapped her faith around them both, believing God at His word so she could deliver the word she knew He had for us. This was my sister, the Rev. Sharon D. Moore, last night, and I heard her preach. God healed her voice so we could hear her message—”Do You Believe?”—and believe.

Like my post on Monday (which she hadn’t read), she challenged us to believe God, and magnify Him, be humble, and expect mighty things from God just as Mary, the mother of Jesus, did in Luke 1:45-49. Her message—my Monday message—is what God’s obviously wants us to get this week, and Obadiah gives us three good reasons to do so: He reveals God “as the Judge of the nations (15-16), the Savior of Israel (17-20) and the Possessor of the kingdom (21)” (Talk Thru the Bible); these three aspects show us that God has the final say, is compassionate and longsuffering (to be a savior of people who constantly reject Him) and will rule. These three aspects speak to Jesus.

And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end (Luke 1:31-33).

When we remember that God is judge, savior and ruler, which speak to His being just, perfect and orderly, it’s hard not to believe such a God. When we consider His sacrifice and suffering so we would believe in Him and be saved, why wouldn’t we believe such a God in daily matters of a life that He died for us to have?

So I think the challenge is to keep in the front of our minds who Jesus is and what He did for us. This has to go beyond Communion Sunday and into every day because we need to believe Him every day and not just the day of and week after taking communion. Our life must reflect that we always believe.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Restored-The 10th Day of Christmas

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On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a message of restoration (Amos 9:11-15).

Many of us come from a line of proud people. We pride ourselves on doing things ourselves and say things like “I ain’t got nobody else” or “If I didn’t do it, it wouldn’t get done.” I think deep down we know this isn’t true. When we look at the sun, we know this isn’t true. When we see the stars and feel the breeze, we should know this isn’t true. But strong black women who got to be strong black women—alone—believe we bring our own sunshine, twilight and refreshing winds to our lives and others. How else would we get them?

But the prophet Amos tells another story.

“In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the LORD who does this. “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the LORD your God (vv. 9:11-15).

For the majority of Amos, the prophet tells of divine judgment on Israel for following their own way. Even though their pride and arrogance cost them, that last chapter of Amos tells how God will still empower them to bring brightness to their lives. Even though the verses say “they shall rebuild” and “they shall plant,” the beginning and end of the passage says what God will do. We only bring sunshine and twilight and refreshing winds because God first gives them to us and He continues to carry us. This passage in Amos is a perfect picture of Jesus Christ, who restored us “while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:8). And He restores situations for us through us, as one of my favorite scriptures tells us: “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

So be proud of God in you working through you to bring brightness and prosperity to your life and others. If it wasn’t for Him, it wouldn’t get done.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Relate to Me-The 12th Day of Christmas

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On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a man who really got me (Hosea 3).

I once dated a guy who didn’t get me. He was beautiful but didn’t get me. He was suave but didn’t get me. And I so wanted him to get me because he was beautiful and suave and well dressed, but his middle class life came from his daddy’s blind pigs and other dealings to make ends meet. He said he couldn’t compete with my professor daddy; he just wasn’t that type of intellectual, responsible guy. He had a job but mostly lived off what his daddy left him, and I gathered that I was just something cute to do.

But before I came to this point I wanted him to know that it didn’t matter that my life was built on college education and his on street knowledge; that our love for jazz and films and care for family was enough, that he was enough for me. I don’t remember how I said this. I just remember that he heard my background loud in his foreground and that was too much for him. I went to church then but wasn’t saved then and when I did it was because I met a man who got me.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

This is Jesus Christ, the god-man, who understands perfectly how I feel. No degrees or pedigree or other side of the tracks keeps Him from relating to me. This is the picture we see in Hosea, when the prophet Hosea marries then redeems the prostitute Gomer from her whoredoms. God the Father had Hosea marry Gomer as a picture of Him being married to the Israelites who followed after idols.

And the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.—Hosea 3

In Hosea, we not only see a picture of God redeeming His people Israel but also Jesus redeeming us through His work on the cross. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). We didn’t have to clean ourselves up or play our backgrounds down for us to be with Him. He accepted us just as we were, and, because He understands us, lovingly equips and prompts us to be all that He created us to be (Ephesians 4:7-16, Philippians 2:13).

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Crushing the Nations-The 13th Day of Christmas

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On the 13th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a vision of destroyed kingdoms (Daniel 2:34-35).

“We’re on the brink of war,” a South Korean official said after North Korea fired shells at its bordering neighbor yesterday and the south retaliated. Many are shocked, appalled even, at North Korea’s “inhumane” and “barbaric” acts that killed two marines and two civilians on Yeonpyeong Island. I’m not shocked. North Korea is the nation that recently unveiled its new nuclear arms plant to an American scientist. Showing this plant to an American doesn’t seem incidental nor do I think the shelling within the same month on an American ally nation is coincidental. Perhaps both these actions go beyond baiting its 60-year-old rival and suggest a provocation toward World War III. The mini war and rumor of a bigger one is part of Scriptural prophecy toward the end of this world (Matthew 24:6-7). So whatever North Korea’s motive and whatever damage they do will not go unpunished.

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, [but] it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. (Daniel 2:44).

I saw in the night visions, and, behold, [one] like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion [is] an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13-14).

Daniel prophesies that God the Father will “set up a kingdom” that will destroy the nations spoken of in Daniel, and this kingdom belongs to Jesus Christ (Luke 1:32-33). Though North Korea is not one of the nations in Daniel, I am thankful that “all…nations” will serve Jesus, and His kingdom will not be destroyed (Daniel 7:14; Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:9-11). All nations include North Korea and no nukes or shells can destroy Jesus’ kingdom.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

False Reign-The 14th Day of Christmas

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On the 14th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a picture of reigning reality (Ezekiel 21:27).

When we decide we know what to do when God hasn’t so much as given us a clue, we rule our lives but may soon be surprised that our reign was just an illusion. This I tried to convey, in more words or less, to a young woman whose husband wants more children and she is so good and godly with them but wants to remain on birth control so she can fulfill her dreams. And this illusionary reign was the same message to another too fearful to open test results that may determine her employment future. No pills can stop God’s planned pregnancy nor can unopened test scores change the results. I told them this easily from the soundtrack of my life: Let God reign supreme. That way you’ll get everything you need and then some (John 15:1-17). This is a hard lesson for us with all our rights; we forget that God has the right to reign, including our lives.

Looking to the second coming of Jesus Christ, God the Father says He will displace the false messiah and no one else will rule until “He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him” (Ezekiel 21:27).

This prophecy speaks to the end time but helps us understand that Jesus has the right to rule the earth and, as our Lord, then most definitely, our lives. Keeping in the forefront of my mind Jesus’ right to rule my life, I have had to let go of my illusionary reigns, like my drive to succeed on my terms. Though scary at times, my life is always so much better when I stop trying to be someone I could never be, take the backseat and let Jesus drive my life.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith