Tag Archives: The 39 Days of Christmas

The Key to Life-The 20th Day of Christmas

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On the 20th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, wisdom, the key to all life (Proverbs 8:35).

“Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not” (Proverbs 8:33). I think we have all violated that command. We hear someone telling us the right thing to do, but we have unwisely chosen to ignore the instruction and find ourselves with a big mess. Some of us try to clean up the mess with more foolish notions, causing us to get deeper in. Then others of us wise up quick, taking the initial instruction and seeking more wisdom so we won’t travel the old foolish road. I think many times when we make unwise decisions we forget that Wisdom Himself resides within us, waiting to guide all our choices.

Blessed [is] the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death (Proverbs 8:34-36).

This is wisdom personified and points us to the person of Jesus Christ. When Jesus came to earth, He “became for us wisdom from God” (1 Corinthians 1:30), and this Wisdom dictates that we choose Him so we have all we need to live this life according to God’s will (John 14:6; 2 Peter 1:3; Philippians 2:13). All “treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are hidden in Jesus (Colossians 2:3). If we want those riches we must first accept Him as Savior and Lord and then seek Him for the treasure He wants us to have to make wise decisions. As verse 34 states, seeking God is a daily process with the guarantee of finding Jesus—finding life—and obtaining God’s favor.

Make sure to read all of Proverbs 8 and meditate on the following scriptures to help you seek God daily for wisdom: Proverbs 3:13-18; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16; and James 3:13-18.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

The Impossible Made Possible-The 21st Day of Christmas

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On the 21st day of Christmas my true love gave to me a prophecy of a savior who would die for me (Psalms 22).

I started to take a picture of what seemed virtually impossible to have happened, but a picture would not have revealed the intricacy of my entanglement. One of my locks got tripled knotted in the tie of my apron. It was so tight and looked so intentional, I couldn’t get it unlatched; the entanglement looked like it belonged. I immediately knew that the only way I could get free from the apron would be to cut my lock so that’s exactly what I did, right at the root of the latticed arrangement.

Of course there was a larger lesson for me—for us—when I may be involved in something that is really weighing me down, keeping me from getting to where I should be. That weight could be a person, a habit, or an attitude that gets mixed up in our normal affairs and keeps us from operating naturally and supernaturally. This day the apron represented my attitude, and I knew I had to cut my hair from it so I could perform my normal day. But the even greater lesson for me was that God could allow my lock to be triple-knotted in my apron tie to teach me just what I needed—the seemingly impossible made possible, something that could only happen with God. This reminded me of the Psalms and how only God could produce the messianic ones and they come to pass just like He said.

For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.—Psalm 22:16 & 18.

These were the words of King David talking about his experience and points to what will become true of Jesus Christ. These very verses in Psalms come to pass in John 20:25 & 27 and Matthew 27:35-36. But these aren’t the only ones. Check out others that reveal the presence of Christ and show that our powerful God could use disparate times and incidents and make them connect, pointing us to our Savior.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Election Tragedy-The 22nd Day of Christmas

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On the 22nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me a God who redeems from tragedy (Job 19:25).

Yesterday tragedy struck, at least that’s what many Democrats believe. After Election Day 2010, Republicans are now the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, leaving many folks disillusioned and resigned that their fate lies in the hands of people partial to corporations and special interests and who have no interest in helping them. Some may even want to curse God and die. Well, maybe they wouldn’t go that far, but we know that’s what Job’s wife told him to do after they lost just about EVERYTHING.

Thieves, killers and natural disasters took Job’s children, livestock and servants, and the physical pain of a body of boils compounded his deep emotional wounds. But Job didn’t curse God and die. Instead he said to his wife: “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil” (Job 2:10)? Later, pointing us to Jesus Christ, he declares:

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!—Job 19:25-27

Job knew that no matter what happened to him the One who saves him is alive and He is the One who will exist when the world ends. This is Jesus Christ, our Redeemer who lives and sees all our issues, our tragedies, and is in control of the entire earth (Romans 3:24; 1 Corinthians 15:24; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Yesterday, none of us lost everything. If we think we did, we definitely had our emphasis in the wrong place. Every one of our needs comes from Jesus. If He decides to use politicians He can, but He doesn’t have to. The tragedy is when we don’t elect Jesus as our Savior, and when He is our Savior, the tragedy is when we don’t elect Him to be the Lord of our lives. No human or political party can save anyone. Only the King of Kings can do that. He is our Redeemer, Savior and Supplier and no vote can change that.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Stand Up to Die-The 23rd Day of Christmas

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On the 23rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me a challenge to speak so I can save (Esther 4:16).

Rachel Scott, Me Ling, Varia, Nijole Sadunaite. These are names you probably have never heard of, but they are all connected to us. They are Christian martyrs, women brave enough to take a stand for Christ knowing that doing so could strike them down. Many of us like to think we could be like these women, but I wonder how many of us would speak up in defense of Christ when faced with the possibility of death?

At one time or another we all may have said, “Maybe I was born for a time such as this,” personalizing what the uncle of Queen Esther said about the Persian queen who risked her life to save her fellow Jews. We believed that God may have placed us on a job, at a church, or in our family or neighborhood to positively impact that sphere, but in Esther’s day these words meant more than to do a service; they included dying for that service.

The only way Queen Esther could save the Jews was to approach the king uninvited to initiate her plan to reveal the scheme to kill the Jews. And going to the king uninvited could get you killed (Esther 4:11). Esther took that chance and eventually told the king she was Jewish and told him about the enemy’s plan to kill Jews, which would include her. Esther risked the comfort of her royalty to identify with her people, and she received the king’s approval. This is a picture of Jesus Christ.

Jesus veiled His glory to come to earth to identify with the people He came to save. God the Father said of Jesus “this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice—the one that God the Father approved—and the only one who could save us. Esther was the perfect sacrifice and likely the only one who could save the Jews. Are we ready to be like Esther? Or how about Rachel or Me Ling, Varia or Nijole? Are we ready to give up our comforts to tell others about Jesus, to live our lives that will identify us with Jesus? Are we willing to die to save others from eternal death—an afterlife in Hell? Living our lives may seem easier than the speaking, but living our lives includes the speaking. We all must risk our lives to speak up for a Savior who went down for us. He rose again, and we will too.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

Built Up After a Blow-The 24th Day of Christmas

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On the 24th day of Christmas my true love gave to me the power to build anew (Nehemiah 2).

You had any blows dealt to you lately? I mean those life changing hits that have thrust your body back, knocked you down and out? If you haven’t, I know you can remember a time when you did. Life was pretty messy, but somehow you got up, got yourself together and rebuilt your life. Maybe God used somebody, like He did Nehemiah, to be that Christ-like figure to help you stand strong.

Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the Persian king and lived in a palace. He lived a life of comfort but wouldn’t rest, knowing the wall of Jerusalem lie in ruins. Having a sad countenance the king asked Nehemiah what was wrong. After hearing his plight, the king gave Nehemiah permission and all the resources needed to lead his people back to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall. God gave Nehemiah, a powerfully prayerful man, the favor, power and tools he needed to rebuild in 52 days the wall that lay in rubble for more than 90 years. His enemies couldn’t stop him, no matter how much they lied and threatened him, and they even marveled “that this work was done by our God” (Nehemiah 6:16). Nehemiah typifies Christ as a restorer.

Jesus voluntarily left His high position in heaven to do God the Father’s will, so that we who believe in Him “might have life” and have it “more abundantly” (John 10:10). He said, “… Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Jesus’ body was broken, destroyed, and restored to life so that through Him we might be restored and built up. It’s one thing to have peace with God (restoration). It’s another thing to actually flourish in that peace (being built up). Like Nehemiah, and Jesus on earth, through prayer and other spiritual disciplines we can flourish (Nehemiah 1; John 17; 2 Peter 1:1-10). When life deals us wind-expelling blows of lies and job loss, troubled children and bodily sickness, we have to focus on the power of Jesus. We have been given His Holy Spirit, who longs for and waits to give us the power we need to get up from the hits and build again.

What types of blows have knocked you out? How did Jesus help you build again?

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith