JESUS: A GIFT OF HUMILITY

“He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:5-7)

Oftentimes we’re attracted by things that glitter. That’s what stands out when we look at Christmas presents. So much so, we often overlook that which is meek, yet mighty. It’s important for us to remember that the first Christmas gift came wrapped quite simply in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. God came to this earth to a peasant people and spent His first night on earth in an obscure village.
Most kings are on a throne in a palace, but not that first Christmas.
Jesus was born in a stable and He ruled from an animal’s feeding trough.

We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ and yet, the greater miracle is the fact that He’s God at the same time. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” (Philippians 2:5-6) You see, He was equal with God; Jesus wasn’t vice-president. He wasn’t the associate. He was equal with God. The verse goes on to say that He humbled Himself and became obedient to death. Even though it’s years later, it’s tough for us to look at a manger without looking ahead to see a wooden cross because that’s why Jesus came in the first place.

Jesus was born in a manger but came to bear the cross. Not only did He enter this life in humility, but He lived, died, and arose with humility. The Bible calls us to humility as well in 1 Peter 5:5c “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” We are most like Christ when we humble ourselves before God. A life of obedience is truly a life of humility. Dr. Glen Martin

Scripture Reading: Micah 6-7; Revelation 13

Today’s devotional is from our 365-daily devotional REAL VICTORY FOR REAL LIFE. This powerful resource makes a great Christmas present. Call the KESWICK GIFT & BOOK SHOP for a copy 732-350-1187

Great Quote: “How are we to think of the incarnation? The New Testament does not encourage us to puzzle our heads over the physical and psychological problems that it raises, but to worship God for the love that was shown in it. For it was a great act of condescension and self humbling. ‘He, Who had always been God by nature’ writes Paul, ‘did not cling to His prerogatives as God’s equal, but stripped Himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave to nature and being born as mortal man. And having become man, He humbled Himself by living a life of utter obedience, even to the extent of dying, and the death He died was the death of a common criminal. And all this was for our salvation.” J I Packer, Knowing God.

SOME CONCLUDING THOUGHTS ON JABEZ

I want to share some concluding thoughts on Jabez and encourage you to stick with the journey. I have gleaned so much from this verse the past few weeks, and have enjoyed hearing stories of how God is at work in your lives.

If you have been skeptical about this, I want to encourage you to think through several questions that I asked myself early on:

1. Are we bold enough, willing enough, humble enough to ask God for
His blessing on our lives?

2. Are we willing to be persistent in our praying to believe that
God will do what He has promised?

3. Are we willing to have Him expand our borders no matter what that
looks like for us personally or corporately?

4. Are we willing to look at the ways that He will keep us from evil
so that we don’t cause pain to ourselves, our families and our ministry?

5. Are we willing to leave by faith vs. living by sight?

Lest you think that I have gone off the deep end, let me remind you again that the Jabez prayer is not:

1. A “genie-in-the-bottle-hocus-pocus” prayer.

2. An “escape clause” to allow us not to do our part.

3. A guarantee that things won’t get worse before they get better.

4. An attempt to manipulate God into getting our way.

5. A way to escape God doing something in your own life.

My prayer is that you will have the boldness and courage of Jabez to take God at His Word and believe Him! Let me hear from you today.

Great Quote: All other passions build upon or flow from your passion for Jesus. A passion for souls grows out of a passion for Christ. A passion for missions builds upon a passion for Christ. When Hudson Taylor was once asked what was the greatest incentive to missionary work, he instantly replied, “Love of Christ.” William Booth’s passion for helping the underprivileged, the derelicts of society, and for world evangelization was built upon his passion for Christ. The most crucial danger to a Christian, whatever his role, is to lack a passion of Christ. The most direct route to personal renewal and new effectiveness is a new all-consuming passion for Jesus. Lord, give us this passion, whatever the cost! Wesley L. Duewel

KEEP ME FROM EVIL…

” … keep from evil so that I do not cause pain …” I Chronicles 4:10

More than one person during my lifetime has said something like this: “I wished I had” or “If only I had” or “Why didn’t I” – in connection with making foolish mistakes that were very costly to their job, family, or church.

In his book, THE JABEZ EXPERIMENT, Jay Dennis shares 10 principles from the life of Job to help us guard our hearts from making stupid mistakes:

1. Be right with God. Like Job, we should have a heart for God, and
a reckless abandon to God. (Job 1:1)

2. Be morally pure. Like Job, we should have a pure heart that
refuses to allow immoral thoughts and actions to seize us. (Job 1:1)

3. Be honest. Like Job, we should tell the truth and be transparent,
striving not to be a hypocrite. (Job 1:1)

4. Be awestruck. Like Job, we should have a holy fear of God, a
sense of deep reverence and awe at his power and majesty. (Job 1:1)

5. Be avoiding. Like Job, we should avoid everything that even has
the appearance of evil. (Job 1:1)

6. Be responsible. Like Job, we should assume responsibility to pray
to pray for the people around us and remind them of God. (Job 1:5)

7. Be praying. Like Job, we should pray as a way of life, abiding in
prayer and not just praying in emergencies. (Job 1:5)\

8. Be ready. Like Job, we should prepare ourselves for Satan’s
attacks. (Job 1: 5)

9. Be worshipping. Like Job, we should praise God even when our
world falls apart. (Job 1:20-21)

10. Be believing anyway. Like job, we should
believe God no matter what the circumstances. (Job 1:22, 13:15)

That is a powerful list to help us live lives that will be blameless and upright in this ever-changing, crazy world.

Great quote: In this new community where Christ is head, things are different. Here people are less concerned with finding their life than with losing it for Christ. Here meekness, not muscle, is the mark of greatness. If the church is not radically different from the world, something is radically wrong. To be salt and light in the world implies a marked contrast between the way of life in the world and the way of life in the church. Anonymous

PROTECT ME FROM EVIL

” … Protect me from evil so that I do not cause pain.” 1 Chronicles 4:10

The man whose name means “Pain” is the one who cries out to the God of Israel for His abundant blessing and for Him to enlarge his territory.
But he also begs God to keep him from evil so that he will not cause pain.

The enemy of our soul comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).
Pastor Jay Dennis in his book, The Jabez Experiment, notes the qualities that the enemy want to steal, kill and destroy:

Cheerfulness – Satan wants to steal YOUR joy.
Contagiousness – Satan want our faith to be unattractive.
Confidence – Satan wants YOU to doubt God.
Convictions – Satan wants you to stand for NOTHING.
Compassion – Satan does not want us to care.
Commitment – Satan wants you indecisive.
Character – Satan does not want you to grow in Christ.
Certainty – Satan wants you to be unsure of your salvation.

It is at the times of when we are most victorious that we are often the most vulnerable, and those are the times we tend to drop our guard.
Listen to this powerful reminder from Pastor Dennis: “Although the devil cannot read our minds, he is a good observer. He knows exactly when and how to attack. He is always looking for opportunity to strike. In one unguarded moment, he moves in, and it’s too late. Regrets come, remorse fills the heart, and while forgiveness is available through repentance, the consequences can no more be stopped that a driver trying to stop an eighteen-wheeler on a dime while doing a hundred miles per hour. We must be proactive in trying to stop Satan BEFORE sin gets out of control in our lives. Daily we must activate God’s antitheft protection, as well as warn Satan to back off whenever we sense he is approaching us.”

Men, this is a good reminder for us today! Allow this truth to burn into your heart and mind today. Cry out like Jabez did – “Protect me from evil so that I do not cause pain.”

Great Quote: Just when the truth about life sinks in, his truth starts to surface. He takes us by the hand and dares us not to sweep the facts under the rug but to confront them with him at our side. Max Lucado

Today is the third Sunday of Advent. Some of you attend churches that have an Advent wreath and light the five candles included in the wreath.
Traditionally, the first candle speaks of hope. The second speaks of peace. The third candle reminds us of the love of God that allowed Him to send His Son into our world.

Freedom Fighters need to know of that love. We don’t always “feel”
loved. The enemy of our souls will always look for ways to convince us that God doesn’t love us. “How could He love us when we do such bad things and fail Him so often?” That’s the lying question Satan will send our way.

Gabriel’s message to Mary dispels the lie! God loves us enough to allow His Son to come into our world. Mary thought it seemed impossible.
Elizabeth thought it impossible that she might conceive a son in her old age. Gabriel’s response-“For with God nothing will be impossible.”
(Luke 1:37) The same God who can empower conception in a virgin and a woman well past childbearing years can love Freedom Fighters who struggle to maintain their freedom.

I know almost none of you who receive this email every day. You may know ongoing victory over sin, or you may struggle every day for each small step toward victory. This Advent season that reminds of Jesus’
arrival into our world should encourage you. Jesus came into the world at just the right time (Galatians 4:4) to redeem us from a law we could not keep. He knew our frailty and our inclination to failure. Knowing all He knew, He didn’t turn from us but toward us. He took up residence in our world through His Son.

God knew our lack of hope. He knew peace escaped us. We knew nothing of His love, and joy was not ours. Those candles we light each week of Advent tell us to live in hope. They tell us to rest in the peace of Jesus and trust His love. They tell us to know the joy of sins forgiven and lives made knew.

You and I can choose freedom from despair, a lack of peace and love, and the absence of joy. We can choose freedom from sin and its bondage–all because Jesus came! Jesus said when describing His followers as sheep, “I came so they can have a real and eternal life, more and better life then they ever dreamed of.” (John 10:10b in The Message) (Pastor John Strain – First Baptist of Toms River)

Great Quote: When the devil is called the god of this world, it is not because he made it, but because we serve him with our worldliness.
Symeon

THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT

Bill Welte has encouraged this week to think about the Prayer of Jabez and how we can apply it to our lives. We’re approaching the third week of Advent, and it occurs to me that Mary saw much of Jabez’s prayer answered in her own life.

We know so little about Mary. Her aspirations, other than becoming Joseph’s wife, are unclear. Did she ask God to let her bring the Messiah into the world? I doubt it. Did she ask God to do incredibly wonderful things in her life? Probably not. We assume, by the fact that God chose her to give birth to Jesus, that she was humbly and faithfully before the Lord. Yet God did amazing things for her and through her.

I’ll make another assumption. Most of us who read Freedom Fighter live simple lives. We’re not “movers and shakers.” We don’t influence world events. We go to work, come home, spend time with our families, and start all over the next day. Our expectations are probably no less awe-inspiring that Mary’s.

That’s where God comes in. Even if Mary didn’t pray the prayer, God blessed her. He expanded her territory of influence to include the whole world! She lived with God’s presence and He protected her from evil.

May it be so with us. We go forward choosing freedom in Christ. We live humbly and faithfully before God. We stay true to what we know is right and good. In choosing to live that way, we make it possible for God to bless us, expand our territory, and know His presence. God loves us no less than He loved Mary. He’s not going to use us just like He used Mary. Our spheres of influence probably won’t expand like Mary’s’.

He will bless us, though. He will give us influence for His Kingdom.
He will walk with us. And, He will protect us from evil. You and I can link Mary’s Advent experience with the prayer of Jabez. We can anticipate God coming into our lives in remarkable ways to bless us and accomplish His purposes. The key is to walk humbly and faithfully in the yoke with Jesus and wait for God to work.

Jabez’s prayer is important. So is Mary’s when she prays “Let it be to according to your word.” We pray. We wait. God works. That’s what Jesus coming into your world and mine is all about! (First Baptist Toms River – Pastor John’s Strain)

Great Quote: He became like us that He might make us like Him. Alan Redpath

INSIGHTS FROM THE PRAYER OF JABEZ

I Chron. 4:10 – Lord, please bless me indeed and enlarge my territory!
Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.

Today’s Freedom Fighter insights were written by Mr. Chris Connors, our Director of Housekeeping, and a graduate of the Colony of Mercy.

There is no such thing as luck. No matter how random things seem – they happen under God’s watchful eye and according to His will. Because of the saving grace of My Lord and Savior, I no longer think I’m lucky – I’m chosen. Is there luck involved when the Creator of heaven and earth separates you from the world and speaks to you? God’s decisions and actions are deliberate and motivated out of love. When a man responds to God’s prevenient grace he is never the same again. What happens when a man starts to live for God? When an unworthy sinner is truly converted by the saving grace of Jesus? Does this man just feel lucky or truly blessed?

A man cannot deny the awesome power of God when He touches him.
Whatever is the reasonable understanding for this man, it starts with a remarkable degree of gratitude. But when does this gratitude grow into a boldness beyond our understanding?

Ask Jabez, a child born of pain. A boy who grew into a man constantly reminded by the pain and sorrow he brought at birth. Not much is told pertaining to the history of his name. Possibly, he was a difficult birth for his mother. Maybe he caused undo stress on a young couple that could not afford another child. Quite possibly his mother wanted a reminder that God delivered her from this great pain of child birth and brought unspeakable happiness into her life. When God delivers us from the pain and sorrow of our affliction, we should not forget it.
Scripture tell us that Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. That by prayer and devotion he was able to obtain truly great blessings from The Lord. Jabez may have been just starting out in life. He knew that his name would not predict his life if he gave his life over to The Lord.

Here’s the thing; God does not force Himself on those who do not want Him, but He diligently looks for those who do, no matter who they are or what they have done. (2 Chron. 16:9) He seeks men and women, not because they’re good and true, but because they want to be, and He wants to make them so. He will never give up or go away until His work is done. (I Thes. 5:24) Jabez called on God, who alone hears and answers prayers. Through Jabez, God revealed to us that not only He hears our prayers, but will answer them. There are not many facts concerning the nature of these blessings. History holds just this a small pocket of information concerning Jabez. We can only guess that Jabez was the reason behind the naming of the city in I Chron. 2:55.

God’s blessings are real and produce real effects. Spiritual blessings from God ought to be our desire and prayer. That a man should be bold enough to ask for God-sized blessings and real life changing miracles he can hold on to. In addition, to fully believe that his prayers have been answered, and to ask for God’s help in handling these blessings, is truly remarkable. Jabez asked for God’s all, and God granted him his request. God is always ready to hear our prayers, and He is not short of blessings when we do.

What happens when we ask for God’s all? What happens if we give ourselves to God so He can determine our outcome? If we live a life pleasing to The Lord, are we worthy of having such blessings? A life of great happiness and a reputation far greater than our brothers?
In this instance, God says yes!

Why did Ezra take note of this man? Why did he, in the middle of all these names, tribes, cities and lineages take time to mention
Jabez? Because God delights in blessing His children. And when He
does it in this magnitude, you can be sure that He will bring it to light. There are dozens and dozens of people mentioned only for a brief moment in scripture. Are these people less important to God? I think not. God constantly uses people like Jabez to remind us to think of Him often. To ask upon Him continually, to live and die with Him. To be with Him always, to rely on Him, to come to know He is our only comfort and support from our afflictions.

Great quote: “The Gospel teaches that Christ was born for our benefit and that everything he did and suffered was for us. As the angel says, ‘I have good news for you, a message that will fill everyone with joy.
Today your Savior, Christ the Lord, was born in David’s city’. With these words, you can clearly see that he was born for all of us. He doesn’t say a savior was born, but rather, ‘your Savior, Christ the Lord was born’. In the same way he says, ‘I have good news for you’…this joy is for everyone who has this kind of faith.” Martin Luther, Faith Alone.

Faith vs. Sight

FAITH VS. SIGHT

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal … We live by faith, not by sight.” – 2 Corinthians 4:18; 5:7

Jabez was bold enough to ask God to bless him – abundantly. He asked God to “enlarge his borders …” When you ask God to enlarge your borders, it requires you to look at life through a different set of lenses. It isn’t about ME enlarging my borders and manipulating God to do what I want, it is believing that HE will do the enlarging which is only traceable back to HIM!

Most of the time we are looking through the lens of SIGHT vs. FAITH. I love this description of the FAITH vs. SIGHT walk:

“Faith looks to God as the SOURCE;
Sight trusts in possessions, power and people.
Faith focuses on ‘Who’;
Sight is limited to ‘how.’
Faith measures the SIZE of God;
Sight is controlled by the size of the problems.
Faith seeks God FIRST;
Sight takes matter into its own hands.
Faith waits on God;
Sight rushes ahead with self-solutions.
Faith is based on what God said;
Sight is based on how I feel.
Faith’s seeing-eye-guide is the Bible;
Sight’s guide is only what is visible.
Faith looks BEYOND circumstances to the possibilities;
Sight looks at how bad things are at the moment.
Faith believes God even when it seems NOTHING is happening.
Sight is controlled by the senses and feelings.
Faith doesn’t require that it works on paper;
Sight demands facts and figures first.
Faith leaves it in God’s hands;
Sight picks it back up, and worries and frets about it. (From THE JABEZ EXPERIMENT)

Are you willing to live today by FAITH? It is impossible to do it on your own – but through CHRIST it is possible. Are you bold enough to try it? Jabez was – how about you?

Great Quote: Charles Spurgeon was once asked, “How do you defend the Bible?” “Very easy” he responded. “The same way I defend a lion. I simply let it out of its cage.” Charles Haddon Spurgeon

ENLARGE MY BORDERS …

” … Do something so big in my life that it is obviously from you …”
– Paraphrase of Jabez Prayer

I’ve been digging for and mining treasure from this verse for the past several days now. Jabez cried out to the God of Israel and petitioned Him to bless him, indeed! And then he asks God to enlarge his borders, so that His hand would be with him.

Yesterday during our weekly staff chapel I gave my staff an opportunity to share how God has been using this time of praying the Jabez prayer in their lives. I challenged them to pray the prayer with me for 30 days.

It was thrilling to hear how God has been already “expanding” borders, doing things that are obviously from Him:

* A staff member invited family that they have had poor relations with for over 25 years and they accepted an invitation to come to their house for Christmas dinner

* A staff member and their family had an opportunity to present the gospel at the funeral of a family member in a unique way

* A staff member who was asked to be stretched on an upcoming missions trip

* A staff member who has received an open door to do ministry at a local detention center

* A staff member and wife who just found out that they are pregnant – their first child is 14 and they are in their 40’s. (After hearing this news, one of my staff members said they aren’t about to pray this now…:))

On Thursday night we had our Christmas dinner concert and our guest artist, Allison Durham Speer (well known from the Gaither Homecoming
Videos) shared a story about her last visit to America’s KESWICK two years ago. She heard a Colony resident share a testimony and a passage of scripture that created in her heart a desire to dig deeper into the Word. Her search led to more study, caused her to be more hungry, and long story short, she ended up enrolling at Liberty University! During this last year, God has placed a burden on her heart to teach God’s Word as well as sing. After the concert she said, “Beel, I know that God is about to expand my borders because of what He did in my heart when I was her two years ago!”

Someone has said, “Be careful what you pray for – you might just get it!” Are you bold enough to ask God to expand your borders? The qualifier here is that the answer will be only traceable back to God!
When He does it – you will stand back in amazement and say, “Wow!”

If you have joined me on this journey, I’d sure love to hear from you.
Normally I get feedback from our Freedom Fighter ministry, and lately you guys have been quiet. If what I am sharing is not hitting the mark, then let me know and I will prayerfully seek another direction. Your feedback is valuable.

“Lord, do something in my life today that is obviously from You!” Amen

Great quote: Perfect love, we know, casts out fear. But so do several other things – ignorance, alcohol, passion, presumption, and stupidity.
It is very desirable that we should all advance to that perfection of love in which we shall fear no longer; but it is very undesirable, until we have reached that stage, that we should allow any inferior agent to cast out our fear. (Clive Staples) C. S. Lewis

BLESSED – NEW TESTAMENT

Yesterday I shared with you passages from the Old Testament describing the blessings that are already ours because of our relationship with our great God. Here are some examples this morning from the New Testament …

1. Blessed are the poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3).

2. Blessed are those who mourn (Matthew 5:4)

3. Blessed are the gentle (Matthew 5:5)

4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness
(Matthew 5:6)

5. Blessed are the merciful (Matthew 5:7)

6. Blessed are the pure in heart (Matthew 5:8)

7. Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9)

8. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of
righteousness (Matthew 5:10)

9. Blessed are you when men cast insults at you … (Matthew 5:11)

10. Blessed are they who believe even though they
have not seen Him (John 20:29)

11. Blessed are they whose sin has been covered!
(Romans 4:7)

12. Blessed is the man because the Lord does not
take into account his sin! (Romans 4:7)

13. Blessed is the man who perseveres under
trials (James 1:12)

14. Blessed is the man who reads and hears the
prophecy of Revelation (Revelation 1:3)

15. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps
his garments (Revelation 16:15)

16. Blessed are those who are invited to the
marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9)

17. Blessed are those who have a part in the
first resurrection (Revelation 20:6)

18. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the
prophecy (Revelation 22:7)

19. Blessed are those who wash their robes
(Revelation 22:14)

This is certainly not an exhaustive list from the New Testament, but I was blown away at how blessed we already are before we even begin to petition the God of Israel to abundantly bless us … INDEED! So today my friend, I trust you will have an even greater understanding of how wonderfully blessed you are … Are you bold enough today to ask HIM to bless you … abundantly bless your life today? Jabez was … how about you?

Great Quote: Repentance is being sorry enough not to do it again.
Repentance is an action for keeps. Paul White