Celebrate Christmas Part 2

Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah 8:9

The word holiday comes from the Old English word haligdæg, which means ‘holy day’. So, when Nehemiah announced, ‘This day is holy,’ he was declaring a celebration; a time to ‘eat and drink before the LORD’ (1 Chronicles 29:22). Today, overindulgence and overspending have become synonymous with Christmas, making Christians hesitant to celebrate. Jack Hayford writes: ‘Often it is from those newly associated with our fellowship who have allowed themselves – perhaps for the first time – to enter into the wonder and fullness of Christmas joy and celebration…Christmas is more than merely “merry”. Christmas is mighty. Celebration – unfettered enjoyment, love…laughter…gifts and giving, trees and tinsel,…carols and bells…all of it – has an inherent potential for mightiness. The qualifying factor is the presence of the Holy Spirit. When He is present, the accoutrements of Christmas…can bless, strengthen, heal, [and] restore…When He is absent, carols ring hollow. Greetings, wishes and smiles lie on the surface, like glitter glued on a flat card. Lights and decorations…can leave the heart more desolate than ever. But where the Holy Spirit is there is power…to change entrenched habits…transform cold hearts…grudges and expectations…lift lives out of the shadow…This Christmas, let Him come upon you. Welcome the…Holy Spirit…to move upon your life, and then make your own move…into the season’s best opportunities to bask in the wonder of it all…Reach out to those around: encourage, bless, bake, give, visit, invite, share, and lift hearts wherever you can. By…New Year…you’ll find Christmas to…have been marvelously, and even miraculously, mighty.’

Prayer
Today’s Prayer is Jesus’ word from John 14:15-31

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.