Immanuel-God with us!

“…the virgin will be with a child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel which means ‘God with us’ …” Matthew 1:23 NKJV [italics & emphasis mine]

When Jacob was about to face his brother after years in exile; an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a trance - after the business meeting, Jacob would not let Him go. The bible tells us that Jacob fought with God and won-thus the angel of the Lord gave him a new name as his blessing-Israel, meaning a man who wrestled with God and man and won [Gen 32].

In most African tradition, you are not allowed to call your elders by their first names (why? Any takers?) As we think of Immanuel, let us think of who people call us—what name have we been given? blessed? friendly? supportive? rock? Or cursed? cone-man, lazy G, poor Jim, CD? People will call you what they perceive you to be…if you have a negative name (given upon birth or people around you), take a closer look at your values—what you represent…for whatsoever we sow, so shall we reap!

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copyright ©2007 Light to my path † † † by TJM Kyara

What will you give him?

“…On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh… ” Matthew 2:11 NIV 1984 [italics and emphasis mine]

Giving can be both an act of worship and expression of Love. The late Ed. L. Cole [also hailed as father of men’s ministry] once said “you can give without loving, but you can not love without giving”. When we love, we give; and generally we can tell how much you love by how much you are willing to give from your possessions. We know how much God loves us by how much He GAVE for us, “...for God SO LOVED the world that HE GAVE his one and only son…” [John 3:16, NIV italics and emphasis mine]. Jesus himself said “…greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life ffor his friends.” [John 15:13 NIV, italics mine] He was saying you know how much I love you by how much I have given you-my precious life.

It is good as Christian that we have given God our lives, and that it is no longer us that live but Christ in us; but we need to go a step further, we need to GIVE our possession to Him for His Kingdom to be extended on earth. What will you give God-Jesus this Christmas, simply as an expression of love and adoration for him?

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copyright ©2007 Light to my path † † † by TJM Kyara

Wise-men still seek him today!

“…Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”… ” Matthew 2:1-2 NLT 2004 [italics and emphasis mine]

Some sects/people don’t celebrate Christmas as they don’t believe that Jesus was ‘actually’ born on December 25th and the fact that Christmas as a holiday its origin is pagan. May 23rd and Sept 19th are popular amongst the non-conformist. As for me and my house, we ‘choose’ to celebrate this day not because Jesus was actually born on this date, but as a celebration of ‘God with us’ living amongst us, who once became us to save us.

Amongst all this confusion, we have forgotten why we celebrate the birth of Jesus. To most westerners (Africa and other Developing countries not far behind), Christmas is a commercial holiday-buying and selling products festively. Jesus is no longer at the centre of HIS CELEBRATION, what a shame. Like the ‘wise guys’ in the scripture above, wise men/women will strive to seek Jesus and why the son of God humbled himself to become human. Celebration of His birth has no meaning if we loose sight of His mission as He humbled himself even unto to death.

For those in Exile

“…Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper… ” Jeremiah 29:7 NIV 1984 [italics and emphasis mine]

For those of us who are in foreign land, we tend to be hang up with where we come; we pray and work so hard for our ‘home country’ we read papers and seek information about it day and night. We may be physically away, but emotionally and spiritually we are still back where we come from. While this in itself is not bad/wrong, the text above reminds us of our commitment to the Land that God has ‘caused’ us to be in.

In the text above, Jeremiah told Israel that they still had 70+ years to live in exile; and so he said you may as well start praying for this land for when it prospers [other translations says when it has peace], then you will also prosper. I therefore urge brethren living abroad to PRAY FOR THE COUNTRY/CITY you are in…ask God to give it peace, for when it is in peace, you will be in peace. For others, your exile land may be the job that you have to do for now, company that you have to work for, people that you have to live with, ministry/church that you have to be in—pray that it/they prosper, for if they do, you will too!

copyright ©2007 Light to my path _† † _† by TJM Kyara