FOLLOWING GOD'S SCHEDULE

By Dr. Charles F. Stanley

Waiting on God so we can discover His will is an essential discipline of the Christian life. Once we learn His plan, we must be careful to implement it in His time frame.

Following the Lord's schedule is always to our benefit because of His . . .

• All-encompassing knowledge. Unlike us, the Father has complete awareness about our world and the details of every individual life—past, present, and future. (Acts 17:26).

• Complete wisdom. The Lord understands man's every motive (1 Chron. 28:9) and acts accordingly. Our decision making is flawed since we cannot clearly discern people's intentions. We make choices based on partial information, but God has the wisdom to properly interpret the facts and then take action based on truth (Rom. 11:33). He never makes a mistake.

• Unending love. Through His Son, the Father offers us unconditional love. By sending Jesus to die in our place, God proved the depth of His everlasting love (1 John 4:10). He always has our best interest at heart.

• Perfect sufficiency. The Lord offers us all the resources we need to carry out His plan—wisdom, strength, and skill (2 Peter 1:3).

Adhering to God's timetable requires both faith and courage. We must believe that He knows how we should live, trust that His plan is right, and have the determination to wait until He gives a signal to proceed. Those who follow the Lord's schedule will experience the blessing of watching Him work things together for their gain and His glory.

Scripture Of The Day: "Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day." - Psalm 25:4-5 (NKJV)

Is Japan Disaster Another Apocalyptic Sign?
Thursday, 17 March 2011 10:01 AM EDT Jennifer LeClaire News - Featured News

The crisis in Japan is worsening. At the same time, the situation in the Middle East is volatile. And let’s not forget last month’s seismic shock in New Zealand, Sumatra 9.1, Katrina, Rita, massive flooding in Australia, birds and fish dying around the world, and bees disappearing.

Even the secular media is using phrases like “of biblical proportions” to describe current events. Believers who recognize the signs of the times aren’t surprised, and high-profile evangelists are proclaiming that the end is near.

Jesus issued an ominous warning more than 2,000 year ago: “There shall be signs, and great earthquakes in various places...the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear and for the expectation of those things that are coming upon the earth” (see Luke 21:11,25,26).

Does such an idea reflect merely the hardhearted ravings of religious fanatics bent on making a buck from humanity’s misery, or is it possible that planet earth is indeed approaching the biblical “end of days”?

Charisma magazine sat down with Steve Wohlberg, director of White Horse Media and author of 25 books, including Surviving Toxic Terrorism and End Time Delusions, to talk about why things will grow worse before they get better—and the eminent return of Jesus.

Charisma: What’s going on, Steve? Nobody knows the day or the hour of Jesus’ return, but the signs of the times appear evident.

Wohlberg: When you look at the trend of natural disasters—and many other types of disasters and other things that are happening in the world—it seems pretty clear to me that we are seeing an escalation of large-scale problems on the planet. To me, these are indicators that we are getting closer to the return of Jesus Christ. As you mentioned, nobody knows the day or the hour so I’m very careful not to set any kind of dates.

Charisma: Are tsunamis mentioned in the Bible as part of the end times?

Wohlberg: I used to consider the end of Luke 21:25—“the sea and the waves roaring”—as the sea of humanity being full of turmoil. But then when the big tsunami rolled across the ocean after the Sumatra earthquake, I relooked at this verse and I think it certainly applies to a big wave rolling across the ocean. When the Japanese earthquake hit, it actually moved the whole island of eight feet, and then the tsunami occurred right away.

Charisma: The sweeping fear in the hearts of men is also telling. Japan’s emperor is deeply concerned and praying.

Wohlberg: In Luke 21:26, Jesus said, “Men’s hearts will be failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming upon the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” That sure sounds like what’s happening now. People are afraid. They are concerned. In the next verse, verse 27, Jesus says, “Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption is drawing near.”

Jesus talks about earthquakes, pestilences, famines, fearful sights from heaven, all kinds of different things. When you look at what’s happening on earth right now, it sure seems to me that things are lining up with what Jesus predicted. So I believe that we are getting closer to the return of the Lord.

Charisma: I’ve never seen anything like this in my life—the convergence of events. Between Christian persecution, terrorism threats, the earthquakes and tsunamis, the revolution in the Middle East, and a number of other events over the past few years…

Wohlberg: On Friday when the earthquake hit Japan and the tsunami was rolling across the ocean, I was watching Shepard Smith on Fox News. He was covering the quake, covering the tsunami, then he bounced over to Khadafy and what’s going on in Libya, and then he bounced over to Saudi Arabia and the “Day of Rage.”

Smith interviewed somebody that said that if Saudi Arabia is wracked with civil war like Egypt and like Libya it has the potential to bring down the economy of America because we are totally dependent upon oil. Saudi is the main place where we get our oil. Smith made a comment right on the air. He said, “I’ve been covering the news for a long time and this is a new day in news. We’ve never seen all of these things of such magnitude happening at the same time.” When I heard him say that, I just had this apocalyptic sense that this is what’s going on.

Charisma: So what’s the bottom line?

Wohlberg: It’s going to get worse before it gets better. But the good news is that when it’s all over, it’s going to get really good. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. The Bible says that Jesus is going to come and He is going to get rid of sin. Satan is not going to have the upper hand like he does right now. God is going to put down evil.

Revelation Chapter 21 says that eventually there will be a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and first earth will pass away. There will be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former things have passed away.

I’m not a doom-and-gloomer. I certainly don’t consider myself to be a far-right religious fanatic that’s raising the sign saying, “The end is near.” I have a wife. I have two little kids. I’m a student of prophecy. The indicators are all flashing right now that we are getting closer to the coming of Jesus. When things really get bad, the difference will be apparent between those that are genuine Christians that are trusting in Jesus and the rest of the world.

Charisma: In what ways do you expect it to grow worse?

Wohlberg: In Revelation 16, we have the seven last plagues described. Those are going to devastate the planet. That’s right before the Second Coming of Christ. Those plagues haven’t started yet but they are coming at some point. And in Revelation Chapter 16, verses 18 and 19, it describes a “great earthquake such as was not since men where upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great.” And as a result of that quake, it says that the cities of the nations fell. That’s the final spasm right before the Second Coming.

The Haiti quake, the Japan quake, the Pakistan quake, and other things like this, are indicators of a much larger catastrophe that is coming. I wish it wasn’t the case but that’s what I see. All of this is the tragic outworking of sin. When Adam and Eve chose to follow Satan that brought sin into the world. The sin is here. The planet is suffering. People are suffering. And a loving God is allowing these catastrophes and the demonstration of the consequences of human sin so that when He finally intervenes and ends it that He can end it permanently and it will be over forever. That’s why He’s allowing this.

GRACE MEETS YOU WHERE YOU ARE

by Mike Adkins

It was a Saturday afternoon I'll never forget. I was 17 years old and hanging out at a friend's house when I found myself kneeling next to an old Jeep, my trembling hands clasped together as I cried out to God. It was more out of sheer exhaustion and desperation than any religious formality.

At that point I realized my life was killing me—from my very own choices. I was living from moment to moment, crisis to crisis, looking for the next experience—drinking, stealing, sex, anything—that would make me feel alive inside again. For years, I had been trying to escape from the pain of life's circumstances.

As I knelt there, alone, I didn't realize what I was doing and didn't really care. But I knew I was giving up—and that's all that mattered to God.

Before that afternoon in my friend's garage, I had felt so disconnected from God, from myself and from those around me that I had escaped into a world of distractions. Alcohol, stealing and promiscuity were not the problem; they were my feeble attempts to solve the problem.

The real dilemma? I didn't know who I was. I didn't know who God thought I was. In other words, I didn't understand grace.

The Distractions of Life

When I look back at that pivotal time in my life, I am amazed at how far God has brought me. I now understand more about grace than I did then—mostly from asking some soul-searching questions that I'd like to share with you now.

Do you really know who you are? Do you see yourself as God sees you? Are you living the dream that you and only you were meant to live? Do you imagine a future that releases you to be what He made you to be? Or are you too distracted by a sinful life or religious roles to even think about it at all?

Our attempts to clothe ourselves in the distractions of life—both the sinful and the spiritual—are open betrayals of the fact that we have forgotten we are sons and daughters created by almighty God. Stripped of our royal robes and noble purposes, we live our lives trying to clothe a cold and embarrassing nakedness with the skimpiness of possessions or position.

John Eldredge and the late Brent Curtis, in their book The Sacred Romance, put it this way: "Very seldom are we ever invited to live out of our heart. If we are wanted, we are often wanted for what we can offer functionally. If rich, we are honored for our wealth; if beautiful, for our looks; if intelligent, for our brains. So we learn to offer only those parts of us that are approved, living out a carefully crafted performance to gain acceptance from those who represent life to us."

The heart that truly understands grace relates to God not through obedience and duty as much as desire and gratefulness. But to move from mere obedience to gratefulness requires us to have our identity rooted in who Christ has made us to be.

The Power of Weakness

I recently counseled a married couple who began to argue loudly during the session, ignoring me in an angry exchange that revealed each spouse's exceptional skill at the art of wounding the other. As the verbal combat escalated, something strange happened. They suddenly became aware that I was still in the room. You could see the shock all over their faces. They were horrified that I, their pastor, had seen this side of them.

Immediately they became pleasant again, and even exchanged some mild compliments with each other. I addressed their obvious discomfort by asking them if they were more comfortable before or after they let me see the dark side of their marriage.

It was clear they regretted embarrassing themselves in front of me. It wasn't until I told them that I liked them better and could help them more when they weren't concerned with what I was thinking about them that they felt free to be themselves again.

But notice that, for them, to feel free wasn't the same as feeling good about their marriage—at least not for a long time. For them, freedom meant having the permission to feel bad about their marriage and about themselves, and to not be afraid to show it.

As Christians, we are not called to be without weakness. We are called to understand our weakness so we can exchange it for the strength of the cross—itself a picture of great power clothed in the ultimate weakness of death.

With His sacrifice, Jesus became the original Wounded Healer. Jesus calls all those who come after Him to heal His broken world, not through their own strength, but through the redemption of their broken lives.

God chose us because we were broken, not because we were whole. He picked us out of the crowd because we were falling apart, not because we had it together. He came to heal those of us who were sick, not those who have no need of a physician. As Paul wrote, "God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong" (1 Cor. 1:27, NIV).

So if God has chosen us not because of our strength but because of our weakness, why are we trying to hide our broken lives instead of being comfortable with who we really are?

Forgotten Beginnings

Why are so many of us uncomfortable with who we are or where we are in life? Because we are not firmly convinced that we bear the image of the One who made us.

Genesis paints an amazing picture of our creation: "God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Gen. 1:27, NKJV).

In this incredible passage, God has just finished creating the world. He looks at it and is pleased. He says that it is good. From God, this is high praise indeed. And yet, it is not complete. He sees nothing that is truly a reflection of Himself.

As He turns to make man, He creates him in a way that does not reflect any other part of creation. God doesn't model man after the most glorious mountain. He doesn't model him after the vast seas of the earth. He doesn't turn His attention to His creation but to Himself.

He paints a self-portrait. He designs us to be a likeness of Himself. We became the pinnacle of all creation. We became image-bearers of the Most High God. And for a while, it worked out great.

You know the story. Adam and Eve were given the choice to continue being exact likenesses of God or to roll the dice and choose their own image. They gambled and lost, big time. They traded the glory of God for the glory of man—earning for themselves the sin nature that we, as their descendants, still carry today.

In that instant, we became something less than what we were meant to be. Like a mirror that no longer reflects anything, we became altogether worthless. Our self-image, which was designed to grow from the image of God in us, withered in the tragic soil of the fall.

New Beginnings

It's no wonder so many of us struggle to know who we really are. Even though we know in our heads Christ died and rose again for us, our self-image is rooted in the fall and not the resurrection. We have accepted an image of loss instead of redemption. We will not recover our identity until we understand the true power of grace. So, what exactly is grace?

Grace is God's desire to be in relationship with you regardless of your circumstances. That includes everything you have done or had done to you in the past, present and future. God's love is not based upon how you relate to Him through mere obedience. God's love for you is based upon His inexhaustible desire to be close to you. His grace offers several benefits.

Grace allows the believer to live free. I can remember living apart from Christ, and it was anything but free. I was constantly plagued by a sense that I had to create a good life. "You only go around once," was my motto. It was up to me to make it a good trip.

I no longer believe it's up to me to make my own success or happiness. My responsibility is to respond to what God puts in front of me, and through my response, His Spirit will continue to unveil the person God has created me to be. As Paul says, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18). It's His job, not mine. I no longer have to perform for God or myself.

Grace allows us to move beyond the past. After counseling people for more than a decade, I can say with conviction that everyone I've ever met has a history he or she is running from. The good news of God's grace is that the past can remain where it is—in the past! We deny the power of the resurrection when we allow the past to decide who we are.

The idea conveyed in Scripture is that we are new creations. The old life has died and lives only to the degree that we give it life. The Bible says, "A new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining" (1 John 2:8).

Before grace, all we knew was darkness. Now it is our choice to let it pass and embrace the true light that is already shining in us.

Grace allows us to help redeem the world. We live in a time in which it is not enough to share the message of the gospel. We must share ourselves along with the words. In order for the world to be transformed it needs our stories of brokenness.

It was not a coincidence that Jesus came into this world as a helpless baby. It was no coincidence that He lived as a servant. If He wanted, Jesus could have lived like a king. But He knew that was not our experience. He knew that we were hurting and that we were confused and in need of someone who could identify with us. Jesus didn't come into this world to save us from brokenness but from the illusion of wholeness.

That's our mission in today's world. We aren't called to live as plaster saints. We are to live as wounded healers. Our stories, especially the ones filled with anguish, are the bridges God uses to walk into the lives of others. "They overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony" (Rev. 12:11).

True Grace vs. Tolerance

If grace is the tool God uses to transform the world, then tolerance is the tool Satan uses to usher in hell on earth.

Tolerance is certainly the buzzword of the day. And at first glance, it looks a lot like grace. It's nice. It seems forgiving, patient and kind. But tolerance is a road that leads to death.

Dorothy Sayers once said: "In this world it's called tolerance, but in hell it is called despair. The sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, enjoys nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing but remains alive because there is nothing which it would die for."

Despair is the natural conclusion of a life lived in tolerance. Grace finds its roots in the cross and the resurrection. Tolerance finds its roots in apathy and fear.

Christ's offer of grace to us through His death on the cross demonstrated His convictions, His belief that mankind needed a rescuer and His determination not to leave us to our own devices. He was bruised, He was cut, He was nailed, and He was pierced so that we could have a relationship with God.

Tolerance allows others to continue in sin because it is too afraid to offer help. Our world is full of people who are watching in silence as those around them perish apart from Christ because they value other people's freedom to choose their own way more than they value the people themselves.

When my son was a toddler, he darted out into the street in front of a car. I had a choice at that moment. I could sit in silence embracing my son's choice and allow him to be killed, or I could help him.

Obviously, I reached out and jerked him back to safety. It would have been monstrous for me to be apathetic in a moment like that. Nevertheless, the cardinal rule of tolerance is no interference even though interference is actually the most compassionate act.

What true grace offers us is the opportunity to be a friend of God, and we are closest to God when we are most aware of our need for grace—when we are most aware of our own brokenness. It is this brokenness that creates the space for God, and it is through the embracing of our weakness that His sacrifice is made real to us.

BEGIN AGAIN

By Sharon Frame

The desperate father refused to eat or drink. For days he laid prostrate on the floor of his house and wept. He begged God to heal his sick child. After all, it was HIS sin of adultery that had angered the Almighty. The child was innocent. But heaven showed no mercy. The baby boy died seven days later.

It was a most scandalous crime. King David had an alliance with a married woman. The bewitching Bathsheba got pregnant. David had her husband killed to cover up his tracks and claim her as his new wife. But then the word of God came and convicted him.

King David agonized over his son while the child was alive. But when he drew his last breath, David stopped mourning. He got up from the floor, washed his face and went to the temple to worship God. He then went home and ate a big meal. His quick recovery shocked his servants. How could he shut the door to his loss so fast? But what was done was done. David would waste no more time living in regret. It was time to begin again. Some people choose to pitch a tent around their failures and camp out.

David wasn’t having that. He decided to accept God’s forgiveness, and release his guilt and emotional baggage. That’s the only way he could move forward.

What is it that you insist on holding on to that God has instructed you to let go? Is it a destructive relationship? a bad habit? No amount of prayer or fasting will make it good. God says release it. It stands in the way of your new beginning.

This New Year doesn’t need to be saddled with old baggage. Take a cue from King David. He took three key steps to begin again.

First, the moment his son died, David released his guilt and grief. Suddenly, he saw clearly enough to reconnect to his true purpose. And that was simply to serve God.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 says: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

David’s sin had severed his fellowship with God and blocked his vision. Once he fully released it, he went straight to “church” to worship.

That was the second step David took. He got refreshed.

Each new day, God gives us 86,400 seconds to refresh, to begin again. Unlike your vacation days or cell phone minutes, these seconds don’t roll over. You can’t accumulate time. Spend it living your purpose not regretting your past.

The day you release and refresh, is the day you begin to reclaim right-standing with God. This third step is the only way to true peace and prosperity. Reclaiming right-standing simply means to accept God’s forgiveness, and forgive yourself! This was key to David’s deliverance.

No matter how shameful our past failures, God urges us to begin again. Here is an amazing irony: From the ashes of our “mess,” God can create something marvelous.

David didn’t want to lose his child, even though it symbolized his “mess.” God replaced him with Solomon, the second child born to David and Bathsheba. Solomon would rise to become one of the greatest rulers of ancient Israel and the wisest man in the world during his time.

What personal greatness might you be holding up because you won’t release old hurts and failures? The birth of your “Solomon” cannot occur while you linger in the grave yard of your past mistakes. The Lord said in Isaiah 43:19, “Behold I do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

God has made a way for us to release, refresh and reclaim our rightful place in Him. Now is the time to begin again.

Scripture Of The Day: "Behold I do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” - Isaiah 43:19

YOUR POSITIONING

by Os Hillman

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips. - Proverbs 27:2

Many years of owning and operating an ad agency taught me that positioning was defined as a place or position that a product, service, or person held in the mind of the audience. We knew that often perception was reality for people, regardless of the truth. For years, I spent time and money seeking to position our company in the minds of our prospective clients. Although it would seem that is a natural and logical marketing function, I later discovered there is a dangerous flaw when we attempt to position ourselves by promoting our own attributes. I discovered that positioning is a by-product of who we are and what we do, not an end in itself.

King David was my first biblical lesson in coming to understand the difference. Here was a man who had committed adultery and murder, and failed many times in his family life. Yet, God describes David as a "man after God's own heart." Isn't that interesting? Why would God describe someone who had obviously failed in many areas as one who was after God's own heart? Throughout David's life, we find frequent descriptions made by God: "So David's fame spread throughout every land..." (1 Chron. 14:17). Although David did make many mistakes, his heart was soft toward God and sought to praise Him. David wrote the majority of the Psalms. God honored what was in David's heart, not his perfection. I believe that God's strategic placement of David was so that we may learn from and be drawn to the attribute of David that God primarily wanted him known for -- a heart bent toward Him. His positioning was a by-product of who he was, not an end in itself. In our business and personal life, our positioning among those who will know us should be a by-product of our life and service, not an end itself.

What is your "position" today among your peers? I once asked my Bible study group to ask others, "What do you think of when someone mentions my name?" This exercise can bring some interesting revelations. It might motivate us to make some changes, or it might confirm that God is doing a great work in you.

ILLUSION?

by Leonard Davidson

Recently, my wife, Tammi, and I were with a small group of friends. Brock Gill, an amazing Christian illusionist, was a part of the group. Someone asked him to do a couple of “tricks” for us. He had been traveling all day with his wife, and was obviously very tired, but graciously agreed to entertain us (for free … which was really cool).

He had us gather in a half-circle and Tammi sat on the floor in front of me and directly in front of Brock. Of course Tammi’s first question was if he could make me disappear (there is a comedian in every group). He laughed and took out a deck of cards.

All the cards had blue backs. At his request, someone picked a card and showed it to all of us (four of clubs), without Brock seeing it. The card was placed back in the deck. As he fanned out the deck of blue cards, one of them had a red back. The card was revealed and it was the four of clubs. Pretty neat.

Then he knelt down in front of Tammi and said it was her turn. He laid the red four of clubs face down on the floor beside him. He fanned out the remaining cards (all still blue) and had Tammi pick one. She chose the queen of hearts, again showing all of us, but not Brock. The card was placed back in the deck. Just as he did before, Brock fanned out the cards. But this time they all remained blue. There was no red card. He shuffled them together again, fanned them out, and still no red card. Shuffled again, fanned them out and still no red card.

Looking rather perplexed, Brock reached beside him and turned over the red card on the floor, which had been the four of clubs when he laid it down a few seconds before. Amazingly, as he turned it over, it was the queen of hearts! Tammi was (and still is) flabbergasted. She exclaimed: “That is impossible. I watched that card the whole time. It never moved!”

The next day I told Brock that Tammi just could not get over the fact that she somehow missed the illusion. Brock smiled and told me something profound. He said, “There is a dual reality. What your eyes and mind focus on is not what is really happening.” Wow!

We all live in a dual reality and because of that Paul commanded, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:2). This world we live in and the things in it, are in many ways, an illusion. While we live life here on earth, there is another reality. There’s a spiritual battle going on all around us, a struggle that is against rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12).

But what do we do? We get so consumed with the temporal things on earth—jobs, houses, cars, salaries, sports, clothes—the illusions of what is important, that we miss what is really going on–the spiritual warfare and the intense battle. Forces of evil are desperately and diligently seeking to destroy our homes, our children, our marriages even our lives, and sadly, too often, with great success. Because we are focused on a fleeting illusion, we are missing the reality. Our affections in this dual reality have been fixed on all the things that simply do not matter.

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34). Where is your treasure? What do you read? What do you watch? Where do you spend your time? That is a very good gauge as to which of the dual realities you focus upon.

This week in your Christ walk journey and as you move toward the New Year, take inventory of where you have fixed your affections. Which reality do you live in? Are you focused on stuff that makes no difference to eternity? Set your mind, your affections and your heart on the things above. Set them on God things. Your life will change as you realize what is real and worth your focus and what is but a fleeting illusion.

PRAYER POWER WEEK OF 12/27/2010

This week ask God to help you take inventory of where you have fixed your emotions. Take what He shows you and pray for His help to set your mind and affections on what matters for eternity. Ask Him to show you what’s important to Him and pray what’s on His heart. Pray for a new vision and determination to do your part in winning the lost and expanding His kingdom. Pray that He show you what He wants you to accomplish each day so that yours days would be full, but not overwhelming. Pray that revival would spread across our nation and around the world. Continue to remember Israel, our military and our leaders. Luke 12:34; Col 3:2; Eph. 6:12

A CHRISTMAS TO DO LIST

Many times in the story of Christmas, the center of attraction is on the main characters: Mary, Joseph, and surely, Jesus. But through the brief account or narrative in Luke 2:8-20, we learn from the shepherds four things that should be at the top of our to-do list this Christmas.

BELIEVE

The angels announced in a breathtaking fashion that the Messiah had been born. As soon as the angels departed, the shepherds looked at each other and said: What are we waiting for? Let's go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened.

There is no debate. There is no procrastination. They don't decide to sleep on it. They don't go to the local library for research. They just believe it. That's faith. Scripture says that without faith it's impossible to please God. The angel said, "Peace on earth among people with whom He is pleased." Who is that? It's those who respond to God's gift through faith. Scripture says, "For by grace you are saved, through faith …."

Faith means you say yes to all that God did through Christ. Yes, He is the Savior of the world. Yes, He came to die for my sins. Yes, through Him I find forgiveness and new life. Yes, I want to follow Christ as Lord. Faith is not a spectator sport; it is an active embracing of everything that God has promised in Christ.

OBEY

The shepherds did exactly as they were told. Sometimes we think of Christmas as a routine or monotonous holiday. We think of sweet little baby Jesus asleep on a bed of hay. Everyone loves that because it's so innocent and safe. But Christmas isn't safe! That baby is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He has come to usher in a kingdom that rivals the kingdom of self. That's threatening. He bids those who would follow him to take up their cross daily—to lay aside our own right to rule ourselves, to surrender to his rule.

The world loves to celebrate the birth of Christ, but they hate to obey Him as the Lord of their lives. Everyone wants to keep Christ in the manger. But the manger is meaningless apart from the Cross. As one writer put it many years ago: "This little babe, so few days old, is come to rifle Satan's fold; all hell doth at his presence quake, though he himself for cold does shake." Christmas is a time for obedience.

TELL

When the shepherds arrived in Bethlehem and saw the child lying in the feeding trough, "they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child." They weren't preachers; they weren't missionaries, but that didn't matter. They had heard and seen something that meant salvation for the whole world.

Christmas trees, eggnog, and exchanging of gifts are fine, but if we do all that stuff but don't talk about Jesus—if we fail to speak of the real meaning of it all; if we neglect to tell someone that this child was born as Savior and Lord, that he was sent by God to die on the Cross to purchase with royal blood our own deliverance from sin, death, and the devil; if we neglect to publish that elsewhere, we've failed to do Christmas right. The angel said that this is good news of great joy which shall be for all the people. Share the joy.

EXPERIENCE

The shepherds were overwhelmed at the angel's announcement. They experienced holy wonder.

How can you partake in holy wonder? Maybe that means you stop in the middle of your shopping, sit down, and read the Christmas story. Maybe that means you gather your children around a nativity scene each night and unwrap a different piece and talk about the role it plays in the Christmas story. Maybe that means you wake up early one morning and find a place you can watch the sun rise as you meditate on Luke 1:79.

The work of holy wonder is treasuring and pondering the fact that God invaded planet Earth on a perilous rescue mission. Amidst all the activity, stop and treasure all these things. Meditate and reflect on them in your heart. Engage in some holy wonder.