Dec 22

Christmas Gift Countdown- Faith

avatar Published in Untagged  by Pastor Mark
  All the people who God used in special ways for Christ coming and  were  involved in the Christmas story had something in common. They were different ages, different genders and different  backgrounds, yet there was a gift they received and lived out that was the same for all of them.  That gift was faith.  When you go through each of the persons who were involvedin receiving the news that Jesus the Savior of the world was coming they each had to express faith in order to please God. From the words of the angel to Mary, to the dream the Joseph was given that this birth was a divine miracle, they each had to act in faith in order to fulfill what had been told them.  Faith in God is such an integral part of the Christmas story that to miss it is to miss a great aspect of god's coming.  Mary had faith in God and she says, May it be to me as God has said.  Joseph has faith in God and takes Mary as His wife even though there was not natural way he could understand what was happening.  Joseph simply and powerfully trusted God and believed the Lord would work it out.  He exhibited faith in God and took Him at His word

Then you have the faith of Simeon and Anna who were there eight days later after the birth, when Jesus was presented by his earthly parents in the temple. These two incredible saints of God had been told that they would see the Messiah before they died. They had faith to believe day after day and year after year as they waited for the redemption of Israel and in turn all mankind.   These four people had faith to believe that God would answer even though they did not know how.  There faith was rewarded and because they believed our lives are also so much different.  They set an example for living out faith in a way that is fully committed to God and fully devoted to His words and His way.  I am not saying that these did not have times that they wondered, surely they did, yet they kept persevering in their faith in God.  What about you and I? There are times that God asks us to believe even when we don't see how it will all work. There are times that God says have faith in God and HE will bring to pass things in us and through us that are too wonderful for words.  This Christmas let us offer God a gift that He has given us, Faith! Through that others will see that the Lord is real and our lives will become a pointer to Jesus.  Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, it is the evidence of things not yet seen.