As we approach another Christmas, many of us are in the throes of preparation. We’re preparing for Christmas morning by decorating the house and trimming the tree. We’re preparing for Christmas dinner by standing in long grocery store lines for just the right Butterball® turkey, Honey Baked® ham, and all the trimmings. We’re preparing for the arrival of out-of-town guests by vacuuming, dusting, and shining up the special dinnerware. And of course, we’re preparing to put smiles on the faces of our friends and loved ones by purchasing or creating and then lovingly wrapping just the right, special gift.

God did quite a bit of preparation too as He put everything in place for the first Christmas, getting that special Gift ready for us. He actually started working on that day way back in the Garden of Eden. Speaking to the serpent who had seduced Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, God said, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” Genesis 3:15 (NKJ). This sentence is called the Proto-evangelim. On the Truth for Today website, this verse is clearly explained:

• In one cryptic sentence, addressed to the Serpent, God divulges the plan of salvation… An individual from among the woman’s seed, namely Christ, shall deal a death blow and utter defeat to Satan at the cross, while Satan would bruise Christ’s heel, that is, cause Him to suffer.[1]

From that time on, God was working history to prepare for the first Christmas. Jesus Christ would be a descendent of Abraham, but Abraham had to be born and called, and then had to have a child. (That’s a long and interesting story in and of itself!) Jesus would be of the tribe of Judah, but Jacob (Judah’s daddy) had to be born and grow to have a “tribe.” Jesus would be a descendent of King David, but David had to first be born, have kids, and ascend to the throne when as yet – back in the beginning – the children of Israel (who also weren’t born yet) were not even ruled by a king.

God also dropped hints throughout Scripture of other first-Christmas preparatory details:

• Jesus would be born of a virgin. Isaiah 7:14
• He would be born in Bethlehem. Micah 5:2
• He would be from Nazareth. Isaiah 9:1-2

God went to a lot of trouble to give us our first Christmas gift – to come to us in the person of His Son. He put Himself in the womb of a young girl, Mary; and in the care of a young carpenter, Joseph. He restricted Himself to a small time and place with no cars, airplanes, telephones, or computers. So as we run around getting our last-minute details together for this Christmas, think of all the preparation that went into that first Christmas. Let’s not get so flustered in the “trouble” we have to go through to prepare for the day. It’s worth it to prepare in big ways for big events. God did it for us.

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©2009, 2015 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Watch The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network’s new internet TV show Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott from any internet-connected device at www.HSBN.tv. (Stream current show or view past episodes anytime!)

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Why I Get Into Trouble as well as other favorites, Boomerangs to Arrows, and Power Suit

Why I Get Into Trouble link to our eStore: https://www.createspace.com/5131814

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

(Boomerangs Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk )

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

It never ceases to amaze me to see how public figures think they can hide their dirty little secrets. Politicians cheat on their wives and think no one will find out. Financiers swindle investors and figure they’ll never get caught. High-profile lawyers conceal evidence to get their guilty clients released and feel their cleaver courtroom antics instead of the truth will sway the judge and jury in their favor. Actors and musicians act out in public thinking they can do what they want because of their celebrity. Sooner or later, they all find themselves behind a microphone on the news, as the scandal headline in the papers, and as the butt of jokes on late night talk shows. Their families are torn apart, their fortunes suffer, and their character is forever tarnished.

This type of thing existed in Bible days too. Just when the remnant was rejoicing over safely having delivered all the treasures to the temple they were rebuilding, the word of a dirty little secret came to Ezra. “After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, ‘The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices… And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness.’” Ezra 9:1-2 (NIV). Ezra was doubly hurt to discover even the leaders’ involvement and knew God’s blessings would not continue unless they cleaned up their act.

Public figures, church leaders, or regular folks like us are all subject to universal truths that have been set in place by God. What’s done in the darkness will be brought to the light and what goes around, comes around. Especially in our lives as believers, we cannot expect to enjoy the abundant life God offers if we insist upon living shabby, slipshod lives of questionable character. Even the little things matter. Read some of God’s wisdom on the subject:

¨ Dan 2:22 He reveals deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him.

¨ Jer 23:24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.

¨ Luke 12:2-3 For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

¨ Heb 4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

¨ Num 32:23b …be sure your sin will find you out.

(All previous verses from NKJ)
I think it would be a good idea to get rid of your dirty little secrets, don’t you? Confessing them before God means turning from participation in them. Do whatever you have to do to fix what you’ve messed up. Start today.

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©2009 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Watch The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network’s new internet TV show Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott from any internet-connected device at www.HSBN.tv. (Stream current show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; or view past episodes anytime!)

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Why I Get Into Trouble as well as other favorites, Boomerangs to Arrows, and Power Suit

Why I Get Into Trouble link to our eStore: https://www.createspace.com/5131814

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

(Boomerangs Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk )

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

Most people want success. From the time we are very small children, we are aware of the satisfaction of winning and gaining what we want. Some of us remain quite competitive, and many of us channel that urge to win and gain into the drive for personal success in all areas of our lives.

Then we become believers, and we carry that drive for success over into our Christian lives and figure we can continue to bolster ourselves to higher heights spiritually. Here’s where we go wrong. We are not elevated in spiritual things in the same way we are elevated in earthly or carnal things. In carnal, fleshly, or natural things, we can elevate ourselves to our own level of incompetence. In spiritual things, we cannot do the elevating. God is the Elevator and He’s the One who judges, opens doors, and makes placements. God alone doles out blessings and causes success.

Now here’s how we can mess that up. Let’s look at two examples in Second Chronicles chapters 25 and 26. The first blockage to success in God is shown by King Amaziah. His mistake was that “he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart” Second Chronicles 25:2 (NKJ). King Uzziah lived out the second blockage to success in God. His mistake was that he got so successful that he forgot it was God who was making him great. We are told that “as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper… And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction” Second Chronicles 26:5, 15-16.

So what are the two things that block success and blessing? First, we will block our blessings and thwart our success by just going through the motions like King Amaziah did. We do not want to be guilty of “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” Second Timothy 3:5. Second, like King Uzziah, we will block our blessings and thwart our success by getting too big for our britches and forgetting that God is the Source and the Power behind all we have and do.

Let’s be sincere in our work for God. And as the saying goes, let’s never forget to remember where all our blessings come from.

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©2015 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Watch The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network’s new internet TV show Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott from any internet-connected device at www.HSBN.tv. (Stream current show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; or view past episodes anytime!)

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Why I Get Into Trouble as well as other favorites, Boomerangs to Arrows, andPower Suit

Why I Get Into Trouble link to our eStore: https://www.createspace.com/5131814

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

(Boomerangs Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk )

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

#LifeThatMatters

My three-day, Facebook debate with an atheist ended when we came to an impasse. My final evidence for the existence of God and Lordship of Jesus Christ is the Bible. The consistency of the internal evidence is enough for me, but at Biola University, I did study external evidence supporting its authenticity and veracity. Once my atheist debater began to spew ugly accusations about Jesus’ birth, no matter what evidence I gave, our conversation was over.

No matter how much he says the Biblical record is untrue, or claims to have conflicting “evidence,” the thing that bothers me most is that if he doesn’t change his views, he’s in for a rude awakening when he dies. I know that sounds contradictory–death vs. an awakening–but there is an awakening for us all when we die. The Bible promises believers eternal life in the presence of God; it promises unbelievers everlasting torment in which they are consciously aware that it was their denial of Christ that has caused their eternal state.

An old song once said, “If heaven never were promised to me, neither God’s promise to live eternally, it’s been worth just having the Lord in my life.” I agree, but thank God He’s real, Easter celebrates Jesus’ resurrection, heaven exists, and I’m going! Share the news.

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©2015 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Get ready to watch The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network’s new internet TV show Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott from any internet-connected device at www.HSBN.tv.

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Why I Get Into Trouble

Here’s the link to our eStore: https://www.createspace.com/5131814

Also still available:

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children

available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame

from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

#LifeThatMatters

           After Jesus’ body was taken from the cross, Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy man who had become a following, asked Pilate if the body of Jesus could be given to him. Pilate allowed it, so Joseph took Jesus’ body, “wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his [own] new tomb which he had hewn out of the rock” Matthew 27:59-60 (NKJ).

            It is very interesting what happened the next day. We talk a lot about the day Jesus died, and we talk a lot about the day He rose, but what about that middle day. What happened on that middle day?

            A very key thing happened on that middle day that concerned Jesus’ enemies. Matthew 27:62-66 tells us a conversation took place between Pilate—the same guy who had just given the body of the Lord to Joseph—and the crooked religious leaders who had been the impetus in Jesus’ assassination. The passage says:

 On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by nightand steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.”

Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

             How intriguing to realize that all of Jesus’ disciples and other close followers had totally missed every reference Jesus made to His resurrection, but His enemies had not missed that vital piece of information. Over and over again, Jesus had declared that he would be killed, but He would rise again. He even told them when: on the third day. Wouldn’t you think that if you had been one of the disciples, you would have been eagerly awaiting that third day to come around? If you had really listened to what Jesus had been saying, wouldn’t you have been sitting outside that garden tomb with great expectation for the dawning of that third day? Everything else Jesus said was always on point; why would this saying have been any different?

          But no, the disciples weren’t expecting Him to live again. They were in hiding. Joseph of Arimathea didn’t expect Him to live again. He was probably thinking about the work that would go into digging out another cave in which he would be buried when he died. The women didn’t expect Him to live again. They had watched where His body was laid so they could return the next day and further prepare It properly for a decent burial. No one considered the real possibility except His enemies. Why? They had been really listening to His every word. Their reason for listening so attentively was to catch Him in a web of His own words, but their evil intention led to their eager attention. And unwittingly, they actually became the first ones to repeat the proclamation, and thereby share the news of Jesus’ resurrection.

        Keep up the good work of proclaiming the truth of the gospel whenever the opportunity presents itself. They may not act like it, but your children your co-workers, your extended family members, your friends, your neighbors, and even strangers are hearing and they are listening. It was necessary for someone from the enemy’s camp to be a witness to the Resurrection. And it is necessary for those around us today who are antagonistic to the gospel to hear it anyway. Just as nothing can be erased from the mind of a jury, God’s word cannot be erased from hearts. That’s why Satan tries so hard to snatch it away, choke it out, and smother it up (see Matthew 13:3-9 and 13:18-23). Isaiah 55:11 clearly states God’s declaration about His word. “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (NKJ).

So tell it! The enemy is listening!

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©2015 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Get ready to watch The Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network’s new internet TV show Life That Matters with Sharon Norris Elliott from any internet-connected device at HSBN.tv.

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Why I Get Into Trouble

Here’s the link to our eStore: https://www.createspace.com/5131814

Also still available:

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children

available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame

from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

At the end of every year, I sit and take inventory of my life. Did last year turn out as I expected? How have I changed, grown, and progressed? Is anything significantly different because I touched it? Did my life make a meaningful difference in anyone else’s? Did anything or anyone have a memorable impact on my life? What did I learn from the Lord? Did I do anything that was Kingdom worthy? Both great and disappointing things happened in my life last year. A passage in the book of Haggai really made me start thinking about my answers to the questions above and why my year unfolded as it did. Haggai 1:6-11 and 13; and 2:4-5 and 9 are poignant.

• “You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”
• Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
• Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the Lord… Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you, says the Lord…”
• Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord; ‘and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!’… ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

Perhaps last year did not produce all we had hoped it would yield. It could have been because we were more about our own business than God’s. Like Jesus when He was found in the temple at twelve years of age, let us desire to be about our Father’s business. Let us build His house first, for don’t we know that our bodies are His temple? (See I Corinthians 6:19-20.) With our whole body, mind, and spirit, we must seek after Him and obey His voice. The great news is that regardless of what didn’t happen last year, or how we may have blown opportunities, God still says to us as He said through Haggai, “I am with you.” But He doesn’t stop there. God goes on to say that as I just keep working and obeying Him, I can be assured that “the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, and in this place [He] will give peace.” Only greater things are ahead! “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” First Corinthians 2:9 (NLT). That’s good news! So my verse for the new year is Haggai 2:4 which says, “‘Yet now be strong… and work, for I am with you’ says the Lord of hosts”, making my word for the year “work.” Worship God today for being the Revealer of New Horizons. ____________________________ ©2014 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Why I Get Into Trouble

Here’s the link to our eStore: https://www.createspace.com/5131814

Also still available:

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children

available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame

from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)

In Judges, chapter 6, the Angel of the Lord appears to Gideon to tell him he is the next judge chosen to deliver Israel, this time from the oppression of the Midianites. Not understanding why he, the least in a small family, would be chosen, Gideon asked the Lord for some reassurance. First, the Lord consumes food with fire, then He allows dew to fall on the fleece only the first time, and then on the ground and not on the fleece the second time (see verses 21 and 36-40). I was a little puzzled by this, not by the signs themselves, but by Jesus’ reaction in the New Testament when He was asked by the Pharisees to show a sign. His reaction then was, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign!” Matthew 12:39 (NIV)

Why was it wicked for the Pharisees to ask for a sign but okay for Gideon? I think the answer lies in the heart of the one asking the question. You see, the Pharisees were asking for a sign in order to believe; Gideon was asking because of his belief. Gideon’s heart beat for God and he wanted to be sure he was moving in obedience. Our loving heavenly Father has no problem reassuring us that we are really hearing from Him, but woe to those of us who know we hear and still do not move and obey. The Pharisees simply wanted to see some magic; their hearts were twisted to only hate Him no matter what they saw. Gideon was poised to obey. What do we do with the voice of God when we hear it? Worship God today for being the One who reassures.

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©2014 Sharon Norris Elliott. Feel free to forward this devotion in its entirety, including this copyright line. Leave comments, ask questions, read past devotions, or subscribe to receive these devotions daily in your e-mail at www.sanewriter.wordpress.com. Also, periodically check in at www.LifeThatMatters.net to see what’s going on in the ministry.

 Pick up a copy of Sharon’s newest release,

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children

available from Judson Press (http://www.judsonpress.com/product.cfm?product_id=17387),

at bookstores, and on all major online book buying sites.

Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2JH_gbinMk

Also still available:

Power Suit: The Armor of God Fit for the Feminine Frame

from New Hope Publishers (http://www.newhopedigital.com/2010/08/power-suit/)