To Bring Him Joy

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15:5 ESV I love beginning a new journal – all those crisp white or cream lined pages to fill up with new thoughts and prayers and scripture!! I call it a twiG journal because that is my shortened version of “time with God” which also reminds me that He is the vine and I am a branch or twig and I must remain in Him to bear much fruit. To remain in Him I must spend time with Him in His word and in prayer. A couple of weeks ago, while it was yet November, I wrote the last word in the last page of my twiG journal. On Friday November 25, 2016 I began my new journal with this prayer: “ Abba, thank You for this new day – for this new journal. O may the words I put down on these pages be honoring unto You. Father, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit please open Your word to me – show me Yourself – Your glory. Help m...

  “ But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:20-21, 24-25 ESV) So the other morning when I was reading the story of the birth of Jesus, aka the Christmas story, and the warning in the dream to the wise men stood out to me, I decided I would go back and see just how many times this happened in this story. It happened quite often to Joseph. This passage caught my attention and caused me to not only thank God for Joseph but for my husband, who is much like Joseph. Maybe you have a Joseph that you need to give much ...

  "And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way." Matthew 2:12 ESV As I told you in my previous post, I've been trying to read the story of the birth of Jesus around Christmas time for over thirty years now, asking God to show me something new.  I'm hoping to share some of those things with you over the next few weeks.  I'm so excited as I have been reading and remembering different things that the Holy Spirit has spoken to me about through His word and this particular story over the years.  I want to say that just because I call it a story does not mean that it didn't happen. It is not a fairy tale. It is a biography, the story of the living God that He has chosen to reveal to us in written form. Wow, what a blessing that He would want to share His story with us and even more that He would want to share Himself with us. Of course, this is why He wrote this history. The whole Bible has been written...