12/6/15

What Gift(s) Are You Giving...

this Holy Season to the Son of God? Are you looking for gifts to give to Jesus? The best gifts come from the heart and are cheerfully given. 
Personal gifts we can give include dying to self, taking up our cross, obedience and quick repentance when we know we have done something not pleasing to the Lord. Let us not give in to buying something just for the 'having' of it! Especially this time of year, when greed and avarice are awaiting their prey wherever we go.
We always hear of these gifts for others listed below, but how many have we ever done ourselves? Just because we wanted to and, in the doing, found that our spirit felt happy, not prideful, in caring for someone else.

Food for the hungry

Drink for the thirsty
Clothing and Shelter for the poor

Have we been, or are we even now, guilty of seeing or knowing of someone in need yet we pass them by and do nothing? Even worse to me is when we tell them "to go see 'so-and-so' or 'go to a certain place' and they can help you" yet we provided no way for them to get there and do not offer to go out of our way to bring it to them. This is lip service, not heart service. We should be doers of the Word not hearers only. 


It is better for the lost to SEE a sermon in LOVE and actions than to only HEAR one from lips with no love or effort being shown.

Matthew 1:23(NKJV)
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Matthew 25:31-46 (NKJV)
The Son of Man Will Judge the Nations

31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy[a] angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
44 “Then they also will answer Him,[b] saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Revelation 19:16 (NKJV)

16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS AND

LORD OF LORDS.


Be Abundantly Favored and Blessed,
Anna