Christmas To Do-ers List, Day 2: Make Room for Him

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Christmas To Do-ers List

Day 2: Make Room for Him

She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

No Room

Can you imagine being Mary perched on a donkey, already in the pangs of labor, as they entered the city of Bethlehem? I am sure she was hoping for a quiet place, a haven to give birth to her son. But that’s not what greeted her. A city teeming with people and noise, with nary a haven in sight.

Or perhaps you identify more with Joseph, with the full responsibility of Mary and the imminent birth on his shoulders. Every inn was packed; every door he desperately knocked on slammed in his face. No room.

Make RoomMake Room Day 2 jpeg

As we consider Mary and Joseph’s plight that night, one of the most important lessons we can take from this story is to make room for the Savior in our lives.  In the whole city, one innkeeper took pity on their plight and offered what he had for their use.

What about us? Do we make room for the Word Made Flesh in our lives? John 8:37 tells the sad story of those who have no room for the word. But when we make room for Jesus, when we give Him what we have, He changes everything. The more room we give Him in our lives, the more changes He makes. And the more He uses what we give Him.

While it’s a good start, Jesus is asking for more than just Sunday morning. We need to make room in our schedules, in our homes, in our leisure time, in our work, in our hearts.  

Rather than being a once-a-week commitment, Jesus wants to be our everyday priority.
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Rather than being a once-a-week commitment, Jesus wants to be our everyday priority.

When we pray about our schedules, Jesus can multiply our time, help us to make the right connections and opportunities. When we invite Him into our families, He can soften and quicken the hearts of ourselves and our loved ones to bring about necessary change. When we pray about our leisure time activities and hobbies, He can spark creativity and opportunities we may not  have had otherwise. When we give Him our work, He can help us weather difficulties and inspire us with new ideas. When we step out in ministry, he can bless our five loaves and two fish into much more than we imagine. Making room for Him is the key to change in our own lives.

Action Points:

Determine how you will make room for Jesus this Advent.

  1. What does your devotion time look like? Are you meeting with Jesus in the morning or evening? If not, when can you make time for Him?
  2. Is there an area of your life that you have put up the “no vacancy” sign at, that you haven’t yet yielded control of to Jesus?
  3. Can you make room for an extended time of prayer once during Advent? Perhaps as a mini-retreat in your own home or somewhere else?
  4. Is there a step of ministry God is asking you to take for Him?

Please share any ideas of how you will make room for Jesus this season in the comment section below and enjoy the music selection for today: Do You Have Room?, by Shawna Edwards.

Let’s be To Do-ers of His word this Christmas season by making room!

Previous Posts:

Day 1: Believe Him

 



Christmas To Do-ers List: Believe Him, Part 3

Christmas Bible study, Advent Bible study

Something Extra

A little something extra from Day 1. Please read the scripture below and comment on how the woman showed her belief in Jesus. Happy Advent!

A Sinful Woman Forgiven

“36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat.
37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil,
38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.
39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”
40 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
So he said, “Teacher, say it.”

41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors.

One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”Day 1 Believe jpg
And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.”
44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.
45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

How did the woman show her belief in Jesus?

 

 

Believe Him.

by Mary Kane

“Blue Letter Bible – Luk 7: Gospel of Luke 7 (Blue Letter Bible: NKJV – New King James Version).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 1 Dec, 2015. <https://www.blueletterbible.orghttps://www.blueletterbible.org/nkjv/luk/7/44/p1/s_980044>.



Christmas To Do-ers List: Believe Him part 2

Christmas Bible study, Advent Bible study

A little something extra for Believe Him, Day 1! Please read the scripture below. Comment on how you see Ruth exercising her belief in God and what God wants you to believe today. Happy Advent!

Elimelech’s Family Goes to Moab

1 Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there. 3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 Now they took wives of the women of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years. 5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.

Naomi Returns with Ruth

6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had visited His people by giving them bread. 7 Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The LORD grant that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband.”
So she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”Day 1 Believe jpg
11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters, go—for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, 13 would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me!”
14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

Ruth’s Commitment

16 But Ruth said:
“Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
And there will I be buried.
The LORD do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.”
18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.
19 Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”
20 But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the LORD has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. Now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.”

Don’t forget to comment below on how you will continue to believe God today!

Believe Him.

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Copyright 2015

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“Blue Letter Bible – Rth 1: Story of Ruth 1 (Blue Letter Bible: NKJV – New King James Version).” Blue Letter Bible. Web. 30 Nov, 2015. <https://www.blueletterbible.orghttps://www.blueletterbible.org/nkjv/rth/1/1/s_233001>.

 



Christmas To Do-ers List, Day 1: Believe Him

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Christmas To Do-ers List

Day 1: Believe Him

“Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” Luke 1:45

Blessed is she who believes.

It was an ordinary day for Mary, one like any other. Chores to accomplish, tasks to finish, water to fetch, meals to cook and a wedding to plan. But, God interrupted the ordinary and asked Mary to do something extraordinary … believe Him. We might scoff and think how hard is that? Anyone can believe God.

But do we?

Do we believe God for anything beyond salvation?

Believe Him.

When Mary chose to believe God, it changed everything, her past, her present and certainly her future. Mary’s choice to believe God was a true test of faith. In order to accept God’s plan for her life, Mary needed two miracles. One miracle to start a life (she knew not a man), and another miracle to save a life — hers. Despite the seemingly impossible circumstances, Mary believed Him.

To believe or not to believe.Day 1 Believe jpg

God, in His infinite wisdom, does not force us to act. The choice is ours—we can believe or not. But for some reason, God will not implement certain actions unless we choose to believe Him.

Believe like Mary.

Live Mary, believing God changes everything about our past, present and future.  What do you need to believe God for today?  Your marriage … your health …  a job … a child … forgiveness? Because of the cradle and the cross, you can believe.

What if you live today as is if you believe what God says? What if you live today as one truly forgiven? What if you dare to live as a person who is called by God?  What would it look like to believe Him today? What actions would you take? What words would you say? What decisions would you make?

Action Points:

  1. What has God said that you need to believe? Choose something from the list below.

    1. You are beautiful.
    2. You are chosen.
    3. You are gifted.
    4. You are loved.
    5. You are forgiven.
    6. You have purpose.
    7.  ____________ (other).

Today, choose to believe God over the wisdom of the world,  the advice of friends, the counsel of your own heart and the lies of the enemy.

What are you believing God for today? Please record your goal in the Comment section below.

Believe Him.

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All rights reserved. Copyright 2015

For your listening enjoyment this Advent season, please click on the link below.



Christmas To Do-ers List

Welcome to Christmas To Do-ers List

Rush, rush, slush, slush. Sleigh bells ring, can you hear them? “Tis the season to get busy, right? This year how about we exchange rushing, stressing, and fretting for believing, seeking, and watching for Jesus? This blessed season of Advent let’s not just be doers, but doers of the Word.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:22-25

How many times have you heard a portion of scripture, thought to yourself, Wow, I really need to do that, and then promptly forgot about the task at hand? The To Do-ers List Bible Study will help you move from being a hearer of the Word, to becoming a doer of the Word. Let’s work together to develop the godly habit of applying Scripture to our lives and circumstances by intensely focusing on one Scripture a day. It is our prayer you become a doer of the Word.

Some of the benefits of being do-ers of the Word.

  1. Grow in righteousness  (2 Timothy 3:16)
  2. Walk in wisdom (Psalm 19:7)
  3. Live in freedom (John 8:32)
  4. Enjoy the abundant life (John 6:68)
  5. Act in strength (Joel 2:11)
  6. Strengthen your faith (Romans 10:17)
  7. Receive comfort, revival, and peace (Psalm 119:7-16)
  8. Plus many, many other benefits.

We can be listeners, hearers, watchers, thinkers, and gatherers of His word, but there must be a point in time when we become doers of the Word.

Beginning Sunday, November 29th, and running through Wednesday, December 23,  check our website every Sunday morning and Wednesday morning starting at 5:00 a.m. to get your Christmas To Do-ers List Bible Study. Two lessons a week will give us time to study and apply. Read your lesson and pray for wisdom on how “to do” it. Throughout the week, feel free to check in at our private Facebook Christmas To Do-ers page to share insights, request prayer, and encourage others. Community sharing is one way to grow in faith, and we’d love to hear what God is teaching and how you’re being a do-er of His word.

We pray this study will set the tone for an Advent and Christmas season that is focused on Jesus. May He inspire you in ways you can’t yet imagine to be a do-er of His word. We’ll see you on the 29th! Please sign up below so we have an accurate list of the participants, and we can send you a list of  resources. But remember to check our website for the posts every Sunday and Wednesday, as we won’t be mailing the posts.

Have a blessed Advent and Christmas season!

Mary and Jane






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