Tis the Season to Sing!

I love Christmas Music at Christmas time!  But did you know your life can be a song? Jesus’ life certainly was. From birth till His death and Resurrection until now and forever; songs will be sung about His life, His glory, and the difference He made in this world and in our lives! How about your life? It can also be a beautiful melody unto the Lord. Psalms 42:8 says “The LORD decrees His loving devotion by day, and at night His song is with me as a prayer to the God of my life.”  Our lives can be a love song to the Lord and a song of praise to our God. God’s gift of life to us through Jesus, the Messiah, should stir us to sing songs of praise and devotion! But not just in form of music. But with our whole lives! Casting Crown’s Mark Hall wrote a song that says: “Let my lifesong sing to You, I wanna sign Your name to the end of this day. Knowing that my heart was true. Let my lifesong sing to You!”  We desire our lifesong to be written by the acts of love we do and show toward others. Be kind, respectful, and careful to think of others better than yourself (Philippians 2:3). Build others UP instead of tearing others down with your words. Your lifesong can make others feel good, just like the music you love!
One of our songs we are singing in the Christmas Cantata is titled “Speak Oh Lord”. As we become more like Christ and allow His life to shine through ours; we desire God’s voice to speak through us and sing through us more and more.  We desire God’s truth to be planted deep enough inside of us that it dictates our thoughts and actions. So much so that others can see and hear it. May your song this Christmas season be heard by all around you; and may it bring glory to God’s name! 

Understanding the Antichrist “spirit”

Many believe that the “spirit of Antichrist”, that John spoke of in his Epistle (1 John 4:1-3 & 2 John 1:7), is somehow an evil opposite of the Holy Spirit. This is not true.  Remember, the devil is just a fallen angel. The devil is not all powerful nor is he omnipresent (everywhere at once).  At the very best, satan and his devils (millions of fallen angels), work on people to spread their lies and deceptions. John uses the example in 1 & 2^nd John, of people who were saying that Jesus was not God in the flesh (bodily form).  John said that such people were deceived and that this was the “spirit” of the antichrist. In other words, this is a false belief that spreads and creates the wrong “spirit” and attitude in people toward Jesus. The Holy Spirit is a “Person” of the Godhead: He is God and has all the powers of God; can be grieved, sinned against, and lied too.  He, the Holy Spirit can teach, comfort and lead to all truths! The antichrist spirit (which is separate from The Antichrist, who will be a man, perfectly possessed by the devil), this spirit is simply the ideas, beliefs and lies that go out into the world that lead people away from belief in Jesus, and who HE really is! This “spirit” (idea and belief) against Jesus is very dangerous and can spread to lead many away from God. The only comparison that could be made between God’s Holy Spirit and satan’s “spirit” is that God’s Spirit works to bring people to Him, where as the “spirit” of antichrist works to spread lies leading people away from God.  But the Holy Spirit can work on His own accord and partner or become the ally inside the believer. The “spirit” of antichrist is limited and can only work through the atmosphere of lies through the minds and hearts of people. We the Church, allied with the Holy Spirit, can combat these evil “spirits” by SPEAKING Truth into our society and world and LIVING the LIFE for Jesus! We can be confident in this because God fights for us! And one day EVERY KNEE WILL BOW AND EVERY TONGUE WILL CONFESS that HE is LORD!!! (Philippians 2:10-11; Romans 14:11; Isaiah 45:23)

The Year of the “+”

With Disney+, Paramount+, Apple TV+, and LGBTQIA+…the world is offering a lot of additions that in most cases, are not adding anything good for us as Christians. And many of the things they are trying to add to our hearts and minds are straight from satan and hell!  But God offers a Plus that brings GREAT benefits to our lives; both in the now and into eternity! Let’s look at 2 Peter 1:5a-8 “…make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We can’t go wrong adding God’s nature and knowledge of who He is into our lives. Doing so will be the only way to avoid adding worldliness instead of godliness.  The pressures to conform only get stronger…and we will be filled with something. But God is calling us to fill our lives with more of Him!  Let us heed the call to add more of Him and less of me. John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” God’s +

The Wow Factor – A Beginning thought: