Weekly Devotional: Gems from Pastor Jim 12/25/2023

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Merry Christmas Everyone – Jesus is the Reason for the Season

by Jim Hughes 

Cross

Ps. 100:4-5 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. For the LORD is good. His unfailing love continues to each generation.

Attitude is everything. How and why we approach God matters. If we constantly approach Him with our complaints or problems, it robs us of the fellowship we need with Him. We come to Him to solve our problems because He is our problem solver, but when He is nothing more than that to us, we lose the joy of living in fellowship with Him. Instead of focusing on what is not right in our world, we must learn to focus on the Lord and who He is.

Worship involves adoration. We must learn to focus on God for who He is and not just on what He does. We must learn to appreciate the Lord in His majestic glory. We must discover the Lord in His holy love. We must rediscover the Lord, our God, as absolute holiness and goodness. We must learn how to approach God with no agenda other than to worship Him. We must learn how to enjoy the time we spend in the presence of God.

When we focus on the Lord for who He is, we swell up with thanksgiving and praise. God is not far removed from us! He became flesh and dwelt for a while amongst us. He took upon himself our sin and shame, our condemnation before God, and made us into children of God. The Lord has not left us alone to fend for ourselves in our quest for God. He gave us His Spirit, his Word, and His children to help us. The Lord has poured into our lives His goodness and love. We are never outside the security of His love.

Let us pause right now and give the Lord, our God, our thanksgiving and praise. Let us thank Him and bless His holy name. Feast on the richness of His nearness, love, and grace. The Lord is our faithful lover. The Lord chose to love us before we were ever conceived. There has never been born anyone who has not been loved by God.

Let us set aside for a moment all of our concerns and burdens and worship the Lord for who He is. He is perfect love, holiness and goodness all in one. Enter into His gates and praise His holy name.

About the Author:

Jim Hughes

Spending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.

C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one’s self from such failures.

I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn’t broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.

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