Father, teach us today how to be a Good Shepherd during this Christmas Season. Just as sheep are innocent and vulnerable to attack, there are those around you who are hurting without the love and protection of God. Therefore, adopt a shepherd’s heart this Christmas, and help bring the lost and broken-hearted back to Jesus Christ.
Jesus Is the Good Shepherd The ultimate depiction of a shepherd is Jesus Christ. In John 10:14-15 He says,
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
The More Troubled Things Are, The More Present God Makes Himself! It Doesn’t Matter What Rages Around You. It Only Matters Who Reigns Within You.
While everyone around you may be celebrating and totally unaware of how you are hurting, please know that Jesus is moving close to you today, and He wants to do something very powerful for you this Christmas…And That is to Heal What’s Broken!
That is why I think He has led me to remind someone today: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). But there is a turning point in my message today and it is: Thank God It’s the beginning of a new season. It’s the beginning of a new season of reaping, reaping, reaping, just the blessings of God in your life. I know it’s been gradual and gradual but when the blessing of God comes in, we are stepping into this thing called the latter rain. The latter rain is always going to be greater than the former.
And it is far worse if what is broken is a relationship you really care about, or your family is broken, or your heart is broken, your joy is broken, your peace is broken, your trust has been broken, your loyalty has been broken. In fact, all the “joy to the world” around you just seems to make the hurt even worse! And often the Christmas Season tends to bring painful reminders of the things and people that have hurt us the most and broken us to pieces! A mother who walked away and never came back; a father who died; a marriage that ended; a child that left home; a doctor’s sad report; the loss of a job after 20 years; the senseless loss of a friend’s life; a relationship that is beyond repair…and the list could go on forever.
In your brokenness is where you will find God right there! Now that's encouragement! Because most people do not want to be around someone who is broken. Why? Because they know it will only be a time of tears, complaining, sob stories, self-pity parties, and retelling of the same hurtful scripts repeatedly. But Jesus is a friend that sticks closer than a brother! He could care less about any of that, He's not leaving your side, nor is He turning a deaf ear to you, nor will He leave you there broken. After all, He is the mender of broken hearts! So, wherever you find yourself broken today, know that Jesus is Right There, even if no one else is! You my friend are on the verge of being mended!
“Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let us not let it slip through our fingers. We do not have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He has been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So, let us walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, ACCEPT THE HELP” (Hebrews 4:14-16 MSG).
It is not that God has not offered His help; the problem is we have not accepted it! Which makes absolutely no sense since the word itself means 'to take'! Therefore, today, Take the help God is offering to heal you and help you mend every broken area of your life. Do Not Focus So Much On Your Hurt That You Lose Sight Of His Help!
He Really Is The Fixer Of Broken Hearts, Broken Lives, And Broken People! How Do I Know? The Word Of God Said So, And The Word Of God Can’t Lie!
So, if this Christmas You are Battling with Brokenness, Simply Lean on the One Who Has Been Charged to Bind Up the Brokenhearted…His Names Is JESUS!
Let Him Mend You and Make You Whole Again! After all, isn’t that a part of the Reason we celebrate Him this Season? The Son of God Coming to Seek and Save; Heal and Deliver?
It takes time. Remember: No Matter What Is Broken, Where It Broke, How Long and How Bad It Has Been Broken, Why It Broke, When It Broke, or Who Broke It…He Can…and He Will Bind the Broken…Just Trust Him and Accept His Help to Heal! And this Broken Christmas May Just Prove to be Your Very Best Christmas Yet!
Remember the REASON not the RECEIPTS of This Christmas! He Came to Save you, and that Includes Saving You from Suffering the Pain of Remaining Broken! Be Healed Today, Be Well Today, Be Happy Today, Be Made Whole Today!
God can heal a broken heart. But you need to give Him all the pieces. Note To Self: Healing Is NOT an overnight process.
“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, and broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.”
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed.” (NCV).
Remember, this Jesus who we celebrated this Christmas was, in the words of the Bible, a “man of sorrows and familiar with suffering” (Isaiah 53:3). The Amplified Bible says it like this: “He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him.” (AMP) The Contemporary English Bible says it like this: “He was hated and rejected; his life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering. No one wanted to look at him. We despised him and said, “He is a nobody!” (CEB)
JESUS was misunderstood, despised, rejected, forsaken, hated, filled with sorrows, pain, grief, sickness, and terrible suffering, abandoned, betrayed, falsely accused, and even mocked, spat upon, pierced, and put to death! So, in case you feel as if no one knows how you feel; no one can identify with your brokenness, rest assured, JESUS KNOWS, JESUS CARES AND JESUS UNDERSTANDS!
Thank God It’s the beginning of a new season. It’s the beginning of a new season of reaping, reaping, reaping, just the blessings of God in your life is going to be greater than the former. You’re talking about the floodgates, some of you have had the floodgates of problems in one thing after another and when you recuperate from one thing, it hits you with another, but in this season, God is getting ready to overwhelm you with His goodness. Can you imagine the blessings of God coming on the left hand and the right hand, when they are pushing you in your back, just pushing you into your destiny. I’m telling you God has great things in store for His children, He’s a great Father. He just wants to overwhelm you from the left to the right. He’s got Angels just holding sickles on your behalf in the north, south, east, and west. He is getting ready to release things on the earth that will overwhelm you from the east to the west with blessings that will come in signs of deliverance, miracles, and blessings, miracles, and blessings, a season of them in signs of wonders, a season of them, suddenly God will shift your season suddenly, where you have had a hard time, but suddenly things will shift in your favor. If you believe it, you will receive it. You will see God move, the naysayers will sit back and see God’s children being blessed, people getting healed, people getting delivered, people getting encouraged, people getting goodness and mercy extended to them, property liens given into your hands, degrees are being given in finishing school and universities.
This is a new season; He is expanding your territory on the left and right. God is giving you wisdom; you’ll be able to hold on to it this time. Justice will roll in like mighty waters and righteousness come down like mighty streams. May God turn your affliction; may your affliction never rise again. Have your way this morning Lord, let it rain, let it rain. He’s cutting off things that need to be cut off but adding blessings in your life that you have been desperate for, a season now, cause God’s getting ready to feed you on a new level of where you are going but not where you are coming from, and this is the Lord’s doing. God is going to give some of you your divine testimonies of what He is doing in this season. God said your suddenly is breaking through now.
You didn’t know what God was doing but He was working on you. Suddenly the check comes, it is shifting in your favor. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. The miracle is in process right now. I pray this year is a year of blessing, breakthrough, and abundance for you and those you love most. When you have a setback, don't take a step back. This year is your year of COMEBACK, and you will soon see that the setbacks of your last 12 months were a SET-UP for your best days which begin NOW! This is your season of blessings; you are being made in the likeness of Elohim. I pray that God will anoint you and give you new ideas. Have expectation like never before. Tell God to use everything in you for His purpose. We shouldn’t have to be pumped to praise God. Praise Him anyhow this morning,
Watch God's Winter Performance. You Can’t Pray Your Life’s Seasons Away! There are some situations you aren’t meant to Change—You’re Just Meant to Endure! 2 Timothy 2:3. In other words, what you’re currently dealing with that’s Heavily Weighing You Down in the Natural, is considered by the Spirit “…Our Light, Momentary Affliction…” Therefore, you’re not going to deal with it always, But You Have to Deal With It Right Now! The stone in your hand might be small, but the God who is with you is bigger than the giant in front of you. It is not about your stone, but about your God.
I love the months surrounding the holiday seasons, but in all truth, I honestly won’t mind if the North Pole weather cuts its visit short! I was discussing my deep freeze feelings with a friend who lived in Alaska most of her life, and she helped me to possess a different perspective, in fact, an even positive outlook on our cold weather season. She simply said, “Just keep in mind that cold seasons kill a lot of bugs!” Now it didn’t make me happy that I still had to endure the rest of the cold season, but it sure made me happy to know that while I’m dealing with the cold, the cold is dealing with the bugs!
SIMPLY PUT, DON’T LET THE COLD BOTHER YOU, IT’S ACTUALLY KILLING WHAT’S BUGGING YOU!
Far too often we quickly get upset over the Bad, not realizing that it usually leads to something Good! Most of us have lived long enough to see it happen – something Good coming out of something that’s Bad, or even difficult and unpleasant. Therefore, if you’re in a season in your life that’s cold right now, and you’re feeling the chill of crisis; the breeze of bitterness; the winds of worry; the damp of depression; the ice of irritation; the blizzard of backbiters; the storms of struggle; and the rains of restlessness, know THAT EVEN WHEN THE CONDITIONS OF THE SEASON RESTRICT YOU, THEY CAN NEVER CONSTRICT YOUR GOD!
You see, the word “RESTRICT” means: “TO PUT A LIMIT ON, KEEP UNDER CONTROL, DEPRIVE OF FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT OR ACTION” It’s Latin Origin ‘RESTRINGERE’ literally means ‘TO TIE BACK’. We’ve seen that in many winter seasons, as the blizzards hit we’re RESTRICTED in bus, cab, and train service. We’re LIMITED in various methods of transportation and KEPT UNDER THE CONTROL of snowplows as to when we could move, and how far we could go. FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND ACTION was DEPRIVED for so many who couldn’t get to where they needed to, because they’d been “RESTRICTED”. Which is where we coined the phrase: “MY HANDS ARE TIED!”
But Bear In Mind, That Even When We’re ‘Restricted’, God Is Never ‘Constricted’! The Word ‘Constricted’ Means: “To Make Or Become Narrower, Especially By Encircling Pressure Or Attempting To Tighten Around”. Literally Means To ‘Bind Tightly Together’. You See, Your God Is Too Big To Be Made Narrow, And He’s Too Powerful For Pressure To Place Him In A Tight Grip! Even In Seasons Where You’re ‘Restricted’, Take Comfort In Knowing That Your God Is Never ‘Constricted’! Even When Your Hands Are Tied, His Will Never Be! Regardless To The Condition, He Can Still Bless You In The Midst Of Your Most Brittle, Bitter And Brutal Blizzard! Your God Is Too Powerful To Be Pressured! Even When You Grow Weak, Never Forget The Strength Of Your God!
EVEN WHEN IT DON’T FEEL LIKE IT’S IN YOUR FAVOR, BECAUSE HE’S YOUR GOD…IT IS!
DON’T LET THE WINTER SEASON WORRY YOU, EVERY SEASON HAS TO CHANGE! BUT DON’T MISS OUT ON THE BLESSING AND BENEFITS OF THE COLD SEASON WHILE IT’S HERE!
James 1:2-4, “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So Don’t Try To Get Out Of Anything Prematurely. Let It Do Its Work So You Become Mature And Well-Developed, Not Deficient In Any Way” (Msg)
In Winter, trees take advantage of the season to rebuild their strength and prepare to be fruitful next season. Their sap and substance go underground. Then in the Spring, it pushes its way back up again in the form of New Growth. Looking back over your life you’ll find that your achievements are Seasonal. Growth comes, then struggle, and vice versa. Each Season Has Its Purpose. God has a reason for not allowing you to be productive all the time. When He permits Winter winds to blow through your life, He’s preparing you for the coming Spring. That’s why James wrote, “Consider it a …gift…when tests and challenges come at you from all sides…under pressure, your faith…is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So Don’t Try to Get Out of Anything Prematurely. Let It Do Its Work So You Become Mature and Well-Developed, Not Deficient In Any Way” (MSG). One of the issues you’ll struggle with in a waiting period is the urge to Hurry Because Your Flesh Always Wants to Make Permanent Decisions Based On Temporary Circumstances. Don’t Do It! Every Situation Doesn’t Call For Immediate Action! The Only Biblical Way For You to Become Mature, Well-Developed, and Lacking Nothing Is To Endure Hardship! So, if you try to find a shortcut to getting out of your trials, You’ll Have to Take a Longer Journey to Get to Your Destiny!
REMEMBER: THE COLD SEASON GETS RID OF BUGS (AND WHAT’S ‘BUGGING’ YOU), SO DON’T RUSH IT, LET IT COMPLETE ITS WORK!
WHAT THE WEATHER (AND YOUR HATERS) HAVE PLANNED FOR YOU CAN’T COMPARE TO WHAT THE WILL OF GOD HAS PLANNED FOR YOU! FROM THE PIT TO THE PRISON To The Palace, JOSEPH Prospered, HE WAS SUSTAINED BY ONE THING HE KNEW HAD NOT CHANGED—GOD WAS WORKING ON A BIGGER PLAN! If you belong to Jesus, then Joseph’s God is your God, too. And He’s a God who uses even the wickedness of man to do great things. For Joseph, vengeful brothers, false accusations, and terrible injustices BECAME TOOLS THAT GOD USED TO TAKE HIM TO PLACES AND POSITIONS HE COULD NEVER HAVE GONE OTHERWISE! WHICH IS WHY I REITERATE: DON’T LET THE WINTER BOTHER YOU, BECAUSE IT’S KILLING WHAT’S BUGGING YOU!
If it’s cold right now, if it’s dark right now, don’t let discouragement win. Don’t let bitterness or resentment or resignation ruin the greater plan God is working on. Romans 8:28, “We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a PLAN] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.” (AMP). During this winter in your life, He wants to build in your qualities that will lead to future greatness. He wants to give you a closeness to Him that you’ve never had before and would never get any other way. And then, He wants to use this season to position you to make a greater difference with the rest of your life than you ever imagined! As Cold as it may seem right now, God is working out some Cool plans for your life! Regardless to what the Meteorologist tells you, There Is A Sunny Side to a Cold Season!
Use your Winter as a time to sharpen your weaponry for the spiritual warfare ahead! And how do you do that?
1...Get Into the WORD of God: (Isaiah 55:11, “So Shall My Word Be That Goes Forth Out Of My Mouth: It Shall Not Return To Me Void [Without Producing Any Effect, Useless], But It Shall Accomplish That Which I Please And Purpose, And It Shall Prosper In The Thing For Which I Sent It.” AMPC).
2...Get Into WORSHIP: (the posture where you don’t go seeking God, but He comes seeking you)! (John 4:23, “A time will come, however, indeed it is already here when the true (genuine) worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth (reality); FOR THE FATHER IS SEEKING JUST SUCH PEOPLE AS THESE AS HIS WORSHIPERS.” (AMPC).
3...Get the WISDOM of God: (it is essential to making wise decisions)! (James 1:5, “If any of you is deficient in wisdom, LET HIM ASK THE GIVING GOD [WHO GIVES] TO EVERYONE LIBERALLY AND UNGRUDGINGLY, WITHOUT REPROACHING OR FAULTFINDING, AND IT WILL BE GIVEN HIM.” AMPC).
4...Get Into the WILL of God: (this is the place that is attached to your promise)! (Hebrews 10:36, “For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish THE WILL OF GOD, AND THUS RECEIVE AND CARRY AWAY [AND ENJOY TO THE FULL] WHAT IS PROMISED.” AMPC).
5...Get Into the Right WARDROBE: (no soldier fights without his fatigues)! And what are fatigues? (The phrase “military fatigues” was coined by the United States Armed Forces in the mid 1800’s and was used in reference to the clothes worn by soldiers detailed to menial or hard labor. And what are your “fatigues”? (READ: Ephesians 6:11-18).
Discouragement and fear and drifting from God – those are your greatest enemies, not what faces you on your battlefields! This Winter is not dead time or despair time. It’s get ready time! What you do with your Winter will decide whether you win or lose the war! Therefore, get into the Word of God; Get into Worship; Get the Wisdom of God; Get into the Will of God, and Get into the right Wardrobe! Then Work Your Winter!
Blessings
J.P. Olson
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