What I’ve Learned

December 21st, 2012 dsisler

I have a wall hanging in my living room. It stays on the wall all year long, even though it speaks of Christmas. This is what it says.

 

“All I know about Christmas I learned from Jesus.”

 

You see I have a tendency to get pretty caught up in the trappings of the earthly meaning of Christmas. This plaque hangs where I can see it every day to remind myself what Christmas is all about.

So what have I learned from Jesus? I’m going to share twelve, but there are plenty more. Perhaps you can add to this list or make your own list.

 

#1 Be Open to Learning

I shared several passages in the past that show the importance of being open to learning. Here they are again if you need to be reminded.

 

“Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” (Psalm 25:4-5 – NIV)

 

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” (Micah 4:2 – NIV)

 

#2 Remain in Him

Jesus reminds us over and over that He will never leave us. The lesson we are to learn is to remain in Him.

 

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” (John 15:4a – NIV)

 

#3 Jesus is Truth

As Jesus teaches us, we find truth in Him. As we know the truth, we are set free.

 

“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32 – NIV)

 

#4 We Are to Love Others

Jesus showed His love for us when we didn’t deserve it (Romans 5:8). We are to follow His example and love others.

 

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34 – NIV)

 

#5 We Must Bear Fruit

Over and over in John 15:1-11, Jesus mentions that we are to bear fruit. This is linked with remaining in Jesus. If we remain in Him, we will produce fruit.

 

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:8 – NIV)

 

#6 All I Do is To Bring Glory to God

Jesus gave God the glory for everything He did on earth. At Jesus’ birth, God was given glory for this Gift (Luke 2:13-14). We too, must glorify God in all that we do.

 

“If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.” (John 8:54 – NIV)

 

#7 We Must Serve

Jesus did not come to be served. He came to serve. We must learn this lesson from Him.

 

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45 – NIV)

 

#8 We Must be Merciful and Compassionate

When our hearts break for what breaks Jesus’ heart, we begin to feel mercy and compassion well up within us. And as we learn this lesson, we see the great need for God’s mercy and compassion in our own lives

 

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” (Matthew 5:7 – NIV)

 

#9 Share the Gospel

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. As we come to know Him more and more, we realize that we are to do the same. Oh, we can’t be saviors to those we meet, but we can introduce them to the Savior.

 

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10 – NIV)

 

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19 – NIV)

 

#10 Teach Others

As we learn from Jesus, we are to teach others. Share the lessons. The values. The ways of God.

 

“And teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:20a – NIV)

 

#11 He Will Never Leave Us

Although Jesus is not physically present on this earth, He still remains. God sent His Spirit to be with us. What a wonderful gift! And Jesus is with us through every situation, heartache, trouble, joy, life, and death. Jesus is with us.

 

“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b – NIV)

 

#12 Follow His Example

As we learn from Jesus, we see clearly that we are to follow His leadership in all areas of our lives.

 

“A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” (Luke 6:40 – NIV)

 

I know I could go on. Once I get on a roll, it’s hard to stop. But I will. I continue to learn from God’s Word. Each day I find a spiritual nugget that brings joy to my heart. The journey is so rewarding.

 

I pray that you’ll find some spiritual nuggets along the way this Christmas. Jesus is willing to be your Teacher. It’s up to you to accept your role as student.

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

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Alert! Alert!

December 20th, 2012 dsisler

My husband and I got new phones last week. I am still getting used to some of the features. Yesterday, I unexpectedly learned of two.

 

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My phone started ringing. It was a very faint ring, but it was definitely coming from my phone. I couldn’t get it to stop. I checked every alarm, every ring tone, anything that I could think of to stop the ringing. It continued for nearly 45 minutes. I started to believe we were going to have to run to the phone store when I thought to restart it. I did and the ringing stopped.

 

Then around 4 p.m. as I started preparing dinner, a loud blaring sound was emitted from my phone. This one scared me. It was an obnoxious sound that wanted my attention. It got it. Come to find out, it was an Amber Alert. I also have settings for severe alerts, extreme alerts, and presidential alerts. I’m not so sure I want a presidential alert! That really sounds frightening.

 

On occasion, we find ourselves going through the motions of life and we don’t think about God. When life is good, boy it’s tough to remember to praise Him. When it’s smooth sailing, we don’t always take the time to thank Him.

 

But then we hear a little alarm in our minds or perhaps our hearts reminding us of who we are and how we should be living. And it keeps ringing until we do something about it.

 

On other occasions however, we might get the startling alert that things aren’t right. We may be tempted to sin in some way. We may be in the wrong place with the wrong people. Or we may just be settled into a mediocre life that needs stirred up.

 

For the non-Christian, these alerts come from your conscience. You know right from wrong. Your conscience reminds you of the difference.

 

For a Christian, these alerts come from the Holy Spirit. The precious gift given to us when we are baptized. 1 Corinthians 2:10-13 is a passage that speaks to one role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. To show us God’s ways. Read through a few phrases from this passage.

 

“…God has revealed it to us by his Spirit…we have not received the spirit of the world but he spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us…words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.” (1 Corinthians 2:10-13 – NIV)

 

As we learn from God through Bible study, preaching, meditation, prayer, and teaching, these spiritual truths impact our lives. The Holy Spirit helps us to remember these truths and alerts us when we are falling away from them.

 

Because we have been given free will, the choice ultimately comes down to us. Are we going to ignore that alert or are we going to do something about it?

 

I can honestly say I’ve ignored the Holy Spirit’s alerts on far too many occasions. But I can also say that as I am more diligent in knowing God’s purpose and plan for my life, it’s much easier to listen to the alerts and walk away from the situation.

 

I pray that you have found this to be true in your life as well. But if not, why not join the great crowd of witnesses and cling to the Words of God as if your life depended upon it. These Words are life-changing. They are mind-altering. They are character-building. God promises you’ll never be the same.

 

Maybe I’m burying my head in the sand, but I really don’t think I want to hear a presidential alert on my phone. And I’ll be honest, Amber Alerts are seen on the television, heard on the radio, and written on road signs. I’ve opted out of that alert as well.

 

I don’t know the difference between severe and extreme alerts, but have decided that perhaps I might need to know of an extreme alert. So that’s the one I’ve chosen to hear about on my phone. I can’t imagine that will sound too often, but when it does, I’ll know it’s something big. And when I do hear it, I’ll let you know.

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

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Christmas Wrapping

December 19th, 2012 dsisler

I’ll admit it; I have a problem with Christmas wrapping paper. My children believe that is one thing they will receive when I’m gone. My stash of Christmas wrap.

 

I have tubs of paper. Some still in the original packaging. I’ve been known to sneak rolls of the stuff into my house and hide them from my family. I definitely have a problem.

 

I must also admit yet another problem. Each person in my family has a special color or theme for all of their Christmas gifts. So I’m always on the lookout for that special wrapping paper for that special person.

 

This is how it goes. My son’s gifts are wrapped in snowman paper. One daughter gets purple and one daughter gets blue. My son-in-law gets wrapping paper with “joy” on it. My husband Mason receives his packages in my favorite wrapping paper of the year.

 

For the grandkids, they get wrapping paper with Santa on it. My granddaughter gets red. My grandson’s favorite color is orange, so from the beginning I thought orange wrap with Santa was for him…yeah, that was a bad idea. There’s none out there. So I create my own. Solid orange wrapping paper with Santa stickers.

 

With another grandchild on the way, I’ll have to come up with yet another color combination! Maybe my method will go out the window next Christmas!

 

I read a question yesterday that piqued my interest. Who wrapped the first Christmas gift?

 

If you are like me, your first thought went to Mary. We read in Luke 2:7 (NIV), “She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

 

But then I read another answer to the question. God wrapped the first Christmas gift. In the midst of the angel appearance, Mary was told “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the son of God.” (Luke 1:35 – NIV)

 

God wrapped His Gift in the womb of this young woman. Oh, I love the picture of Mary wrapping the infant Jesus in swaddling clothes. It touches my “mother’s heart” more than a Hallmark movie.

 

But how much more I love the picture of God lovingly gift-wrapping His precious Son for all of mankind to receive.

 

I must admit I can get caught up in the gift giving and wrapping of those gifts. I must continue to remind myself to focus on the Gift that was wrapped in a special package and was given so long ago.

 

Dr. Seuss may have recognized this fact and stated so in his children’s story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Grinch believed that if all evidence of Christmas was removed from Whoville, Christmas would not come. So the Grinch took it all away. But Christmas came in the same manner it had year after year…without the trappings of Christmas commercialization.

 

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”[i]

 

Yes, Christmas does mean more than packages and bows. It means that God loved us so much that He was willing to share His precious Son with the world, because we needed a Savior.

 

It’s not too late to keep our thoughts and hearts on God’s Gift as we celebrate Christmas this year. No earthly gift could be as beautiful as the Gift God wrapped up for us on that first Christmas. I believe it’s time to unwrap our Gift!

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna


[i] How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Dr. Seuss, Random House , 1957.

 

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Life, Godliness and Strength

December 18th, 2012 dsisler

I received a couple of little books after experiencing the untimely death of my grandson in 2011. A dear friend gave me “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young. My home church gave me a book on grief after a Blue Christmas service for grieving families. And the pastoral care ministry sent me a little booklet from “Our Daily Bread” that includes a month’s worth of devotions for people going through the grieving process.

 

These were all very good tools to help me focus on the hope, love, and blessings that remained in my life. It was a difficult time, but I knew that my grandson was safe in the arms of Jesus and that my world and life would continue.

 

Life hurts. There is no way around it. Heartache will invade our lives. Sadness has a way of consuming us. Grief can overtake us. Yes, life hurts.

 

But my gracious, heavenly Father has something to offer. His Word offers hope. His Word offers peace. His Word offers release. As we place all of our hurting into God’s hands, we open our hearts to the healing process. We allow His precious gifts to fill the empty places of our hearts.

 

You’ve probably read many verses of Scripture about God’s graciousness over the past few days. They’ve been seen in posts on Facebook, Twitter, and even Pinterest. I pray that you’ve found comfort in the Word of God, because that is where I find all that I need.

 

I love the books of 1st and 2nd Peter. They are words written by a man who had seen great hardship and heartache of his own. His life had been spontaneous and turbulent. And yet, we read these two books written by one who came to know the difference Jesus could make in a life. A life changed by the Holy Spirit. A life changed by knowing God’s power.

 

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3 – NIV)

 

You see in the midst of our pain, trials, and grief, we can lean upon the divine power of God and His Holy Spirit. This power is everything we need for life and godliness. I find great comfort in knowing that I can rely on God’s power when I need it most.

 

On the day my grandson died, God continued to remind me of such power. He reminded me of the source of my strength. In my weakest moment that day, I knew that God’s grace was enough. I knew that it was only through Him that I would find the strength to continue (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

 

Another passage of Scripture that is encouraging to me is also found in 2 Corinthians. This passage assures us that even when life’s crushing blows seem more than we can handle, we are not alone. We have Jesus and His power within us.

 

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10 – NIV)

 

My dear friend, there is no reason to go through our suffering on our own. God desires to be in the midst of our pain. More than that, He wants to take it away and heal our hearts. Please don’t let another day go by without asking Him to be your source of strength.

 

I miss my grandson, there is no denying it. But I know where he is and who he is with. My Redeemer, Jesus. And until the day I see Jesus (and Archer) face to face, I’ll continue to rely on God for my strength, my godliness, and my life.

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

 

For more information on my view of heaven, please read my blog post at https://fullmeasureofjoy.com/?p=345.

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House of Bread

December 17th, 2012 dsisler

Several months ago I mentioned a little piece of information about Bethlehem. You know, the Bethlehem where Jesus was born. In passing I mentioned that the meaning of Bethlehem was “house of bread.”

 

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Bethlehem was not an important city to the people of Jesus’ day. However, significant events had taken place in Bethlehem before this time. Rachel was buried there. The story of Ruth took place in and around Bethlehem. King David was born and raised in Bethlehem.

 

But by the time Jesus was born, Bethlehem was just a small, insignificant village.

 

God had great plans for Bethlehem, however. It would be the location of the birth of the Messiah. And it is mentioned in Old Testament prophecy.

 

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2 – NIV)

 

Ah, Bethlehem would one day become great. Not because of what man did in that village, but because of what God would do.

 

This prophecy in Micah continues with the great announcement of how the Messiah would change the lives of people. It ends with the announcement that “he will be their peace.” (Micah 5:5 – NIV) What a blessing in our world filled with turmoil.

 

We see parts of this passage again in Matthew. When the wise men stopped in to see King Herod, they were told that Bethlehem was the birthplace of the newborn King.

 

“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.” (Matthew 2:6 – NIV)

 

However, the meaning of Bethlehem’s name wasn’t significant until Jesus began His teaching. In John 6, Jesus speaks of being the Bread of Life. “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35 – NIV)

 

The Bread of Life (Jesus) was born in the House of Bread (Bethlehem).

 

In the midst of proclaiming Himself as the Bread of Life, there is a little verse that points us to the incarnation of God. It has become one of my favorite “Christmas” verses.

 

“For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:33 – NIV)

 

Yes, the Bread of Life was born in the House of Bread, but there is so much more meaning to it. He came so that the world might have life through Him!

 

And just a few chapters later, Jesus says He is the Light of the world. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12 – NIV)

 

Through Jesus we have life and the light of life. He is everything we could possibly need or want.

 

Have you accepted Jesus as your daily Bread? Is He your life? Your light of life? I pray that He is. I pray that as we come to the final week before Christmas that you take note of what this season is really about. The Bread of Life offering real life to us.

 

But perhaps it’s time for you to accept Him as your Savior. To find a deeper meaning of Christmas this year. If so, please let me know. I’d be happy to chat with you about how to do so and what a difference it will make in your life.

 

I believe God used a simple, day-to-day staple to remind us of Jesus. Bread. Each piece of bread you pick up or eat should be a reminder of where our life truly comes from. The Bread of Life. Jesus.

 

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

 

Donna

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  • "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe." Ephesians 1:18-19

  • I am a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. I lived in the beautiful state of Colorado for 20 years where I found great inspiration for my novels and devotional writings. Currently living in Jacksonville, Florida.

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