THE GREATEST GIFTS – Day 5

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THE GIFT OF WORK TO DO AT GOD’S REQUEST

Could it be that work is a gift? Absolutely! And not just any work, but work to do for God. Important work. Necessary work.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10, NASB).

Now, at first blush, this may seem quite contrary to the previous verse of being saved by faith alone, but really it is not. It is actually an affirmation.

Do you know that God has something for you to do today? He has ordained it. Good works, not for our benefit nor even so that we will earn our salvation, but a project, a deed, a word to speak, a hug to give, a stack of dishes to wash, a bed to make, or a prayer to offer. Yes, God can rearrange circumstances so that these works, these tasks that we do in His name, could come from someone else, but He delights when we do them because, by our doing them in His name, our faith is built up, and we are then drawn into a deeper relationship with the Father.

Let us not forget that Jesus did good works, even when it was considered unlawful to do so!

Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. (Mark 3:1-6, NIV).

The Pharisees didn’t know what to do with a law-breaker like Jesus when He performed good works.

When we do good works, this is what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Feeding the poor. Handing out a water bottle to someone in the park on a hot day. Building a wheelchair ramp. Cleaning up a widow’s yard overgrown with weeds and shrubs. Simply loving our neighbor.

But please be careful. Many well-intentioned folks will tell you that your good works will earn you a special place in heaven. Only God’s grace and unconditional love grant us access to the eternal Kingdom.

Do you know that the word “workmanship” means we are God’s masterpieces? He is Creator. We are the created ones. Lovely. Gorgeous. Beautiful. Works of art. The best way to showcase God the creator, God the artist, is to do the good works He has for us. So, let’s do them out of love for the Creator! Out of love for the ability, the gift, of doing them so that His Kingdom is increased.

So, roll up those sleeves and get going. You have work to do! Receive this gift joyfully, the gift of work to do on God’s Behalf.

PRAYER

Father God, help me to be your hands and your feet today. Help me love my neighbors as I love myself. Help me to do good works in your name. Not because it will benefit me, but so that You may be glorified and so that Your Kingdom will come on this earth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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This advent devotional can be found on the YouVersion Bible App here.

THE GREATEST GIFTS – Day 4

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THE FREE GIFT OF SALVATION

Have you ever received something totally free, with no strings attached? Marketing executives often create advertising campaigns around free giveaways. They’re called “B1G1F.” That’s advertising speak for “Buy One, Get One Free!” Or “BOGOFree!” You know deep down that whatever they give away isn’t free, is it? Somebody had to pay for the free product being given away, right? That person is usually you, in the form of buying something else in the store at a greater markup to cover the cost of the free giveaway.

Well, the gift of salvation is free for you and me. All we have to do is ask for it, and God is quick to give it to us.

Immense in mercy and with incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in the highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play a major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. (Ephesians 2:4-9, MSG).

When you read this, you can’t help but see that the gift of salvation is a beautiful gift of faith, given not because of anything we’ve done but because of God’s love. He wants to shower grace and kindness upon us. Do you remember when someone just showered grace and kindness upon you? Even when you didn’t deserve it? Perhaps it was a parent, a teacher, a spouse, or a close friend.

God gives. We receive.

If you are a giver, sometimes it can be really hard to receive, can’t it?

There was a season in my life when I gave and gave and gave. I had this spreadsheet all worked out, and I was on track to give away half of my income by the time I turned 50 years old. And then I lost my job. It was my turn to receive. Boy, was that ever a challenge! But God taught me something. In order to truly appreciate the gift, I had to joyfully receive it. During this time, an almost complete stranger gave us a couple of thousand dollars. It was a sacrifice for them to give. I didn’t want to receive it. But then, I realized that if I minimized the gift, I minimized the giver.

Thanks to Jesus’ death on the Cross of Calvary and His gift of laying down His life, we have the gift of life and life eternal. And if He hadn’t been born during this Advent season, He could not have given us this incredible gift.

So open your hands, get down on your knees, and receive this most wonderful gift- the free gift of salvation.

PRAYER

Thank you, God, for the ultimate gift, the free gift of salvation. Please give me a heart that truly appreciates this gift and the giver. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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This advent devotional can be found on the YouVersion Bible App here.

THE GREATEST GIFTS – Day 3

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THE GIFT OF BEING SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

Trained bank tellers and others handling money can distinguish between real currency and counterfeit. The real stuff has markings embedded between the bills’ fibers that can be seen when one knows how to examine the money. Real. Genuine. Authentic.

The third gift is being sealed with the Holy Spirit.

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14, NIV).

It is a gift to be sealed in Him by the Holy Spirit!

What does it mean to be sealed in God by the Holy Spirit? Think of a letter or edict in the days of Paul. It was common for a king to write a letter on animal skin parchment, roll it up, and then dip his royal signet ring into hot wax and press the wax onto the parchment, sealing the letter, assuring that if anyone opened the letter, they would crack the seal. It made the letter authentic. It was certified as coming from the king.

So what happens when God seals you with the Holy Spirit? It makes you authentic. It certifies that you are from God and that God protects you. Whoa! Your life as God has chosen you is to be read by others as someone who is “of God.” That is a pretty big responsibility, isn’t it? However, here’s the good news. If you are sealed by the Holy Spirit and walk in the ways God calls you to walk, you reflect God naturally, or perhaps we might say “supernaturally.”

Recall that Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to his followers.

“But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the Truth. For He will not speak His own message; but He will tell whatever He hears and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come. He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of what is Mine and will reveal it to you.” (John 16:13, AMP).

The Holy Spirit is leading you into truth. You are reflecting that truth to others. You are sealed, and that seal “is given as a pledge of our inheritance.” (Ephesians 1:14, NASB). It’s a promise from the King! We are His children. We will spend all eternity with the King. More appropriately, we are spending all eternity with the King. He promised it. He sealed it. It’s done. What a gift!

Open your hands and receive this gift today — the gift of being sealed with the Holy Spirit.

PRAYER

Thank you, God, for the gift of being sealed with your Holy Spirit. I am your authentic child who represents the King of kings. Protect me and help me reflect You today in all I am and all I do. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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This advent devotional can be found on the YouVersion Bible App here.

THE GREATEST GIFTS – Day 2

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The Gift of Being Adopted as His Children

If you do a Google search on the word “adopted,” you’ll find heartfelt story after story of a child being adopted and given a new life when the birth parent(s) could only provide much less. There are countless examples of the famous and obscure enjoying a fresh life thanks to adoption and being chosen.

God is the ultimate adoptive parent. He has given us the choice of whether we want to be adopted by Him through His Son. Being the omnipotent God that He is, He knows what our choice will be while urging us to become His child. The next gift? Adoption.

“In love, he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:5, NIV).

Some get hung up on the word “predestined.” Some would suggest that if God has predestined whether I go to heaven, I don’t need to get caught up in His decision. I can act as I want. Since it is mentioned in several other places in the Bible that God wants everyone to be saved, then I’ve been predestined to go to heaven. It doesn’t matter how I act, right? No, that’s not right.

Predestination means God has the plan — and it’s a good and great plan — but we choose whether we will follow it. When we choose God, we receive the inheritance, like sons and daughters. God’s plan for us is clear:

‘“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”’ (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV).

So, why wouldn’t we accept God’s plan for us? It’s a great plan. It’s a wonderful gift!

John Calvin, one of the early Christian faith leaders in the 1500s, wrote and preached much on predestination. He suggested that no one can live a Godly life without the Holy Spirit in him, without God calling that person to be a believer.

Why would a person want to be God’s son or daughter? Romans 8 says God’s love for each person is so immense that nothing can contain God’s love for us. Calvin wrote:

“When we have our adoption engraved in our hearts, then … we have a good and infallible pledge that God will guide us unto the end, and that since he has begun to lead us into the way of salvation, he will bring us to the perfection to which he calls us, because, in truth, without him we could not continue so much as a single day.”

God has called us. God has elected us.

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of … the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13, NASB).

God has predestined us to follow Him, embrace the great things He has for us, and love Him. I am thankful for that gift because, with it, He is the One who guides us through this life on our path to spending all of eternity with Him. He guides. We choose.

So the second gift is the gift of adoption. Adoption, as being called God’s son or daughter, and all the love that goes with it!

PRAYER

Thank you, God, for this gift of adoption, of being Your child. I joyfully choose to be your child and receive all the love you give me as my unfailing heavenly Father. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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This advent devotional can be found on the YouVersion Bible App here.

THE GREATEST GIFTS – Day 1

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No trips on donkeys. No angels singing. Not even a baby in a manger. Yet, there are still 25 gifts God wants to give you for Christmas. We can find them in a little, six-chapter book halfway through the New Testament. These are The Greatest Gifts, as revealed in Ephesians. Along the way, you’ll find the gift of love, the gift of salvation, the gift of unity, and many more. Prepare your heart in a special way this Christmas season by receiving, and giving, God’s greatest gifts.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Advent, the season that heralds our Lord Jesus and leads to the celebration of His birth. This devotional will perhaps take a slightly different slant to the season as we open Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus. Why Ephesians? You are right to suggest that the book isn’t very “Christmasy.” There are no stories about trips on donkeys, a baby born in a stable, or angels singing outside the window.

However, the book of Ephesians mirrors many writings throughout the Bible. It includes these two main points:

  • God loves you and has a plan for you.
  • That plan includes the gift of hope, glory, power, wisdom, and the love of Jesus, our Messiah.

Even if you have never bowed your knee to Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord, know that God loves you and has a plan for you, and He has good gifts for you, His child.

So, let’s take the month of December, between now and Christmas Day, and give Ephesians a closer look. At its core, we’ll discover 25 wonderful gifts God desires to give each one of us. They are The Greatest Gifts. Are you ready to receive them?

A prayer for you from the author and rabbi Paul:

For this reason, eve I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray 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 his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1:15-23, NIV).

The very words of God.

Paul starts this prayer by offering thanksgiving for the people of the church congregation in Ephesus. He asks God to give them all wisdom and revelation so that the people may know God better, and then Paul prays for their hearts — that each may know His hope, His inheritance, and His power! Finally, he affirms that that power is the same that raised a dead man to life — Jesus — and, in its fullness, is available to us, filling everyone in every way.

DAY 1 – The Gift of Every Spiritual Blessing, which is the Gift of Love

December, Christmas, and gifts. They go hand in hand, don’t they? Do you remember the best gift you’ve ever received? How about the worst gift?

Sometimes, it’s a matter of perspective. My sister tells the story of a gift she and her husband once gave each other — gutters. Yep, gutters. You might not think that’s a very romantic gift, but rain gutters were an extravagant luxury for this newly married couple building their first home. So it was a delightful welcomed gift for each!

There are things we want and things we need. I believe there are three basic categories of “needs” that we all have:

Physical needs: food, water, a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs — tangible things.

Emotional needs: happiness, peace, tranquility. Those are generally easy to identify, but this third one is sometimes harder to grasp.

Spiritual needs. What are the spiritual needs we have?

One definition is from a man named Howard Clinebell. He is a clinical psychologist and a university Ph.D. He says we all have at least seven spiritual needs in our core. The first is this:

“All people need to experience regularly the healing and empowerment of love — from others, from self, and from God.”

Love!

Paul says right at the beginning that Jesus “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 1:3, NASB). Jesus is the source of spiritual blessings! So it makes sense that even the worldly scientist, Dr. Clinebell, says that spiritual blessing is love because we know that 1 John 4:8 says that “God is love.”

Jesus is the One who gives us the greatest gift we can have — every spiritual blessing. Love!

I can live without physical needs like a house or food for a while anyway. I can survive without emotional needs. I don’t have to be happy. I can choose to be grumpy, but I would say that none of us can fully live the lives that God has for us without embracing the unlimited spiritual need for love — provided by the grace-filled hands of Jesus.

That gets us back to the greatest gifts.

“God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, Jesus, that whoever believes in Him may not be lost but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NCV).

Open your hands and receive the season’s first gift – the gift of love, the gift of every spiritual blessing!

PRAYER

God, thank you for the gift of every spiritual blessing. Help me receive it with joy. Help me receive Your love this Season, and help me give joy and love to others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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This advent devotional can be found on the YouVersion Bible App here.

Psalm 101

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We’re reading through, and with intentionality, praying through the Psalms during this school year. There are 150 Psalms, divided into 180 different readings. See this post for more info.

Here is today’s prayer, preceded by the text from the Contemporary English Version, copyright 1995, by the America Bible Society.

I will sing to you, Lord! I will celebrate your kindness and your justice. Please help me learn to do the right thing, and I will be honest and fair in my own kingdom.

I refuse to be corrupt or to take part in anything crooked, and I won’t be dishonest or deceitful.

Anyone who spreads gossip will be silenced, and no one who is conceited will be my friend.

I will find trustworthy people to serve as my advisors, and only an honest person will serve as an official.

No one who cheats or lies will have a position in my royal court. Each morning I will silence any lawbreakers I find in the countryside or in the city of the Lord.

Let our home be a place of humility and unconditional love for one another.

Psalm 101

Here is today’s prayer from Psalm 101:

God. Abba. Father.

We sing to you today! We celebrate that you are just, you are kind and you always make right and truthful decisions. Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth. Please help us to follow in your ways, Lord, to be just, kind, and truthful — especially at home with our family. Yes, keep our hearts pure and blameless. Let us not join in the ways of wickedness. May all in our home lift up your name and your ways. Let our home be a place of humility and unconditional love for one another.

Give us the courage to join with those who are genuine and trustworthy. Let us not participate in gossip or slander. May all our conversations today be honest.

Thank you for grace and forgiveness. Thank you for making all things new.

We praise you today.

In Jesus name.

Amen.

(c) 2021. Rich Ronald.

Dad. My wonderful Dad.

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The last photo of my dad and I together. 1981.

Lessons from my dad (with some input from my sisters, thank you!), in random order:

How to polish my shoes.

How to take calculated risks.

How to provide for your family.

How to work hard.

How to sing with your whole self (especially “How Great Thou Art”).

How to trust others.

How to fix a flat tire.

How to mow the lawn and shovel the snow.

How to be a gentleman.

How to be a Good Samaritan.

How to serve God and honor God.

How to encourage and love your wife.

How to provide for your family.

How to fly a plane.

How to fix just about any broken thing around the house.

How to be a good son-in-law.

How to give good gifts.

How to be a creative problem solver.

How to use my common sense and good judgment.

How to tie a neck tie, a half or full Windsor.

Measure twice, cut once.

How to siphon gasoline out of car and into the lawn mower can (I can still taste the gasoline, yuck).

How to properly tuck in my shirt tail.

How to garden… even gardening and raising vegetables you don’t like yourself.

How compounding interest can add up to big returns.

How to use a slide rule.

How to balance a spoon and fork on the smallest bit of toothpick.

How liquid nitrogen turns a hot dog into glass.

How to put “English” on a pool shot or a ping pong return.

Why playing the lotto is morally wrong.

How to drive. How to drive a stick shift.

How to let the School of Hard Knocks teach me a thing or two.

How to camp. How to build and start a fire.

How to swim.

How to bargain for a car. How to bargain for a casket (now that’s a funny story).

How to give grace. How to laugh. How to love. How to live. How to die.

 

My favorite story about my Dad: He was a Gideon — best known for being one of those folks who place Bibles in hotels.  He was also a private pilot and he would go flying on Saturday mornings.  At his memorial service over 30 years ago, his good friend Lou — also a pilot and a Gideon —  produced a talley sheet from Dad’s pilot log book that included the names of many, many small airports in the midwest.  Lou explained that these were places where he and my Dad had flown to on many a Saturday and placed a Gideon Bible in the pilot’s lounge.  And it was something only he and Lou knew about.  He combined two loves, flying and the Lord, into something that blessed God and many unknown souls.

What lessons did you learn from your dad?

 

(First published on Father’s Day 2012…)

Little brother James tells the family story

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JoyfulJesus
Jesus is my brother and my friend. (photo from the movie “The Gospel According to Matthew” with Bruce Marchiano as Jesus, distributed by the Visual Bible, 1993).

Throughout Advent, let’s look at the people of the story of Christ’s birth. Today: James, the brother of Jesus. Here is my take on a possible first person narrative from Matthew 1, Luke 2 and the book of James.

I’ll never forget the story my Mom and Dad used to tell about that night.  I wasn’t there. I’m the little brother. So, I have to rely on the memory of others.

My name is Jacob. You know me as James, the brother of Jesus. I called him Yeshua.

Our Dad’s name is also Jacob. But you know him as Joseph. Oh, the stories he would tell about those days. And Mom? Well, as any woman in her final weeks of pregnancy she was, according to Abba, “cranky.” Every little thing was a big thing.  “Do you have to hammer so loudly?” she would ask.  Dad’s hammering was always the same volume.

It was late in the day when Dad heard the news. Laws are laws.  Caesar commanded that everyone return to their hometown to be counted in a census.  Since our family is of the Tribe of David, that meant a four day journey to the City of David.   A four day trip?  With Mom in her condition? My Dad was such a gentleman, but how was he going to do this? Such an excursion with such a pregnant wife!  He says he found a couple of extra blankets to put on the back of the donkey.  Mom was the adventurous type, but I’m pretty sure this was just one journey she didn’t enjoy.  Dad’s plan was to keep a positive outlook saying that they could make the trip as quickly as possible, register for the census and get back to Nazareth in time for the baby to be born… in time for my brother to be born.

Mom says she was very quiet sitting up on the donkey for most of the trip.  Dad says he kept thinking about the son inside of Mom, and our family and our family’s future, and what the angel had said in two different conversations to both Mom and Dad.

Then it happened!  All of sudden everything changed.  Mom started talking and chattering in quick words and phrases.  The energy level changed and there was a rush of anticipation.  It was time!  Can you see them?  Not now!  Not on the road!  Not on a donkey!  This is not at all what my Dad had planned!

They got to the town of Bethlehem and there were people everywhere.  Not the usual empty, sleepy village.  It was night, close to midnight and Mom was holding on to her belly.  Dad told Yeshua and me years later that the sounds coming from her mouth rivaled the noise of that old donkey.  She needed a place, a bed, a clean room. The baby would be born that night.

So, with great fear Dad tied the mule up by a tree and sat our Mom down on the blankets by the side of the road and he ran off to find an appropriate place.  No one would help him out. Everyone was interested, but not a single person would offer assistance.

So he went back to where he had left Mom and the donkey.  He helped her back up onto the mule and they began wandering through the tangled streets and alleys of Bethlehem together.  Not sure how it happened, but the animal led them to a cave. It was smelly. Wet. Dark. Dank. Not even a nice place for animals. My gracious Mom assured Dad that it would be fine.  Dad felt terrible.  This is not at all what he had planned.  He would tell us years later, “I’m the carpenter, the one who makes solutions, not problems.  I earn a living fixing things!” He truly felt like he had let both Mom and my soon-to-be-born big brother down.

Dad laughs about it now, but, the next thing he realized, he was the midwife.  Dear Mom led Dad to a place where most husbands never venture.  Together they heard the first cries as the baby was born… as Yeshua was born!  Dad used his knife and cut the cord and handed the baby up to Mom.

Amazing!

Dad still says that as he watched Mom and Yeshua together, by the light of a single candle, surrounded by animals, that that moment was the most special moment of his life… the moment when his dear bride was the most beautiful.

Mom and Dad had other children after that night. I came along a few years later.

And yes, Yeshua is a special brother to me. While it took me a few years to understand the supernatural part of him — that he is God’s son —  he is still my brother.

We grew up together. We played games together. We fished in the Sea together. We helped Dad make furniture as he taught us how to build walls and homes with our hands. I always enjoyed conversation around a meal or a fire with Yeshua. He had a great sense of humor.

He was about as real a friend and brother as you can find.

As a big brother, he was always looking out for me. He was an incredible teacher. He taught me how to find peace in the midst of trials and that Godly wisdom means more than street smarts. He taught me about temptation and how to stay right and strong and pure.  He encouraged me to put my faith into action. He cautioned me often about the words I speak, for my tongue seems to get me in trouble regularly.  He told me to look for the best in others. And to be willing to admit my faults. And to pray for, and with, each other.

I saw some pretty incredible miracles walking along side Yeshua.

But mostly, I saw the greatest kind of love a brother can offer… unconditional and everlasting love.

Our mutual friend John said it best about him: Greater love has no one than this, than he who lays down his life for his brother.

(c) 2103. Rich Ronald.

From the dust of the manger… to our heart.

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Available at amazon.com in paperback or Kindle.

Christmas Day is one week away… wow! Where does the time go? Wasn’t it just spring break? Or summer vacation?

In the midst of all that is wrong in the world today, as we think about the Christmas story, the one thing that we might perceive to have been wrong, was actually right. Yes, it was right for Mary to place Jesus in a manger.

From Chapter Five of Be Born in Me:

While they were in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to have the baby, and she gave birth to her first son. Because there were no rooms left in the inn, she wrapped the baby with pieces of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough.[1]

She placed Him in a feed trough.  In the Ancient Days most feed troughs in caves were merely hollowed out logs or rocks sitting on the ground.  You can’t get much lower than that.  Jesus, God in the flesh. God who sits on the highest throne in the highest Heaven, squeezed Himself into a human form. And if that wasn’t low enough, He was then placed mere inches above the dirt and manure that was in that animal cave.  Why would God do that?  Send His son.  To the lowest possible place on earth?!  To a feed trough?

Think about the trough being in the dirt and mud on the cave floor. Like Adam from the Garden of Eden, we all began our lives in the dust of the earth and Jesus knows that we all have dirt and mud in our lives.  That’s where we need Him most!

“Jesus, be born in me!” 

The apostle Paul also notes that Jesus gave up His place with God in heaven and made Himself nothing (Philippians 2).  Why? Simply because He loves us.

He loves you. He really does. Even though you may be a little dirty. Even though you may be a lot muddy.  It doesn’t matter to Him… He has been there too.

Isn’t that incredible!?! God in the flesh has been where you are… only His love can pull you out of the pit you are in. He is uniquely qualified to be our Savior. He knows how messy our lives are… and it doesn’t stop Him from reaching out His loving arms to lift us up.

May I encourage you to make this prayer, your prayer: “Jesus. Be born in me!”

Be Born in Me is divided into five sections and includes discussion questions so you can use in a weekly small group, family devotional or class setting.

Here’s the link to the amazon web site: http://amzn.to/SNOkND.
And here’s the link to the Kindle site: http://amzn.to/RI7ODe.
(c) 2012. Rich Ronald.

[1] Luke 2:6-7 (NCV)