As we prepare our hearts and make room for more of the Spirit’s presence in the coming year, I want to remind you that you are seen and heard and loved beyond measure by the One who dreamt you into being. He has beautiful plans for your life and He is faithfully bringing them about.
Reflecting on the birth of Jesus, the Lord impressed these thoughts…
He orders every circumstance for our good and His glory. Our triumphs, trials and tears are always, and forever will be, for the purpose of drawing us into closer communion with Him. He drew my attention personally to the stripping away of all things that that feel like home to me in recent years — a home of our own, familiar furnishings, close friends, and so on. This long season of relinquishment has been creating space for personal encounters with Jesus. Every situation has been intentional, making room for the Father to faithfully fill the empty places in my heart with more and more of Himself, birthing a precious intimacy as I commune with His presence within me (the Holy Spirit).
We can get so attached to created things, including good things and good people, that we fail to make room for the Father. Other times, we falter unknowingly by not allowing Him full access to our hearts and lives. Hanging on to pride, greed, resentment, bitterness and the like, crowds out the Spirit within. With divine wisdom, He may choose to strip away the familiar in order to birth more of Himself in and through us.
The fullness of the Spirit’s presence is the greatest gift we could ever receive. Jesus came that we might have life and have it in abundance (John 10:10). He says, whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it (Matt. 16:25). In other words, those who cling to the good and created things will never find Life beyond them, but whoever surrenders them will find soul satisfying Life as they discover Christ alone to be enough.
Jesus came as a babe in a manger, lived a sinless life, died an undeserved death on our behalf, that we might one day discover abundant Life in communion with Him. Ascending into heaven and still seated at the right hand of the Father, He sent the likeness of Himself in the form of the Holy Spirit to be our Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby, to teach us and help us recall those things He has spoken through His Word (John 14:26 AMP).
RECLAIM YOUR HEART
As we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth, you might take a few moments and quiet yourself before the Father to pray inquiringly…
Lord, You alone are in charge of my life and my circumstances, the seemingly good and the not so good. Where have You been working to make room for more of Your presence in my life? What do You desire to birth in and through me?
Allow Him to show you His perspective, to teach you, and bring to mind truths once planted in the soil of your heart. Conclude with a few moments of silence so you don’t miss a single word!
May you enjoy a blessed Christmas focused on the One who came to make you His own.
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