Celebrate Your Faith – Weekly Prayer Guide – Samaritan’s Purse
SUNDAY: Pray for the children and their families who receive a shoe box gift, that hearts will be opened to the Good News of Jesus Christ.
MONDAY: Most children who receive shoe box gifts live in desperate circumstances. Pray that God will meet their physical, emotional and spiritual needs.
TUESDAY: Pray for our ministry partners in countries around the world, especially that the shoe box gifts and follow-up discipleship programs will be effective evangelism tools.
WEDNESDAY: Pray that doors will be opened, so the Good News can be shared in countries that are you not receptive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
THURSDAY: Pray for those who fill shoe box gifts this year, especially for children, that they will see that it truly is more blessed to give than to receive.
FRIDAY: Pray for those involved in collecting, processing, transporting and delivering shoe box gifts, including the tens of thousands of volunteers.
SATURDAY: Pray for Samaritan’s Purse staff located throughout the world as they handle the logistics of Operation Christmas Child.
Anticipation – Advent – Celebrate Your Faith
Christmas morning… What is the first thing your children do? Mine run to find and place Baby Jesus in the nativity with his parents, angels, wise men and animals. I love that they (13 and 11) still enjoy the wonder and excitement of His coming. (Ok, I know the pile of presents under the tree aid in their excitement!)
Anticipation…Don’t you feel that a lot of the excitement coming from the waiting, the wondering and the thrill of what is head of us!
Celebrate Your Faith – Christmas Gift Idea #1 – Jeweled Cross Necklace
KT loves jewelry. And I love crosses. So would you surprised to hear I own over 10 cross necklaces/pendants. That means a lady can never have too many jeweled crosses. The one I selected to show here is a medium size. The same vendors makes a small and a large version in case you like to look but not the size. Here is a link to the entire assortment of jeweled cross necklaces!
Celebrate Your Faith – Christmas Gift Idea #3 – Bronze
KT loves Creator Mundi bronze. They are a little more contemporary and leave the details to my imagination. I love the sharp lines of the figures. I also like that I don’t have to worry when my children play with the nativity or when one gets dropped while dusting.
My mother-in-law loves angels. She keeps an angel tree up all year long. I think she would love the angel for Christmas.
If you want to see what other great items are in this collection… click here!
Celebrate Your Faith – Christmas Gift Idea #4 – Charms
Charms as so much more versatile then when KT was a kid. I had to get mine soldered onto a bracelet. Today you can clip them onto a link bracelet, a bangle bracelet or a necklace(Instyle gift guide 2011 twice). Mix and match them. Remove them around. I like all the memories that go along with charms. Like the one I got on my birthday so many years ago from my parents. It was of a birthday cake and you pushed a hidden button and candles popped up.
Give her a new memory… give her a charm!
Celebrate Your Faith- Christmas Gift #7 – Personalized Bibles
What says, “I thought of YOU!” more than a personalized gift. They know you didn’t regift it. They know you had to think about it in advance. AND with it being a Bible, they know you thought enough about them to give them something so precious and inspirational and loving.
Here is a link to the ENTIRE collection of personalized Bibles… click here and enjoy!
Celebrate Your Faith – Christmas Gift Idea #8 Standing Crosses
Decorating for the holidays isn’t one of my favorite things to do HOWEVER I love to decorate my home year round with crosses. I have 4 crossing hanging in my office. I have 5 hanging in my dining room. You get the point. I have a ton of HANGING crosses. I want STANDING CROSSES for Christmas. Think how beautiful they would look with candle light during a family dinner. How beautiful with it’s reflection in the mirror on my bureau. Crosses should be used as part of everyday decorating- don’t you think so too?
Giving Thanks for the ULTIMATE Blessing
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV
At Thanksgiving, we oftentimes reflect on WHAT we are thankful for. We think of our family and friends, the freedoms we enjoy living in America, the roof over our heads, the food on our table and the clothes on our backs. We may even think of how God saw us through a difficult time this past year, and we are thankful for His hand of mercy and deliverance. All of these things, and countless others, are definitely things we should to be thankful for.
The way to honor God and walk in His will is to be thankful in EVERY circumstance. Notice all the little things that God does for you – that close parking space, that favorite song that comes on the radio, that super sale on the item you’ve been eying for months, the kind service you received in the checkout lane, that cute dog walking down the street that made you smile, how you avoided that accident just in the nick of time. When we notice these things and stop for a couple of seconds to thank God, we are showing Him our dependence and reliance on Him, our love for Him. We’re letting Him know that we acknowledge His hand of blessing in our lives. He doles out these blessings in hopes that we will indeed seek Him.
That’s why I want to challenge you, that even more than being thankful for the BLESSINGS, let’s be thankful this year for the BLESSER! I believe that being thankful for the BLESSER, above all else, is the greatest and highest way we can fulfill the command we are given in 1 Thessalonians!
“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” 2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV
You see, every good and perfect gift comes from above (James 1:17). But we have access to those good and perfect gifts through our Savior, Jesus Christ. He died to give us ACCESS to God the Father. It’s through this relationship with Him that we experience the blessing that adds no sorrow with it (Proverbs 10:22). We experience the FULLNESS of redemption and salvation – in our bodies, souls, spirits, relationships, finances… every area of our lives.
But what about those people in the world who have no relationship with God and yet they seem to be blessed and prosperous? Well, I would propose that a portion of what they are experiencing is the mercy of God towards them… His GOODNESS… which is for a purpose:
“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” Romans 2:4 NKJV
God desires that ALL men are led to repentance and into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We are told to give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endures forever (Psalm 107:1)!
Jesus Christ is the ULTIMATE gift that’s been given to us. He is our Lord and our Savior. He is our Redeemer and Friend. He is the Restorer of our souls. He sent the Holy Spirit, who is our Comforter, our Helper, and our Teacher (1 John 2:27). We are never left without a solution to any problem. We are comforted in situations that would attempt to discourage us and try to steal our joy.
Let’s be thankful for the PERSON of Jesus Christ, who never leaves us nor forsakes us (Hebrews 13:5). Let’s be thankful for the PERSON of the Holy Spirit, who guides us into all truth (John 16:13). Let’s be thankful for the PERSON of God the Father, who gives us eternal encouragement and good hope (2 Thessalonians 2:16).
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.” Psalm 100:4-5 NKJV
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours from all of us at Celebrate Your Faith!
Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) 2011
Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) 2011
Sundown Wednesday, October 12 thru Thursday, October 20.
The festival of Sukkot is instituted in Leviticus 23:33-44. The Festival of Sukkot begins on the fifth day after Yom Kippur. It is quite a drastic transition, from one of the most solemn holidays in our year to one of the most joyous. Sukkot is so unreservedly joyful that it is commonly referred to in Jewish prayer and literature as the Season of our Rejoicing.
Sukkot is the last of the three pilgrimage festivals. Like Passover and Shavu’ot, Sukkot has a dual significance: historical and agricultural. Historically, Sukkot commemorates the forty-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters. Agriculturally, Sukkot is a harvest festival and is sometimes referred to as the Festival of Ingathering.
The word “Sukkot” means “booths,” and refers to the temporary dwellings that we are commanded to live in during this holiday in memory of the period of wandering. Sukkot lasts for seven days. (Reference: Judiasm 101: Sukkot)
From an agricultural perspective in ancient Israel, Pesach [Passover] corresponded to the planting season, Shavuot [Pentecost] corresponded to the grain harvest, and Sukkot corresponded to the fruit harvest. When you planted your crops in spring, you do not yet rejoice because you were uncertain about how the harvest will turn out. And when you harvested your grain at the start of summer, you might have rejoiced that you now had bread in hand, but you would still be uncertain about the success of your fruit crops. Total joy would come after you had harvested all of your crops in the fall, and thereby received sustenance and provision for the coming year from the LORD.
From a spiritual perspective, Sukkot corresponds to the joy of knowing your sins were forgiven (during Yom Kippur), and also recalls God’s miraculous provision and care after the deliverance from bondage in Egypt (Lev. 23:43). Prophetically, Sukkot anticipates the coming kingdom of the Mashiach Yeshua wherein all the nations shall come up to Jerusalem to worship the LORD during the festival (see Zech. 14:16). Today Sukkot is a time to remember God’s Sheltering Presence and Provision for us for the start of the New Year. (Reference: Sukkot – the Feast of Tabernacles)
Click on the link for additional information on the Jewish Feasts.
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:37-39 NJKV
In a message recently broadcast by Joseph Prince Ministries, Pastor Prince talked about the significance of Jesus’ words while he was in Jerusalem on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus was speaking of rivers of living water, which are moving and refreshing. The living water here refers to the Holy Spirit.
A very important distinction highlighted from Scripture was this:
Forgiveness was given to you because Christ was crucified. The Holy Spirit was given to you because Christ was glorified.
During the Feast of Tabernacles, the priests on the last day, the “great day”, take a container and go down from Mount Moriah to the pool of Siloam to collect water, which they bring back and pour out as they say Psalms 118.
“Save now, I pray, O LORD;
O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity.”
Psalm 118:25 NKJV
They are saying to God – send now prosperity, send now salvation – they are asking God to send rain the coming year. Salvation is Yeshua in the Hebrew… and who appeared? Jesus! He is the answer to the cry of “send now prosperity, send now salvation”.
To order this message in its entirety, visit the Joseph Prince online store for Sermon CD #36.
Click on the link for additional teaching on the significance of Jesus in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles.
The Feasts are important to the Jewish people, but they also teach many things and reveal Jesus to us as believers.
Whether Jew or Christian, please join us in celebrating this important time in our shared heritage. Let it be your personal Season of Rejoicing!
Man of God ~ Honored Father
Father’s Day is a time set aside to show special honor to our fathers, or men who are father-figures in our lives. A father is someone who is there to offer love and support to his children – be they biological children, step-children, or “spiritual” children that God has placed in his life for him to nurture.
Being a good father begins with having a solid relationship with Jesus Christ. He must be the center of every communication, affection and discipline that a man gives to his children. A good father must first and foremost be a Man of God.
“But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:11-12 NKJV
A good father demonstrates to his children what it means to have faith in God and trust Him for everything we need. He is a reflection of God to his children. It’s an awesome responsibility, but one that can be carried out with dignity and love and respect when he looks to God for direction and guidance.
All this is not to say that fathers need to be perfect. But a father who is humble and teachable is the best father a child could ask for.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV
If your father needs some encouragement to strengthen his relationship with God, this is a wonderful time to give him some tools to help him do so. Give him the web address for Bible Gateway’s 100 most-read Bible verses.
Give your father a fresh look at the Word of God with this NLT In His Image Devotional Bible.
This Father’s Day, above all, be sure to tell your father how much you love him and appreciate him. Remember those godly men who have influenced you and thank them for everything they have done for you.
Celebrate Your Faith has many wonderful gifts for fathers. Pick out a special treasure to honor him today!
