Not Your Typical Christmas Card

 Today’s Blurb: Our Christmas Card to Our Readers.

After much frustration over the selection of Christmas cards on the store shelves. We have prepared a special card just for our readers and want to encourage you to enjoy the real meaning of Christmas.

One Holy Night

 

On one holy night the Heavenly Father proposed,

To the world which he loved.

He offered no ring, but a babe in a manger.

This babe, even before his birth, was not received by men.

And the moment he was born he was placed in a stable among the beasts.

  

 

On one holy night angels appeared to shepherds.

And revealed the coming of the Christ.

Without question they believed and ran to see the Son of God.

They beheld him and worshipped him.

They could not cease to praise him after seeing him face to face.

 

 

On one holy night the mystery of God was born.

Three wise and determined men who had knowledge of the scriptures,

Were already on their way to meeting the child born that night.

They took all that was precious to them on their journey,

And offered it all to him on the day they found their King. 

 

 

On one holy night a child was born.

All God and all human he was.

This child would grow in wisdom and stature and favor.

This child would become a husband who would lay down his life for his bride.

This husband would one day bring his bride home to meet his father.

 

 

On one holy night the Son of God was born. 

Jesus Christ is his name.

When he was born light was born in darkness.

When he was born hope was born in hopelessness.

When he was born a victory was determined to be won.

 

 

Do you need a Holy Night?

Does your life shine with hope, peace and joy, victory and love?

Do you believe there is a God who is good?

Or are you wondering if he is “just up there” like some star in the sky?

Have you ever truly sought his face?

 

 

Could this be your Holy Night?

There is light of hope, peace and joy, victory and love shining for you to see.

There is a God who desires for you to know him.

He is not just up in heaven looking down and untouchable.

It is the light of your Heavenly Father and he has a face.

His face can be seen in his son Jesus Christ.

 

Will you open his gift of a Holy Night?

Will you discover Jesus like a wedding ring wrapped up just for you.

You may have already opened up the box he came in.

You read a few verses in some bible you prayed a few words.

Look Again, for his word is the gift that keeps giving.

Look again, he will grow in wisdom and stature and favor each time you look.

 

Will you be like the shepherds and be like the wise?

Will you keep looking, keep reading and keep seeking?.

Will you allow his word to take root and grow to the point you find yourself saying,

“I think I can actually follow Jesus and submit all of myself to him.”

“I think I can actually…

 

Believe“?

 

 

Now you are ready for Christmas.

You are ready to receive all his gifts.

Not just the gift of salvation but all of his gifts in abundance.

The gifts that come with becoming his bride.

 

 

Now you are ready to Marry Christ

and be welcomed into the Kingdom of God with the mass of his followers. 

You have seen the light and followed the star, heard and obeyed.

Now you will find yourself feeling like a new born babe,

Wrapped in the words of his love and blessed with the gifts of his spirit.

 

 

 

Marry-Christ-mass

(Merry Christmas)

We celebrate with you, your truly holy night.

 

 

- To all our readers Merry Christmas.  May you fall more and more in love with the word of God and be blessed with the gifts that come with being the faithful bride of Christ!

Alejandro and Charity A. Gutierrez

New Psalm

Check out our newest Psalm entry:

A Psalm of Wisdom

A Wise Reflection on Words and Actions

Magical Dung Necklaces

Gems or Dung? How do you see it?

Today’s Blurb: Reflections from a mocker

So last night I was with some friends and were laughing hysterically over something I had heard on the radio about how a zoo was going to be selling “Magical Reindeer Gem necklaces” made from reindeer droppings.  To think that someone would actually proudly flaunt around another creatures poop- hanging it proudly around their neck for all to see- I thought, “How foolish!”   My friend commented, “You know the Lord is up in heaven looking down on people saying, “Their flushing down the toilet all the beautiful jewelry I made for them.”  I could not stop laughing.

I got home and thought about it again. Then a thought entered my mind.  A tiny little question from out of nowhere. A gentle little voice challenging me from left field.  The thought:  ”Are people flushing all of God’s jewelery down the toilet?” 

Suddenly I realized I was in the place of the fool.  I was in the place of the proud.  I was laughing and mocking someone who was able to see the value of something I could not.  Someone who was able to look at something and call it for its purpose and not for its appearance.  Someone who could see a gem where everyone else saw dung.

Two things crossed my mind: God’s word and God’s children.  So many people look at the Bible and the Holy scriptures as dung.  They study them and consume them only to excrete them and flush them down the toilet.  They laugh at the person who proudly quotes the scriptures.  They mock the person who sees their worth.  They tell everyone around them how foolish the Christian is so that others may laugh along.  Yet they are truly blind and the fool.

As for God’s children, who are they?  They are every person who has or who is or who will accept(ing) the Lord Jesus Christ.  They are the beautiful and they are the those who are wasting away. How many times does the fool criticize his friend who just woke up, “You look like crap.”  How many times do people judge the new believer?  How many times does a believer judge one who does not believe?  Truly we are calling gems dung.

So today I want to apologize to the people I mocked last night.  The people who made these magical dung necklaces. To whoever you are: I am sorry that I foolishly called dung what you were able to see as a gem. Truly- the Lord sees you as his gem.  His precious child who with his word can do magic! 

Lord Jesus,

Forgive me for speaking so foolishly. 

Teach me to see the world through your eyes and keep my mouth shut when I cannot.

In Your Precious name Jesus.  Amen

Today’s encouraging word: Try to see gems where the world sees dung.

Proverbs 3:3
Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

Being Led

“I love how you help me lead my subjects to the right light when I’m afraid to get close to them.” – Suwanee

 

Today’s Blurb: A photograph and reflection from a professional photographer and wife.

 

 

Today’s Encouraging Word: Pray that God will use you to lead people to the right light and let his Holy Spirit lead the way.

Where is Holy Ground?

Today’s blurb: The dialogue between a bible teacher and a young student.

 

 

Teacher: Moses had to take off his shoes because the ground he was on was holy.  What is holy ground?

Student: Holy Ground is ground where God is.

Teacher: Great answer.  So when we come to church we must be reverent because we are on Holy Ground.

Student: But God is everywhere…So wouldn’t that make everywhere holy ground?

Teacher: Well… yes.

 

 

Encouraging word:   Be reverent to God everywhere you go because God is everywhere you are.

 

Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

Advice about Advice

Today’s Blurb:  An imperfect mother shares her four steps in seeking and applying advice.

  

  

Step 1: You must first realize you need advice.

Encouraging Word #1:  Determine the ares in your life that could benefit from advice.

  

Step 2: You must be humble enough to ask for and receive advice.

Encouraging Word #2: We encourage you to be willing to request and receive advice.

 

 

Step 3: Gather as much advice as you can.  Read as many books and articles as you can.  Talk with as many parents as you can.  Watch as many tutorials on the topic as you can.  Gather the advice from a variety of sources, both Christian based and not.  Overload yourself with advice but be careful to take no immediate action.  Immediate action can lead to immediate failure, which will only discourage you from finding and taking the proper action in the future.

Encouraging Word #3:  Be quick to seek and slow to act.

  

Step 4:  Pray.  Ask God to bring back to memory the advice that you need to follow.  If you are not positive on what advice God is leading you to follow use a bible concordance and compare the advice you are wanting to follow to scriptures.  For example: You read a new book that says, “By no means should a parent ever discipline a child in any way.  Disciplining your child is not communicating love.”  You then do a word search on “discipline” and “love” in the bible.  You quickly realize this is poor advice based on your search, focusing in on a scripture that reads, ”The Lord disciplines the one that he loves.” Hebrews 12:6

Now I realize for some people this step is ridiculous.  If that is you… go ahead and skip it.  Try every suggestion.  Have at it.  Make a mental record of your failures and successes.  I am confidant that in the end you will find yourself ready to try prayer and ready to try God.  I believe this is the reason God makes many of us parents in the first place.

Encouraging Word #4: Allow God to be your top advisor so that you may attain your success rapidly.

 

 

Proverbs 24:6
for by wise guidance you can wage your war,and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

1 Corinthians 1:25
For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Debt Free

Today’s Blurb: A mother’s thoughts on the true meaning of being debt free

This morning when I went to unload my dishwasher I dreaded it.  I took it for granted.  Instead of seeing it for what it is… a big help… I saw it for what it wasn’t… a big burden. 

Tonight I saw my dishwasher as a faithful servant.  A servant who works for me every night and sometimes mid-day, cleaning up after my family with no complaints as often as I need.  My dishwasher is a true help… it is a gift from God.

And of this dishwasher… where is it?  Is it not in the home where I live? Is this home not another gift from God?

And of this home… why do I live here?  Is it not because this is where the Lord has placed my family here for a purpose?  Is purpose not one of the most beautiful gifts from God? 

Is this home not the place where my family is kept safe and dry… bathed in warm water and dressed in clean clothes.  All of which are blessings from God.  Blessings which require money and create bills that must be paid.

And what of these bills that must be paid?  Who pays my bills? I don’t and truly my husband does not either.  Yes my husband has an income, yet it is not truly his. My husband only takes the money the Lord has blessed him with and hands it over to those who the Lord wants to have it.  There is no venture or place that the Lord has brought us to where he has not provided.  I have been obsessed with our family being “debt-free”.  But something dawned on me tonight.  We are. 

Where did all these thoughts originate from? It all started this evening at dinner time.  My six-year-old son was asking, “Wouldn’t it be great to live in a house where you lived for free?”  I looked at him and thought about how  unappreciative and ignorant he sounded and then realized that is how I must sound to God. 

For two years now I have imagined winning a miracle home where I had no house payment.  For seven years I have dreamed and prayed for seeing all of our debt become paid off.  Well tonight it has. 

I told my son, “We do live for free.”  For the first time I really “got it”.  Yes we have ”debt” by the world’s standards- school loans and a house payment- yet if I really think about it…  it is not our debt.  It is the Lord’s and it is the Lord who pays our debts.  We live for free.

Where the Lord has called us to be in the past, He continues to pay the bills for today.  We have not once gone without.  We have not once been late on any bill payment.  Every child that has been brought into our family the Lord has provided abundantly.  It is only because we have followed his lead. As we are faithful to follow his lead, He is faithful to pay the bill.

In this same way he paid the ultimate bill for my sin two-thousand and nine years ago on a cross set up on a hill.  Though I did not know him then, he knew that more than two-thousand years later I would call on him for help. Yet I am only one of the many who have called out to the Lord for help.  For there were many who called on the Lord before Jesus was ever born, yet still it was Jesus who paid the debt of their sin long after they had died.  And for those who came and continue to come long after his death, it will still be Jesus who pays the price of their sin because he paid it in advance.   For there are many that can answer a call for help, but there is no other who can answer the call for the help of salvation.

 

 

Encouraging Word: Rethink your family’s debt.  If  your debt is continuously provided for… consider yourself debt free.  If your debt is not provided for start seeking the one who has already paid all your debts in full.

 

 

John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Our New Baby

Please meet the newest member of our family:

 

 

www.truehelp.wordpress.com

Our new baby blog site has been specially designed

for all of our readers who are parents of young children.

 

If that is you…

Check it Out!!

Studying the Bible

Today’s Blurb: A poem about studying the Bible

 

The deeper I get into your word,

The more I realize how shallow I am swimming.

 

The deeper I dive in this sea of truth,

The more I see it’s the surface I’m skimming.

 

 

 I am so eager.  I am so hungry.

I will search for you all night.

 

I will take a shovel to this word.

I will dig with all my might.

 

 

You won’t let me find the answer.

You will not let me see.

You say, “My grace is sufficient.”

I have somewhere for you to be.

 

 

  You lead me on a different course.

You steer me in a new direction.

 

You humble my spirit, my heart, and my mind.

        You issue my correction.

 

I think I am placing pieces together.

You show me a new dimension.

 

I try to follow your lead in our dance.

  Your love cuts through my tension.

 

 

You guide me to a promise.

I find the reward for my quest.

 

I hide it deep within my heart.

I close your word and rest.

 

Encouraging Word: Do more than read your bible… allow God to lead you on a journey through his word. 

 

Back to the dinner table

Today’s Blurb: A mother relates family mealtime to the coming of Christ

Last night I prepared a meal for my children. It was something new that they had never eaten.  Something new that they had never seen.  It was similar in ingredients to their favorite dish yet noticeably different. The dish had hearty green and red vegetables, added to make them stronger upon consumption.  The sauce was noticeably lighter than their favorite sauce and it had been noticeably seasoned with choice herbs to add flavor and stimulate their taste buds.  I was delighted in the new creation and excited to bring forth something new to the table. 

I thought about Jesus Christ.  I thought about a tiny infant being placed in a manger, prepared from the beginning of time by God above.  He was the very word of God’s salvation in the form of a human being.  He was the word of God seasoned with love and grace.  The word that would bring restoration and joy to those who would be willing to receive him.   I cannot begin to imagine the joy in the heavens when baby Jesus was brought forth that night.  There he was, all of God’s word… his promises, laws, commandments and prophecies fulfilled in one tiny baby.  A gift of mercy sent from God above… placed on the table for all his children to receive. Yet what happened when Jesus was sent into the world?  Back to my dinner table…

My children were not at all excited.  Upon the very sight of it they turned their noses up and complained. They did not want it.  They did not like.  I asked how they knew if they never tried it. How many people reject Jesus this way? My oldest son complained and requested his favorite plain dish with his familiar sauce.  Since we had some left over from the night before I gave him the old dish as he requested.  I was not irritated.  I knew they would act this way. 

This made me think of God’s loved children, the Jews, who were given the precious gift of their messiah from God above… yet because he was not presented in the way that they had anticipated they rejected him and still to this day choose to remain with what they know and are confident in… the law.  God knew this would be the case.  Back to my dinner table…

Even though I knew that my children would reject this meal I made it none the less.  I had made the dish being hopeful that perhaps they just might try it. That the exposure to its flavors would change their taste as they tried it.  I was not mad nor had a “let my son win” by giving him what he was used to.  How fair would that be?  I know him.  Better than he knows himself.  I knew he would not eat it.  I was not going to let him go hungry.  My hope was simply that he would try the new dish.

 It is known that some children can be introduced a food and reject up to ten times before they actually get acquired to the taste of the food and accept it and actually start to like and it.  After numerous rejections, the child begins to love the food and devours it upon presentation.  This was my hope.  That even if they rejected it tonight the exposure to its taste would begin to put a taste for the ingredients in their mouth.  The hope that if I continue presenting the same hated ingredients, eventually he may learn to love them.  It will take a lot of patience on my part, yet in the end it is worth it if it means seeing them eat healthier.

So again I reflected on the Jews today.  Is it possible that they can learn to love Jesus Christ?  Can his message of love soften their heart?  Can their eyes be opened to the freedom in his love?  Is it possible that God has patiently watched and waited on his precious children to accept their savior… continuing to present him to his children in a variety of ways?  I think it is very possible.  Back to my dinner table…

Upon setting my meal on the table, I was even more hopeful for my younger sons who had been accepting of new food and had a stronger liking of the dishes sauce.   For them I made no other dish.  I had faith that they would eat the new dish. Expecting them to perhaps push aside the vegetables but finding no excuse for them to push away the main ingredient. 

My younger sons reminded me of the gentiles who should be more willing to accept Jesus because they had no preconceived ideas of God or a savior… just a hunger for God and a willingness to be filled.  Back to the dinner table…

We all sat down at the table.  I prayed with them and then watched to see what they would do.  As expected, they all sat with the meal before them.  Poking it with their fingers, pulling out and showing me every ingredient that they did not like.  I continually just replied for them to try it that it was good for them.  I called it good.  They called it bad.

Is this not what all unbelievers do with the message of Jesus?  They toss the message of Jesus around in their mind and try yo point out all that is “wrong” with it to those who believe.  They refuse to accept it and instead choose to dissect it.  They call bad what indeed is good.  Back to the dinner table…

My eldest son finished all his dish, refusing to even try the new one.  My younger sons then began to turn up their noses at a dish they very well should have eaten.  They were influenced by their older brothers opinions. 

At this point I realized how the effect of the critic of Jesus on the searcher of God.  It became very clear to me how one man’s opinion can gravely influence a crowd.  I realized the danger of a man’s words.  As men search for God they weigh their beliefs about God based on others opinions.  Men spend more time reading opinions than reading the word of God. Men read books about the book and search on the web for the popular thought on any given belief and make a decision based on the beliefs of men.  It is not to say that council is foolish… it indeed is not… but depending on the majority to establish the right belief is foolish.  We see this is the bible when the Prophet Elijah challenges the believers of Baal.  Elijah the prophet was one man who believed the Lord was God.  He was up against six-hundred who didn’t… in the end Elijah was right in his belief.  We cannot allow the popular decision to determine our final decision.  Back to my dinner table…

In the end my oldest son was full, yet undernourished.  He felt satisfied and content with his choice.  I knew he had not received the ingredients that would strengthen him. I knew it might be a long time before he ever would. 

Many who do not believe in Jesus are content.  They are satisfied and full.  Yet they indeed are missing out.  They are not living to their full potential because they reject the one who can created them to reach it.  The problem is their perception.  They believe they have it all. They have sold themselves short.  If only they knew God had even more for them.  Back to the dinner table…

My youngest sons were left hungry and preferred to remain that way rather than eat the new dish I had prepared.  I had no compassion on their hunger.  I had prepared something they should have eaten.  They allowed their brothers refusal to influence their choice.  I was not angry at any of my children, but I was in awe of their stubbornness. In the end I stood firm on my decision to offer my youngest sons no other meal.

Does God show mercy on those who he chooses?  Does God’s favor sometimes seem unfair?  I think the way we answer that question weighs heavily on one question: Do we believe God knows us better than we know ourselves?  I believe he does.  As I looked at my children I wondered if our heavenly father stands in awe of our stubbornness.   

We all left the table.  It was getting late so I chose to bathe them and prepare them for sleep time and left the mess to clean later while they were sleeping.  It is always easier to clean up their messes when they are sleeping.  When they are awake they don’t sit still, constantly creating new messes all around them.  Cleaning up consumes most of my time for this reason.  Not to mention taking care of their baby sister who is extremely needy.  I would have to get them all to bed before returning to clean up the leftovers and the mess they had made.

Many times we make a bigger mess of our lives because we won’t just be still and let God take care of things.  We want to do do do and fix fix fix.  Many times when I clean up after my children I reflect on the messes I make in my own life.  I imagine God saying to me, “Be Still!!!” 

By the time they had got all of them asleep it was very late.  I did not want to clean up the mess.  I wanted to rest but I knew I had to return to the kitchen.  I could not rest knowing the food had been left out and things were out-of-place.  I did not want bugs to come after the leftovers.  Yet who can blame them?  Why not devour a wonderful meal that had been foolishly rejected by those who it was offered to? 

I actually had compassion on the bugs. For the first time I saw a bug in new light.  As a persecuted creature forced to live hidden in darkness because of their appearance.  A creature who is anxious to feed on quality food yet has been forced to feed on the left overs, the rotting and the dead.  It is a brave bug that steps into the light.  Its life is always at stake.  It is not that they love the darkness, they have been forced to reside in it by more powerful creatures that live in the light and refuse to welcome their presence.  People who view them as disgusting and hide their quality food from their reach even leaving poison in their paths to try to kill them in their tracks.  People who have been created physically and mentally superior yet misuse their superiority to oppress every creature that has been created seemingly inferior. Yet by nature, who is truly superior?  The man who turns his nose up at the choice food in front of him or the roach that consumes the choice food when given the chance?  The creature that is disgusting is the creature that knowingly choses to consume filth when choice food is abundant.  Is that men or bugs?

Something profound dawned on me.  Jesus came for the Jews… the believers in the Lord… yet the Jews refused him.  They left out the bread of life for the taking and so God made it possible for any who believed to receive.  I thought of how Jesus had called a Samaritan woman a dog.  Many view it as insulting but was that really an insult?  I think not.  He was testing her faith.  He knew her.  She was faithful in her belief, like a dog is faithful to its master.  She proved herself in her response.. that even dogs pick up the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.  Jesus was indeed her master and he had placed his body… the bread of life… out on the table for his chosen Jewish children.  Yet they refused him… just as my children refused the meal I prepared for them…and so the Samaritan woman was allowed to eat of the bread of life…like a roach coming to eat the food that was left out from my children.  She was able to receive salvation from the Jewish messiah through her belief in him… not that I was actually going to allow the roaches in my home free access to my children’s left over’s.

That night the pan in which I had cooked the meal in was crusted with hardened food… food that had sat out too long and become stuck to the pan.  I let it soak overnight and in the morning all of the hardened food had become so soft that with just one turning of the pan by my hand all of the contents poured out with ease. 

I said a prayer for all of God’s children that God’s grace… that was poured out through Jesus Christ’s blood on the cross long ago… the grace that has been soaking this world for two-thousand and nine years would begin to soften the hearts of God’s chosen people.  So that when the message of Jesus once again reaches out to their hearts they would be willing to let him turn over their lives to his love and pour out all the hardness that they have kept in their heart.

 

 

Ecouraging Word:  Ask God to teach you in the midst of your daily grind… start seeking Him with a new passion and allow everything you see and do teach you about the Lord your maker… consume his word and be satisfied in his love.

 

 

Psalm 22:26
The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD! 

Hebrews 13:9
Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.