Prayer-Soldier
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 Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 11:16 pm Post subject: The Octave Day of Christmas |
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The LORD said to Moses: “Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them: This is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them: The LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace! So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:22-27)
The Lord continues to call us to greet each other with peace and kindness. The evil one, however, entices us to greet each other with emptiness and suspicion. The Lord calls us to serve one another. The evil one seduces us to selfishness, to use one another in the pursuit of the lusts of this world. It is a battle we fight daily, not the battle of good and evil, but the battle of following what leads us to eternal love and delivers us from evil.
If we try to walk the journey alone, we can be no match for the traps and snares the evil one will lay for us. In we seek the Lord in prayer, if we seek to live His Word, if we greet all His children wishing them the blessings of the Lord, peace will be with us also.
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption. As proof that you are children, God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.[\'I]” (Galatians 4:4-7)
How often do we allow ourselves to becomes slaves to the affairs of this world? If we examine our ambitions, are they for God and service to one another or are they for our own desires? Should we become consumed with ourselves, we push others away, we walk into the loneliness of the dark. Only when we seek to work in service to others do we fulfill ourselves with love. We are no longer slaves to our selfish desires, but we are freed from them through the rewards of living as the Lord has called us.
Should we become consumed in selfish ambitions, happiness will never be ours. Comforts of this world are fleeting, they pass in the moment; only the love found living in the Word of the Lord offers us eternal blessings, all else shall pass to dust.
“[I]So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” (Luke 2:16-21)
How we might wonder what Mary kept in her heart. She had felt the only begotten Son of God growing and maturing within her. She knew what the angel of the Lord had told her. She gave birth to a child the world would know as Immanuel, which means “God is with us.” What could have been her thoughts as she looked at the most innocent face of her Lord and Savior? She felt blessed among women, but did she fully comprehend that which was to come?
We do not know all the directions of our lives, but we do know that to which we are called. We do not know the future which follows from every action we take, for what happens from one moment to the next starts with the choices we make leading to what we do and what we fail to do. Mary knew the responsibility placed before her, to care for the blessed fruit of her womb, Jesus. He was born of the virgin so that all the prophesy could be fulfilled, but that to which the Lord called her did not stop there, she was to be the blessed mother of God for all the ages. Blessed is she for having responded to His call. Will we allow ourselves to be so blessed?
May the peace and blessings of the Lord be with you always,
Prayer Soldier
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