The Cross
Is your life fraught with uncertainty? Are you dealing with financial woes or physical disorders or distressing personal relationships? Are you having trouble making sense of the senseless hatred and brutality that plaster the evening newspaper headlines?
Is all the talk of war with an invisible enemy causing you to anguish over the future your children and grandchildren might have to face? Do you sometimes find it difficult to awaken to the responsibilities of a new day simply because the stress you feel pervades you with a sense of futility?
Is your spirit in turmoil because "the peace of God that passes all understanding" eludes you?
If you are conflicted beyond your own ability to quell the disconcertion within you, read the story that follows. In it you will discover the resolve of a people who had emerged victorious from a war that encompassed the world--for the second time--only to find themselves enmeshed in another great conflagration.
They are a people whose hard work and great sacrifices had enabled them to crank out much of the war materiel that brought WW II to a successful conclusion for the Allies. They were the people who manned the factories that produced the tanks and the trucks and the airplanes that supplied the coalition against the onslaught of the Nazis.
They were among the people who had sent their sons to battle against the mortal foe of the ONE we call "...the PRINCE OF PEACE." And these humble and God-fearing people erected a monument to that ONE, for they knew HE was their "WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER."
They knew HE was the ONE of whom the prophet foretold, "UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN, UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN, AND THE GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER..." Isaiah 9:6
As you face the challenges that confront and disconcert you, may you, too, know that the answers to your perplexities lie in the cross. May you realize afresh that the Baby born in Bethlehem is the Author of life. Allow your life to be hidden in Him.
And remind yourself that He has given you not only the "unspeakable GIFT" of salvation (II Corinthians 9:15) but He has also given you "the same power that raised JESUS from the dead...it dwells in you" Romans 8:11.
Use that power to steal yourself against every problem you face, for with your hand in the hand of the Savior, you are "more than a conqueror." Romans 8:37
That total victory is what the Babe of Bethlehem came to give you. That's what the manger and the cross are about.
If you are conflicted beyond your own ability to quell the disconcertion within you, read the story that follows. In it you will discover the resolve of a people who had emerged victorious from a war that encompassed the world--for the second time--only to find themselves enmeshed in another great conflagration.
They are a people whose hard work and great sacrifices had enabled them to crank out much of the war materiel that brought WW II to a successful conclusion for the Allies. They were the people who manned the factories that produced the tanks and the trucks and the airplanes that supplied the coalition against the onslaught of the Nazis.
They were among the people who had sent their sons to battle against the mortal foe of the ONE we call "...the PRINCE OF PEACE." And these humble and God-fearing people erected a monument to that ONE, for they knew HE was their "WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER."
They knew HE was the ONE of whom the prophet foretold, "UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN, UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN, AND THE GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER..." Isaiah 9:6
As you face the challenges that confront and disconcert you, may you, too, know that the answers to your perplexities lie in the cross. May you realize afresh that the Baby born in Bethlehem is the Author of life. Allow your life to be hidden in Him.
And remind yourself that He has given you not only the "unspeakable GIFT" of salvation (II Corinthians 9:15) but He has also given you "the same power that raised JESUS from the dead...it dwells in you" Romans 8:11.
Use that power to steal yourself against every problem you face, for with your hand in the hand of the Savior, you are "more than a conqueror." Romans 8:37
That total victory is what the Babe of Bethlehem came to give you. That's what the manger and the cross are about.
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