ABUNDANT LIFE - You cannot expect great revelation until you have prepared your heart to receive it. The soil of your heart must be prepared to receive the seed of God's Word. Your heart's soil is prepared by repentance, prayer, study of the Word, worship, and seeking God's face. Revelations are released for specific needs at certain times. Our God is a God of abundance. His abundance was not placed on earth to satisfy our fleshly desires, but rather, to establish His kingdom. Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you into a lifestyle of abundant living, kingdom living. - “The desire of the humble You have heard, O Lord; You make their heart attentive; You bend Your ear.” - Great revelation doesn't come without preparation. You cannot plant an acorn in concrete and expect to grow a majestic oak tree. In the same way, you cannot expect great revelation until you have prepared your heart to receive it. The soil of your heart must be prepared to receive the seed of God's Word. Your heart's soil is prepared by repentance, prayer, study of the Word, worship, and seeking God's face. Revelations are released for specific needs at certain times. The Reformation was based on one simple truth: "The just shall live by faith." This was the message the world of Martin Luther's day so desperately needed to hear. God chose the '40s, '50s and '60s of the last century to say, "I am still your healer." Our God is a God of abundance.

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Abundant Life

Jesus, I praise You for the abundant life You are giving me. I desire to hear Your voice and seek Your face.

,

You cannot expect great revelation until you have prepared your heart to receive it. The soil of your heart must be prepared to receive the seed of God's Word. Your heart's soil is prepared by repentance, prayer, study of the Word, worship, and seeking God's face.

.

Revelations are released for specific needs at certain times. Our God is a God of abundance. His abundance was not placed on earth to satisfy our fleshly desires, but rather, to establish His kingdom. Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you into a lifestyle of abundant living, kingdom living.

Rod Parsley

 

“The desire of the humble You have heard, O Lord; You make their heart attentive; You bend Your ear.” - Psalm 10:17

 

Great revelation doesn't come without preparation.

You cannot plant an acorn in concrete and expect to grow a majestic oak tree.

In the same way, you cannot expect great revelation until you have prepared your heart to receive it.

The soil of your heart must be prepared to receive the seed of God's Word.

Your heart's soil is prepared by repentance, prayer, study of the Word, worship, and seeking God's face.

Revelations are released for specific needs at certain times.

The Reformation was based on one simple truth: "The just shall live by faith."

This was the message the world of Martin Luther's day so desperately needed to hear.

God chose the '40s, '50s and '60s of the last century to say, "I am still your healer."

God's revelation for our generation is a truth that has been abused, ridiculed and misunderstood: Our God is a God of abundance.

His abundance was not placed on earth to satisfy our fleshly desires, but rather, to establish His kingdom.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you into a lifestyle of abundant living, kingdom living.

Jesus, I praise You for the abundant life You are giving me.

I desire to hear Your voice and seek Your face.

Amen.

Further Reading

Psalm 10:17

Romans 1:17

Acts 3:19

Breakthrough with Rod Parsley

Weekly and daily broadcasts of dynamic preaching which focus on the authority of the Gospel and the power of God to transform lives!

The Breakthrough with Rod Parsley broadcast is taking sound biblical doctrine and the Gospel of Jesus Christ "to all people," reaching over 200 nations, on multiple satellites that provide a signal to virtually the entire globe. More than 680 million households receive Breakthrough on a global basis seven days a week, 365 days a year. Included are more than 100 million households in the United States alone, presented through multiple networks and airtimes.

Breakthrough is the worldwide soul-winning media ministry of Rod Parsley, advancing the kingdom of God around the world through the eye of the camera. Multiplied tens of thousands are being challenged to become redemptive agents of change for kingdom advancement in their communities and homes.

With practical teaching helping to grow strong Christians, Breakthrough with Rod Parsley makes a significant impact by boldly proclaiming the authority of Jesus Christ to save, heal and transform. Breakthrough with Rod Parsley is committed to reaching this generation with relevant truth to meet the challenges of the real world.

https://www.rodparsley.com/dailydevotion

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GOD'S FINEST HOUR - As we celebrate this season the coming of God in the form of a baby born in Bethlehem, God’s finest hour began with the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ. We are made by God and for God, but because of sin we are separated from Him. We know we need Him, and we long to be made right with Him -we just don’t know how. The coming of Christ was the beginning of God’s finest hour because it addresses this awful separation. God loved us so much that He didn’t leave us separated from Him, trapped in our own sin and its devastating effects. He loved us so much that He came to us! God Himself came to a virgin named Mary and placed His life inside her womb. And that child who was born of Mary — the one born in a manager in the little town of Bethlehem — that child was called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” Jesus Christ was God’s finest hour - The lives of great men and women are often recalled by a single moment that defines them — a snapshot that captures their special passion and typifies their most lasting contribution. We remember Abraham Lincoln for his brief but powerful Gettysburg address, where he envisioned a nation “of the people, by the people and for the people.” Martin Luther will be forever immortalized for nailing his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg’s All Saints Chapel, ushering in the protestant reformation. Single snapshots can sum up the greatest moments of great lives.

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God's Finest Hour

..

As we celebrate this season the coming of God in the form of a baby born in Bethlehem, God’s finest hour began with the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ. We are made by God and for God, but because of sin we are separated from Him. We know we need Him, and we long to be made right with Him -we just don’t know how. The coming of Christ was the beginning of God’s finest hour because it addresses this awful separation. God loved us so much that He didn’t leave us separated from Him, trapped in our own sin and its devastating effects. He loved us so much that He came to us! God Himself came to a virgin named Mary and placed His life inside her womb. And that child who was born of Mary — the one born in a manager in the little town of Bethlehem — that child was called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” Jesus Christ was God’s finest hour

by Dr. Paul Osteen

 

Jesus Christ was God’s Finest Hour

The lives of great men and women are often recalled by a single moment that defines them — a snapshot that captures their special passion and typifies their most lasting contribution.

We remember Abraham Lincoln for his brief but powerful Gettysburg address, where he envisioned a nation “of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Theologian Martin Luther will be forever immortalized for nailing his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg’s All Saints Chapel, ushering in the protestant reformation.

Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor, but perhaps his best known and most lasting work of art was done from atop a high scaffold, painting the ceiling of Rome’s Sistine Chapel.

Winston Churchill captured the hearts of Britain and the world when he boldly declared, as bombs fell on his beloved London, “This will be our finest hour.”

Single snapshots like these can sum up the greatest moments of great lives.

I wonder, if we were to consider our all-powerful, all-knowing, supreme God, what his finest hour would be.

Would it be His creation of the heavens and the earth by the very power of His spoken word?

Or the dazzling creativity He displayed in the crafting of every living thing on the earth?

Some might argue that God’s greatest hour was the creation of man from the dust and of woman from man — but I would suggest that there was something even greater than that.

As we celebrate this season the coming of God in the form of a baby born in Bethlehem, I believe that God’s finest hour began with the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ.

If we are honest with ourselves, each of us would admit a deep longing that cannot be satisfied; a deep inner pain and emptiness that will not go away.

Education can’t satisfy it, career and money can’t quiet it, relationships can’t fill it and drugs or alcohol can’t make it disappear.

It’s always there because we are made by God and for God, and because of sin we are separated from Him.

We know we need Him, and we long to be made right with Him; we just don’t know how.

The coming of Christ was the beginning of God’s finest hour because it addresses this awful separation.

God loved us so much that He didn’t leave us separated from Him, trapped in our own sin and its devastating effects.

He loved us so much that He came to us!

God Himself came to a virgin named Mary and placed His life inside her womb.

And that child who was born of Mary — the one born in a manager in the little town of Bethlehem — that child was called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.”

And it didn’t stop there.

The apostle Paul wrote of Jesus, “He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on by the world, was taken up in glory.” (I Timothy 3:16, NIV)

Jesus Christ was God’s finest hour.

He was born to us in the flesh, lived a perfect, sinless life, then went to the cross and suffered and died in our place.

God placed on Him every sin that will ever be committed, and Jesus willingly took our punishment.

Then three days later, the Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead, breaking forever the power of sin.

In Jesus, the price has been paid.

In Him, we have forgiveness, and through Him, we are welcomed back into fellowship with Holy God.

So, is there a “snapshot” of this great, great hour?

I believe there is — and it lies in a story Jesus Himself told: the story of the prodigal son.

It’s recorded in Luke 15.

A wealthy landowner had two sons, and the youngest demanded his inheritance while his father was still living, left home, and squandered every cent on wild living.

When he was at his very lowest, he remembered that even the slaves in his father’s house were well cared for, so he decided to return home, not daring to hope he might be received back as a son, but planning to beg to be allowed home as a slave.

When he returned, his father recognized him from a long way off, and before the son could apologize and plead for charity, the father ran to him, embraced him, smothered him with kisses and said “all is forgiven!”

Many, many wrongs had been done by this wayward son, but all the father cared about was his return.

If you could hold in your memory one snapshot of God’s finest hour this season, will you hold this one?

The God of the universe loved you so much that through His Son Jesus Christ, He has made a way for you to come back home.

And when He sees you coming, He will run to you, wrap His arms around you, and welcome you home, making His finest hour your finest hour.

Paul Osteen, M.D. had a busy practice in general and vascular surgery in Little Rock, Arkansas for many years. In July 1999, he moved to Houston to work full-time in the ministry at Joel Osteen Ministries. Currently he provides oversight to the pastoral and discipleship ministries at Lakewood. He speaks at the Wednesday night service twice monthly and teaches the new convert class every Sunday night. Paul and his wife Jennifer have 5 children: Matt, Georgia, Olivia, Sophia and Jackson.

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CHRISTMAS TREES - Origin, History and Development - The evergreen fir tree has traditionally been used to celebrate winter festivals for thousands of years. Pagans used branches of it to decorate their homes during the winter solstice, as it made them think of the spring to come. The Romans used Fir Trees to decorate their temples at the festival of Saturnalia. Christians use it as a sign of everlasting life with God.

The History of Christmas Trees 

The evergreen fir tree has traditionally been used to celebrate winter festivals (pagan and Christian) for thousands of years.

Pagans used branches of it to decorate their homes during the winter solstice, as it made them think of the spring to come.

The Romans used Fir Trees to decorate their temples at the festival of Saturnalia. Christians use it as a sign of everlasting life with God.

Nobody is really sure when Fir trees were first used as Christmas trees. It probably began about 1000 years ago in Northern Europe.

Many early Christmas Trees seem to have been hung upside down from the ceiling using chains (hung from chandeliers/lighting hooks).

Other early Christmas Trees, across many parts of northern Europe, were cherry or hawthorn plants (or a branch of the plant) that were put into pots and brought inside so they would hopefully flower at Christmas time.

If you could not afford a real plant, people made pyramids of woods and they were decorated to look like a tree with paper, apples and candles. Sometimes they were carried around from house to house, rather than being displayed in a home.

It is possible that the wooden pyramid trees were meant to be like Paradise Trees.

These were used in medieval German Mystery or Miracle Plays that were acted out in front of Churches on Christmas Eve.

In early church calendars of saints, 24th December was Adam and Eve's day. The Paradise Tree represented the Garden of Eden. It was often paraded around the town before the play started, as a way of advertising the play. The plays told Bible stories to people who could not read.

The first documented use of a tree at Christmas and New Year celebrations is argued between the cities of Tallinn in Estonia and Riga in Latvia! Both claim that they had the first trees; Tallinn in 1441 and Riga in 1510.

Both trees were put up by the “Brotherhood of Blackheads” which was an association of local unmarried merchants, ship owners, and foreigners in Livonia (what is now Estonia and Latvia).

Little is known about either tree apart from that they were put in the town square, were dance around by the Brotherhood of Blackheads and were then set on fire. This is like the custom of the Yule Log.

The word used for the “tree” could also mean a mast or pole, tree might have been like a “Paradise Tree” or a tree-shaped wooden candelabra rather than a “real” tree.

In the town square of Riga, the capital of Latvia, there is a plaque which is engraved with "The First New Year's Tree in Riga in 1510," in eight languages. You can find out more about the Riga Tree from this website:www.firstchristmastree.com

In 1584, the historian Balthasar Russow wrote about a tradition, in Riga, of a decorated fir tree in the market square where the young men “went with a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame.”

There is a record of a small tree in Breman, Germany from 1570. It is described as a tree decorated with "apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers." It was displayed in a 'guild-house' (the meeting place for a society of business men in the city).

The first person to bring a Christmas Tree into a house, in the way we know it today, may have been the 16th century German preacher Martin Luther.

A story is told that, one night before Christmas, he was walking through the forest and looked up to see the stars shining through the tree branches.

It was so beautiful, that he went home and told his children that it reminded him of Jesus, who left the stars of heaven to come to earth at Christmas. Some people say this is the same tree as the “Riga” tree, but it isn't! The Riga tree originally took place a few decades earlier.

The custom of having Christmas trees could well have travelled along the Baltic sea, from Latvia to Germany.

In the 1400’s and 1500’s, the countries which are now Germany and Latvia were them part of two larger empires which were neighbors.

Another story says that St. Boniface of Crediton (a village in Devon, UK) left England and traveled to Germany to preach to the pagan German tribes and convert them to Christianity.

He is said to have come across a group of pagans about to sacrifice a young boy while worshipping an oak tree.

In anger, and to stop the sacrifice, St. Boniface is said to have cut down the oak tree and, to his amazement, a young fir tree sprang up from the roots of the oak tree.

St. Boniface took this as a sign of the Christian faith and his followers decorated the tree with candles so that St. Boniface could preach to the pagans at night.

There is another legend, from Germany, about how the Christmas Tree came into being. It goes:

“Once on a cold Christmas Eve night, a forester and his family were in their cottage gathered round the fire to keep warm. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

“When the forester opened the door, he found a poor little boy standing on the door step, lost and alone. The forester welcomed him into his house and the family fed and washed him and put him to bed in the youngest sons own bed (he had to share with his brother that night!)

“The next morning, Christmas Morning, the family were woken up by a choir of angels, and the poor little boy had turned into Jesus, the Christ Child.

“The Christ Child went into the front garden of the cottage and broke a branch off a Fir tree and gave it to the family as a present to say thank you for looking after him. So ever since them, people have remembered that night by bringing a Christmas Tree into their homes!”

In Germany, the first Christmas Trees were decorated with edible things, such as gingerbread and gold covered apples. Then glass makers made special small ornaments similar to some of the decorations used today.

In 1605 an unknown German wrote: "At Christmas they set up fir trees in the parlours of Strasbourg and hang thereon roses cut out of many-colored paper, apples, wafers, gold foil, sweets, etc."

At first, a figure of the Baby Jesus was put on the top of the tree. Over time it changed to an angel/fairy that told the shepherds about Jesus, or a star like the Wise Men saw.

The first Christmas Trees came to Britain sometime in the 1830’s. They became very popular in 1841, when Prince Albert (Queen Victoria's German husband) had a Christmas Tree set up in Windsor Castle.

In 1848, drawing of "The Queen's Christmas tree at Windsor Castle" was published in the Illustrated London News. The drawing was republished in Godey's Lady's Book, Philadelphia in December 1850 (but they removed the Queen's crown and Prince Albert's moustache to make it look “American”!).

The publication of the drawing helped Christmas Trees become popular in the UK and USA.

In Victorian times, the tree would have been decorated with candles to represent stars. In many parts of Europe, candles are still used to decorate Christmas trees.

Tinsel and The Legend of the Christmas SpiderTinsel was also created in Germany, were it was originally made from thin strips of beaten silver. But when plastic/man-made tinsel was invented, it became very popular as it was much cheaper than real silver and also lighter to go on the tree!

There are also folk stories about how tinsel was created - by The Christmas Spider!

These tales seem to have started in Eastern Germany or Ukraine but are also told in parts of Finland and Scandinavia. The stories are now also popular in other countries such as the USA; although I live in the UK and most people in my country have never heard of the story/legend!

All the versions of the story involve a poor family who can't afford to decorate a Tree for Christmas (in some versions the tree grew from a pine cone in their house, in others the family have bought a tree into the house).

When the children go to sleep on Christmas Eve a spider covers the tree in cobwebs. Then on Christmas morning the cobwebs are magically turned into silver and gold strands which decorate the tree!

Some versions of the story say that it's the light of the sun which changed the cobwebs into silver and gold but other versions say it's St Nicholas / Santa Claus / Father Christmas / das Christkind which made the magic happen.

In parts of Germany, Poland, and Ukraine it is meant to be good luck to find a spider or a spider's web on your Christmas Tree.

Spider's web Christmas Tree decorations are also popular in Ukraine. They're called “pavuchky” (which means “little spider”) and the decorations are normally made of paper and silver wire. You might even put an artificial spider's web on your tree!

Christmas Tree Lights

Because of the danger of fire, in 1895 Ralph Morris, an American telephonist, invented the first electric Christmas lights, similar to the ones we use today.

In 1885 a hospital in Chicago burned down because of candles on a Christmas Tree!

And in 1908 insurance companies in the USA tried to get a law made that would ban candles from being used on Christmas Trees because of the many fires they had caused! So we have to say a big thank you to Ralph Morris for making Christmas safer!

The most lights lit at the same time on a Christmas tree is 194,672 and was done by Kiwanis Malmedy / Haute Fagnes Belgium in Malmedy, Belgium, on 10 December 2010!

Many towns and villages have their own Christmas Trees. One of the most famous is the tree in Trafalgar Square in London, England, which is given to the UK by Norway every year as a “thank you” present for the help the UK gave Norway in World War II.

The White House in the USA has had a big tree on the front lawn since the 1920s.

The record for the most Christmas trees chopped down in two minutes is 27 and belongs to Erin Lavoie from the USA. She set the record on 19th December 2008 on the set of Guinness World Records: Die GroBten Weltrekorde in Germany.

Artificial Christmas Trees really started becoming popular in the early 20th century.

In the Edwardian period Christmas Trees made from colored ostrich feathers were popular at “fashionable” parties.

Around 1900 there was even a short fashion for white trees - so if you thought colored trees are a new invention they're not! Over the years artificial trees have been made from feathers, papier mâché, metal, glass, and many different types of plastic (I've got a couple of inflatable trees!).

The tallest artificial Christmas tree was 52m (170.6ft) high and was covered in green PVC leaves!. It was called the “Peace Tree” and was designed by Grupo Sonae Distribuição Brasil and was displayed in Moinhos de Vento Park, Porto Alegre, Brazil from 1st December 2001 until 6th January 2002.

In many countries, different trees are used as Christmas trees. In New Zealand a tree called the 'Pohutakawa' that has red flowers is sometimes used and in India, Banana or Mango trees are sometimes decorated.