During this Christmas season I've been hungry for new revelation on the story of Christmas.  I've been reading the first few chapters of Luke over and over again and what I've been finding has been building on something that God has been speaking to my heart for the past few months.

The Bible is LOADED with promises for us.  Have you ever wondered why you haven't seen some of those promises come to pass in your life?  The answer is simple-- just believe.  You see God has ALREADY done everything He can do for us in Christ Jesus.  The Blood of Jesus has ALREADY answered every accusation that satan could ever bring against you.  The work of salvation is a done deal.  The FULL nature and character of Jesus Christ has ALREADY been placed in your born again spirit when you received the gift of salvation. 

You see, the spirit realm is MORE real than the physical realm-- what we can see around us.  I know this is a big one to get your mind around, but the spirit realm is MORE real and MORE true than what you can see with your physcial eyes or experience with any of your physical senses.  From the spirit realm, God spoke what you phycially see into existence.  When the spirit realm and what the WORD says becomes more real to you than what you physically see--that's when you'll begin to see the promises of God working in your life.

OK... back to the Christmas story!  There's SUCH a wonderful example of this simple belief contained in the first chapter of Luke... a story that you've probably heard before.  Luke starts out with the angel Gabriel appearing to a man named Zachariah.  Zachariah was the father of John the Baptist.  John's mission was to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus, the promised Messiah.  Zachariah and his wife Elisabeth were old and barren-- meaning they were unable to have children, even though they prayed for a baby.  Zachariah was a priest and while he was performing a sacrifice for the people inside the temple, Gabriel appeared to him.  He told Zachariah NOT to fear and that the thing he and Elisabeth had been praying for was about to come to pass.  He told him that they were to have a baby and to name him John.  Gabriel told Zachariah about how wonderful John was going to be and how he was to prepare the way for Jesus.  Zachariah questions Gabriel, wanting to know how on earth what he was saying could ever be true.  Gabriel is disappointed with John's disbelief and as a sign to Zachariah that was he was saying was true... Zacariah was made mute throughout the duration of Elisabeth's pregnancy.  Let's pause here for a second.  Think about the fact that Zacariah was a "spiritual guy," yet still when Gabriel appears to him, he is full of fear and chooses not to believe.  Right after this account of Zacariah, we read of Gabriel appearing to Mary.  I love the fact that Mary is a young girl and when Gabriel tells her that she is going to have a baby, she asks how the baby will come (since she is a virgin), but she never doubts that what Gabriel is saying is true.  In Luke 1:38, she says, "Be it unto me as you have said."  The book of John tells us that the Word (Jesus) was made flesh and dwelt among us.  In Peter we read that Jesus, the Word, is an incorruptible seed.  The Greek word here for "seed" is actually "spora"-- which is our word for "sperm."  You see the moment that Mary humbled herself and said, "Be it unto me as your word has said," she literally conceived Jesus in her womb.  The promise started to make its way from the spirit realm to the physical world.

The same way Mary received the promise of God is the same way that YOU can receive the promise of God.  When you see something in the Word and the Holy Spirit prompts you that it's a promise for YOU... all you have to do is BELIEVE... receive it into your heart, say "Be it unto me as according to you word."  If the WORD of God is MORE real to you than any other thing, you WILL SEE the promises of God fulfilled in your life.

I know this was a long one, but I hope you got something out of it. 

Merry Christmas from 14forty!

Lindsay :) 

Now hold that thought and think about this:  We, as children of God, clothed in the very righteousness of Jesus Christ, have access to the throne room of Almighty God, the Holy of Holies at any moment, at any time.  When Christ physically died on the cross, the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the outer courts of the temple was torn in half.  God was saying that NOW, for the rest of eternity, there is nothing that can keep you out of that most intimate place with Him.



I believe the heart of the Father is for us to feel totally at ease, more “at home” in His Presence than in any other place.  It’s not a lack of reverence, in fact, I think when we see the magnitude of the Father’s love, of his “Come crash on my couch” attitude, we can’t help but be overwhelmed with adoration.



God put this concept in my heart a while back.  That very day I was in a church service and the speaker looked at me and prophetically said, “I hear you saying, I have found my place in my Father’s house.”  Powerful confirmation.  Dad wants us to crash on His couch…always.  He wants to chill with us in those moments when we’re most at ease… when we’re not even trying.