God has made everything beautiful in its time, is the subject today. This part of the text speaks of seasons for things to come to pass. There will always be a time of waiting for anything of worth. Get rich quick schemes are not in the plans of the Lord. It is why we live in a dispensation of seed, time, and harvest. Things from God manifest in His timing, and His timing is perfect. Anything indicative of growth, fruit, flowers, animals, and especially people, should get better with age. Proper nutrition plays a big part in the beauty of a thing flourishing into something better. Similar to a caterpillar evolving into a butterfly. It takes time for transformations to occur, as It takes time for maturity to happen in a person. Children must be trained how to live in society and the how to’s of making a living, etc. We are all in the evolving stage of humanity. God made us perfect in the beginning but since the fall of mankind in the garden we became damaged goods. So we have fallen into the slot of becoming beautiful again but not without much trial and error of living. It’s in His time that everything has become beautiful. Even though God has set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Our minds are not able to comprehend the fullness of God with all He has done. Our trust in Him alone puts us in queue for transitioning into something beautiful.

Whether we know it or not, God’s Kingdom rules over all. What does that mean, glad you asked. From heaven the Lord God has control over certain things directly and other things indirectly. There are rules on earth that God is not allowed to violate, set in motion by Himself. God gave dominion on the earth to mankind, so He has bound His own hand in helping us in some ways directly. We must apply His kingdom rules to conquer earthly principles, and laws that go against the truth. We must incorporate faith to believe through our difficulties and trails of life. The Lord always responds to His word spoken from the lips of faith. God must go around the world’s system, set up by Satan, to get us help. Living a lifestyle of faith in God, puts us on a level to live above the evil in this world. So the Lord can indirectly help us by a lifestyle which avoids unnecessary troubles, and unwanted circumstances. The other perspective of God ruling all is He keeps the cycle and stability of life consistent. All things are held together by the power of Christ (Colossians 1:17). The stars of heaven, the moon and sun in the sky are under His orders to hold fast. The sands of the sea are under His orders to not go beyond a certain point on land. He rules everything but not our individual lives. He gave us free will and that’s where trouble was introduced into the world. We are imperfect beings prone to mess up. But we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:12-13). Since we’re in the Kingdom of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, let’s be all we can be and aggressively pursue life in the Kingdom.

God gives power to the faint and weary, and to the person who has no might He increases their strength. The Lord knows the struggles we face down here. Jesus walked the earth and has been through more than any other human being on the planet. He won strength for us when He defeated the devil in hell. He gained all power again after completing His assignment of attaining salvation for us from our sin, and weaknesses. God can and does increase the strength of the weak. You may be a strong person by nature but everyone gets tired after a while. Those times when you know there’s a task that must be fulfilled no matter how you feel, that’s when we can call on the strength of the Lord for help. Our relationship with God is important, but our fellowship is even more important. It is there, through intimate times with Jesus we gain not only strength but confidence, courage, and clarity on mind. God instills in us what we need when we spend time with Him in prayer and meditation of His word. The joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10), and those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31). We have what we need for increased strength and power, because we have the Lord. Now go forth in strength and power, finish the race with your chin up, and chest out.

As occasion and opportunity open up to us, we are to do good towards all people. Your christian nature should demonstrate this to everyone. And when it comes to the family of believers we should do good towards them even more so. This world is constantly throwing at us everything that pertains to confusion, disruption, and temptations. Once we get our footing properly in place, our foundation under God holding steady, it becomes easier to do good on a regular basis. Of ourselves, we can’t do good because there’s nothing good in us without the Lord (Mark 10:18). The good we are to show is towards their spiritual good and advantage. Helping others with basic needs is a given, but to help them spiritually in manifesting what they physically and materially need is the goal. Helping them to be able to help themselves. To be able to receive from the Lord your needs met by simply believing Him to do it is the sign of maturity. Many things in the bible that the Lord directs us to do, is based on our maturity in Christ. You must learn addition before multiplication, or you must crawl before you can walk. You can do good to everyone, you may need to allow the growing pains to happen while you show good to all, but make yourself do it and the good you give out, will be coming back to bless you when you need it most.

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the Rock and firm Strength of my heart and my Portion forever.” Although our hearts and bodies may fail, God is the Rock and strength of our hearts. Our position should be to make sure we are firmly connected to the Vine. Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches (John 15:5). Our life sustenance comes from the Vine which is connected to the trunk and roots of the tree, which in the spiritual sense is Father God. To lose heart, is a familiar term when it comes to staying the course. We get tired and sometimes really low from physical exhaustion. In those times we can be tempted to give up. Being properly connected to the Vine keeps us spiritually nurtured. Our faith is the cord or spiritual bluetooth that joins us to the source of all power. We draw our strength and stamina to continue the race from the Vine. Since we are the branches we should be bearing fruit. The fruit is our witness to people about God, and leading people to the Lord, etc. We are ambassadors for Christ carrying the message of hope to the world. And we need times of refreshing and recharging in the Lord. He gives us everything we need that pertains to life and Godliness (2 Peter 1:3). He is the Rock of our salvation and the hope of glory to this world. We carry around in these earthen vessels the answer to the world’s problems. But the world will never know if we don’t go out and tell them. You can’t lose heart if the Lord is the strength of your heart.

When we give to the poor, we are lending to the Lord. In other words, God will repay those who show mercy and kindness to the poor, or homeless. There seems to be a responsibility of God to care for and help the poor. But God uses people since we have the dominion on the earth, not God. He needs us as His arms and legs on planet earth. God gave dominion and authority to mankind at the beginning of time. As we know, the devil deceived Adam and Eve in the garden, and through that deception and disobedience to God, mankind lost their authority on the Earth. But Jesus got it back for us through the work He accomplished at Calvary. As the good news of the gospel is spread throughout the world, we can receive the gospel of Jesus Christ and be reinstated into our rightful position on earth as having the dominion and authority. This is why the Lord needs us to fulfill His plan of reconciliation. In that plan, and the way of the Kingdom of God is to care for the poor. Everything we do for the poor is considered by God as a loan to Him. And He has declared in His word He will reward those who loan to the poor. Those poor people are praying to God for help, and the only way God can get it to them is by using other people. We walk over and around the poor through the course of our lives and think nothing about helping them. It’s a simple adjustment in our minds to help them best we can with whatever we can. Kindness to the poor goes a long way.

Not to fail and miss the true end and scope of life, which is God, is what our Savior provided for us. Jesus took away the sins of mankind once and for all. No more sacrifices like in the days of Israel in the wilderness. There was a sacrifice for sin by way of an animal. The burnt offering, the wave offering, the guilt offering, and the laws of how the offering had to be presented or the person doing the offering could die. Since we live in the dispensation of Grace today, no more offerings and sacrifices like that. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice to satisfy justice forever no matter what mankind would do against God’s way. Jesus has saved us from the consequences of sin, which is eternal damnation that never ends. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). This world we live in is geared towards us not recognizing the finished work at Calvary Jesus successfully completed. Through the gospel being taught and preached all over, there is hope. Jesus has saved His people from sin. The door is open for the Savior to work in and through you. You must answer the call when He knocks. The true end and scope of life is to live a victorious life, and then transition to heaven to be with the Lord forever. Jesus is truly the reason for the Christmas season, there’s no better gift.

Peace on earth comes to those with whom God is pleased with. I’ve always said and it still holds water, the word of God is conditional. As we line our lifestyle up with His way of living, all the benefits will go before us. Peace on earth must be sought after. We live in the busyness of this world’s system. The system is designed to keep us too busy. So many options, so many distractions, and so many temptations to deal with all the time. It can keep us very unfocused. Unless we have the passion, and strong desire to follow our gut, when it comes to making choices, we may take two steps forward, and another step backwards. Our footsteps must be ordered by the Lord (Psalm 37:23), or we waste precious time. We must be on schedule with our destiny, our God given purpose. Things are lined up by God to help us through difficulties and keep us on track before our journey begins. So keeping in step with the Spirit (your gut feeling) is of great importance, our peace is dependent upon it. Glory to God in the highest for He deserves all the glory, all the honor and praise!

That child has grown up to become the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and The Prince of Peace. Although His name has all these attributes of The Godhead, He is also our Elder Brother and we are joint airs along with him of all God’s promises. God gave up His only begotten Son, to be sent to the world so the world could crucify Him making Him the sacrificial Lamb without spot or blemish. The perfect offering back to God for justice to be satisfied, because of the sin of mankind. This world still doesn’t get it concerning Jesus’ work at Calvary but some do. This child was born to us for a purpose. Jesus knew the horror He was going to have to go through but stayed His course for us, even while nailed to the cross. He never committed any sin while being tempted on every side as we are. If He had sinned once, He would not have been worthy as the perfect sacrifice for sin. Jesus had the seed of His sinless Father from heaven in Him, but He still had to invoke His will not to take the bait of sinful pleasures or anything in the way of His purpose for coming to earth. He is our hero whether understood by us or not. To us a Child is born, to us a Son is given. Today the child is no longer a child, and His work at Calvary was done for everyone. Your response is needed, (concerning that work at Calvary). Is your name in the book of life, held by God in heaven? If you don’t get saved today by calling on His name, then Calvary was not for you, and a worse reality awaits you after death.

Thank God Mary, the mother of Jesus conceived the child as planned by God. She was willing, saying; “…be it unto me this thing the Lord has asked.” Immanuel, God is with us was brought into this world by the natural, normal way of legal entry into the earth. The devil came illegally through deception and then by usurping Adam and Eve’s authority, capitalizing on their disobedience to God. This is a sign by God of His intended design for mankind’s redemption. To send His only begotten Son into the world to take back mankind’s authority and rightful position with God since the fall in the garden with the devil. Justice had to be satisfied because of the sin nature of mankind. We are now, because of the finished work at Calvary, the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We had no worth of righteousness in God’s eyes, only self righteousness which can send you straight to hell. God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for us to be reunited with His family. Because God was the Father of Jesus, the sin did not get passed down to Him. And Mary being a virgin was God’s perfect choice, one who feared God as well. Mary was willing to do whatever God asked of her. What an example she left behind for us.