Peace on Earth Good Will to Men: An Angel's Story

I am an angel of the LORD, a messenger of God. 

 Today I am being sent to you to give you a message that GOD loves everyone. The good news is a gift from the Almighty for all people everywhere. 

I remember the day the announcement came for us to prepare for the birth announcement. All of Heaven was rejoicing. Excitement filled the air. 

The angels were flying about singing Glory to God in the Highest! Our joy filled heaven with anticipation of this great event. 

Do you know what event I am talking about? Please let me tell you the true story from the perspective of an angel of the LORD. 

It all started the day the angel Gabriel was told to go and give a message to a young maiden in Nazareth, a small town in Galilee. Her name was Mary. She was a gentle young maiden that loved GOD very much. She was engaged to a young man named Joseph. He was simple carpenter that was honest, faithful, and true. 

Oh, how excited we were to watch Gabriel prepare for his trip to earth. I could feel the tickles of joy crawl up and down my spine. For this was the greatest gift to ever be given. Peace on earth and good will toward men.

As in all gifts are free, it was free to be taken because grace was pouring out from heaven through this announcement. We peered down from heaven watching Gabriel appear to Mary. Oooh, He gave her such a fright! 

He said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Her face creased with fear. She did not realize that GOD found great pleasure in her and chose her special for this tremendous occasion. 

Gabriel instantly tried to calm her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with GOD. You will be with child and give birth to a son. You are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The LORD GOD will give Him the throne of this father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His Kingdom will never end.” 

It was at that moment, I realized all of Heaven was silent. Every angel held their breath in anticipation of Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel. 

Her eyes lowered as she whispered to Gabriel, “How can this be since I am not married?” 

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of GOD,” Gabriel replied. 

As the words rang from Mary’s lips, “I am the LORDS servant. May it be to me as you have said,” all of Heaven breathed again. We began to sing “Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth peace and good will toward men!” We exulted in the great gift of GOD in sending Jesus to man. 

Peace on earth. Good will to men.

There was a moment of hesitation in our singing as Joseph struggled with the news that Mary was with child. He did not understand about the baby.

 

The LORD dispatched an angel to him while he slept to give him this message: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save his people from their sins.” Joseph woke up and did as the angel of the LORD told him and took Mary as his wife.

Heaven danced again for the greatest gift would soon be born. 

Joseph and Mary traveled to his hometown of Bethlehem because of a census that Caesar Augustus decreed. We watched from heaven as they traveled the long road to Bethlehem from Galilee enduring the dirt paved road as the elements of the sun and moon paved their journey. Joseph had layered blankets on the donkey’s back so Mary could ride in comfort. His kind ministrations comforted her and allowed her to rest pleasantly. 

When they arrived in Bethlehem the little village was so crowded there was no place for them stay. Joseph went from house to house trying hard to find a room for them. The baby was to be born soon. 

An innkeeper saw that Joseph was very concerned. He felt so bad he did not have a place for the couple to sleep, but he had an idea. He walked Joseph and Mary around to his stable where he kept his animals. He said, “You can rest there!” 

A weary Mary walked into the stable and laid down to rest in the hay. Even the animals quieted waiting for the gift from GOD. Finally, a wailing cry pierced the night as Mary wrapped the baby in swaddling clothes placing him in the manger. 

At this perfect moment, a star appeared in heaven over the little town of David. Shining in all its glory, as the breath of heaven arrived on earth through the birth of the Christ Child.

Without haste, I gathered a host of angels in the sky above the fields where shepherds kept watch over their flock that night. The glory of the LORD shone around me as I appeared over the shepherds. Terror fell upon them as they fell hiding their eyes from the glory of the LORD! .

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born for you; he is Christ the LORD. This will be a sign to you; you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared praising God, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth good will toward men.”

As quickly as we appeared, we disappeared into heaven again to watch the gift of heaven be unwrapped by His children. 

The Shepherds were the first to capture the vision of the newborn babe. They knelt before Him as tears stained their dirt caked faces unable to speak words—as the beauty of promises fulfilled covered the face of the babe nestled in the loving arms of His mother. 

The shepherd’s ran and told everyone what they had seen and heard before they returned to their flock that night! All were amazed! 

Mary and Joseph were so proud of the baby Jesus. On the eighth day of His life, they presented the Christ child at the temple for all to see. One lover of God named Simeon was there that day. He loved GOD very much. He was waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. As he took Jesus in his arms with his weathered hands cradling Jesus gently. He knew he could go in peace.

A song burst from him, “My eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” He announced to all people, “Jesus is for everyone including you and me!” 

Mary and Joseph marveled over what was said of their son, Jesus. 

 

In time Jesus grew. Do you remember the star that appeared the night he was born? Well, there were some wise men studying the stars that night. They saw the star when it appeared. They had heard that it was the star of the Christ Child sent to be the King of the Jews, GODS own gift from Heaven. So they traveled to find the baby Jesus. They traveled for many months to see Jesus bringing Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. What they found on the day they arrived was a great surprise. The gift they received was far greater than their gifts or their journey! It was the gift of life! 

God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. 

This is the free gift of Heaven. Joy made complete in the birth of a baby. The Baby Jesus was born for all people every where. 

It does not matter who you are, where you have been, or what you have done. God gave a gift by sending His One and Only Son! For all people everywhere. “Glory to GOD in the highest. Peace on earth and good will toward men.” 

Written and told by Dr. Tara Rye at Grace University in 2017 for the Introduction to Orality Story Celebration! 

Shallom y'all!

TRANSCENDENT PEACE

My mind is often in way too many places at one time. This moment for me was a holy moment. I am in church blessed by the colors around me, holding hot citrus, honey, ginger tea I made. I'm sipping it as it's warmth fills my body on a cold day. I really am  listening as Elvin O. Torres  preaches on peace. Yet, I am thinking of Naomi Bates Frizzell. She gave me my mug because it says, "Be you". I am always saying, "Thank you for being you. When she saw it, it made her think of me. I smiled inside as the memory filled my heart. I am following along reading the verses as Elvin reads them and taking notes on his four points of peace.

Then I heard Elvin say, "His peace which surpasses all understanding. It is transcendent."

Oooh I liked that! 

TRANSCENDENT PEACE

TRANSCENDENT PEACE! 

Go ahead and just say it aloud, 

TRANSCENDENT PEACE

Now that is a prayer worth praying.

Life crazy? Father, help me to rest in your TRANSCENDENT PEACE and get off the crazy cycle.  

Lots of pain got ya down? Father, You give me TRANSCENDENT PEACE. I will look up to You.

Illness plaguing you? Father, Your  TRANSCENDENT PEACE will help me move through this. Cover me and move through me with Your TRANSCENDENT PEACE.

I have always prayed for the peace that surpasses all understanding, but to say transcendent makes me feel like I am tapping into the beauty of the mystery of God's peace. I know that neither word makes a difference. It is all about who He is and what He gives us even when we may not deserve it. 

But in His goodness God chooses to give us TRANSCENDENT PEACE.

Peace that doesn't make sense. 

Peace that makes us strong. 

Peace that helps us hold our heads high and walk through. 

Peace that gives hope.

Peace that is present. 

Peace that shuts the enemy up because it is evident God is with us. 

So I marked the moment God blessed me with the prayer of TRANSCENDENT PEACE!

Will you pause and pray for His TRANSCENDENT PEACE to be evident in you today? I know I am!

Shalom y'all.

Heaven’s Hospitality for Women

One day as I drove to a speaking engagement to a women's event in South Dakota I was praying about International Women's Day. It was heavy on my heart that the women of the world are not taught their value in Jesus. God began to place on my heart all of the stories that helped me realize my value. These stories are the very stories that helped me to discover my identity in Christ and that I am worthy of honor and respect. I could not wait to go home and compile the list of what God gave me that helped me to discover Heaven's Hospitality toward me! God gave this to me when I was writing and teaching Heaven's Hospitality so I called it Heaven’s Hospitality for Women. Jesus’ conversations with women reveal that He knew women had the capability to comprehend the gospel, discuss theology, be a witness, make disciples, provide financial assistance, and assist in ministry without being a seductress. Jesus allowed women to be actively involved in kingdom building. Jesus’ interactions with women transcended culturally defined roles. 1. Jesus honored His mother’s request to turn water to wine at the wedding of Cana (John 2:11). 2. Jesus initiates conversations with foreign women (John 4:9). 3. Jesus did not gloss over the sin but confronted the sin of the women He interacted (John 4:16-18). 4. Jesus allowed women to be actively involved in kingdom building (John 4:21-24; 39-42). 5. Jesus trusted a woman’s testimony to lead an entire village (John 4:21-24; 39-42). 6. Jesus revealed His identity to a woman (John 4:26). 7. Jesus healed women: Peter’s mother-in-law and Woman with blood flow (Luke 4:38-41; 8:44; Luke 13:16). 8. Jesus spoke to women in public and showed He was tender hearted toward their suffering (Luke 7:11-17). 9. Jesus welcomes worship from a sinful woman (Luke 7:38; Matthew 26:13). 10. Jesus forgave/forgives women (Luke 7:48). 11. Jesus gave dignity when man sought shame and when the law demanded judgment (Luke 7:36-50). 12. Jesus trusted women to be persons of faith (Luke 7:50). 13. Jesus allowed women to travel with Him for ministry (Luke 8:1-3). 14. Jesus allowed women to minister to Him financially (Luke 8:1-3). 15. Jesus confronted sin with mercy (John 8:11). 16. Jesus used affectionate familial terms when talking to women… daughter (Luke 8:48). 17. Jesus showed compassion to women and did not view women as unclean (John 8:43-48). 18. Jesus settled disputes with a kingdom view (Luke 10:41). 19. Jesus commends sacrifice of widowed woman (Luke 21:2). 20. Jesus noticed the outcast and socially invisible woman (Luke 21:2). 21. Jesus took care of His mother (John 19:26). 22. Jesus used women as eye-witnesses (Mark 16:11; John 20:11-18; Matthew 28:1-10). 23. Jesus parables about women to teach truth (Matthew 25, Luke 15; 18). 24. Jesus had theological discussions with the Samaritan Woman on Living Water, Martha on the Resurrection of Life, and Mary Magdalene was the first eyewitness after Jesus rose from the grave. I do not feel this list is exhaustive. I realize that I need to make a list for the Old Testament too! My favorite Bible story to use in the Old Testament is the Widow's Oil in 1 Kings 4:1-7. We also need to consider the Ten Commandments, the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, and the Spiritual Gifts. These are commands and gifts that are given with the intent that both men and women fulfill them. If I may encourage the freedom that is modeled and commanded to be lived out among us. Live in Heaven’s hospitality and be a blessing as you are blessed.

The LORD is with you when you are with Him!

(Watercolor by AmosCatfish.com)

When I was in my twenties, I drove by a grocery store with a billboard that was not the typical post. Instead of declaring the weekly special, it said, Wherever you go, there you are! I literally laughed out loud! Nothing like stating the obvious. That crazy true statement is quite profound and has caused me to remind myself through the years to be present where I am at.

This morning as I read my Bible, I had another one of those laugh out loud moments from someone stating the obvious.

"The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. ² He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. ³ For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. ⁴ But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them" (2 Chronicles 15:1-4).

The LORD is with you if you are with Him! Azariah stated the obvious to Asa because Israel forgot to bring God along. It is pretty easy to do. I wake up, get up, get my tea and start the day without inviting God to join me. Sadly, it is pretty obvious when I have forgotten to bring him along. Greg will testify that my responses are less kind and if I am in a foul mood I can be downright rude. Ugh. 

I guess this is why I like these two reminders. Wherever you go, there you are! I want to be present, but not just present. I don't want to ever forget that the LORD is with me when I am with Him. 

So, when I wake up in the morning, I often greet the LORD in my mind which draws a smile to my face. I start talking about my day. I get up and let the dog out. Get my hot tea and settle in with my Bible to read and pray. I then take out my prayer journal and start processing my day with God. Some days are longer and richer than others, but it is my heart that I seek to be present with God and invite Him so that wherever I go, there WE are! 

Take courage! It really is that simple. 

Would you invite God to be present with you, wherever you go? Remember, the LORD is with you when you are with Him!

Shalom y'all! 

Jesus' Birth Inspires Generosity

Listen here: Jesus' Birth Inspires Generosity

As I listened to the Christmas story of the wise men visiting Jesus, I was again struck by the generosity of their gifts.

It wasn't just that they brought gold, frankenscence and myrrh. These are meaningful and prophetic gifts even if they did not know it.

They left their country, traveled long distance by foot or most likely on a camel. 

They sacrificed the time to travel there. One speculation is if these wise men were from Babylon in the east (about 1,677 miles or 2,700 kilometers) it would have taken them four to five months traveling a little less than 19 miles or 30 kilometers a day. 

They sacrificed time with family and work. Can you imagine an astronomer wakes his wife up and says, "Hey babe, there is a baby that has been born in Bethlehem, but will be moved to Egypt and I am going to go do a baby visit. I will be back in a year or maybe even a little more!"

It also would have required a huge caravan to carry what they would need for the journey and for anyone traveling with them. 

The birth of Jesus inspired uncommon generosity and sacrifice.

The birth of Jesus also inspired unimaginable evil. Herod the Great, king of Judea ordered a decree that all two-year-olds and under in or around Bethlehem to be killed when he heard that the King of the Jews was born. This is referred to as the Massacre of the Innocents. 

Herod sacrificed others because of his desire for power. Some hearts have moved so close to evil that they no longer are affected by the beauty and gift of a child or the gift of God. 

Jesus draws out the passion that is held in the heart. His name alone can cause great joy and inspire unimaginable generosity or cause the evil within to be revealed and unleashed on unsuspecting innocents.

What is revealed in your heart when you hear that God so loved the world that He gave His only so that all who believe in Him will not perish? 

I hope it is a yes and you allow the generosity of God to begin teaching you how to be just like Him... generous in all your ways! 

Treasure These Things

Listen here: The Angels Tell the Shepherd's about Jesus

Have you ever noticed how a baby can reduce the the toughest guy to the most gentle of man? I love this! Everyone loves a little baby! 

This irony should not surprise us especially when we discover that God chose shepherds to be the first to welcome the Lamb of God, Messiah! 

If anyone was rough and lowly in culture it was a shepherd. Yet, God chose them to see His Son and tell the people the Savior has arrived. 

If anyone could understand the importance of a first born sacrifice, it would be a shepherd. They were the ones that cared for the mother and delivered the little lamb. They had to inspect it to make sure it was without blemish and then walk it to the temple for it to be sacrificed. Shepherds got it! 

And they were amazed! They ran and told everyone.

While Mary treasured these things in her heart. Little Hinley (5 years old, Anneliese Kliewer) summed it up beautifully, "Mary locked these things in her heart." When he heard the story he understood that Mary was not going to forget the beauty of her little babe being born and the rugged shepherds coming to welcome Him. Or that they declared that a host of angels sang over them as they watched their flock that night. Because an angel told both her and Joseph about Jesus. Jesus would be the Son of God and Savior of the world. 

Have you welcomed the beautiful baby Jesus into your rugged ole' heart? 

I have! Shalom y'all!

Worry and Fear Kill

(Art by Scott Young)

"Death was walking toward a man who stopped him and asked, "What are you going to do?" 

Death said, "I'm going to kill ten thousand people." The man said, "That's horrible!" 

Death said, "That's the way it is; that is what I do!" As the day passed, the man warned everyone he could of Death's plan. 

At the end of the day, he met Death again. He said, "You said, "You were going to kill ten thousand people, and yet one hundred thousand people died." 

Death explained, "I only killed ten thousand. 

Worry and fear killed the others." (Source unknown, but found in Holman New Testament Commentary). 

Worry seems to be in a lot of my conversations and if I am honest my mind spends way too much time worrying, too. 

Been thinking on this alot because Grant has quoted at least three times, well maybe more, a line from Fantastic Creatures. "Don't worry because this means you live it twice." 

Everytime, he says it, I think some die a thousand times over. I know! It is easier said than done. I know this is why we are commanded to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Mind renewal isn't just taking a positive thinking stance. It is the willful obedience to release the circumstances to the LORD and trust Him with the outcome. Sometimes, this must done a thousand times over before we just realize, "Hey, I did not think on that today!" 

Where are you reliving something two, three times or more?  

Beloved, release it to the LORD JESUS and enjoy the peace which surpasses all understanding to guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. No point in giving Death more than he is accountable for!