You are the Lord our Banner, Jehovah Nissi. You give us victory against the flesh, the world and the devil. Our sins are done! Our victory was won on the cross. Out battles are Your battles. We have only to be still and believe that the battle is already won!
What a reassurance that is. Just imagine the life you can live when you live it for Christ. He has taken care of everything. Jesus did it all!
Peace that surpasses all human understanding is ours. We do not have to count on ourselves to take care of battles, whether they are battles again the flesh or battles against the dark forces of evil. Christ did it all!
The battles are won as Christ walks before us clearing our paths of obstacles. He did it all!
He died on the cross so that you, me, all His children could be free from the stronghold that sin had over us. He sacrificed His life so we can live! Father God did it all!
I strive daily to live a life pleasing to my Father so His sacrifice on my behalf was not done in vain. Father, Son and the Holy Spirit did it all!
This is written by my good friend Wendelijn Sloof and edited by another good friend Robin Jones. This is such a Christmas blessing to me and I hope you enjoy it as well.
A Present for Jesus
“They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” (Matthew 2:11 NIV)
When the wise men came into the house, the first thing they saw was Jesus and then Mary.
They worshipped Him and then offered the first Christmas gifts ever! And what a remarkable gifts they were to give a little baby. Even more remarkable is the deep meaning of each gift. We, too, can follow the wise men’s example in giving Jesus the same gifts. Let’s take a look at each of the gifts.
Gold represents the majesty and dominion of Jesus as a KING. Frankincense depicts the symbol for prayer and offering showing Jesus as HIGHPRIEST. Myrrh is very expensive, used for embalming, and is a bitter herb used during the Passover meal. (Not your typical baby shower gift!) Myrrh represents suffering and sacrifice showing Jesus as the LAMB.
The Gold is Jesus’ FUTURE reign as King of Kings on earth. This represents the gift of HOPE. Frankincense is what Jesus is doing right NOW as high priest, interceding for us. This represents the gift of FAITH. Myrrh represents what Jesus DID for us on the cross as the sacrificial Lamb taking away the sins of the world. This represents the greatest gift, LOVE.
We also find these three gifts symbolized in the Tabernacle. When first entering the Tabernacle, the priest would see the burnt offering of the Myrrh, symbolizing the suffering of Christ. He would smell the odoriferous sacrifice of the Frankincense, the scent wafting heavenward in the form of intercessory prayers. At last, the priest would see the arch of God symbolizing the throne of God where He rules.
All three elements of the gifts become a visual in Jesus’ life. As we are called to look more and more like Jesus we should also make those gifts our own!
Is there spiritual gold in your life? Can people see that Jesus is our treasure and He rules as King in our lives? Can people see your HOPE?
Is our life full of spiritual frankincense? Do we send intercessory prayer wafting to the throne of God? Do we spread the scent of Christ? Do we have FAITH that our prayers are being answered?
Spiritual myrrh is all the forms of suffering in our lives. We don’t have to look for suffering for it is pervasive in all of our lives. Can we surrender our sufferings to Jesus? Will we willingly offer the broken pieces of our lives to Christ so He might pour out HIS LOVE in and through our lives to heal and restore us and others through your testimony?
How then do we give these gifts to Jesus? Follow the example of the wise men.
Bow our knees Jesus, worship Him, surrender ourselves and thank Him for his sacrifice by:
Surrendering our Gold which is all the things we have set our hearts on here on earth.
Bringing our Frankincense by baring our most intimate wishes and desires before Him in prayer
Laying down our Myrrh at his feet, by giving over all our suffering and pain.
There is so much gold to dig in this world. Satan tempts us with all kinds of it. He attempts to make us believe that we are only happy when we have those things in our lives. Of course the things he offers us as Gold is actually Myrrh! We don’t have to settle! Our FUTURE and HOPE is GOLD! The Lord promises us all of His riches. We don’t have to look for them here. Now we will have the bitterness of the myrrh in the form of suffering. However, the myrrh leads to something, without myrrh there is no gold! Now we have Frankincense. We can work on ourselves by surrendering to Him, keeping up our prayer life and relationship with Him on a daily basis. In this way, we will receive strength to remove the myrrh.
I’ll leave you with this thought about gifts. In Isaiah 60:6, we see we receive a gift in return. We read that there were only two gifts taken to the honor of God, gold and the frankincense.. Is the bible making an error by excluding the myrrh? No, of course not! This is actually a vision of the New Jerusalem after Christ’s return. It is a peek into our future. A future with no myrrh! The suffering will pass! What a great gift we receive from Jesus. What a gift we can give back through our lives, until the time that He will return and the suffering will vanish!
Are you ready to give your gifts to Jesus?!
