Silent Night, Holy Night

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night” — Luke 2:8

“Silent Night, Holy Night” is one of the most popular Christmas carols. And no wonder since it inspires us to worship Jesus along with the shepherds on that holy night ages ago when God became man and was laid in a manger. Just as the shepherds kept watch over their sheep at night, God the Father was keeping watch over God, His Son Jesus, sleeping in heavenly peace.

This is a message we all want to hear especially now with our world in a state of turmoil and uncertainty. God is also keeping watch over us, His children. His glories from heaven afar still stream into our hearts this Christmas season as we walk in God’s pure light. We breathe a sigh of relief remembering that our Savior was born and our hearts and voices break out in the words of this carol that is pure worship.

Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia,
Christ the Savior is born!
Christ the Savior is born.
Silent night, holy night!
Son of God love’s pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth.
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth.
The carol found a foothold in Joseph Mohr’s mind when he penned the words in the form of a poem in 1816. He put it aside waiting for the time that would be right for a song to be born from it. It took two years for Mohr to find that perfect melody and it would be in answer to a dilemma; a broken organ.

A travelling group of actors performing the Christmas story came to perform in the little church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Alps. Since the organ was broken the assistant pastor, Josef Mohr, invited them to present their drama in a private home. The presentation touched Mohr’s heart so strongly that he couldn’t get it out of his mind.

Meditating on the Christmas play he took the long way home that night by mistake. The longer path led up a hill from which he looked down on the village. Mohr gazed down at the peaceful village covered in snow. The scene made him think of that poem he had penned two years ago. The poem was about shepherds on a peaceful hillside, watching their sheep at night. Their quiet reverie was shattered as suddenly a host of heaven’s angels came upon them proclaiming the birth of Christ.

He knew the poem would make a perfect new song for their Christmas Eve service tomorrow night. But he didn’t have any music for it. He hurried to his friend, the church organist, Franz Xaver Gruber. In a few hours Gruber wrote the music which could be played on a guitar. And so it happened that on Christmas Eve, the Oberndorf congregation was the first church to hear the now beloved, captivating carol Silent Night, Holy Night as these two men sang it to the accompaniment of Gruber’s guitar.

Becoming Passionate About God

If you are like me you get so busy with work, family, and church (and writing) meeting everyone else’s needs that you begin to neglect the most important thing – your intimacy with God.  I found myself praying for everyone else’s needs and studying the Bible more than ever but always for my writing or Bible studies but not to hear God speak to me personally.  After doing this for a while I was getting depleted.

I realized I needed more of God in my personal life. The way I am now doing that is by guarding and protecting my relationship with God in prayer.  I am going to pray daily about every area on my life so I will be anchored and close to Him.  And I am going to share that walk with you so you can join me in it too.

In most of my blogging I have been sharing my knowledge of raising kids for Christ. Now I want to add this new dimension.  If we wish to help our kids go deeper with Jesus we as moms and parents have to first go deeper with Him. There are different ways of approaching this but I have chosen the following.

Step One: Just as we get close to the special people in our lives by spending time with them and being open with them we do the same in our relationship with God.  This if the only way we can become passionate about Him.

Step Two: We start by asking God to fill us afresh with His Holy Spirit, His power. We pray for His power to transform us and our circumstances.

Step Three: We put our expectations in God and don’t look to people, even the special people in our lives, to meet our needs. God completes us.  We move forward in His purpose for our lives.

God’s Promise to us:

“We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.”  2 Corinthians 4:7 KJV

Building a Relationship With Our Kids

These days I’m enjoying harvesting my garden. Cucumbers, peas, carrots, beets, green beans, and a never ending supply of zucchini and rhubarb. Even the pumpkins look promising. I forewent tending flowers in my back yard this year to growing vegetables although I still get to enjoy the fragrance of the potted flowers growing on our patio and my flowering bushes out front.

There’s something about putting fresh vegetables out for dinner instead of the produce which has been lying on my grocer’s shelves for a few days. Besides, I’m anxious to educate my preschool grandsons about where vegetables come from. And it’s therapeutic and fun!

My mini-harvest reminds me that fall and school are just around the corner. This is a good time to strengthen our relationship with our kids as they head back to the pressures of their peers. One of the best ways I have found is to bless them.

By believing in our kids and encouraging them, we are helping them reach their full potential. There are many ways we can affirm or build up our children.

I like the steps of blessing Gary Smalley and John Trent use in their book, The Blessing. I am going to touch on two today: by using the right words and by placing high value on them. If you’re interested in reading the rest of the book you can go to my resource page to order it http://ruthwillms.com/parentscorner.html

First we bless our kids by using the right words. Like a self-fulfilling prophesy, your child often becomes what you say he will be. If you put him down and say he will never amount to anything, he will begin to believe it. On the other hand, if you build him up and say amazing things about him he will know he can conquer the world.

The second way to bless your children is to place high value on them. Be truthful and realistic with them but be their greatest fans. You can plant seeds in their outlook for life that will help them accomplish the things they really want to. The patriarchs in the Old Testament gave their children – especially their oldest sons – a special family blessing. It confirmed to their children that God had a special plan of blessing for their life too.

Bless your children – literally – when you pray with them-at the end of the day or in the morning- say “the Lord bless you.” Your child hears that you are there for them but if you fail, God has them covered. Everything is possible with God; He never fails. He will see them through in the times when human dads and moms fails. They learn that God is concerned with their life and welfare.

When we affirm our kids’ specialness by blessing them we profoundly impact them forever. The interaction with us will influence not only their self-image, their current relationships, and future relationships, but that all important relationship with God.

Loyalty, the Stuff Friendships Are Made Of

What I value most in my friendships is loyalty. I am devoted to my friends and they are devoted to me.  Such a friend I find turns out to be a life long friend and stays with me through good times and bad times and even when I mess up in life.
Friendship [...]]]>

When You Get Three Wishes!

Once upon a time there was a very contented fisherman. Although his parents had died when he was young and he had no siblings, no family, he was happy.  He made his living fishing and selling his catch at the local market.
One day when he was fishing from his boat he caught [...]]]>

Our Changing Roles in Life

What do the Presidents of the USA have in common with King David?  A lot actually.  They sway a lot of power.  They are  renowned around the world.  And mostly, they had to work their way up.
President Ronald Reagan is one of my favorites to compare to King David.  Both leaders came [...]]]>

The Twin Towers on 9/11

Whose Side is God On?

Suddenly out of the corner of his eye he saw movement behind the kitchen door. Was that Abe hiding on him when he was so anxious to be on the road?
The horses were harnessed and Jake was set to ride into town. He planned on getting to town early [...]]]>

Goliath, the Bully!

He, a brute of a man, stood on the mountain, shouting at the people across the valley, “I dare you! Come fight me! If you kill me, fine, my people will be your slaves. But if I kill you the Israelites will be our slaves!”
Across the valley, the Israelites looked [...]]]>

A Healthy Relationship with God

The True Spiritual Test

Determined to see God [...]]]>

Living Free

Happy Endings

Our Ultimate Supernatural Hero

We all look for supernatural heroes and events, the unexplainable, in our lives and in our world. Some have been around for ages, like Paul Bunyan. The more common of our heroes are Superman and Spiderman, and lately Harry Potter.

The supernatural can also ignite our faith. That is why I wrote the Christian children’s fantasy novel, The Lion Tree and am now in the process of writing the sequel, Battle in The Lion Tree. In it, the main characters, Darian and Cassidy, find themselves in crave difficulties. God puts three supernatural heroes in their lives to guide them to victory and success. They live in a tree, like Shrek, but their purpose is quite different. The animals in the Lion Tree are put there primarily for Darian and Cassidy and have God’s answer to their problems.

Jesus used His miracles as signs to prove that He is the Son of God. Do you notice he didn’t do miracles to be flamboyant? His miracles were done out of a heart of love. With them He met people’s needs, healing them, and providing them with the necessities of life, bread and drink; in this account, wine at a wedding reception.

Sometimes it is the supernatural miracles that Jesus did and still does today that draw people’s attention to Him. But the ultimate end is finding a deep personal relationship with Him. He died, arose from the dead, and is now in heaven interceding for us. One day we too will be immortal like Him and live eternally in heaven with Him.

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a mighty shout and with the soul-stirring cry of the archangel and the great trumpet-call of God. And the believers who are dead will be the first to rise to meet the Lord. Then we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with him forever. So comfort and encourage each other with this news.” 1 Thessalonians 4: 16 to 18 [The Living Bible]

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I want to walk with you spiritually this year, inviting you to read the Bible through from cover to cover; from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22:21. If that sounds too difficult for you and your kids, you can join in again after you have taken a break or join us for the days you’re up to it. I promise that you will understand the Bible in a much deeper way if you read it through from cover to cover in a year’s time.

Accept my challenge to read the Bible through in one year chronologically, including the Old and the New Testament.

Today read:
Judges 15:1-16:31
John 2:1-25
Psalm 103:1-22
Proverbs 14:17-19

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This devotion is copyright protected and all rights are reserved worldwide. You are free to use this devotion with your family or with your class. However, it may not be reprinted or republished in any form without written consent from Ruth Willms. If you would like to request permission to republish this devotion, please contact Ruth at ruth.willms@gmail.com

Did Jesus Need a Ghostwriter?

My daughter, Denise, is a ghost writer. Because I like to write my own stuff and have my name on it I find it hard to understand how she finds satisfaction in ghost writing. I like to get credit for what I do.

So what is a ghost writer? Just that – a ghost; you never see her. She writes articles for people who have great ideas but can’t find the words to say them. Then she lets her client sign his name to it. I think you have to be humble to be a ghost writer; humble but smart.

I see my daughter and other ghost writers as very creative and flexible. She writes on various topics and for various audiences. She can adapt to her client’s style and express his unique viewpoint.

When I ask her if she doesn’t want her name on the pieces she writes she says, “I enjoy the challenge of writing in different voices, for different purposes.” And she does it well. You can check out her talents at her website http://cassidarink.com/about/

She writes to make other writers look good. She stays in the background and lets her client shine in her spot light. She promotes them like John the Baptist promoted Jesus. Jesus did not need someone to put His thoughts and ideas into words. He is omniscient. But John’s talk and work were all about Jesus with His signature.

John the Baptist was only a voice in the wilderness preparing the way for Jesus’ campaign. When it was time for Jesus to begin His ministry, John the Baptist faded into the background. He not only allowed but even encouraged some of his disciples to follow Jesus instead.

Our life also is not about us but about Him. We are to exalt Him. So what does that look like in my everyday life? I believe that in everything we do we reflect His worth and value. We express how great and glorious He is.
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“John replied, ‘God in heaven appoints each man’s work. My work is to prepare the way for that man so that everyone will go to him. You yourselves know how plainly I told you that I am not the Messiah. I am here to prepare the way for him – that is all. The crowds will naturally go to the main attraction – the bride will go where the bridegroom is! A bridegroom’s friends rejoice with him. I am the Bridegroom’s friend and I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.’” John 3: 27 to 30 [The Living Bible]

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I want to walk with you spiritually this year, inviting you to read the Bible through from cover to cover; from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22:21. If that sounds too difficult for you and your kids, you can join in again after you have taken a break or join us for the days you’re up to it. I promise that you will understand the Bible in a much deeper way if you read it through from cover to cover in a year’s time.

Accept my challenge to read the Bible through in one year chronologically, including the Old and the New Testament.

Today read:
Judges 13:1-14:20
John 1:29-51
Psalm 102:1-28
Proverbs 14:15-16
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This devotion is copyright protected and all rights are reserved worldwide. You are free to use this devotion with your family or with your class. However, it may not be reprinted or republished in any form without written consent from Ruth Willms. If you would like to request permission to republish this devotion, please contact Ruth at ruth.willms@gmail.com

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