... the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ in every place...
Can Jesus be found in the “regular” Christmas traditions such as decorating a tree, snowmen, Santa Claus, and singing the “12 Days of Christmas”?
Grab a cup of coffee and join Elizabeth Stallworth and me as we talk about seeking and finding Jesus in EVERY part of Christmas on this week’s episode of Smelling Coffee TV.
If you can’t see the video, click here.
Blessings of the Lord to each of you, my sweet friends~
Gift giving is a fun part of the celebration of Christmas, isn’t it? I love to think of what to give to others and I hunt for Christmas gifts all year long. The custom of gift giving is most often traced back to the wise men and the gifts they brought to Jesus. But that’s not where gift giving really started. Years and years before the wise men ever hit the scene,as the foundations of the earth were being created, Our Heavenly Father God knew that we would sin and be separated from Him, so He planned the Gift of Jesus Christ, His Only Son, to us. This was the first Christmas Gift ever given.
Everything we have comes from God – all we receive and all we give. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17. When we give gifts, we are essentially sharing whatever it is that God has given us.
Some people are natural givers, and some just aren’t. Dr. Gary Chapman explains that each of us shows our love toward others in ways that come naturally to us – in the same ways that we like to receive love. (The Five Languages of Love). But because not everyone feels loved by receiving gifts, some people struggle with giving so many gifts during the Christmas season. Do you?
If we are honest, sometimes all of us struggle with joyful giving to those on our Christmas lists. I believe that there are a few valid reasons for this joy-less-giving. Among other reasons, I personally feel like a joy-less giver when:
These joy-stealers are effective at robbing us because the focus of the gift-giving situations above are in the entirely wrong direction!
When we give gifts, we need to get the focus off of ourselves. Plain and simple. We are not to give gifts because of how it will make us feel or appear. In fact, we aren’t even to give gifts based upon our love and affection or appreciation for the receivers. I believe that we are to give gifts from what we have because God gave to us, and He wants to bless others through us. We give to others in honor of Jesus. Period.
In Colossians 3:17, we are told, “Whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in dependence upon His person, giving praise to God the Father through Him.” (Amp)
What would happen if you and I asked God to help us make our Christmas shopping and giving lists this year?
What would happen if you and I decided to give every gift to every person on our lists this year as if we were giving the gifts to Jesus through that person?
and
What would happen if you and I prayed for each recipient as we purchased or made and wrapped each gift?
My guess is that our focuses will be on Jesus instead of on ourselves, and that we will find joy in every gift we give. As we list, shop, and wrap this year, let’s determine not to do it for any other reason except to please Jesus.
Handmade or retail,
Full price or bargain sale,
Neither is the most important thing.
Motivated by above and
Given out of love –
That’s what honors Jesus as our King.
© Jennifer Crawford Walker, 2011
With prayers for each of you dear readers as you give gifts to them by giving unto Him, and as you prepare your hearts and homes for Christmas~
(This topic is expanded upon in Keeping Christ AS Christmas)
A practical and inspirational approach to seeking and finding Jesus this Christmas season, Keeping Christ AS Christmas offers simple strategies and sanity savers to help your Christmas be meaningful in a new and treasured way. Prepare your hearts, households, and homes for Peace this Christmas season by Keeping Christ AS Christmas.
$4.99 Amazon.com
ChristASChristmas.com (for all other e-book formats)
Hi ~ and a hearty congratulations to… Emily McDaniel! She won the Amazon Gift Card for leaving a review on the book, Keeping Christ AS Christmas. I so appreciate each review, and thank those of you who took the time to do this. Wish I could treat you all! Emily, e-mail me at Jennifer.SmellingCoffee@gmail.com and I’ll send you the gift card. :0)
Did you think about making a shoe box for Operation Christmas Child this year, but then ran out of time? If so, don’t fret! There are still a few days this week to put together a blessing that will be carried around the world. Aren’t familiar with Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes? Then you’ll definitely want to visit this link: OperationChristmasChild.org This is a Christmas ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, which is a multi-facated ministry of Franklin Graham, son of Billy and Ruth Graham.
There are so many worthwhile ministries to partner with, especially over the holiday season, but this one – Operation Christmas Child – it’s something special. The mission statement of Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child is:
Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ.
The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
and
Since 1993, more than 100 million boys and girls in over 130 countries have experienced God’s love through the power of simple shoebox gifts from Operation Christmas Child. Samaritan’s Purse works with local churches and ministry partners to deliver the gifts and share the life-changing Good News of Jesus Christ.
The Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box ministry is something our family has been a part of for years. In fact, my husband serves as a coordinator for our area. It’s a tangible way that even the smallest of children can participate in ministering to and blessing a child in need. Whether we feel “rich” or “poor,” most of us live like kings compared to the people who will be served by these shoe boxes and the ministries that go with them. Even if we have “just a little,” or “just enough,” God always gives us enough to share with others.
If you’ve not yet made a shoe box and want to, this is the week! My friend, Elizabeth Stallworth (of the blog: TouchingHem.com), was a guest on Smelling Coffee TV last week and told us all about the Operation Christmas Child ministry, the follow up, and showed us how to pack a shoe box. You can watch that episode here.
If you can’t see this via email, go to this link. 🙂
These are some quick links to information you will need to pack your box.
How to keep track of and discover the destination of your box.
Don’t have time to do it this week, but want to participate? You can even build a shoe box online!
Want to be a part of this shoe box ministry beyond the delivery of your box? Sign up to pray for this ministry here.
Some good things to know:
Each box costs about $7.00 to mail, so a check or money needs to be enclosed in the box. You can also pay this online, print a receipt, and include that in your box instead. (That’s also the way that you can keep track of your box.) The information can be found at this link.
Each city has certain “drop off” locations, and the last day to do this is next Monday, Nov, 25. To find your nearest drop off location, click here. If you live around Cleveland, MS, First Baptist Church is a drop off point, so you can bring your box(es) here. 😉
There are age ranges to choose from when packing your box. This info will be found on the link “How to Pack a Shoe Box”. It’s much easier to pack a box for a younger child. There are so many things available that all youngsters like. It’s much harder to do a box for a teen boy or girl, so I’m sure they could always use more teen boxes. So if you don’t have a preference, maybe God will call you to pack a teen box. If you do have children, consider doing a box (or boxes) that correspond with the ages of each child. Because we have teens, we will be packing boxes for teens this year. We will definitely be including some grooming/hygiene supplies and fashion accessories teens would enjoy. Also, we’ll include some socks, gum, hard candy, markers & art supplies. Not sure what else. We’ll be doing this on Thursday (last minute, of course!). Each of our children will use some of their own money to purchase things for the box. It’s always a fun shopping trip that we begin saving our money for in advance.
As you are packing your box, please pray for the child and family that will receive the box. And keep praying for them all year long.
A special touch is to add a written card or letter to the child in the box. There are so many stories and testimonies of how God specifically used an exact box or a letter that was sent. When we pack these boxes, we don’t know where they will go. We don’t know what the child will need. But God does. He is the One who will orchestrate the delivery, and He will use whatever it is that we give and do in His Name, and it will be good!
DO NOT INCLUDE: Used or damaged items; war-related items such as toy guns, knives or military figures; chocolate or food; out-of-date candy; liquids or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snow globes or glass containers; aerosol cans.
To read answers to frequently asked questions, go to this link. Very helpful!
OR, just go to OperationChristmasChild.org and look around. Read about the ministry, the stories, the testimonies, the volunteers, the miracles… Then get busy and put together a shoe box or two (or three or four… )
For those “Late Lucys” like me, we still have time… if we will get on it this week!
Happy Shoe Box filling, my friends!
Hi friends ~ It’s getting to be that time of year when our thoughts and lists and plans turn toward Christmas. Yay!!! As most of you know, several years ago the Lord helped me write the book, Keeping Christ AS Christmas, a book He birthed in my heart and home many years ago. Presently it is in e-book form only, but I am praying that one of these days it will be published in paper form, including a workbook and 4-week Bible study & video to go along with it. 🙂 (But I digress… though I am praying about making those videos this year, and if /when I do, I will post them on the blog.
Because I detest self-promotion, I don’t like what I’m about to ask you to do. However, because the message of Christ AS Christmas is so important, I’m going to ask you anyway (and because I’ve prayed much about this). I do need your help desperately.
IF you have read some or all of Keeping Christ AS Christmas, would you PLEASE go to Amazon and leave a short review? Did God use it in any way to help you during the past Christmas seasons?
I don’t have any reviews out there, and because of that, when you search even for the specific words “Keeping Christ AS Christmas” the book shows up low on the list. From what I understand, it is the reviews that will allow the book to float higher in Amazon’s search engine, thus getting the message to more people who are searching for a way in making Christmas about Jesus.
IF you will go to this link Keeping Christ AS Christmas book review and leave your feedback, positive or negative, I will enter your name in a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 19th’s blog post.
HOW TO LEAVE A REVIEW: In order for me to know the winner of the gift card, please don’t leave your comments anonymous. All you’ll need to do is to go to the “Keeping Christ AS Christmas” book review link above, sign in to your amazon account (or create one if you don’t have one – it is free and safe), then scroll down the page. Where it says “Customer Reviews” it will give you an option of clicking 1-5 stars, according to how you feel about the book. After you choose a star, then the words, “Leave a Review” will pop up. Click “Leave a Review” and it will open up a window for you to write in. Then post it. That’s all. Honestly, it shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes. 🙂
And if you’ve not yet read Keeping Christ AS Christmas, here is some info on the book, and what some have had to say about it (they just didn’t say it on Amazon). haha.
To me, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. But I’ll be honest…Sometimes the frantic thought of expectations and lists that must be accomplished between now and then robs my Christmas joy and leaves me feeling drained and exhausted. How about you? Does thinking about Christmas seem a bit overwhelming?
If your plate is full, your money is tight, and your Christmas expectations seem impossible, this book was written for you! Keeping Christ AS Christmas is not another volume of “to do” lists for the holidays. It is a fresh approach to familiar traditions through simple strategies and sanity savers.
With practical and inspirational ideas, information, and instruction, Keeping Christ AS Christmas will help you and your family both seek and find Jesus in every Christmas activity. As you put into practice some of these simple strategies and sanity savers, your Christmas will be meaningful in a new and treasured way.
Keeping Christ AS Christmas: Preparing hearts, households, and homes for PEACE this Christmas season.
The book can be purchased for $4.99 in all electronic forms at ChristASChristmas.com
“Keeping Christ AS Christmas will be one book I will read and reread every Christmas season. It is jam packed with practical advice, ideas, worksheets, and helpful resources. Jennifer writes in a beautiful conversational style. Everything focuses on the gift of Jesus, including the motivation behind gift giving. Jennifer includes the history behind many Christmas traditions. I loved the questions asked at the end of each chapter to help make it personal for each family. And, I loved how Jennifer outlined how to spend 10 minutes with Jesus in the morning. She writes, ‘10 minutes with Jesus will make a world of difference in the next 23:50 hours of your day.’”
“I would highly recommend Keeping Christ AS Christmas as the perfect gift to give to yourself, your friends, and your family. I know this Christmas will be different for my family after reading this book.”
– Debbie Petras, www.HeartChoices.com
“If you can buy only one book this year it should be Keeping Christ AS Christmas. This thoughtfully written book provides both encouragement and inspiration for celebrating this very special season. Using some simple strategies, Jennifer Crawford Walker details how she began to prepare her heart to have a more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. As she shares in her book, that sweet fellowship with Jesus produces a heart and a home filled with CHRISTmas every single day of the year! If you are searching for the path to that PEACE, you can find it here.”
– Janice Dulany (who is now keeping Christ AS everything… as she is enjoying His presence in Heaven)
“Jennifer’s e-book Keeping Christ AS Christmas is filled with ways to live the holidays honoring the real reason for the season – Jesus. The book is informative, inspirational, and entertaining. It has been a privilege to read the book and plan with renewed conviction to have the most ‘Christ AS Christmas’ holiday season my family has ever had.”
– Janie Arnold Allen Bradley, Ph.D.
Keeping Christ AS Christmas is a book that will literally change the heart-attitude toward Christmas of every person who reads it. If you know Jennifer Walker then you know that she has a true, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ which guides her in everything she does. What I love about this book is that Jennifer gives practical, tangible, and realistic ways to develop our own relationships with the Lord day by day. She then shares how to keep our hearts focused on Jesus in the midst of the worldly distractions during the holiday season.
Keeping Christ AS Christmas will bring us back to the true spirit of this precious season and make a lasting impact on our hearts that will last the whole year through.
– Kim Kopp, Just For Clicks Blog
Thank you in advance, dear friends. I KNOW how valuable time is, and how often I miss doing good things for others because I say I’ll do it later… and never get around to doing it. If you do spend the time to review, or even just to give the book however many “stars” you feel it deserves, I will be eternally grateful. Not for me, but for whatever impact the Lord plans to make through the use of this book. And you just might end up with an additional $25 to spend as a “thank you” for your good deed. 😉 {How I wish I could do this for everyone!}
Thank you, much love, and many blessings~
Can you believe it? This week, Christmas commercials have been on television and Hallmark is playing Christmas movies non-stop {LOVE that!}. Stores are already advertising for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Our lovely town’s business open-houses are this weekend, and our downtown Christmas lights came on last night. It’s a beautiful sight that makes me all happy inside! 🙂
It’s fun to be able to lightly enjoy the coming Christmas season at a leisurely pace for a few days. However, as we all well know, within mere weeks schedules will become filled and pressure will be felt. So… now is the best time to do some pre-season preparation. {And I’m not talking about gift-purchasing, though that is a great idea, as well.}
What I’m talking about is the preparing of the heart.
The Christmas season gets so full and frantic that, though the season really IS about JESUS, if we aren’t intentional, we’ll leave Him completely out of it all. (Or He will be an afterthought, at best.) Isn’t that sadly true?
The traditions, the shopping, the decorating, the family gatherings, the ministries, the parties, the movies, the music… they are all wonderful and have their rightful places. But if we don’t prepare our hearts BEFORE we prepare our homes and holiday plans, though the calendar may look full, we can find ourselves empty and lonely inside.
It is with humility and hope that I admit that this is a work-in-progress for me. That’s why I am starting NOW to begin to prepare my heart for CHRISTmas.
One thing I am doing this weekend is getting my spiritual life in order… As in, deciding what I’ll be doing for my Bible study time each day, cleaning out and refilling my Quiet Time notebook, and making a dedicated commitment to the Lord to awake early enough every day to begin the day with Him.
Because we can NEVER out-give God, giving Him the first fruits of our days – that time most precious to us in the morning – is and investment in the day ahead. God knows the paths on which we will walk. We don’t. Time spent at the feet of Jesus is never lost or wasted. When we begin each of the upcoming busy and hectic days with Jesus, we will navigate this Christmas {which is really tHIS CHRISTmas} season with our eyes and ears tuned into the REASON for the season ~ Jesus Christ. He will fill us and guide us and spill out of us as we move through this year’s holiday festivities.
Do you want to spend some time with Jesus, but you’re not sure how to do it or where to start? An intimate fellowship with The Lord, time in His Word, soaking in what He has to say to you and responding to Him as if you are “best friends” is offered to each one of us. We just have to take the time to invest in our relationship with The Lord.
Like building any friendship, it takes an investment of time, energy, and purpose. But my friends, it is SO worth it!
If you’re wondering where you’ll get any extra minutes in your day, let me ask you this: Do you use your snooze alarm? If so… there’s your answer! 😉
My personal philosophy (though it is sometimes a struggle to abide by it) is that if I have time to snooze in the mornings, I could invest those 10 minutes in Jesus and be more rested than if I had slept a few extra minutes. If you’ll set your alarm back just 10 minutes earlier, and get up when it goes off, you can start your day filled and refreshed – rather than tired and cranky. I promise. We can never out-give God. If we give Him those precious 10 minutes, we will see just what He gives in return: strength, encouragement, hope, a plan for the day, inspiration, peace… to name a few.
{From my own experience, I trust that soon you’ll find that 10 minutes just isn’t enough, and you’ll see such a “return” on your investment, that you’ll be craving more and more time with Him.}
Need a Jump Start? Here is a plan for 10 Precious Minutes with the Lord.
Have these items handy:
A Bible (easy to read and understand version – I LOVE the Amplified, Holeman Christan Standard, Message, NIV, and the New Living Translation)
Paper – I use a spiral notebook or several sheets of notebook paper folded up in my Bible for these moments with God.
A Pen or Pencil (highlighter optional)
Here’s the plan:
1 minute – Submit yourself to the Lord. Bow yourself to Him, acknowledging Him as your King and Authority over you. Give yourself and your day to Him. Ask Him to speak to you.
1 minute – Praise God for three of His Characteristics and Thank God for three ways He’s blessed you. Quickly write the date and record these on your paper.
1 minute – Ask God to create in you a clean heart (Ps. 51:10). As He reveals any unconfessed sin, repent of it lay it before Him. (Of course, this is more than a minute long process – it’s an every day, all day long process. This minute just opens the door for the Lord to speak to you throughout the day about your sin. As He convicts you of sinning, repent right then. Don’t wait until later. Confess it. Ask for forgiveness immediately, and stay clean throughout the day. It’s like washing your hands each time they get dirty, instead of waiting till the end of the day or the next morning. There are times we all need a long, deep spiritual cleansing, and I encourage you to set aside a special time with The Lord to do that.)
2 minutes – Ask God to fill you, cover you with His armor, shine through you, and speak to you.
“Fill me” – Colossians 2:10 says in the Jewish New Testament, “It is in union with Him that you have been made full.” Especially when we are rushed and stressed, we tend to run on empty. It is in union with Jesus – this time together with Him before anything else depletes us – that we are made and kept full.
“Cover me” – Using Ephesians 6:10-14, put on the armor God has provided for you to wear in Victory! You might want to list the armor pieces at the top of your notebook paper so you can quickly go through and picture each piece. I picture myself putting them on piece by peace, as I speak each piece aloud, thanking God for this awesome protection.
“Shine through me” – Pray that you will “Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your Light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1
“Speak to me” – Pray Psalm 119:18, “Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in Your Law.” and get ready for God to reveal Himself to you through His Word.
(Now, you’re about 5 minutes into the 10.)
3 minutes – Read God’s Word. Have a specific place in the Bible in mind, so you won’t waste your time randomly searching. I’m going through Psalms right now. Other wonderful books are Proverbs, John, James, Philippians… they are all so wonderful, it’s hard to choose one. But for this quick quiet time, I would encourage you to stick to one of the books mentioned above.
There is just something special about getting a Word from what I like to call “the raw Word of God”. I LOVE devotional books and Bible studies… and I encourage you to find time through out your day to add a Bible study or devotional book reading to your life. But if you truly have only 10 minutes, I encourage you to spend them in God’s Word first and add what someone else has written about God’s Word later. {If you have The Holy Spirit living within you, He will speak to you just as He speaks to those who write those devotions and Bible studies… That is…if you ask Him to…and if you then get in His Word. :-)}
What to do: Start at the beginning of the book/passages you are reading. Read for 3 minutes or until you have some type of “reaction” (Wow! or Oh, You are so Good, Lord! or I am so sorry! or I never thought of it like that before… or even, I don’t understand…) Stop reading at that point. You’ll pick up at this spot tomorrow and continue reading.
1 minute – On your paper, under your praise/thanks, write the reference for what you just read, then write your reaction. This makes Scripture come alive, because God has just spoken to you, revealing His Truth to you in some way, and in your reaction, you are responding to Him. It’s like you are writing to each other. This is so important, because as we get busy, we tend to forget the wonderful things The Lord revealed to us. Having them written down, gives us a reminder and a visible picture of God’s activity in our lives at the moment. These types of papers are a treasure to me.
1 minute – Pray these truths into your life. Ask God to help these truths be a reality in your own life.
The 10 minutes is over, but your fellowship with Jesus has just begun.
As you begin preparing for your day, continue to talk with Jesus about the day ahead, about your family, your concerns, your needs and those things/people heavy on your heart. You can even pray that these same truths you just heard from God in your time with Him would be found true in the lives of others. As you go about your day, drive to work with Him… fold the laundry with Him… acknowledge The Lord in your daily life … lingering in His presence as you would your best and dearest friend. The presence of God’s fellowship and the awareness of His personal involvement in your life will be a sweet blessing and reward for seeking Him!
No matter how busy the day ahead becomes, or what lies ahead, this 10 minutes with the Lord will help jump start your day with the breath of the Lord God Almighty propelling you forward in His strength, joy, and fellowship!
James 1:5 promises that if we ask for wisdom, God will grant it to us. So ask Him, my friends. Ask the Lord how YOU can begin to prepare your heart for tHIS CHRISTmas season.
May the Lord’s Peace rest upon us all as we seek Him first… (Matthew 6:33)
For future reference, this post can be reached under the top tab “Want to grow closer to Jesus?” or by clicking this link: How to Start A Daily Quiet Time.
And if you want to dig a little deeper into God’s Word, see this post (also under the tab “Want to grow closer to Jesus?”): How To Study The Bible for yourself, by yourself.
and…
Do you need a fresh approach to Christmas this year?
Read Keeping Christ AS Christmas
an e-book by Jennifer Walker
A practical and inspirational approach to seeking and finding Jesus this Christmas season, Keeping Christ AS Christmas offers simple strategies and sanity savers to help your Christmas be meaningful in a new and treasured way. Prepare your hearts, households, and homes for Peace this Christmas season by Keeping Christ AS Christmas.
$4.99 ; Amazon.com
ChristASChristmas.com (for all other e-book formats)
