Advent(Dec. 11): The Red Rope

Joshua son of Nun secretly sent out two spies from Acacia and said to them, “Go and look at the land, particularly at the city of Jericho.”

So the men went to Jericho and stayed at the house of a prostitute named Rahab.

Before the spies went to sleep for the night, Rahab went up to the roof. She said to them, “I know the Lord has given this land to your people. You frighten us very much. Everyone living in this land is terribly afraid of you.

 So now, promise me before the Lord that you will show kindness to my family just as I showed kindness to you. Give me some proof that you will do this. Allow my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all of their families to live. Save us from death.”

The men said to her, “You must do as we say. If not, we cannot be responsible for keeping this oath you have made us swear. When we return to this land, you must tie this red rope in the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers, and all your family into your house.

Joshua 2: 1, 8-9, 12-13, 17-18

"...one red rope saved the lives of a prostitute and her family.

Rahab, who hid two spies...and soon believed that their One real God works real miracles."

"Rahab couldn't stop smiling...God loved her at her darkest and badest, and He held her with the biggest and grandest and greatest love. God changed the heart of a girl who did bad things."

So, her heart was tied to God's by one red rope...like it was her only lifeline.

And she was saved, not because she was good, but because she trusted the One real God!"

The good news in this story is that God forgave Rahab and she ended up being a mother in Israel and an ancestor of Jesus. 

 While far from perfect, Rahab’s life is a model of faith that shows the reality of God’s forgiveness and grace for everyone willing to step out in faith and to trust God with the results.

Have you ever felt as though you are too damaged to be used by God?  Worse, have you ever had the thought that you’re too damaged for God to truly love you?

You and I can't get to heaven trusting in what we've done. We must have faith in the rope - the blood of Christ - that saves us and carries us to safety. This one thing will make the difference for everyone. Like Rahab, we must tie the rope in our window - then when Christ returns for His beloved bride, He  will deliver the ones who have the red rope - the blood of Christ - in our hearts!

(source)

"Everywhere - do you see it? Christmas presents, tied up red ribbons, little red ropes. 

They all tie our hearts to Jesus, the greatest, grandest, Gift!"

"...shaped into hearts - they wrap the happiest love right around you."

Come back again, as I share Day 12 of the Advent Calender...in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up 

Advent(Dec. 10): Ten Love Rules

Moses summoned all Israel and said:

Hear, O Israel, the decrees and lawsI declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them.

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

"You shall have no other gods before me. 

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 

"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 

"Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 

"Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

"You shall not murder. 

"You shall not commit adultery.

"You shall not steal. 

"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 

"You shall not covet 

anything that belongs to your neighbor." 

The LORD heard you when you spoke to me and the LORD said. 

Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!

Deuteronomy 5

"The ten commandments are more than God saying, "Here are My rules of law for you"; they are God saying, "Here is my real love for you."

All through the commandments, God etches into the stone, like a whisper: "I am the Lord, your God...you are Mine."

So that by giving His beautiful people this great gift - two tablets of stone He wrote with His very own finger, - 

He gives these commandments as a call to trust Him, love Him, spend time with Him.

When we are tempted to trust the world - 

the world, who tells us to covet, to hate, to kill, to lie, to separate from having a love relationship with God - we are reminded of this gift of love that will keep us close to Him, to enjoy His presence, His protection, His peace...

 “Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the spirit have even more glory?  For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.” (2 Corinthians 3:7)

Is the law bad? No. Without the Law we would not see our need for Christ.

BUT…Paul says he is a minister of a new covenant, not of the letter (law) but of the spirit. 

If we are in Christ..The law is now written on our hearts!  His love is carved into our hearts!

Where we once stood condemned by the law, we now have the power, through the work of the spirit in us to obey the law.  We can love the law because in Christ, it no longer condemns us. (source)

The commandments also show us how to love God and Others:

This is why the apostle John tells us that “whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him” and “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments” (1 John 2:5; 1 John 5:2).

The Ten Commandments truly sum up God’s law of love.

(source)

Below is a link to a video of a wonderful explanation of how believers are to view the "Ten Love Rules"...

Are Christians Under the 10 Commandments?

Come back tomorrow, as I share Day 11 of the Advent Calender...in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up 

Advent(Dec. 9): Surprise Gifts

 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for "good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 

Gensis 37:3-4, 50:15-17, 19-20

Joseph, sold into Egypt by his very own brothers to be a slave, sold to strangers far away, from the hug of his very own father"... but through it all, he still whispered the truth he saw:

“What someone else meant for bad, God means to make it good.”

"Many years later, Joseph gave his starving brother's food and they realized who he really was, Joseph embraced each of them with forgiveness.

You can stand around your Christmas tree with a family tree as messy as Joseph's...
Just remember...

Out of a family that felt just like a mess, God brought Jesus, the Messiah!!!

He would take the greatest sadness and make it into the gladness of the Greatest gift for us!!!"

"Part of the delight of a gift is the unexpected of the gift. You get a gift beyond your expectations when it surprises your expectations. God’s greatest mercies often come in the most unexpected packages."
  
Isn’t this what Christmas teaches us more than anything?

• There are endless treasures (Ephesians 3:8) that have come to us in the Christmas child, but how often are we too busy to notice?

• God wants us to have faith in His nearness, and that He will reward us when we earnestly seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

 Jesus doesn’t really factor onto the world’s Christmas list because the world doesn’t think Jesus really has enough 'Wow' Factor. 

And the thing is: Sometimes the gift you’d never choose is exactly the gift you need most. Sometimes the best gift, is the gift you’d never pick.

• We want things we can touch — God wants us to touch Him.

• We want things around us to make us feel good — God wants in us, to make us good.

"Sometimes the best gift doesn’t impress people — but it presses us into God.
 He gave us the One thing that can never be topped — to rescue us who feel like a mess at the bottom."
 
Because look at the expense of that Gift —- what could cost more than His Gift?  Every time you don’t believe that you mean that much to Him? Whisper, “Jesus. Jesus.”
The real meaning of Christmas — is that we’re meant for Him —- and we mean more to Him than we know.  (source)

"If you believe this miracle of Christmas, if you base your life on it, there is no end to the miracles that can come into your life.” [Tim Keller]

Christmas is all about the ritual of mystery— surprise, wrapping, concealing, but then revealing. So, if you are looking for a "surprise gift" to give away and reveal this Christmas, remember, it’s always worth it to give the greatest gift: Jesus. 

Let's all unwrap this perfect, wonderful, surprise Gift!

Come back tomorrow, as I share Day 10 of the Advent Calender...in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up 

Advent(Dec. 8): Climbing Up

He(Jacob) had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”

Genesis 28:12-16

"Jacob dreamed - of a long, long ladder that stretched on and on - and angels going up and coming down." 

"For us the real amazing dream is that there is nothing to climb up because Jesus is the Staircase, the only One who becomes the step to take you there Himself - because He loves you just as you are.
"He allows for us to ascend to speak to God whenever we like - 

- to commune with God in joy, in trial, in need, in thanks. 

But, because we are human, and weak, and often flawed in the choices we make in our own free will, sometimes we forget to take our good moments and especially our weak moments to God. We feel lost, alone, hurting, confused, and afraid. 

And it is in those moments God will come down the staircase to speak to us in our despair and remind us that “The Lord is definitely in this place,” even when we forget to look for Him. 

Then, like Jacob, we see that this sacred place is beautiful and awesome when we are looking up the staircase at God."(source)

"Jesus is our ladder who wants to give us the gift of letting Him carry us up, no matter how far down we've fallen.

I have been a long-time fan of  the group "Point of Grace"

One of their first albums has a song called "The Great Divide".

Below is the video and lyrics to this song. I felt it was fitting for this post.(Even though they are singing about a bridge, nstead of a ladder/stairway)

Silence

Trying to fathom the distance

Looking out 'cross the canyon carved

By my hands

God is gracious

Sin would still separate us

Were it not for the bridge

His grace has made us

His love will carry me

There's a bridge to cross the great divide

A way was made to reach the other side

The mercy of the Father cost His son his life

His love is deep, His love is wide

There's a cross to bridge the great divide

God is faithful

On my own I'm unable

He found me hopeless alone

And sent a savior

He's provided a path

And promised to guide us

Safely past all the sin that would divide us

His love delivers me

There's a bridge to cross the great divide

A way was made to reach the other side

The mercy of the Father cost His son His life

His love is deep, His love is wide

There's a cross to bridge the great divide

The cross that cost my Lord His life

Has given me mine

There's a bridge to cross the great divide

There's a cross to bridge the great divide

There's a bridge to cross the great divide

A way was made to reach the other side

The mercy of the Father cost His son His life

His love is deep, His love is wide

There's a cross to bridge the great divide

There's a cross, there's a cross to bridge

There's a cross, there's a cross

There's a cross to bridge

There's a cross, there's a cross to bridge

There's a cross, there's a cross

There's a cross to bridge

There's a cross to bridge the great divide

Point Of Grace - The Great Divide Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

Come back tomorrow, as I share Day 9 of the Advent Calender...

in the book, "Unwrapping the Greatest Gift".(All quotes listed are from the book, unless indicated.)

From December 1st to December 25th

I will be sharing each story in this beautiful book, as well as some of the breathtaking pictures. Won't you join me? Stop by each day to see the stories shared. If you would prefer I email you each days post, please leave your email in the comments section or send me an email at apop12341@hotmail.com 
and let me know. I will make sure each post is sent to you.

To view the whole series on one page, go HERE

You may find me linking up at any of the blog parties listed on the left sidebar.(or go to my blog party page link, below)

Favorite Blogs Parties where I Link-up