Gifts in Abundance

Herod the Great looked in awe at Jerusalem while he waited for his visitors from the east.  It was a city worthy of dignity and grandeur with magnificent architectural structures constructed at his command.  He reigned over all of Judea, he was king of the Jews, and that was what he wanted, but it came at a cost.  He’s paid his dues through loyalty to Hyrcanus II, Mark Antony and now Octavius as well as appeasing his subjects and sponsors.  The Temple Mount was one of his most significant investments to please thae Jews, appointing high priests from the Jewish Diaspora should keep them happy and he’s made generous gifts to Rome and the neighboring kingdoms which will keep him in their favor.  He wouldn’t let any usurper come and take what was rightfully his.  A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts and the servant led the travelers inside.  The wise men have arrived.

He felt the blood drain from his face and boil with rage at the news.  A new king has been born.  It couldn’t be!  He has worked too hard to get where he was.  He wouldn’t allow it!  He kept his composure as he devised a plan to get rid of this so-called king and sent the men on their way.  His plan was foiled, and an angel warned Joseph in a dream to escape from Herod’s wrath.  Four years later Herod died, and Joseph and Mary came back from Egypt to live with Jesus in Nazareth.  And so, Herod missed the greatest gift he could ever receive – Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the World.

Jesus came to earth to live among us, He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, was raised from the dead and opened the way for us to the Father.  He has given us the greatest gift we could ever ask for, He made it possible for us to be called sons and daughters of God, to receive an inheritance far greater than we could ever imagine.  But how often do we not miss out on the gifts that God has given us through His Son?  How often do we let our own fears and insecurities and ambitions blind us to the abundant blessings with which He has blessed us?  How easy it is to get so wrapped up in our own negative thoughts where we criticize instead of being appreciative and break down rather than to build up, that we miss out on the beauty we are immersed in?

I have witnessed myself being incapacitated when my insecurities overwhelm me.  I have seen, as if on the outside, how I freeze when my contributions are not heard.  I have felt how I cringe inside and alter my behavior when I fear judgment.  I have experienced myself withdrawing when I try to accommodate others’ needs or engage outside my comfort zone and my expectations aren’t met.  I have feared failure and disappointment and rejection and made poor choices because of it.  That is not what God intended for me when He designed me.  God didn’t give me a spirit of fear, He gave me a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7).

Solomon said: “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov 23:7), so how do I then stand strong against the attacks the enemy launches on my mind?  How do I set my mind on the things above and not the things on earth (Col 3:2)?  God has given us His Living Word and if I stand strong in it, believe what God says about me and exercise my mind by focusing on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable (Phil 4:8), I put on the helmet of salvation as protection.  In doing this, salvation restores, protects and shields me from the attacks of the enemy as God transforms me by the continuous renewing of my mind (Rom 12:2).

God’s list of gifts and promises are endless and vey personal to each of His children and they are effective weapons to quench the lies and deceits of our enemy, so we won’t be overwhelmed by emotions.   These are some that I need to focus on:

God has given me His stamp and seal of approval.  He adopted me into His family as His daughter (Eph 1:5).  He actually picked me out as His own (Eph 1:4). I am in right standing with him through the blood of Jesus Christ, reconciled to God (Rom 5:9-10), blameless in His sight (Eph 1:4).  And He has given me His Spirit as a guarantee that I will receive my full inheritance when my time on earth is over (Eph 1:14, Rom 8:17,23-24).

I have peace with God, through His grace and forgiveness.  I have received God’s unmerited favor, so now I can live in peace with God, in harmony and unity and undisturbedness (Eph 1:2) because He has forgiven all my trespasses, shortcomings and offenses (Eph 1:7).  By God’s grace, I have been saved from judgment through my faith in His Son, Jesus Christ (Eph 2:8).

I experience His indescribable love for me.  God loves me greatly, wonderfully and intensely (Eph 2:1).  He created my inward parts, I was intricately wrought as if embroidered with various colors (Ps 139:13-16).  He knows everything about me, He knows everywhere I’ll go, and He leads me through the easy and the difficult paths (Ps 139:1-12).  I am important to Him, therefore He thinks wonderful thoughts about me (Ps 139:17-18).

God has a plan for me and has given me a purpose.  I am God’s own handiwork, recreated in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:10), He created me for a purpose, He planned for me in love (Eph 1:5) and wants me to walk in the paths that has prepared for me beforehand (Eph 2:10).  Even though I don’t know its full extent, He is leading me into it.

God has equipped me to fulfill that purpose.  God has given me wisdom and understanding, and practical insight into various kinds of situations (Eph 1:6).  He has given me a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him (Eph 1:17).  He has blessed me with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3).

I have victory in Him.  I have a joint seating position with Him in heaven, indicating that I have been victorious with Him, through Jesus (Eph 2:6).  I have access to the immeasurable and unlimited greatness of His power (Eph 1:19).  He has given me the power to trample on scorpions and gave me weapons for warfare that is powerful to demolish strongholds (2 Cor 10:4-5).

I’d like to encourage you to focus on the promises God has for you and not on the things of this broken world, because we who chose Him, have died to ourselves and our lives are now hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3).  We need to strip ourselves from our former nature, the old unrenewed self, and be constantly renewed in the spirit of our minds.  We need a fresh mental and spiritual attitude and put on the new nature that was recreated in God’s image, in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:22-24).  And God who has called us to His own eternal glory in Christ, will complete us and make us what we ought to be, establish us, ground us securely, strengthen and settle us (1 Pet 5:10).