And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” -John 1:51 (NASB)

My little boy, like any enthusiastic child, wants to climb any ladder I produce. Sometimes, though, he gets a little too enthusiastic and misses a step, but I’m there to catch him and remind him to take it slowly.

At the end of the first chapter of the Book of John, Jesus tells Nathanael, one of his first disciples, that he hasn’t seen anything yet…that Jesus will reveal Himself to be the direct link between man on earth and our Father in heaven. By saying this, Jesus references Jacob’s ladder:

He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. -Genesis 28:12 (NASB)

Sometimes, as God’s children, we can also get a bit too enthusiastic to get all the way up there already…and we can slip and fall as we want to do things in our haste and timing, and not His. But He is always there no matter how well or poorly we climb. We just need to keep climbing.

Jesus made the bloody, hard-won ascent to connect us here on earth to His Father in heaven. He’s suffered infinitely more than we could ever imagine to be the ladder for us to climb. Let’s never give up climbing ever upward for and to Him, rung by rung!

One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. -Psalm 27:4 (NIV)

Today, I and many other agents attend the passing of one of our own. While we do mourn because we wish the deceased would continue journeying with us, we have supreme comfort and peace knowing where she went.

As true believers, we know that this Christmas season holds a far deeper significance than gifts or decorations or even time with friends and family. It’s about our belief in faith that God packaged His infinite power into a mortal bundle–an infant–to grow up among us and to eventually be killed by us…to be sacrificed…so that we may partake of His free gift: forgiveness of our sins, making a way for us to be forever in His presence when we pass on from this world.

We’re pilgrims and travelers who are just passing through this world to the next. We also know that Jesus is the only bridge from this world to the next, and that only belief in Him and His works lowers the bridge for us. To know that our passage has been secured ahead of us is comforting to remember as we get scraped and scarred during our journey.

I didn’t know the deceased personally, but one thing I did know about her was the only thing that mattered: that she believed in who Jesus was, and what He did. Because of that, we know that she now resides–free of all infirmity–in the most desirable place, which is in the house of the Lord for all eternity, in His presence.

Each time the Christmas season rolls around, those of us who have lost a loved one will feel it in our hearts, but time will give us the healing, comfort, and perspective to know that they’ve accepted the greatest gift the world will ever know.

If our pilgrimage on this earth were a book, we can say we don’t know what will happen on this page or the next, but it’s an amazing comfort to know how our story ends: rejoining our loved ones, where there is no more sorrow and no more pain…only eternal bliss in the presence of the Lord.

All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). -Isaiah 7:14 (NLT)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. -John 1:14 (NIV)

Even in the womb, even before Jesus took His first breath of air as a mortal, He was God’s living, breathing gift to this fallen world. With Jesus’ birth was the birth of hope for amazing things to come for all who believed in Him.

On earth, Jesus was the embodiment of God’s Word…His promises…His grace…His strength…His Truth in practice.

When you think of God’s promises, you can see them reflected in Jesus’ life.

• We have nothing to fear.
• We have no need to worry.
• We can do all things through Him.
• We can have His grace and strength flow through us when we have none.
• We can speak and live in God-honoring truth, no matter what opposition comes, for He is with us.
• We know in our hearts He makes a way where there seems to be no way, just as He did for a fallen world to come back to Him.

In the way Jesus lived, we can use every moment, hour, month, and year to fine tune our own walk to more closely align with His. I can testify that the areas in my life where the heat and difficulty persist are the areas where God needs me to evaluate my walk and make adjustments in comparison to the ultimate model: Jesus.

Today, Jesus is with us always, all around us and ever-present. He walks with us, prays on our behalf, and comforts us. He is also in our hearts, flowing through us for the world to see, when we surrender to His will for us. Thank you, Jesus, for making a way and being the way. Please continue to show us the way.

Today’s soundtrack

“Here With Us” by Joy Williams revels in the mystery of how the same infant born among us was the one who made everything…and will save all of us.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. -Luke 2:6-7 (NIV)

As the world knows, God sent down His Son to live as a flesh human being, to be born from a young virgin mother. And throughout every moment of His life, He would be the very essence of God’s love expressed on earth, from birth till death…and forever onward.

But when we look at his birth narrative, it’s so beautiful to see an Almighty Father, who created the universe…who created everything in it, and us…who would then humble Himself in sacrificial love to arrive as a helpless infant! And to not be born in a palace with earthly splendor and pageantry, but to be born in a manger.

In French, the word manger means “to eat.” The manger in the birth narrative, as we know, is a feeding container for animals…animals!. So we can be fairly certain it wasn’t sanitized. There was no antibacterial this or that to protect from infection. (And it probably smelled, too!) But there was God’s protection, and His plans.

Scripture tells us that there was no guest room for Joseph and Mary, which is why she wrapped the newborn Jesus in cloths and placed Him in the manger. But what an unlikely hero who would save the world! Stay tuned for what happens next!

Today’s soundtrack

“How Many Kings” by Downhere depicts it perfectly…how many kings would do what God did for us?

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. -John 13:14-14 (NIV)

As believers, we suit up daily to go to spiritual battle, down from the smallest, seemingly insignificant details, to large scale skirmishes that require every ounce of effort for you to not be crushed. Sometimes it’s those small details that will insidiously creep in and cause us to swerve or stumble. Sometimes it’s the big rocks that bruise and fracture us.

Honestly, it’s exhausting. And I can tell you, as I’ve said in many ways before in other posts, that when I reach the point where I’m running on fumes, barely limping to the next thing I need to do, I have to stop and realize that I’ve once again been battling in my own strength.

God gives us supernatural strength, which is not our own, to glorify Himself through our overcoming the impossible. He gives us courage. He gives us wisdom. He gives us hope and faith.

How can we get it when we don’t have the strength to even pray? What if we can only whimper? What if we can only utter one thing?

Make it count. We can simply call on His Son by name, and get ready to be infused with all you cannot supply on your own.

Call on Jesus. He knows exactly what you’re going through, and is there to carry you when you cannot carry yourself. Call on Him now.

Today’s soundtrack

7eventh Time Down’s “Just Say Jesus” reminds us that we only need to call His name: