Category Archives: gospel of Jesus Christ

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Every Heart Prepare Him Room

Many of us have spent lots of time recently decorating for Christmas, making cookies and other special goodies. We prepare our home inside and out with festive decorations. If you are like me – the ornaments and decorations hold many special memories themselves and getting them out and on display reminds me of happy times in years past.

I can’t give an accurate account of the amount of time I spend in holiday preparations, yet it is significant.

We sang my second favorite Christmas carol at our church service today – “Joy to the World”. The chorus includes these words – “let every heart, prepare Him room…” A friend, Kathryn Boyer, shared after worship that God had convicted her about that phrase. Was she preparing room in her heart for Jesus? The baby born of the virgin Mary. The promised Messiah. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The Holy Spirit nudged me – no, it was more like a jab – and challenged me to consider the condition of my heart. Was there room being prepared in my heart for Jesus? Amidst all my decorating, baking, planning and preparing for Christmas was my heart ready for Jesus – the very reason that I celebrate Christmas???

What does it mean to “prepare Him room”?

  1. My first thought on this is making space in my busy schedule. Am I so busy I put aside prayer, Bible reading, worship, and/or fellowship? I must prioritize my time with Jesus.
  2. I must not let my preparations for Christmas push my relationship with Jesus – whose birth is why we celebrate Christmas – aside.
  3. Instead my very preparations should themselves “prepare room”. I can use decorations that celebrate the birth of Jesus and point to the reality of His birth.
  4. My baking and cooking can bless others by showing them love and care.
  5. Jesus wanted us, His followers, to share His love and meet the needs of those around us.
  6. Inviting others to share our celebration of Christmas is inviting Jesus. Jesus taught us that if we serve others, we are serving Him.

Preparing Him room in our hearts requires us to be intentional with our thoughts and actions.

Jesus tells us, His followers in Matthew 6:19-21 –

9 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

The Amplified Version explains the meaning this way – “where your treasure is, there your heart [your wishes, your desires; that on which your life centers] will be also.”

If my celebration of Christmas centers on how amazing my lights and decorations are, how many dozens of cookies I can bake, or how stressed I am with all the grandchildren coming, I am NOT preparing room for Jesus. One step into eternity my collection of holiday china won’t mean a thing.

I desire to center my celebration of Jesus’ birth by preparing my heart to honor and worship Him. “May every heart prepare Him room.”

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Follow Me

Mark 1: 16-20
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

These men were busy fishing. It was their job – what they did to feed their families, provide clothing and shelter, and pay their taxes.

The Chosen portrays it this way – Jesus calls to them, says “follow me”, and then Jesus turns around and walks away – with every confidence that Simon and Andrew will follow him. They look at each other – drop their nets and follow. James and John do the same.

At once, immediately, without delay – the Bible says.

Simple, yet profound.

In thinking about what it means to follow, I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me – Gayle – What have you added to what it means to follow Jesus? What have we – the Body of Christ – added anything?


  • Are we following Labels? – Labels like denominations, doctrines, political party,
  • Are we following Individuals? John Calvin, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, John Piper, Beth Moore?
  • Are we following Religious Acts? like baptism, speaking in tongues – or not, reading only the     King James Version?
  • Are we following Good Works? like feeding the poor, sharing with those in need, visiting those     in prison?

Labels have a place if they help us understand one another and where we are coming from, but if they are used to exclude others – who may not hold the same opinion or belief – from being followers of Jesus – this is adding something Jesus did not.
Religious acts are part of following Jesus but if we add man made stipulations to baptism, doctrine, or life practices we are missing what Jesus called us to.
Good works certainly happen when we follow Jesus. Jesus lived his life to serve – but we are followers of Jesus by faith, not by works.

To follow someone you have to keep your eyes on them.
Have you ever had someone say – “follow me, I know where to go” and you both get in your cars and you start following and they speed through a yellow light that changes to red when you get there?
Jesus isn’t like that.
When Jesus says “follow me”, he is teaching us how to live – how to follow him.


Here are some ways to follow Jesus – This is NOT an exhaustive list. That is the WHOLE BIBLE! Yet I find these practices helpful in being intentional as I desire to follow Jesus.


1) Believe – John 14:6 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

2) Study His Words – Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.”

3) Fix Your Eyes on Jesus – Hebrews 12:1-3 – “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Amplified Version translates verse 2 – [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus,

4) Do what Jesus did – Jesus loved, prayed, served, taught, fasted, gave up his life.

5) Allow the Holy Spirit to fill us – John 14:25 -27 “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

6) Live In Unity as Christians John 17:20-21 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Sing with me – “I have decided to follow Jesus – no turning back, no turning back”

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The Mysteries of Creation

My friend Norma Clayton appeared in an article recently in our local newspaper. She had noticed a unusual bird in her yard. It had a band around it’s leg and her husband lured it into a cage so they could find out what kind of bird it was. Through the help of several local friends and acquaintances they determined it was a carrier pigeon belonging to someone hundreds of miles away. David Nestler was able to contact the owner and discover that the bird had gotten lost and not returned home as carrier pigeons usually do. It was an interesting story and stirred up my interest in this unique bird. In reading a bit about these birds, also known as “homing pigeons” their unique ability is to return home no matter where they are. They can be released far from home and carry a message back to their original home over long distances. These birds can become lost if there is bad weather or a predator chases them off course, but it is rare for them not to return home.

Norma’s story fascinated me partly because I have no sense of direction. I have gotten lost many times in my life and God’s grace and the kindness of strangers has helped me more times than I can count. (being married to Phil who has an internal GPS is extremely helpful)

How those birds can find their way home mystifies me! I have made wrong turns when the color of a building changed or a favorite tree was cut down. I can’t imagine flying thousands of miles over ever changing landscapes and not loosing my way. Geese and other birds return to nesting grounds thousands of miles away year after year.

Carol and I went to watch the elk this week. What magnificent creatures they are! Looking at these few examples of the wonder of God’s creation reminds me of the fact that there are many mysteries in the natural world. Science – the study of the world around us – is always looking for explanations. We want to know why things are the way they are. Many of these mysteries have no explanations yet. This gives scientists job security. Humans keep observing and studying and asking “why?”.

The apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that everything God has made reveals God’s nature to us. We can’t see God, but we can see the results of his creative power and divine nature.

Romans 1:20 NLT

20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Romans 1:20 The Message

But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse.

These mysteries of creation remind me that God reveals himself to us through creation. God wants relationship with us and has provided the path to that relationship through his Son Jesus.

Seeing the wonder and beauty of God’s creation is all the more glorious because I also know God as Father. That the God of creation has called me by name to join his family is humbling and yet it fills me with hope knowing anyone, anywhere may also join God’s family.