A FAITH-FILLED, PROPHETIC WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT!
November 15, 2023
BY CRYSTAL G.H. LOWERY
There is an unreserved twinkle in a child’s eye when they see a beautifully wrapped gift under the tree on Christmas. As the anticipation builds toward Christmas morning, patience is put to the test to wait for the moment when the gift can be opened. There is so much excitement and joy that just can’t be contained.
The same is true for even an older person when they receive a gift that was unexpected. Just the thoughtfulness that shows by gift giving that says, “I’m thinking of you!” is really more important to the mature person rather than what is in the box itself.
Can you imagine the child, so full of wonder, with so much anticipation and energy of seeing the gift under the tree on Christmas morning in a beautifully wrapped package with their name on it…and then just leaving it there, not ever going over to pick it up or tear into its contents? This would be the last thing that you would imagine to happen.
As bizarre as that sounds, and as hard to imagine as that seems, this actually happens more often than you imagine with another gift. The first verse I ever memorized as a child, for a Christmas program at church, was John 3:16. I remember standing in front of everyone saying “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Jesus is the most precious gift that God could give us. He is the most beautifully packaged gift, so complete and so necessary for our lives. God planned to give us this gift so that we would have everything we ever need and overflow above and beyond without measure. The gift of Jesus is the ultimate gift, so undergirded with love and unmatched thoughtfulness by our Father.
What is the gift of Jesus? He is our EVERYTHING. He is the perfect son of God, who was fully God and fully man. He left the comforts of heaven to live and breathe and ultimately die for US – you and me. What we could never pay for, not even come close to paying for, Jesus overpaid for us with his perfect sacrifice.
We all deserve hell’s eternity for our sin, but by God’s grace, through this almost unfathomable gift of Jesus, we instead get life and life more abundantly – to have an intimate relationship with the “One whom my soul loves” as is so beautifully described in Song of Songs. We get life in exchange for death, eternity with the Lord in exchange for eternity in hell, grace in exchange for punishment, and love in exchange for fear.
Jesus’ gift to us means eternal life, but much more. Isaiah 53 looks forward to the time when Jesus was given for us and tells us in verses 4 and 5 (NKJV) that:
Surely He has born our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
The greatest gift ever given was Jesus. When you open this gift that is just for you (and me), you will find everlasting life with the Father, healing and wholeness, peace, and love. Jesus died so you could be not only healed, but whole in EVERY way – body, soul, and spirit. He died and already suffered your griefs so you don’t have to. He already provided for your every need. He gives us the desires of our hearts when we become so intertwined with His own heart that we are One with HIm.
Sounds amazing, right!?! It is. He is. Don’t be the person in that silly scenario I mentioned at the beginning…the child who looks over at the amazingly wonderful gift but never goes near it or cares to unwrap it. Get filled with excitement. Get filled with anticipation. Rush over. You don’t even have to wait. Its already there waiting with your name on it…He is waiting with arms open wide. Jesus! Only Jesus! He really is the reason for the season! Open the gift of Jesus! Based On Faith.
Crystal G.H. Lowery, Esq is a Christian Estate Planning Attorney and is the owner and founding attorney of Law Office Of Crystal G.H. Lowery, LLC. She is also the founder of Based on Faith and an ordained minister who has a passion to share Jesus with the world. Based on Faith is an organization whose vision is to become an international resource that increases biblical knowledge of faith within the Body of Christ through comprehensive teaching, discussion of law, and the prophetic. Copyright 2023 ©, Crystal G.H. Lowery and Based on Faith. All Rights Reserved.