Faith Notes

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Psalms 23:3

Our church decorated for the Christmas season not too long ago. Wreaths were hung, the tree was decorated, and candles placed in the windows. As you enter the fellowship hall, a small nativity scene sits on a table next to the window. It’s pretty easy to miss, but I noticed it one evening while gathering for fellowship. As others wrapped Christmas gifts for kids in the community, I took a good look at the small porcelain figures that made up the nativity scene. You had your standard characters: shepherds, sheep, donkeys, Mary, Joseph, and of course, baby Jesus in the manger. One figure that I’ve never seen in a nativity, however, was also present. In the front was a pair of porcelain chickens. The two chickens shared the same base, but one had cracked and fallen off. The chicken lay there on its side, while the other figures turned in toward the center of the manger scene. I picked them up and took them in the church office, where I tried my best to glue the two back together. The next night, I checked and sure enough the glue had held, so I returned the pair back to the manger scene. So, what’s the point? Restoration.

Restore: bring back; return to a former condition, place, or position; to repair

Those porcelain chickens hadn’t always been broken. I don’t know how they got broken, but they were clearly and visibly broken. There was a point in my life where I hadn’t always been broken, but I was at that moment. I was broken hearted that I had sin in my life. I was broken spirited that I knew I was separated from God. I was broken by the fact that I was lost in my sins and in need of a Savior. Thank God that He puts us in the right place at the right time. Someone placed those chickens out, as if to say ‘Hey! These are in need of repair. Could someone help?’. God placed me where I heard the gospel of His precious Son Jesus. God placed me in a good family that served the Lord. God placed me right where He needed me to be in order to restore me. Just like someone placed that pair of chickens out at Christmas time, I needed to be placed at the feet of the one that we recognize as being born on Christmas Day – Jesus. I’m so glad that there is a place for a broken people to be placed where Jesus does the restoring.

To restore means to return to a former condition, to repair, or to bring back. Jesus did all of those things for me the moment that I asked Him into my heart, that moment when He saved my soul. He restored my fellowship with the Lord. Previously, I had been separated from God due to the sin in my heart (just like the chickens were separated from their base), but Jesus restored my heart. He took His marvelous saving grace and repaired the cracks of my life, restored my soul, brought me back from that spiritual death that sin had caused in my life. All it took for those chickens to be restored was being in the right place, at the right time, and a few drops of glue. All it took for me to be restored was coming to the knowledge of my need for a Savior, knowing that the time was right (when you know, you know!), and asking Jesus to save me. He has sealed us with His Spirit, restored us with His grace, and given us His wonderful great love. Let’s praise Him today for the daily reminders that He gives of His marvelous grace.

And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.

Genesis 7:5

How was Noah able to do all of these things?

God made the way.

God made the way for Noah to build an ark the way that he did.
God made the way for Noah to be able to do as He commanded and have animals of all kind, male and female, enter into the ark.
God made the way to shut the door.
God made the way for Noah and his family to survive the flood.

I thought of all of these things that seem impossible to man, but God is able to make the way for us. He made the way, through His precious son Jesus, that I get to go to Heaven some day, and you can too if you accept Him as your personal Savior. Oh what a Savior is mine!

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Philippians 4:13

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

Have you ever noticed how we refer to the Bible as “God’s WORD”? We don’t say “God’s WORDS”, and there’s a reason for that. The Bible is complete, unified, and perfect. We refer to the Bible as the WORD because of this unity (it all fits together), this completeness (it isn’t missing anything), and this perfectness (it doesn’t have any mistakes). The Bible is unlike any other book ever written. God divinely inspired men to write each word, and each word has a purpose. Every word, every passage, is from God. Every word IS God.

If we look at John 1:1, we’ll see that I should rewrite the paragraph above to replace the “it’s” with “He”. The Word is God. The Word is Living. This is why, through and by the help of He the Holy Spirit, we can read the Bible over and over and understand something different each time.

This love letter that God has written us is the greatest of all time. It tells of everlasting love, rich mercy, sufficient grace, wonderful longsuffering, joy unspeakable, Spiritual peace, tried and true faith, gentleness, goodness…and so much more. Let us not take for granted the divine love letter that God has written personally to you and me.

I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me

John 14:6

This morning on the way to work I heard “Away In A Manger” on the radio. Then I began to think about “The WAY In A Manger”. Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Jesus, the way, was born in a manger many years ago. Jesus, the way, leads to the cross at Calvary, but He doesn’t stop there. Jesus, the way, is the only way that leads to everlasting life in Heaven. The way has already been made and is available to “whosoever believeth in him”. That’s everyone! This Christmas I pray that if you don’t know the way, if you aren’t on the way to Heaven, you can be. Jesus paid it all so that we could live with Him forever in Heaven. All you have to do is believe.

Just like the last verse of “Away In A Manger” says, Jesus will never leave us (Hebrews 13). Not only is Jesus the only way to Heaven, but as I’ve heard my say and as the Bible teaches us, Jesus is the way through this life. If you have been saved and desire like the last verse of the song says for Jesus to be near you, He has already made us that promise. The next time you listen to “Away In A Manger”, stop and think for a moment about “The WAY In A Manger”.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

1 Corinthians 13:13

I began to study this chapter a few weeks ago. The Lord showed me while I was studying that this chapter is a description of Jesus. Jesus is charity. The definition of charity is “the love of mankind.” Jesus loves all of mankind, enough that He gave His life for each and everyone of us that we could live forever in Heaven with Him.

1 John 4:8 says that “God is love”. Jesus said that “I and my Father are one” in John 10:30. Since God is love, and Jesus and God are one, Jesus also is love. The Bible also teaches us that there are three that bear witness in Heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. (1 John 5:7). At first, I thought where is Jesus in that list? Then I read St. John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. “ Jesus is the Word, Jesus is charity, and Jesus is the only way to Heaven. I’m so thankful for Jesus and what He shows us through His precious Words.

Hebrews 12:6-7

⁶ For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

⁷ If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Matthew 14: 22-33 tells us of a time when Jesus came to a boat full of His disciples during a storm on the sea. No one but Peter recognized Jesus. Jesus never told them who it was walking out on the water, He only said “It is I”. Peter knew the Lord, even during this time of trouble. Jesus bid Peter to come out to Him on the water, and Peter had enough faith to take that step out of the boat. I’d rather be like Peter and try to do my best for the Lord, even if I sometimes fail and come short. I’d rather hear “Wherefore didst thou doubt?” from the Lord, rather than not have Him talk to me at all. He didn’t speak to the others in the boat, but because of what the Lord did through Peter, the others began to worship and rejoice in the Lord. Peter may have been chastised, but I’m glad today that chastisement from the Lord reminds us that we are one of His children and that He loves us.