Good Morning!

Then a Shoot (the Messiah) will spring from the stock of Jesse [David’s father], and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him— The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and strength, The Spirit of knowledge and of the [reverential and obedient] fear of the Lord— and He will delight in the fear of the Lord, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make decisions by what His ears hear; but with righteousness and justice He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the downtrodden of the earth; and He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. And righteousness will be the belt around His loins, and faithfulness the belt around His waist.  -Isaiah 11:1-5

This was spoken about Jesus centuries before He came to earth as a baby. There is so much in these couple verses. I love how it says that He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make decision by what His ears hear; He goes by what He sees and hears in our heart and no matter what other people think or what the outside appearance might be of something, Jesus will judge by what is going on in the heart. It also says He will be fair with the downtrodden; it will not matter if we are stomped on and beaten down our whole life, God will be fair even when life doesn’t seem to be going in our favor, there is comfort in knowing that. I encourage all of us, including myself, as we enter Christmas week and with the new year around the corner to look at people through the eyes of Jesus, to listen to their heart, to give them the benefit of the doubt, to be fair to all around us. Put on the belt of righteousness and faithfulness this Christmas.

“When you can’t put your prayer into words, God hears your heart.”

“Prayer is about certainty, there should be boldness in our hearts when we pray, God is listening!”

“When you pray, God listens. When you listen, God talks. When you believe, God works.”

Dad Joke of the Day:

What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations? 

Tinselitis

Have a great Wednesday!