Dear Members & Attenders,

As Christmas can be full of gifts it is easy to think of these primarily in terms of things – clothes, tools, art, music, or even cash. But how naturally do you think of a person as a gift?

First, if you are a believer in Jesus, you have received your greatest gift in a Person – HIM! You have been given nothing less than God in Christ. As we try to say often and consistently, God has given Himself for you in Christ and to you in the Holy Spirit. To believe in Jesus is to receive Him (see John 1:12). To be in Christ is to have His Spirit (Romans 8:9-11). And according to His Word, to have Jesus is to have the Father (1 John 2:23).

Second, if you are a believer in Jesus you are a gift. It’s not just that you have gifts from Him (which you do, Ephesians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 11); you are a gift. You are sealed in Christ, indwelt by His Spirit. You are a living, breathing, walking Temple of the Living God. You are His ambassador or representative. You bring HIM into whatever situation you enter (and nothing less). You have access to Him in prayer as His very child. And you are part of an innumerable army for eternal good – you have eternal purpose – on a mission to turn back every last vestige of evil in this world. You matter!

So as we come out of a frenzy of gift-giving with Christmas, please remember the greatest gifts – the Gift you’ve been given, and the gifts that He is giving to all those around you as He redeems your life and deploys you into His mission.

I hope you have had a great Christmas and enter into this new year full of His love and grace!

Will you please pray for:

• Gratitude: Give thanks to the LORD, God Almighty, for His grace to redeem even you. And thank Him for all the people He has used as gifts to you – to help you and build into you.
• Vision: Ask the Lord to help you comprehend the truest Gift that you have been given in Himself (Father, Son & Holy Spirit).
• Faith: Read through the Bible verses listed above. And pray that the Spirit would bear in you the confidence that God’s Word is true, that His gifts are real and that He is working in your life to turn you into a blessing.
• Joy: Praise Him, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that He IS so good and that He has treated us so wondrously in Christ. As you consider the beginning of the coming year, worship Him that He is immovable, steadfast and faithful – the same yesterday, today and forever!