The Word made flesh to live among us is miraculous enough. How amazing that the Lord of all humbled Himself to be born as an infant in lowly Bethlehem? This event changed history and continues to impact the present.

His birth, before and after, created ripple effects. For surrounding the events of Jesus’ coming into the world were multiple other miracles. Instead of detracting from the focus of Christmas, they add to the main event of God entering the fallen world to live among us (John 1:14). These miracles, in all their individual wonder, remind us to pause and consider – look what the Lord did! We should follow Mary’s example and treasure these events in our hearts (Luke 2:19).

Not only have these events changed all of history around the world, they can also greatly impact our lives today. So, let us survey these six miracles surrounding the birth of Jesus and spend time meditating on them this Christmas.

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For kids, there is one thought that awakens them on Christmas morning: presents. They bound out of bed and inform the entire household that the day has finally arrived. Only the command from their parents keeps them restrained from tearing into the gifts as soon as they spot the packages under the tree.

We all have our memories of exciting Christmas mornings as children. The whispers with siblings about what Santa might have left. The anticipation bubbling up into jumps and squeals of delight. Or the loud “wake up” greeting that we gave our parents to remind them of the holiday (as if they could have forgotten).

But what if we could add to these memories and create a tradition of families and friends praying together on Christmas morning before the wrapping paper starts flying? To sit amid loved ones and worship the One who is the focus of this holiday. Our eyes will be turned to the Light that makes the day possible, with our hearts re-centered on the love of our great God and Savior. When we pray, we make room for Jesus to come into our celebrations.

So, after the kids have hopped around and tugged at parents’ arms, grandparents and neighbors have arrived for breakfast, and the presents await opening, let us make an intention to pray. The following five Christmas morning prayers give us some ideas and places to start.

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We prepare for what we care about and anticipate.  

The expectant mother devotes a room in the house as a nursery and fills it with furniture and decorations in loving anticipation of the baby’s arrival. A teacher prepares the classroom for the first day of school, planning curriculum and handouts in advance to give the students the best first start he can. A farmer works hard through the planting season with a focus on the harvest to come.

The same should be true for Christmas; on this day we remember the greatest gift that was given to us. But too often, our schedules and checklists are written while our hearts remain anxious. The spiritual preparation for Christmas is just as important as the physical planning. We need to invest time focusing our hearts and minds on what this season is truly about.

Advent gives us this time and space to prepare, a period used historically by the church to encourage believers to reflect on Jesus’ incarnation when He came into the world and to look ahead to His return. The following six prayers can help us in our observance of Advent as we make plans to celebrate the Lord this Christmas.  

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“Why are they red?” asked the Jehovah’s Witness I was talking to on my porch. She had expressed her confusion when glimpsing the red words spoken by Jesus in my NIV Bible. Having grown up as a Jehovah’s Witness, she had never seen a Bible that was not the official New World Translation version –– not even a King James Version, which most other JWs I have talked to had seen before. I explained the words marked red were meant to highlight the Lord’s words.

“But isn’t the whole Bible important?” She made a good point. Every part of Scripture is inspired and important, not just bold or highlighted text (2 Timothy 3:16-17). One of the pitfalls of a red-letter Bible is that it may lead some readers to assume that certain parts are more significant than others.

All Scripture is God-breathed. However, we should note that everything in the Bible also points to Christ (Luke 24:27). The question is not so much why some Bible versions choose to print His words in red ink. A better and more central question is: “Who is this Jesus, that everything in Scripture focuses on Him?” So, I steered the conversation back to the person of Jesus.

If we want to know who Jesus is, then we need look no further than the statements He made about Himself. The following five verses (which in many orthodox versions do appear in red) present powerful truths about the person of Christ –– the content, not the color, of which reveals the great Son of God who took on flesh to save us.

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Loneliness does not always require a person to be alone. We can experience the pain of this emotion even as we sit in a crowded room surrounded by others. In fact, sometimes a person can feel most lonely when friends and family are around them.

There are many reasons for feeling this way, including grief, illness, depression, or a lack of connection. Becoming isolated does not help, but even those who are socially involved can struggle with feeling lonely.

We often cannot help how we feel, but instead of trying to push the emotions away, we can let them drive us toward the Lord. What does He say about our situation? In what ways can we find comfort in His presence? In these times, we can turn to His Word and talk to Him about what we are experiencing.

The following verses and prayers can give us a starting place to hold onto the promise that, although we may feel lonely, we are never alone.

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Sometimes, when things are difficult, we forget that there is light and hope in the world because the Lord is still good even if our circumstances are not. So, how can we remember God’s love and kindness when life is hard?

Some people cannot bring themselves to believe in miracles. To them, the world goes on in its usual processes. So, when they read or hear someone talk about the miracles in the Bible, they dismiss them as mere fabrications or tricks. Surely, they argue, there must be a natural explanation.

Our Lord did many amazing acts during His earthly ministry, acts that cannot be easily shrugged off. Some may think He was merely a prophet or great moral teacher, but they cannot deny that the Bible includes numerous miraculous deeds done by Jesus. All of them are important signs that prove His Messiahship and divinity. However, a few stand out as some of the most remarkable miracles from His ministry, and even of all Scripture.

These acts display the power of Christ, demonstrating that He is much more than a prophet, moral teacher, or just a good man. He is the Son of God who is Lord over all. May we consider the following incredible miracles and decide what we believe about Jesus Christ.

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In The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis, Eustace and Jill find themselves in a world underneath Narnia and, because of the influence of a witch, begin to wonder if Narnia was merely a dream. The witch’s lies worm their way into their minds, lulling them to forgetfulness. Was the sun truly real? They could not see it at present. And Aslan? Wasn’t He merely a cat?

Throughout the book, Lewis emphasized the need for Eustace and Jill to remember what Aslan had told them, to set their minds on the truth. Yet, repeatedly, the children discover that they have forgotten the words of the Great Lion.

Believers often do the same. Like Eustace and Jill, we forget and start living as if heaven, and our future eternity on the New Earth, is a mere dream. We know what Scripture says about our citizenship, but our priorities often reveal a worldly focus. Many Christians have started to believe the old saying about a heavenly-minded person being of no earthly good. As it is, do we not have to deal with the mundane issues of ordinary life?

Yet, those who leave a Christ-centered legacy through their lives are those who were most focused on eternity. As Lewis famously said, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” He argues that the lack of heavenly focus is what has contributed to the ineffectiveness of many modern Christians.

If we care about how we live in the world (which we should), then we need to be more intentional about setting our mind on things above (Colossians 3:2). Doing so will not turn us into dreamers, but into doers whose hope and heart are tethered to our identity as citizens of heaven.

The following six points provide a starting point for meditation as we quest to remember the true Narnia as Eustace and Jill eventually did with the help of Puddleglum, and to live as ambassadors of hope in a fallen world.

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Bodies of water played a significant geographic role in Jesus’ earthly ministry. He regularly traveled by the “sea” (though the Sea of Galilee is actually a lake) and taught on shores. Also, many of His disciples were fishermen whom He called while near the water. They knew a lot about boats and traversing the sea.

Like the other natural settings where Christ taught the crowds, the seaside setting showed that He went where the people were. He did not restrict His teachings to only those who were students of the Law or who were studying in the temple. Everyday people, like fishermen and farmers, were His audience, and He taught them in ways that connected with their daily lives through memorable stories and sayings.

Such universal application for those on different rungs of the social ladder mirrors His intent for the growth of His church. The lessons He taught were always meant to be far reaching – useful to Jew, Gentile, poor, and rich. For, as He told the disciples, they were to go into the world and make disciples of all nations, teaching everything He had commanded (Matthew 28:18-20). Christ taught a Jewish audience, but He always meant for the teachings to have widespread applicability.

Today, people around the world can study the Lord’s words in their own language. And there is an ongoing effort to make His teachings available in every language so that people from every nation, tribe, and tongue may know Him and follow Him as a disciple. We can read His Word at home or during our own travels. And we can study His teachings in various places, including the beach.

As we watch the waves glide in and out, feel its salty spray, and listen to the cry of the gulls, we can creatively imagine ourselves in first-century Israel listening to Jesus as He taught on the shore.

Here are a few of His teachings to incorporate into your beach reading.

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We often think of hospitality in terms of food served to others. So, naturally, we would assume that hospitality belongs to women, and that one of the marks of a godly woman is to be ready to serve a meal to a friend or stranger.

However, hospitality is much more than food or even housekeeping. It is also not confined to “women’s work” since hospitality was often modeled by men in the Bible and ultimately by our Lord. Hospitality is an attitude of welcoming others, inviting them into our lives and making them feel at home. Such an act can be done within the realm of our homes, but also outside of our dwelling places. For hospitality is about seeing others and making them feel they are welcome.

The women in the Bible who exhibited such godly hospitality often did so in the context of inviting others to a meal and opening their homes. What is most striking about their examples, though, is not the quality of their housekeeping. Rather, they demonstrated a willingness to serve others and courageously offered their resources despite the risks involved. The examples of these women remind us of the cost of welcoming others in a God-honoring way, but also the worth of reflecting the great love and care that God has shown us.

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Like other prophetic books of the Bible, Daniel confounds many readers. What are we to make of the strange visions and dreams? Is there any way to identify the odd – even frightening – images described by Daniel?

A person’s approach to biblical interpretation will influence how they explain the odd creatures and other forms of symbolism present in this book of the Bible. Some may focus on interpretations involving the past or future, or as allegory meant to convey spiritual truth. What all believers can acknowledge, however, is that the symbols in Daniel have powerful meanings. They teach significant truths about the Lord’s sovereignty and plan, for He remains the ultimate Ruler despite the rise and fall of empires and earthly kings.

The following examples provide a glimpse at what these images from dreams and visions can teach us, not only about the past or future, but also about the Lord God and His Kingdom.

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My grandmother lost her eldest son when he was only eight years old. For his short yet light-filled life, he struggled with a congenital heart problem. When he died, my grandmother fell into depression, a darkness she continued to battle for years afterward. Yet every year after his death, as long as she was physically able to, my grandmother visited the grave on Good Friday to grieve and remember. Mixed in with her mourning was undoubtedly tears of gratitude for the time she was able to spend with her son. And those tears she shed were evidence of a mother’s love that never forgot.

Experiencing the death of someone we love is never easy. But the pain is intensified when it is a child that we bury, one we thought we would see grow and flourish. The one who should watch us get old and live far beyond our own years.

Watching loved ones die and children perishing long before their time are terrible effects of living in a fallen world. Yet we know that death is not the end of the story. For our Savior conquered death through His sacrificial death and resurrection. Because He lives, we have hope.

During the times when we lose a child, though, we need words to express our loss – a lament to the Lord that allows us to pour out our hearts while also turning our eyes back to Him. The practice of lamenting has been lost in our modern, western society but Scripture provides us with examples. The following prayers draw from the examples of Scripture and can be helpful in expressing our grief as we cling to the hope found in Jesus.

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My mother enjoyed talking to people and had a knack for throwing parties. Yet, she did not often invite people into our home because she was worried it was not presentable enough. Toys were usually scattered across the floor, and even on a good day, when my mother would rush through to clean and rearrange, our house still seemed, well, cluttered. Our small house struggled to contain five people and their possessions. Despite all of this, though, my mother modeled hospitality because she made herself available to others.

Anyone could fall into this way of thinking. Hospitality is typically presented as something that housewives do by maintaining a spotless home and preparing scrumptious meals from scratch. Men often feel confused as to how they can be hospitable, since welcoming others is usually ascribed to certain roles and activities. Single individuals who have limited living space may also struggle to know how to show hospitality.

Yet, as my mother showed, hospitality is not only something a person does, it is a position of the heart. Anyone can host a party, but it takes a hospitable person to truly welcome others, loving them as oneself.

Such an act and attitude stems from a keen awareness of God’s character. He cares about hospitality and calls His followers to display the same type of concern and love that He has shown us. The following passages show us what it looks like to be hospitable, and why it matters as a follower of Christ.

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In our everyday lives, we can easily dismiss the little sins we commit, thinking they are not as bad as, say, murder or adultery. So, we do not think much about the destructiveness of the small habits and attitudes that fill our days.

Jesus spoke against such rationalization. He emphasized that problems such as anger at a brother is similar to murder (Matthew 5:22; see also 1 John 3:15), or that the man who lusts after a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28). Yes, there do seem to be levels of sin since Christ told Pilate that the people who handed Him over to be crucified were guilty of a greater sin (John 19:11). However, all sin is serious since it is all an affront against God.

Consider the tiny ant, which seems harmless enough, but when working with others it can invade a house. Or how the consistent vibrations of a door opening and closing can eventually cause a nail to get loose, or an item to fall from a nearby shelf. It can be easy to overlook the ant or ignore the vibrations of the door. Likewise, we may consider it a small thing to be divided in our churches, to gossip, or to harbor unforgiveness in our hearts. But those seemingly “little sins” can and will affect our relationship with God and our Christian growth.

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