As I was praying this morning asking God for a fresh word for the church, I could feel His presence and my message becoming clear. I wanted to preach about praising and worshiping God, I also was thinking about Hanukkah the Festival of Lights, or maybe preaching about Christmas since it is that season again. As I was praying I realized that 1- I was asking God to draw near me and 2- give me some word of His Spirit. I was asking God for something ( a fresh word), and also for Him to get closer to me. Of course there is nothing wrong with asking God for favors, who else are we going to ask? We could ask friends, coworkers, family to help us out in a time of need, and that’s OK too, but ultimately coming to God with our petitions is the wisest move since He holds the universe in His hands. I am a firm believer that we should ask God for anything. Yet this time, the message was instead of asking God to come to me, I needed to get closer to God. It is me that needs to get closer to God to get anything or to catch His attention. How often we ask God, "protect my children, help me at my work, help my marriage, help my finances, my relationships, give me give me give me."
Relationships are 2 way streets. We want God to get close to us to wherever we are. Instead, how about we try to get closer to God to wherever He is? Of course we are still trapped in these bodies and do not have the ability to physically enter in to the heavenly places, but in the spirit we are able to get very close to Him.
To be born again means that:
1- we are not reborn on the flesh;
2- we are born in the spirit;
3- we are new creatures;
4- we are children of God;
5- as such we have access to the Father…
The access we have gained because of the work of Jesus on Earth, means we can approach the throne of God and enter in his presence at any time. However, we must remember that God is holy and demands holiness from us. I must have preached this a million times, and will preach it a million more; we need to be in a close relationship with God.
Any relationship that is only asking and demanding from one side is not healthy. It gives the impression that one is taking advantage of the other and the one that is always giving, and giving, could one day get tired of the lopsided relationship and walk away.
Relationships require that all involved commit to the relationship, look out for the needs of the other and try the best to meet those needs. That is a relationship based on love. Of course when we talk about our relationship with God we understand that we cannot fulfill God’s needs, because He doesn’t really need anything from us and there is nothing we can do to remotely help Him. God is not a man. However, we need to understand that God is God and out of respect to His Holiness we will live lives of holiness and righteousness and approach God to honor Him as He deserves.
He gave us a new life, why do we insist in living the old life? Why do we insist in pleasing the world? Why can’t we live for the one who loved us first and we say we love?
Hanukkah and the dreidel
Hanukkah is the 8 days Jewish celebration also known as Festival of Lights based on the dedication of the temple. Hanukkah starts in the Hebrew calendar on the 25th of Kislev, this year the celebrations fall in Dec 8-16. The celebration starts by lighting a candle each night beginning in the evening of the 1st night. The celebration is popular among the Jews but is not a major holiday, like Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah. Each day of the celebration people will give a small gift to each other, but nothing expensive. Each evening they will light a candle of the lamp using the “servant” candle. The menorah lamp has 9 candles one is the servant light and one for each of the eight days of the celebration.
The miracle of the lights is that during the period between the old and new testaments, after the Jews were allowed to return from their captivity in Babylon, the Syrians attacked and desecrated the temple by dedicating the temple to Zeus, and sacrificing pigs. Judas Maccabeus led a revolt and cleansed the temple and made new utensils altar, and rededicated the temple. The story goes on to say that all the oil had been used and there was only one bottle of sanctified oil enough for one day. The miracle was that the oil lasted for eight days enough for new oil to be pressed and brought to the temple. So the miracle is that one day's worth of lamp’s oil lasted for eight days.
The celebration of the dedication of the temple holds the miracle of the lights but also that only a few brave men defeated the invading army and were able to restore the sacred office to the temple of Jerusalem. The reflection is the same as the parting of the Red Sea, the feeding of the thousands, the miraculous catch of fish…out of the little we have, with faith, God can make a great miracle.
Dreidel is a spinning top toy game with four letters of the Hebrew alphabet, one on each side; Nun,(Nisht-nothing) Gimel (Gants-all), Hei (halb-half), Shin (Shtel Ayin-put in) this is the acronym for Nes Gadol Haya Sham (A great miracle happened there).
I would like for each and everyone of us to be able to say someday, "a great miracle happened here (in my life)".
In great part, the reason God granted these great miracles at the different times, is
1- God loves His people;
2- His people were in tuned with God;
3- there was a Moses, a Joshua, an Elijah, a Judas Maccabeus, a Peter, a _____(fill the blank with your name), that was so closed to God that was able to intercede on behalf of their people and approached God with great faith for help in a time of need.
So the next time we go to ask God to meet with us in the place of our need, let us take a look at how close or far are we from Him, take the leap of faith and draw closer to Him.
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