Category Archives: Eternity

No Room – When the hustle and bustle replace the joy

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Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem because it was decreed by Caesar, but when they arrived, there was no room for them in the inn, so Mary delivered her firstborn son in a stable filled with animals, basically, the barn.

Or did she?

The picture I have had most of my life is of the two of them standing at an ancient bed and breakfast and a kindly elder gentlemen shaking his head telling them he was sorry he could not accommodate them. Everything was full because of the census. Even though Mary was with child they still could not find a place to stay, but this innkeeper did offer his stable and a clean bed of hay where she could give birth. Yikes!

But a little deeper look at the Greek wording might give us some insight and a better understanding of that holy night.

The Greek term translated inn (kataluma) had more than one meaning. It could be a small inn, or a group of people traveling together, a caravansary. This word is used only one other time in the New Testament… “And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.” Luke 22:11.

This is the place where Jesus shared the Last Supper with His disciples! What kind of room does Luke say this was? “A large furnished upper room…” 

So the last night of Jesus’ ministry on this earth was spent in an upper room in an inn or kataluma. Sort of a guest room.

Now let us look at His entrance into this world…when they discovered the inn was full, it was no doubt filled with others, possibly even relatives, who had also traveled to the city for the same reasons. Older members of the family would be accommodated first so they could have possibly taken the rooms.

In this culture and time period, the animals were brought inside at night for several reasons. Mangers (animal feeding troughs) were also found inside the house, tools were stored and the animals were safe from harm. Their being inside also added warmth with their body heat, milk supply and dung for fuel.

So when it is said that Joseph and Mary could find no room in the inn and Jesus was born in the manger, in reality they were likely in a house of humble stature. The stable was on the ground floor, where they brought the animals in at night, the sleeping quarters were on the second floor.

True, it was never the best of conditions; it was still a very humble birth! And if all the rooms in the sleeping quarters were full, and they were, then Mary and Joseph did sleep with the animals on the first floor…the sounds, the smells, the shedding! Everyone was busy getting to the city of their birth to pay their taxes and be counted. There was plenty of hustle and bustle and no one had room for the King of Kings.

No fanfare, nothing flashy or royal by the world’s standards. But all of heaven took notice that day and the heavenly hosts sang, “Glory to God in the highest!”

Hustle and Bustle

Sadly, ever since then, our world has never had room for Jesus. Isaiah prophesied it would be so, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” Isaiah 53:3.

We  have continued to push Him out of our government and our schools. Many now call it Winter Break instead of Christmas Break. It is no longer politically correct to say, Merry Christmas; that has been replaced with Happy Holidays, which they says covers everything and makes everyone happy.

I have even heard of a school on the east coast that gave a performance where the 5th grade sang Silent Night and the teacher had removed all of the references to Jesus in the presentation. What would be the point?!

There was a song back in the 1970’s that we used in a Christmas play titled No Room. The lyrics went like this:

No room,–no room for Him.
No room to let Him in.–
No room for Jesus in the world He made, no room.
No room for the King of Kings;
Room for others, and for other things.
No room for Jesus in the world He made, no room

No room,–no room for Him.
No room to let Him in.–
No room for Jesus in the heart He made just for Him.
No room–for the King of Kings
Room for others, and for other things.
No room for Jesus in the heart He made, no room.

Room for houses, lands and pleasures,
Room for things that pass away;
But for the One who reigns forever,
There’s no room today. 

Have you made room for Him? Are you taking time to remember the Reason for the Season? Is the hustle and bustle distracting you from the meaning and purpose of that first Christmas?

Take time each day this week to pause, pray and thank God for His entrance into this world. His birth made all the difference in our lives and is the Hope that will take us to be with Him forever one day soon.

When we make room for Jesus, our silent nights become holy nights. Let Him in today…make plenty of room!

 

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel! The rich scripture and story behind the song!

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The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him ‘Emmanuel’, which means ‘God with us.’ Matthew 1:23.

In the Middle Ages, monks observed Advent as a time of and serious consideration of The Secondmeditation This beloved hymn was penned almost 1200 years ago by an anonymous monk in Europe. It is said to have come from a set of Latin verses called the “O antiphons“, performed in monasteries in the 8th century. An antiphon just means that two choirs sat opposite each other, singing the verses alternately.

The verses each referred to titles of the Messiah, telling of His coming. The five mentioned in the song are:

Emmanuel (God with us)-Isaiah 7:14 NKJV. “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.“
Lord of Might-Exodus 19:16 NKJV. “Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.”
Rod (Branch) of Jesse-Isaiah 11:1 NIV. “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.” Isaiah 11:10. NIV.  “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.”
Dayspring (Morning Star)-Numbers 24:17 KJV. “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.”
Key of David-Isaiah 22:22 KJV. “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.”

In 1851, John Mason Neale translated it from Latin to English and called it Draw nigh, draw nigh, Emmanuel. Eventually it became known as we adore it today, O Come, O come, Emamnuel.

God is with us...Emmanuel!

Today, we are cumbered about with many things during this blessed season. Sure, we have our Christmas music playing, some of it even includes beloved hymns. We attend church, if we aren’t quarantined, and hear about the coming of the Christ Child. Hopefully we take time as a family to reflect on the real meaning of Christmas. But seldom do we focus on The Second Coming during the Christmas season!

Wouldn’t it be good if, this year, we could not only look back at why Jesus came as an infant but we could look ahead at His ultimate promise?

The coming of the Lord for His Bride!

We can look around us and see how much things have changed in our world BEFORE 2020! This past year we can lay our newspaper (or tablet, etc.) alongside our Bible and be amazed as we watch prophecy unfold before our very eyes. Yet, we do not despair! We look up for we know our redemption draws closer every day.

We are blessed to have relationship with Him now, to know Him now, to celebrate His first coming…now.

This relationship is preparation for the coming of Christ, when we shall see Him face to face!

We invite Him to come!

I pray I won’t leave Jesus in the manger but realize His purpose in coming the first time was to conquer death, hell and the grave so He might come a SECOND TIME for us!

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.

Refrain:
Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
shall come to you, O Israel.

O come, O Wisdom from on high,
who ordered all things mightily;
to us the path of knowledge show
and teach us in its ways to go. Refrain

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
who to your tribes on Sinai’s height
in ancient times did give the law
in cloud and majesty and awe. 

O come, O Branch of Jesse’s stem,
unto your own and rescue them!
From depths of hell your people save,
and give them victory o’er the grave.

O come, O Key of David, come
and open wide our heavenly home.
Make safe for us the heavenward road
and bar the way to death’s abode.

O come, O Bright and Morning Star,
and bring us comfort from afar!
Dispel the shadows of the night
and turn our darkness into light. 

O come, O King of nations, bind
in one the hearts of all mankind.
Bid all our sad divisions cease
and be yourself our King of Peace.

Nannette-Christmas 

31 Days of Devotions and Encouragement for your Fast

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Happy New Year! We celebrated 2019 waltzing into our lives with one of our granddaughters, Norah Jayne. We bought noisemakers at the dollar store and you would have thought it was Christmas all over again.

A New Year brings new possibilities and fresh starts and the hope of finally “getting it right this time.” So we make resolutions that usually are forgotten before the month is over. We determine we are going to read more, especially our Bible. We are going to be intentional when it comes to our walk with God. But life gets in the way and before we know it we are right back in 2018.

It doesn’t have to be that way this year! If you are reading  this you have likely decided to fast in January. Maybe your church is doing a corporate fast, which just means they are doing it together. And there is your key to victory: fasting. It doesn’t change God, it changes you! Fasting for the right reasons will reset your focus and desires and get you on the path to “getting it right”.

For the month of January, Hope in the Healing is committed to helping YOU as you fast and pray unto the Lord. Some are beginning The Daniel Fast today or next week, we will be talking about that too. Others are fasting social media or things that are a vital part of the way they spend their time. All of them are good!

Anything that is a sacrifice to you is a sacrifice unto the Lord.

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For those that are choosing The Daniel Fast, it is typically a 21 day fast. Very few actually begin on New Year’s Day so we will start with the first three days explaining the need for fasting, different types of fasts and more details about The Daniel Fast in particular.

The Daniel Fast DevotionalTo help you even further on your journey, I encourage you to get my book, The Daniel Fast Devotional! It is a great tool for ANY TYPE OF FAST. 21 days of devotions, examples of others who fasted in the Bible, why they fasted and what we can learn from it. It’s available at Amazon.com here. I also offer discounts for multiple purchases, email me at ynannette@gmail.com for pricing!

Even the early Church fasted and prayed regularly after they received the Holy Ghost. We have a continual war going on between the carnal and the spiritual that will not end until after the Lord comes back for His people, the final battle is fought and Satan has been put in his place. Forever.

In order to be overcomers while we are living in this world, we must have a relationship with Jesus Christ and we must learn how to pray and fast to keep our bodies, our flesh, under subjection.

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up.” James 4:10 KJV.

Fasting will kill that inner man. You will be filled with the power of God so you may be able to overcome.

The most important thing is that you take that time that you would normally be eating and spend it PRAYING!

Fasting without prayer is called a diet!

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Fasting together in January Series!

When the Church is fasting, the enemy is intimidated. Satan isn’t worried one bit when we are content with the status quo. But if the Church ever realizes the power it possesses through prayer and fasting, the devil would be on the run.

His Word says some things only come about by prayer and fasting. “And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could we not cast him out? So he said to them, This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” Mark 9:28, 29 NKJV

Fasting puts Satan in his place! And through fasting, you can take back your God-given spiritual authority over your life.

Fasting can literally change you from the inside out. It will draw you closer to God, help you see things about yourself that you need to change, allow God to dig out the ugly and replace it with His grace, and lift those heavy burdens from you that you just don’t need to carry or worry about any longer.

Let’s do this together! Join me for the next three weeks and encourage one another in fasting and prayer. Unity in the Body is necessary for the revival we want to see happen in our families and communities. Blessings to you as you fast unto the Lord.

Questions? Don’t hesitate to either comment here or message me at ynannette@gmail.com. I would be happy to help.

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