A Christmas Blessing for The Holy Days

This morning, on the day after Thanksgiving Day, I wrote a Christmas Season greeting for our local church's J.O.Y. (Just Older Youth) Group December Newsletter. Because it is a Christmas Blessing for the Holy Days, I want to share it with you as well:

BECAUSE THE BETHLEHEM BOY BRINGS BEAUTIFUL JOY...

...May your Christmas be bright with His Heavenly Light.

May you know the Holy Embrace of His Amazing Grace.

May this sweet season of Peace cause your Hope to increase.

And, God's Highest Favor, we pray, will inspire you each day. 

BLESSED HOLY DAYS!!!

Pastor Kerry & Kim Willis

Grateful

Volume 20: "Christmases Past"

I really miss Christmas-evening-visiting-time from my childhood days. Yes, when I was a boy, after our family Christmas meal, we would ride in the Pontiac around the island, looking at Christmas lights, and spontaneously visiting a few homes of family and friends.

I remember how relaxing and carefree the final hours of Christmas Day were. Finally, after plenty of laughter and various desserts from home-to-home, Christmas Day came to a slow and wonder-filled close. Shortly after sunset, the holiday rush always gave way to the holy day hush. With only a few hours left to celebrate Christmas, we would settle back into our own home and just sit in the living room enjoying the presence of one another as the decorations and lights continued to inspire our souls.

As I write these words, it is the end of Christmas Day 2013. We're all sort of laying around in our living room. The dog has taken over my comfy chair, the lights and decorations seem to be embracing our hearts, and we know we are blessed beyond measure.

As my day comes to a close, and December 26 will soon arrive, I pray a special prayer for you as you have taken valuable time to read my simple words. Having celebrated the Birthday of the most Wonderful Baby this world has ever known or will ever know, Jesus Christ, I now ask our Awesome King Jesus to be your Hope. As this Holy Day comes to an end, may you be encouraged in realizing that while Jesus is the Season, you are truly the reason He came to Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago. 

O yeah, and I know He wants me to tell you something very important: "He's not mad at you. He's mad about you."

Grateful

Let's Get Our Worship On, Today!

Our worship pastor, Joseph, sent me the "proposed" order of our worship service for this coming Sunday and one of the worship songs is this one:

Click here: Phillips Craig & Dean - When the stars burn down (Blessing and Honor) - YouTube

Glad we don't have to wait until Sunday to get our worship on! So, let's get our worship on, Today!

Singing Blessing and Honor and Glory and Power... forever to our GOD!
Grateful

Jesus Bled So We Could Belong

It seems I hear the Lord clearly saying to me, "I chose to bleed for you so you could choose to belong to Me."

I've heard it said that the words "bleed" and "bless" come from the same root word. Surely when our Savior "bled" to death at Calvary, it was to "bless" us with Life.

One of my partners in ministry, Pastor Joseph, sent me this old hymn in a YouTube link. I believe as we listen we will remember His bleeding and it will make us more aware of His blessing.

 Click here: The Collingsworth Family - At Calvary - YouTube

Mercy There (at Calvary) was Great and Grace was Free...
Grateful

IN UNITY: Live Together In Harmony!

Click: YouTube - IN UNITY -- Shalom Israel

A song by David for going up to worship...

(1) See how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in harmony! (2) It is like fine, scented oil on the head, running down the beard —- down Aaron’s beard -- running over the collar of his robes. (3) It is like dew on Mount Hermon, dew which comes down on Zion’s mountains. That is where the Lord promised the blessing of eternal life.
-- Psalm 133 (GWT)

Click: YouTube - Dwell Together In Unity - Paul Wilbur

IN UNITY!
Grateful

Today I Must Sing A Blessing Over Your Life!

On my way to the airport in route to preach at a season of revival services in Wisconsin, an original benediction came to my mind so clearly that I just had to write the words down on a note pad. It was almost like a song, so much so, that I sang it loudly over and over in the cab of my Ford as I traveled west on Interstate 66 towards Washingtoin, D.C. It was so refreshing to my own soul, that today I just must sing it as a blessing over your life:

Grace, Peace and Godspeed to you!
May your life be totally full...
of His Spirit and His Love,
and All Joy from above.
Grace, Peace and Godspeed to you!

The LORD your God wins victory after victory and is always with you. He celebrates and sings because of you, and He will refresh your life with His love. -- Zephaniah 3:17 (CEV)

God is Love and You Are Loved!
Grateful

Blessing for a Day of Trouble

May the Lord answer you in a day of trouble... may He sustain you... may He fill your whole purpose...
-- A Blessing for You from Psalm 20

Lord, give us peace in knowing that whatever might be the matter, You are so much Bigger!
Grateful

When Children Sing Blessings Over Your Life

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
-- Matthew 19:14 (NIV)

It was a Thursday afternoon when I entered Mrs. Hilliard's fifth grade classroom to share with her class some of what I have learned on my multiple journeys to The Holy Land. For about an hour I was blessed beyond measure with attentive and engaged students.

However, it was after the hour of teaching ended that the real blessing came. The students stood around me as their teacher said "We have something special for you." Then they all smiled on me as they lifted their voices and sang this blessing over my life:

May the Lord, mighty God, bless and keep you forever.
Grant you peace, perfect peace, courage in every endeavor.
Lift up your eyes and see His face and His grace forever.
May the Lord, Mighty God bless and keep you forever.

Yes, as I stood there encircled by the children, tears lined my eyes. Take it from me. When children sing blessings over your life, you will know you are blessed indeed. Besides, on that particular Thursday afternoon (without Mrs. Hilliard's fifth grade class knowing it) I really needed a tender touch from the Lord. I left the classroom humbled, grateful, speechless, and yes, blessed indeed!

Now, I sing this blessing over your life today (and remember I am a child, yes a child of God):

May the Lord, mighty God, bless and keep you forever.
Grant you peace, perfect peace, courage in every endeavor.
Lift up your eyes and see His face and His grace forever.
May the Lord, Mighty God bless and keep you forever.

Yes, forever and forever. Amen.
Grateful

Passion Play 2010: Oberammergau, Germany

In the coming days I will visit Germany's Passion Play in the Bavarian Alps with 40 other Jesus journeyers. Yes, the village of Oberrammergau will be our first stop on this, our 2010 Holy Land pilgrimage -- On the Road to Jerusalem With Passion. This will be my second visit to the Passion Play, having made my first visit in 2000, and this will be my eighth sacred pilgrimage to the Land of our Lord. These two links below are worth your time -- behind the scenes looks at The Passion Play and a brief history account of the amazing event in the Alps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwTSqBAOoTw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=867gl7OdEAY&feature=channel

Thanks for your prayers for our safe passage to Germany and Israel and back home again. This morning I received this blessing from a dear friend: Hope you have a wonderful and joyful trip. I pray for safety and great encounters.

In the words of the Wise Men in Matthew 2:2 (MSG), We are on pilgrimage to worship Him.

GODSPEED!

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.

I Fall To My Knees And Pray...

Today, as "I Fall To My Knees And Pray" I invite you to do the same. Seriously, go ahead right where you are, yes, if you're able and you want to, right now, just physically get on your knees.

Take a few moments just to allow your heart, mind, and soul to spiritually breathe.

Now, let's pray together the Apostle Paul's prayer from Ephesians 3:14-19 (NLT). I will pray the prayer for you and you pray it for me. It is really a prayer of blessing:

(14) When I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, (15) the Creator of everything in Heaven and on earth. (16) I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will give you mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit. (17) And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. (18) And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is. (19) May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Amen.

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Like & Love a Good Neighbor

There is a familiar insurance company slogan that includes these four words: Like a Good Neighbor. However, this morning when I was beginning my seemingly non-stop, winter wonderland, snow shoveling, I suddenly heard the sound of a loud engine and then when I saw the sneaky, boyish grin of my across-the-street neighbor, Philip, coming my way with his brand-new, heavy-duty snow blower, my soul sang out these four words: Love a Good Neighbor! What a blizzard-day blessing Philip was to my blurry, ice-lined eyeballs! :-)

While Philip was in the midst of his blizzard-day blessing to me, I opened the back door and called for Kim to bring me my pocket-knife collection. I selected one of my prized pieces (still in the box) and walked across my soon-to-be-snow-removed, asphalt driveway and handed it to Philip. He smiled as I said: Philip, whenever you see this "pocket knife", remember that "Pastor Kerry" appreciates you! (Of course, "P.K." = "pocket knife" and/or "Pastor Kerry".) My good neighbor smiled and told me: Get in the house, Pastor Kerry. I'll knock the rest of this out in no time at all.

I went in the house, took off my wet clothes, and through a frost-covered window snapped a photo of Philip and his big, snow-blowing machine. As I focused the camera, tears came into my eyes. I prayed for Philip and his precious family. Later, while on the phone with my dad, I retold the story and said, Funny how God can use a heavy snowfall to help us Love a Good Neighbor!

Proverbs 3:28 (NLT) -- If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, "Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you."

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

A Blessing of LIGHT for Your Life

From Ephesians 1:18 (NLT), this is my blessing of LIGHT for your life, by day and by night:

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with LIGHT so that you can understand the wonderful future He has promised to those He called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance He has given to his people.

Yes, I pray that the wonder-filled wattage of the One called Wonderful, Jesus, will LIGHT up your life, by day and by night. AMEN.

ALL JOY!
Grateful

Old Testament Words of Blessing

I pray these words of blessing from the Old Testament book of Job, chapter 11, verses 17-19, over your life today:

Yes, I pray...
(17) Life will be brighter than noonday,
and darkness will become like morning.
(18) You will be secure, because there is hope;
you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
(19) You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid,
and many will court your favor.

In the name of the One called Wonderful. Amen.

ALL JOY!
Grateful