Christmas is here again
stand up and cheer again
Let’s leave our heartaches and shadows behind
All that I want, is to be here beside you
All that I need, is right here in my arms
All that I want, is to know that you love me
And this will be my finest Christmas time
Holly and mistletoe, small faces all aglow
Stockings for Santa to fill it with toys
Santa and Christmas trees, small people on their knees...
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Don’t you hate it when people piggyback on a gift that you are giving someone?
"Hey, that sounds like a great gift! Let me give you some money, and then it can be from both of us."
Come to think of it - isn’t that exactly what satan has done? Is still doing?
God had prepared this wonderful gift, which the angel of the Lord came to proclaim. Luk 2:10 "Fear not, for behold, I bring you GOOD news of a GREAT JOY that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!"
Not even the evil spirits can deny that Jesus’ coming is a gift from God’s heart to his children, God with us. And you know what? They don’t.
When they saw that this was a gift that the Father was planning, the best plan they could come up with, was to piggyback on this gift.
And they REALLY got in on the act! They decided to make a great big party of this, having everyone, the whole world, join in with the celebrations of this wondrous birthday - the birthday of the very Son of God - Immanuel - God among the people! Jesus came from God to the people in whom God was well pleased. A wonderful day, dusting it all with warmth and fuzziness - and empty sentiment.
I really HATE what the satan had done with everything that God planned and created down to the finest detail. Satan comes and distorts everything that God is trying to accomplish. The devil exposes himself as destructive and evil to the core by taking the very name of Jesus and turning it into a blasphemous interjection, having God’s own children reel back at the sound of his Name! How vile and hurtful is that?!
Do you remember what it felt like when you were small, and you were peacefully constructing a sand castle and someone - just for the sheer malicious fun of it - would come and kick it in?
On that holy night, the devils were carefully listening to what the angels came to tell the shepherds. This Child is to be the Saviour, the One who is to address the sin of the world. But they realised that this task of addressing the sin of the world wasn’t merely a docile act - it was in opposition with the very goal of satan himself, threatening to wipe out all that the kingdom of darkness had achieved! Jesus came to really DEAL with sin. No "leaving our heartache and shadows behind", simply to pick them up again after the holidays. He would take it on Himself.
Jesus’ birth was a real, undeniable threat. I think the devils were quaking when John the Baptist, seeing Jesus, said to his followers "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" Joh 1:29.
God is all-powerful and omnipotent, but He still allows people to choose for themselves. God wants a personal relationship with every person on this planet, and for them to choose to have that relationship with Him. He does not force us into it. That is how He had planned it from before He had created earth.
But the evil spirits are everywhere, trying to taint and corrupt everything that God created perfectly in this world. Satan wants to interfere with the masterplan that was laid out before the foundation of the world, to change the outcome of that plan. He is doing everything in his power to accomplish that.
He is there when we are having fun, to plague us with temptation, or with feelings of guilt, he is there when we are being charitable, patting us on the shoulder so that we may harbour feelings of pride.
He is the weed among the wheat, the moth that spoils the flour, the rust that blunts the sword. He spoils everything that we allow him to spoil.
HE TAKES THE PERFECT AND TURNS IT INTO SOMETHING "GOOD" and "ACCEPTABLE".
He is so good at subtly molding it into something else, that it takes discernment, revealed from God’s store of wisdom to recognise the "beautiful", the "peaceful" for the vile, disgusting reality that it is.
Just look what the prince of this world had done to Christmas! What are the lyrics of that one Christmas carol? "Mothers sigh with love when children are thrilled" and "Santa and Christmas trees - small people on their knees". They should be on their knees before the throne of Father God! Luk 18:16 "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God."
We are so dulled that we don’t even realise that the great dragon, the ancient serpent that is described in Revelations, the deceiver of the whole world, is lying under our Christmas tree, swishing his tail, full of satisfaction!
Don’t be callous and neglect this as an extreme opinion. This is what cost Jesus his life.
We always expect the evil spirits to be demonstrative as with the spirit who attacked the sons of Sceva in Act 19:16. He overpowered them so that they fled naked and wounded. But evil spirits sometimes come in much more demure form, as described in Luk 11:14: He was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled.
I beg of you, let yourself be convinced by the Holy Spirit that we should HATE everything that distracts from the glory of God, which lets us miss our goal in life. The enhancements of Christmas trees and stockings and gentle Father Christmas are not aids - they lull us into a false sense that all is well, that all I need to be happy, is to have my loved ones with me.
"All that I want, is to be here beside you
All that I need, is right here in my arms
All that I want, is to know that you love me
And this will be my finest Christmas time"
Christmas is not only about being with loved ones - you need to find the Beloved of God. Or rather - let Him find you. Bow your knee before Him. Psalm 95:6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
I saw a news headline the other day - Christmas is now being rated as environmentally unfriendly. I personally think that this a wonderful complication! It throws a spanner in the opulent works of satan. How’s that for cutting off your nose to spite your face?! Three hooray’s for not foreseeing those consequences! Job 5:13 - He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
I am glad when a ’Santa’ gets caught for public drunkeness!
Let us not get tired of thwarting the devil’s plans. Let us be "perverted" when it comes to fighting against the prince of this world. Do you know what the Collins Dictionary says about perverse?
1. Deliberately deviating from what is regarded as normal, good or proper. So let us deviate from tradition - seek the truth.
2. Persistently holding to what is wrong. 1Co 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.
3. Wayward or contrary; obstinate. Let us stop going with the flow, and stand up for what is right.
from the Latin: turned the wrong way. Let us turn our backs on the world, as Heb 12:2 says - looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
What, hadn’t you heard? Satan HATES being ridiculed! But you need not worry; you can relax in the assurance of Rom 8:38 - For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Also James 4:7 - Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
God quickens the heart of a believer, activating you even by his Word.
Psalm 18:29 For by You I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
No, I don’t really hate Christmas. Just what satan has done to it.
Stand up for the truth. Let us this Christmas focus only on Jesus. God with us.
