JESUS OUR PRINCE OF PEACE

Is. 9:6-7  For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

     Jesus is our Prince of Peace.  A prince is someone in a position of authority and responsibility.  He has certain rights that no one else has.  He takes his responsibility as representative of the people he represents seriously.  A prince endeavors to be a person of good character so that those he represents will trust and follow him.  Jesus is the ultimate prince of life.  There is no flaw in His character, ability to lead, motives for leading, or ability to do good for others.

     Jesus is our Prince of Peace amidst the stormy times of life.  There is no storm that He cannot calm.  There is no obstacle too big for Him to overcome.  He calmly faces the angry storms of life and says, “Peace be still.”  No storm can continue to rage when He takes control of it.  In Christ we discover that no matter what the stormy season of our lives may be like, we can overcome them through Him.  His presence reassures us that our storms do not determine or define our lives.  We can face positively our storms knowing we do not face them alone.  He is our Immanuel and does for us what we cannot do on our own.  Things may continue to be stormy for a season, but we know that the storms do pass and on the other side of every storm there is calm, sunshine, and peace.  We praise Him in the midst of the storm because we know that the victory is ours in Christ Jesus.  No storm can take us away from our Lord when we let Him hold our hand in the storm.

      Jesus gives to us a peace that the world can never give.  In the world there is turmoil everywhere.  No matter what others may promise us, there can be no peace in the world.  The world is governed by evil and will be until Jesus comes.  Looking into the world for peace is utter foolishness and forever futile.  The only peace that steadies the soul and enables us to handle life victoriously is the peace that Jesus gives when our sins are forgiven.  If there is no peace in the soul, there can be no peace in the world.  The promise of our Lord is His peace, a peace that no one can understand except those whose sins have been forgiven. 

     Jesus leads His children into the green pastures and sets them down by the still waters where they are safe and secure and can feast on the riches of His grace.  Only in Jesus will you ever find peace.  Only in Jesus can you truly say, “It is well; it is well with my soul.” 

     “Thank you, Jesus, for giving us a peace that the world cannot take away, a peace that passes all human understanding.  Thank you, God, for your indescribable gift of love, Jesus, our Prince of Peace.”

JESUS OUR EVERLASTING FATHER

Is. 9:6-7  For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

     Jesus is our Everlasting Father.  He has always been, is now, and forever shall be.  He is one with God, our Heavenly Father.  He is one with God in life.  He is one with God in His eternal plan of redemption.  He is one with God in judgment of sin.  There is nothing that Jesus and God are not the same on.  He is God.

      He is always dependable to be who He is.  He is the same eternally.  Before anything other than God existed, He was.  It is impossible for Jesus to fail to be who He is.  It is impossible for Him to not do what He promises to do.  He forgives all who come to Him humbly and sincerely for the forgiveness of their sins.  Everyone.  He forgives all the sins we give to Him.  He wraps all His children up in His righteousness so that they are acceptable to God.  He keeps all of His children securely in His righteousness who stay yielded and obedient to Him.  He is the Alpha and Omega of our salvation.  Praise His holy name!

      He is unfailing and forever faithful, watching over us to protect us and help us.  Because He is God we never have to worry about His dependability.  We never have to worry about His availability.  We never have to worry about His love for us or His desires for us.  His heart for us is always for our good.  No matter what we go through in life, Jesus wants us to learn and grow through it for our good.  His desire for us is always for our holiness of heart, for without holiness no one shall see God.  What He does within us to change us is always for our good.  Praise His holy name!

      Jesus is our Everlasting Father.  Some day we shall see Him on His throne in heaven and bow before Him in worship if we remain faithful to Him.  Some day He will place a crown of righteousness on our heads and declare us good and faithful servants who are worthy to be with Him for all of eternity.  Some day we will behold Him in all His splendor and glory and join in the heavenly choir singing forth His praises.  Praise His holy name!  Jesus, our Everlasting Father!

JESUS OUR MIGHTY GOD

Is. 9:6-7  For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 

     Jesus is our Mighty God.  So much has been written and said about our Lord’s might.  The Scriptures are very clear as to how great our God is.  He has created all things by the mere utterance of His word.  He holds it all together by the same power of His word.  He holds the keys to heaven and hell.  He has the power to forgive all of our sins or condemn us to hell.  He has the power to create a new heaven and earth and He will do that someday.  There is no limit to His power.

 

     He has the power to heal all of our diseases.  He has the power to forgive all our sins and not only to forgive, but to forget that we had ever sinned.  He has the power to change who we are into a holy people, a people after His own heart.  He has the power to keep us safe from the worst of whatever Satan can throw at us.  He has the power to bring all the redeemed together to be with Him for all of eternity. 

 

     He is our Mighty God.  Don’t shortchange the power of God in you.  He is able to do immeasurably more than whatever you can ever imagine.  He can help you with whatever you are facing in life.  He can save you, keep you, and enable you to make it home to heaven.  There is nothing that God cannot do for you if you will but let Him.  You don’t have to live life in defeat.  Jesus came to give us life and to give it more abundantly.  Are you living life to the fullest?  Are you living connected to our Mighty God? 

JESUS OVER ALL

Is. 9:6-7  For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

     And the government will rest on His shoulders.  One of the things that we must know is that Christ rules.  He rules over all of creation and holds it all together (Col. 1:15-23).  John tells us in his Gospel account that all things were made by Him and for Him (John 1:3).  God has placed Jesus in a position of authority over all things.  It is He alone who governs creation.

     We know it to be true, but I suspect in practice we scarcely know it is true.  We live like we are in charge.  We do what we do with little regard for how it fits into God’s plans for us.  We live barely taking time to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord over all.  We don’t give Him much of our time or attention most of the time.  Be honest.  Isn’t it true?  Think about how often you really do act like Jesus is Lord over all.

     If Jesus is Lord, then He should be calling the shots in our lives.  He should be consulted in our decisions.  He should be influencing what we say and do.  He should be the focus of our lives.  We should do what we do to honor Him.  He should be the center of our lives, not ourselves or anyone else. 

     If Jesus is Lord, then He should be calling the shots in the church.  He should be consulted in whatever the church does.  Programs and activities of the church should be done with Jesus in mind.  All teachings and preaching should be Christ-focused and centered.  All fellowships should be to strengthen the mutual bond of the church in Christ.  The mandate of the church should be to honor Christ by making disciples and sending them out to reach the lost.  Doing church should be from the heart of love, not duty.  All worship should direct the soul to Christ.  Submission to the authority of God’s Word should be the heart of the church.

     God has placed all authority over creation and the church upon Christ.  We bow down before Him like the wise men of old because He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  The government of all things is upon Him.  O come, let us adore and worship our Lord today.

UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN

Is. 9:6-7  For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

     For unto us a child is born…..The birth of Jesus was not a spur of the moment event.  In Ephesians 1:3-10 Paul makes it clear that before the foundation of the world was laid, God had a plan in place to redeem us.  He purposely made us with the ability to accept or reject Him knowing that most would reject Him.  He knew that there would be no way once sin entered into man’s heart that He would be able to have fellowship with him, so He put in a plan whereby we could be restored to fellowship with Him.  God gave us His Son because He loves us and wants to spend eternity with us (John 3:16).  A child was born to be our Savior and Lord.

     Jesus was no ordinary child.  He is the embodiment of God in human flesh.  He lived a sinless life, even though He was faced with all the temptations we are faced with.  He lived and died to become our Savior and Lord (Phil. 2:5-8).   Jesus came to address the desperate need of our hearts.  He came to be with us in this journey of life, to be our Immanuel. 

     Unto us a child is born, a son is given.  Jesus IS the Son of God.  We hear God speak in Matt. 3:16-17 and 17:5 and declare that Jesus is His Son in whom He is well pleased.  Jesus left no room for doubt that He was the Son of God.  John declares it to be so in John 1:1 and 14.  Jesus is also the Son of Man.  It is one of the titles Jesus often used of himself.  He was human in every since of the word.  We often find Him being hungry, tired, frustrated, praying, worshiping, dependent on God.  We find Him wrestling with His certain death, in great physical pain and dying on a cross.  Malachi describes Him as being the Sun of Righteousness, with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2). 

Unto us a child is born, a son is given, a promise is kept.  Starting in the Garden of Eden, God promised the world a Savior.  Over and over again God declared the coming of the Savior.  God was well aware of the world’s need for a Savior and when the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4) came, God sent His Son.  Even though it seemed like God was not available, that He had abandoned His people, Jesus came.  People had not given up hope, even though they had not heard from God for 400 years.  They were living out life knowing that God was trustworthy and the Messiah would come someday. 

     We today celebrate the birth of the promised Messiah, Jesus our Savior, and we too are living out life in anticipation of His coming.  Only this time, when Jesus comes He will be coming to take us, the Church, out of the world to be with Him in heaven.  God is trustworthy and He will keep His promise; Jesus is coming soon.  Are you ready?  Far more important than celebrating His birth is the celebrating of His soon return.  Let us live each day in readiness.

THE WONDER OF JESUS

Is. 9:6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.  And the government will rest on his shoulders.  These will be his royal titles: Wonderful……….

While in this prophetic description of Christ, wonderful is used to describe Jesus’ role as our counselor, I want to separate the thought for a few moments and consider our Lord and the wonder He is to us.

Oh, the wonder of His love!  This is the message of Christmas, God loves us.  He loves us so much that He willingly came to earth, took upon himself our humanity, went to the cross and died for our sins.  How can it be?  How can God love me that me?  I don’t know, but He does.  He loves us and will never leave or forsake us.  He loves us and gave us the Holy Spirit to keep us and make us ready for our day of redemption.

Oh, the wonder of His grace!  Grace is the feet to God’s love.  Grace is God giving to us what we do not deserve from Him.  Grace is giving to us what we need even when we don’t know we need it.  It is God’s restraints on those things which I don’t need or harm me.

Oh, the wonder of His being!  He is Jesus, the long awaited salvation of mankind.  He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One from God.  He is the one who sits on David’s throne.  He is the Promised One promised to Abraham because he believed God.  He is our great High Priest, seated at God’s right hand, forever making intercession for us.  He is our Advocate before God, our righteousness and holiness from God.  He is Lord, the Master and ruler over all.  He rules over all He has made and holds it all together. 

Oh, the wonder of it all!  Oh, the Wonderful One, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!  He is not the babe lying in the manger; He is the creator, sustainer, and giver of all life. 

WEARYING GOD

Mal. 2:17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. ‘Wearied him?” you ask. “How have we wearied him?” You have wearied him by suggesting that the LORD favors evildoers since he does not punish them. You have wearied him by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”   NLT

       I wonder how may we weary the Lord and how often do we do it? It seems to me like we miss the boat when it comes to what we pray for. We are prone to pray in an unbiblical manner. We ask for things that we know are not good for us. We ask the Lord to bless our willful desires instead of what He desires for us. We insist that the Lord respond to our prayers our way, instead of as He knows best. We pray repeatedly for the Lord to change His mind over that which He has clearly made known to us. We ask the Lord to act according to our timetable instead of His. In other words, the Lord is often treated as if He were not our Lord but our genie in a bottle who must grant us our wishes at our beckon and call.

      When we pray outside of the will of God for us, we weary the Lord in our praying. He will never give us what we pray for when it is not for our good and His glory. If we pray according to His will, we will have what we pray for. And, the only way we can know that we are praying in His will is for us to live close enough to Him that our wills will be one with His.

      We weary the Lord when we fail to let Him judge by His standards, in His own way, and in His own time.  The Lord knows what He is doing and will make things right when the time is right.  We don’t always see things as the Lord does and must succumb to His sovereign will and not our own.  We must learn to trust Him and not doubt Him when it seems like evil prevails.

Take a close look at how you view life and respond to it.  Do you strive to see things through God’s eyes?  Do you respond through the flesh or the Spirit?  Instead of making God weary because of the way you think and live, strive to live submissively and according to His revealed truths and will.