12 Drummers Drummimg

Merry Christmas to you all
On this beautiful day when
We celebrate the first coming
Of Jesus to the world
Let us be grateful
For all the things He had prepared
And promised to us

Now...we finally arrived
to the 12th day of Christmas
What is the meaning behind
12 drummers drumming ?

They are the 12 tribes
Of the Israel
Our God likes to work
Together with people
To carry on His plan

His plan was to bring salvation
And the Israelites are the nation
That He had chosen
To bless all the nations of the world
Our saviour Jesus Christ
Came from their line

When we follow Jesus Christ
And walk with him daily
God will use ourselves
To carry on his mission on earth
To be a blessing for others
Just like the 12 tribes of Israel

Are you willing to follow Him ?

Eleven Piper Piping

On the eleventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Eleven Pipers Piping

Eleven Pipers Piping = eleven faithful disciples

When Jesus started his ministry, 
He called 12 men to be his disciples.
Jesus shared his life with them.
One disciple betrayed him, but the eleven stayed faithful to Him

These eleven chosen men were from many professions
Besides sharing his life, Jesus also gave them some teaching. 
He taught about the Kingdom of Heaven and the law of faith
Jesus might talk to the many people in parables, but He talked to his student straightforward.

We can learn so much from Jesus conversation with his 11 faithful disciples in the Gospel.

image taken from bobbieprint.com

10 Lords a Leaping

On the tenth day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
Ten Lords a Leaping
What is the meaning behind 10 lords a leaping ?
10 lords a leaping is 10 commandments

The 10 commandments is a very valuable gift from God to us
Their purposes are: to reveal the characters of God, to exposes the nature of men, to reconciliate of God and men, to receive good news

Can we fulfill all the 10 commandments ?
We can try, but most likely we are going to fail at least in one area
Only one that can accomplish them perfectly, Jesus Christ

Our failure should bring us to the feet of Jesus
Because we need him to cover our shortcoming

picture taken from surroundyourself.com

9 Ladies Dancing

In her facebook wall, my friend put a cute picture of her son

"One of the hardest practice of patience is 

when you hold the presents with your name on it but you can't open it"

That was the caption that she wrote for the photo.

This Christmas I want to remind all of us, me included
to be excited of the gifts from the Holy Spirit
There are 9 gifts which and that is the meaning behind 9 ladies dancing in the song :12 days of Christmas

And unlike my friend's son, we can open the gifts right away. Let's see what they are. 

1) Word of Wisdom
2) Word of Knowledge
3) Faith
4) Gifts of Healing
5) Working of Miracles
6) Prophecy
7) Discerning of Spirits
8) Divers (or different) kinds of Tongues
9) Interpretation of (different) Tongues

The functions of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are to edify the church. 
2 Tim 6-7 says "Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you by the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and self-control."

The word "stir up" in its original language means to rekindle, like rekindle the fire. How do we rekindle the gift of Holy Spirit ? We must be vigilant in our personal communication with God. Our prayer time is very important. Reading Bible is also important because the Bible is like a love letter from Our God. If the gifts haven't been manifested yet, ask and pray to God about them. 

8 Maids A Milking

So, what is the gift for the 8th day of christmas ?
8 maids a milking.
Look at that picture of 8 maidens with buckets of milk in their hands.
I think they all look beautiful.

What is the meaning behind 8 maids a milking ?
The meaning is 8 beautitudes

Beatitude comes from a latin word beatitudo which means happiness.
Jesus once said about 8 kinds of happiness which are rather different from the regular description of happiness

(Matthew 5:3-10)

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. ( 5:3)

Blessed are those who mourn: for they will be comforted. (5:4)

Blessed are the meek: for they will inherit the earth. (5:5)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they will be filled. (5:6)

Blessed are the merciful: for they will be shown mercy. (5:7)

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they will see God. (5:8)

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they will be called children of God. (5:9)

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (5:10)

Honestly, the beatitudes are easier to be said than done.
I've been betrayed and it's so difficult to show mercy
to the people who betrayed me.
Try to be meek in the middle of aggresive people !
Have you ever tried to show a craving of righteousness to your school friends?
I know some peacemakers who got into trouble because of the troublemakers

Jesus once mentioned how difficult it would be for the rich people to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus' disciples said, "Then who can be saved ?"

Jesus answered," All things are possible with God !"

So, is there any hope that we could be blessed according to the blessedness that Jesus described ?

I think Jesus would give the same answer to my question.

All things are possible with God. God will enable me to practice the beautitudes in my life. If I use my own strength, I will surely fail. Pray helps.

image taken from simlpe @pinterest

7 Swans A Swimming

On the seventh day of Christmas

my true love sent to me:

Seven Swans a Swimming

Six Geese a Laying

Five Golden Rings

Four Calling Birds

Three French Hens

Two Turtle Doves

and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

It is 7 swans a swimming. 

What is that ? 7 swans a swimming are 7 titles of Jesus, described by Paul in the book of Hebrew. Those titles decribe what Jesus did for us. I love it when people do good things for me, and our God, Lord Jesus, he did amazing things for us. Let's explore them. 

1. Heir of all things ( Hebrew 1: 2 )

Lord Jesus is the heir of all things. Lord Jesus has been given everything by God. He himself said that in Matthew 11:27, all things have been committed to me by my Father. How lucky are we to have such a distinguished friend. 

2. Captain of salvation ( Hebrew 2: 10 )

A captain is a leader. Jesus is the leader who bring people to salvation. By dying on the cross and rising from the death, Jesus is bringing people to salvation. Like a captain organizing a rescue operation, that is what Jesus did. Oh how safe we are for having such a powerful captain !

3.  Apostle (Hebrew 3:1) 

The meaning of apostle is envoy, ambassador or messanger. Jesus as a messanger gave a good news to us that he is the way to the Father, the truth and the life.  

4. Author of salvation ( Hebrew 5:9 )

Many think that goodness will lead to salvation, but at the end, our goodness are like dirty rags in God's presence. Jesus proved himself through His obedience to God, then God considered Him perfect to be an author of our salvation. Do you let him write the script of your life ? If you let him, you will surely have the best life with God on your side. 

5. Forerunner (Hebrew 6:20)

Too often we are disappointed by the people we look up to. Our role models are weak dads, dominating moms, wayward big brothers, selfish big sisters, manipulating leaders, etc. Then we got angry at the world and God. 

Take heart ! There is one who stays true to his words. There is one who does His best for our best. There is one who is perfect, blameless, sinless, wholesome and he asked us to follow his example. He run ahead of us to pave the way so we can have a relationship with God, the Father. His name is Jesus Christ. 

6. High Priest ( Hebrew 10:21 )

In the Old Testament, a high priest offered a yearly sacrifice for the people's sin. In the New Testament, Jesus is a high priest which offered one final sacrifice for the sin of all people. The final sacrifice was His body. 

7. Author and Finisher of Our faith ( Hebrew 12:2 )

Sometimes we felt that we carry such a big burden in our life, that everything depends on us. Depending on ourselves make a stressful life. We are so afraid of the wrong steps. We are even afraid of losing our salvation when we make mistakes. To avoid this self condemnation, we should remember Hebrew 12:2 : focus on Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. 

Ah...our burden become so much lighter when we focus on Him and not on ourselves.  

picture taken from :revkev43.files.wordpress.com

inspired by :Meaning of numbers in the Bible, www.biblestudy.org

 

6 Geese A-Laying

On the sixth day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
Six Geese a Laying
Five Golden Rings
Four Calling Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Through this song, we are told that our true love
gave a special gift each day
We have reached the 6th day now,
Let's open the 6th gift from Him
Six Geese a Laying is the 6 days of creation

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God himself. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made and came into existance through Him. And without Him not even one thing was made that had came into being. John 1:1-3

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.Genesis 1:1

Day 1: God created light. He separated light and darkness
Day 2: God created the sky.
Day 3: God created the land and the seas. The land sprouted the vegetation.
Day 4: God created the sun, the moon and the stars
Day 5: God created the water creatures and winged animals
Day 6: God created the lived stock, wild animals and crawling things
           God created man and woman in His own image

Thank you my true love for creating amazing things in 6 days
Without them, I won't exist, my world wouldn't exist and everything is chaos.

Mission Impossible in 5 Golden Rings

On the 5th day of Christmas
my true love gave to me
5 golden rings

The meaning behind 5 golden rings is:
the 5 first books of Old Testament which are :
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

The 5 golden rings are known as the books of the Law
because they contained the laws and instructions
given by the Lord through Moses.

By learning those 5 books
We will gain many benefits
Our knowledge will greatly increase
(You will know that Divine Design is against Darwinian )
Our focus will be sharpened
(Doing a study in the book of Numbers means you are very focused person)
Our perseverance will be built
(When you finish reading Leviticus, I believe you've been persevered)
Our time will spend wisely
(believe me, your wallet will thank you when you are spending your time reading Deuteronomy, than online shopping)

By practicing those five books
We will understand that it it a mission impossible
It's impossible to do all the regulations without breaking them
The perfection can't be reached

What should we do then ?

We should come to God and receive His mercy and grace
Because we tried to please Him but we can't
Just like the prodigal son came back to his father
asking that his father treat him like a servant

But instead his father run to, hugged and kissed him
His father asked the servants to dress him
His father organized a big welcome party

Do you like the prodigal son?

Or do you like the oldest son
who was bitter and resentful?
Always working hard and obeying his father
but claiming never even had a barbecue with his friends

Maybe he was working all the time in the field
and rarely communicating with his father
Maybe he though father valued working more than relationship

Which one do you want to be ? The Prodigal Son or the eldest ?

I want neither. I want to be in father's house. I want to work for Him because He's the good master. But I also want to communicating with Him. I want to talk with him and understanding what was in His heart. And for sure, I want to have barbecues and dinner party with my friends.

Matthew 5: 17
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them

No Such Thing As....

On the 4th day of Christmas 

My true love gave to me

4 Calling birds....

What is Calling bird?

I did a quick online research 

and found that there is no such thing as calling bird

It derived from the original lyric: 4 colly birds

Colly was taken from the word "coal" 

Coal is black

So four calling birds mean 4 blackbirds

4 is also the first 4 books which records the life of Jesus Chris.

Matthew, Mark, John and Luke

Gospel is the most amazing biography for us

Because we get to know the One who loves, takes care of, forgives, heals, provides, befriends, believes, protects, completes, knows, and sacrifice for us.

He is our Lord Jesus Christ;

Our true love

who gave 4 calling birds 

who gave the revelation about himself to us

Who are we to be so lucky to know him ?

3 French Hens

On the third day of Christmas
my true love sent to me:
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

What is 3 french hens ? 
They are 3 things that will remain eternally

The things in this world that exist now, will cease someday
But these 3, will remain in eternity
They are faith, hope and love

Hebrew 11:1 says: faith is the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith energizes you to do something positive when the reality is discouraging. 2 Cor 5:7 says: for we walk by faith not by sight. We can grow our faith by hearing the Word of God. Roman 10:17 says: faith comes by hearing, hearing the Word of God.

Hope is rather different than faith. Hope is willingness to look at the goodness of God. It is an anchor that keep us steady while waiting on God in the middle of a bad situation. Psalm 147:11 says : The Lord delights in those who fear Him; who put his hope in His unfailing love. Job 18:11 says: You will be secure because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety

Love is the greatest of all three. 1 John 4:16 says that God is love and whoever abides in love, abides in God and God in him. 

While he was in the world, Jesus demonstrated the faith, hope and love through his speech and deeds. Faith, hope and love combo = Jesus' life demo=three french hens

Have you unwrapped the third gift from our true love ?
I bet you will like it very much