The Greatest Gift

Hello everyone! I hope you all are doing well. Hopefully you all are warm and safe. This will be my last blog for the year 2022, but I am very much looking forward to sharing more words of encouragement with you in 2023.

Today I would like to share with you what the Lord showed me in a dream last night. It looked like I was at a big event somewhere, and apparently my oldest brother was supposed to be the main speaker. However, right before the event started, one of his church members came over to me and said my brother couldn’t be there and he needed me to fill in for him. So, I said sure and I grabbed a bible and started thumbing through it trying to find a scripture to teach from. The strange part of the dream, was our dad was there. Our dad actually passed away a couple of years ago, and he was a pastor too. In this dream he was sitting in the front row, but no one really acknowledged his existence. As I was thumbing through the bible, my dad told me “John 3:16 is always a good scripture.” As he said that, I thought sure that is a good scripture. Then he said, “There’s a lot of people that need to know that God loves them.” That took me by surprise, but I realized how true it was. Then I sat down on the stage and began reading John 3:16 and teaching on that scripture and the love of God.

I instantly woke up and was amazed at how real that dream felt. As soon as I came into focus, the Lord let me know that He had given me that scripture and message for this blog and my podcast. At first I thought, why John 3:16? Then He of course brought it all together and it made perfect sense.

Today is Friday, December 23rd. We are getting ready to celebrate Christmas this weekend. Today is almost like the “Kickoff” to the Christmas weekend. What exactly is Christmas about? The birth of Christ. Most of us will be giving gifts to those we love in tradition of Christmas. One thing we must try to remember is the Greatest Gift has already been given. The Gift of Salvation.

John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

God loved us so much that He sacrificed His only son in order to reconcile us back to Him. Jesus was the first and best gift given to us. With God sending His son Jesus, we have the gift of salvation.

Another scripture came to my mind as I thought about this.

John 15:13
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

There are no words adequate enough to express God’s love for us. I truly believe that there are a lot of people that don’t realize just how much God loves them. A lot of people are hurting, depressed, angry, lonely, frustrated, and even hopeless. They do not realize that God loves them. He loves them so much, that He sent His son as a sacrifice for them.

Another good scripture is 1 John 4:9-10

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

Earlier I mentioned that Jesus was the first and best gift given. A vital part of that is we each have to RECEIVE our gift. We all need to receive our personal gift of salvation from God. Someone can offer you a gift, but there’s no obligation to receive it. You have to decide that you want the gift and accept the gift. The gift of salvation is the same way. It has been offered to each one of us. It’s up to us to individually receive our gift. I’m so thankful that I received mine over 30 years ago. I can truly say that was the best gift I’ve ever received!

For those that have also received salvation, I’m sure you understand what I’m talking about and you can relate to how I feel right now. When you take a moment to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas, your heart and spirit is filled with gratitude and thanksgiving. If you haven’t received your gift of salvation yet, I strongly urge you to talk with the Lord and receive the greatest gift you can ever receive.

It’s rather ironic when you think about when we exchange gifts with our loved ones. Whenever we open our gifts, even though we usually don’t know what’s inside, we still have an expectation that whatever it is, it’s probably going to be great. We usually wrap or bag our gifts up in the prettiest paper or bags with beautiful bows. We make the outside look exciting! Isn’t it funny that the best gift wasn’t wrapped in anything pretty? He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. The absolute greatest gift came so meek and lowly. He could have came in a very extravagant way, but yet He didn’t.

As we all gather with our family and friends this weekend, let us take out the time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and the greatest gift ever given. The birth of our Savior…the gift of salvation.

Some of us have survived some of the most difficult challenges of our lives this past year. As we embrace our loved ones these next few days, I encourage you to: Hug a little tighter, love a little deeper, and let your loved ones know how much they are loved, appreciated, and how much they mean to you.

As I share these words with you today, I hope each of you know how much you are loved. Have a very Blessed and Merry Christmas; and may you all have a very happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!

God Bless!