Christmas and the sovereignty of God

Dear Friends,
I hope this letter finds you enjoying this season of celebrating the coming of Christ. My purpose in writing is to wish everyone a wonderful Christ-filled Christmas and a blessed New Year. I also would like to share a couple of thoughts the Lord has brought to mind again this year. I pray this will encourage you.

Christmas and the Sovereignty of God

It is not likely that Joseph and Mary, though devout in their faith, had pondered the need to go to Bethlehem for the baby Jesus to be born. For a young lady eight or nine months pregnant to make the journey of 70 plus miles would be difficult in the least. I am sure the decree from Caesar was not a cause for rejoicing, but caused some consternation considering the trip they must make at such an inconvenient time.
I'll get to the point: God used the decree of a pagan emperor to fulfill His purposes. He used Caesar to get Mary and Joseph where they needed to be in order that prophetic destiny would be fulfilled.
It is often the inconvenient detours of life that position us for the fulfilling of God's purposes in our lives.

Look at Joseph in the Old testament. The pit, Potiphar's house, and the prison all served to position Joseph for the fulfilling of his God given dreams. The detours of God will always bring us into alignment with His purposes.

For Joseph and Mary just walking out the chronos (regular time) in obedience to the emperor the chronos became the kairos (God's appointed time). And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us... John 1:14a

In Romans 8:28, 29 God has promised to bring redemptive purpose out of everything that comes into our lives. As many of you have heard me share before, it was because of an IRS office being closed when I was going there to deal with a tax issue, that I met a man who became a mentor and my life was changed.

I don't know what you may be going through this Christmas, but God has good plans and He is able to take the mundane, the inconvenient chronos and turn it into kairos. He is able to bring redemptive purpose out of everything that comes in our lives and He is very creative. Who would have thought the pagan emperor Caesar would be used of God for the Bread of Life to be born in the "house of bread"?

It is my prayer for you that you will have a wonderful Christmas and that you would experience an ever increasing awareness of His presence in your lives in the coming year. I appreciate you, so much. May God richly bless you.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us......
In His love,
Herb Dean