Hosanna Restoration Church

It occurred to me as I thought about Jesus, the manger, and what the manger represents in our personal relationship with Jesus, that just as the altar represents the place of sacrifice, so the manger represents the place of submission. That reminds me that we are told in scripture to submit ourselves totally unto God and then resist the devil and he will flee from us. There were plenty of examples in Jesus life to confirm the fact that the demons did flee when Jesus came around.

I know that every lover of Jesus desires to please Him and struggles from time to time just wondering what will please Him most. Perhaps more manger time: time where we simply submit ourselves to His presence in our lives. Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to simply rest in the Lords presence? I find that I think I need to find something to say. Then I feel like I should not say anything and just listen, but then when I don’t hear anything my mind is wandering. Then I feel guilty because my mind wandered so I spend time apologizing for letting my mind wander, and it just goes in circles until I finally stop and say enough is enough. I am sure you know the feeling.

When all of that is going on, it is the devil trying to get us to give up and just go do something else. Whatever you do, don’t give up. At that point I usually just confess that if it were not for the fact that I am sure that God can do great things with what I consider to be useless efforts I would never even try. But usually I just tell God the truth; that I am not even sure what I am doing. I tell Him that I am glad He is better at it than me and I ask Him to help me, as I just get quiet before Him. I ask Him to do whatever He can or will with me such as I am. If my mind wanders I say “sorry,” and press back in.

You see, it is not the great revelations that change things; it is the increase in the relationship with the Lord that produces the greatest results. We all know that relationships grow from just being with someone. I want to learn to just be with Him all the time. I wonder if many of those nights when Jesus spent the night praying, were times where Jesus went to His father for a little manger time. In the manger there were no fears and all was well.

I don’t know about you, but I often long for those feelings of peace that only God can bring. We live in a world that is bound by fear of one sort or another. Only the Lord can take care of all of them. People wonder who they can trust as we see that it is not just the burglar with the gun that robs people, it is people in executive positions as well.

I am glad that there is One to whom we can submit ourselves with complete trust. We need not fear for we know that the Lord will treat us right and lead us along perfect paths. As we draw near to the day that we celebrate His birth, I pray that we will all draw nearer to Him as well. Let’s give Jesus a present and present ourselves to Him.