Resonance

Tag: Christmas

  • 7 Unusual Lessons from the Christmas Story

    We have heard the Christmas story over and over. This time round, I read between the lines to cherry-pick for you applicable everyday wisdom. Hope you enjoy it!

    When King Herod heard about this, he was worried, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem.

    Matthew 2:3 CEV

    LESSON 1: Sometimes someone’s good news is bad news to us because we don’t clearly recognise the benefit it is to us.

    Instead of seeing a blessing of a brethen, we rather see an uncalled-for competition. This is why Cain killed Abel. This is why Esau hated Jacob. See, when you see that God has blessed your neighbour today, it shouldn’t call for jealousy. It’s a sign that your open door season is coming soon. It’s a time to celebrate the victory with your neighbour because you even indirectly benefit from that blessing.


    When the men went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they knelt down and worshiped him. They took out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh and gave them to him.

    Matthew 2:11 CEV



    LESSON 2: Have an attitude of gratitude.



    The full benefit of a blessing goes to people who receive it with complete thanksgiving. These wise men presented their best gifts. As was fitting, you can’t go into the presence of a King without giving gifts. Not that the King requires it but you in your own wisdom know that it is befitting for a King. I’ve revealed to you why we are trained to thank God first when we enter His presence. Psalm 100:4 says so.

    LESSON 3: People from afar are far more likely to see your star than the people close to you.



    Coming from afar, the Christmas looks magical. Yet those close see animal poop, an untidy place and smell something pungent. See, when you’re too close you are more likely to see mistakes. Take a step back and appreciate the people in your life. Take a step back and even appreciate the person you have become.

    But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

    Luke 2:19 NIV



    LESSON 4: Your heart is a treasure storage



    It takes some time for a thought in your conscious mind to sink into your subconscious mind. It would need to be repeated frequently, involve as many senses as possible and be re-imagined in several dimensions. In other words, the only things stored in your heart are things you treasure. Once you treasure something, you pay too much attention to it. So when God examines our hearts, He clearly sees what we treasure.



    LESSON 5: Selah


    Selah is written across the Psalms. It means to meditate, to ponder, to treasure in your heart. It is the process between head knowledge and the kind of knowledge that changes your life forever. Have you met someone so full of God’s Word? It is because they make time to Selah. The Word of God cannot simply come to life to you if you spend some few minutes every once in a while in the Word. You will need to Selah before the Word can resonate with you.

    The angel said, “Get up and take the child and his mother back to Israel. The people who wanted to kill him are now dead.”

    Matthew 2:20 CEV

    LESSON 6: “Get Up – because you can – for I have done what you can’t”



    By now, you know there are certain things God will never do for you. Sometimes instead of God preventing the calamity, He will rather prompt you to pray to Him for Him to prevent the calamity. God is God, and He will always do what man cannot do. So don’t expect Him to do what man can do. If He does what men do, men will always take the credit. So He does the impossible because only He can. He begins where man’s ability end.

    All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished,

    Luke 2:18 NLT

    LESSON 7: Your story sounds “normal” till you tell it to someone else



    People will see you differently once they get to hear your story. Their senses widen, their respect enlarges and their idea of you broadens. A story leaves a longlasting impression than anything we’ll ever hear or listen to. Your “work in progress” story can change someone’s life forever.

    After all, what is Christmas? It’s a story of the birth of a Saviour. It’s a story of the Son of God becoming the Son of Man so that the sons of mens can become sons of God. It is the story of Emmanuel, God living among mere mortals with human feelings, emotions, thoughts and instincts.

  • Jesus Celebrates His Birthday with Choo Thomas

    WHEN THE LORD visits me He usually wears a white robe, but on the Christmas Eves of 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 He wore a beautiful robe and crown. The crown was made of gold, and it was embossed with a rainbow of jewels of all colors and descriptions. His gown was deep red, and it was trimmed in gold.


    “Lord, why are You wearing such a beautiful gown and crown?”, I asked.
    “Daughter, it is My birthday”, He responded with a smile.


    Whenever the Lord smiles at me, I return the smile automatically. I could not close my mouth if I wanted to. Though I usually can‘t see His face, I am able to tell when He is happy or sad or angry.


    On twenty-eight separate occasions the Lord wore this beautiful golden robe and crown. At these times it always seemed as if He was especially happy. He wears these spectacular garments at times of celebration, including each time when a phase of my body-work would be completed.
    When my heart would wonder why He was dressed in such royal garments, He would say, ―”I am celebrating, My
    daughter”.

    With dancing hands my heart and body would respond to His desire to celebrate, and my spirit would respond with my special vision-voice and heavenly Spirit songs.

    This is an excerpt from Choo Thomas’ book, Heaven is So Real. To read or download the book, click here. Merry Christmas from Resonance to you. Thank you so much for sticking with us for yet another year; for reading, liking and sharing. We really appreciate you.

    With love,
    Daniel Good ❤️

  • 5 Misconstrued Truths Regarding the Birth of Jesus

    Because we are in the 21st century, we can subconsciously assume Mary and Joseph took a motor ride to Bethlehem and arrived only to realize the entire village was full, including their family home; the 3 wise men saw the star as soon as Jesus was born and came in their limousine to see the baby. I’m obviously exaggerating but you get the point.

    Our imagination only makes sense in our current context, and until you learn the historical context, you’re likely to picture the story in a wrong way. Forget about the movies. This is 2000 years ago, not 20 years ago. Here are 5 widely known misconceptions about the birth of Jesus;

    The Bible Didn’t Say…

    1. …That It All Happened in One Night

    “Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,”
    ‭‭Luke‬ ‭2:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

    Perhaps, because we live in a fast-paced world – or we may have picked that assumption from the movies – we read the Christmas story and over-simplify the story. There are no cars and aeroplanes, remember? To give a bit of context, it was a 90-mile journey from Nazareth to the south along the flat lands of the Jordan River, then west over the hills surrounding Jerusalem, and on into Bethlehem. It takes about 10 days to make such a journey.

    With a pregnant woman, the journey would have taken longer. Now imagine the wise men travelling all the way from the East! Even a Christmas movie isn’t likely to be shot in one day.

    2. …That There was no room in Joseph’s family house

    “And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.”
    ‭‭Luke‬ ‭2:7‬ ‭NKJV    ‬‬

    Why are we trying to make Joseph’s family and the entire neighbourhood look bad? Why are we assuming that literally nobody had the common sense to give their space to a pregnant woman? Except, of course, that it’s not true and only an assumption. The Bible never said that Joseph’s family house was full and that they were looking for another place. Just like the other assumptions, the misunderstanding comes from just one word; inn. The New Testament was originally written in Greek, and the Greek word translated as “inn” here is kataluma.

    Typical architecture of 1st century Israel villages

    This is better translated as “guest room” as the NIV does, and is different from pandokheion, also translated as “inn” – in the Good Samaritan story in Luke 10:34 – which rightly means hotel. What the Bible said is that the guest room was full. Simple! It’s like all your uncles travel home and one of them sleeps in the living room because the guest room is full. The place was full of people and wouldn’t be so comfortable for a woman to give birth there.

    3. …That Jesus was Born the Very Night they Arrived

    “While they were there [in Bethlehem], the time came for her to give birth,”
    ‭‭Luke‬ ‭2:6‬ ‭AMP‬‬

    They arrive and Mary is in labor. Joseph runs from place to place, asking insensitive hotel owners if they have any suites available. They don’t get any but one kind old man said he had a little stable he could rent out for free. Mary is rushed in, where she gives birth to a baby boy. Such a fast-breaking epic Hollywood scene! Read Luke 2:6 in a different version think about this whole scene again and watch it slowly fade away. Truth is, Mary was in Bethlehem for days, long before she gave birth.

    4. …That Jesus was Born in a Stable

    “And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
    ‭‭Luke‬ ‭2:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

    Pictures of Jesus’ birth are filled with animals staring at a baby in their manger. Yet no, no Bible version ever insinuates that it was a barn or a coup or a stable. The only word to suggest that is “manger”. A manger is not a place where animals are stored; it’s simply a long trough in which the food of livestock are put and they fed.

    This is not to say that there weren’t animals around. I’m just saying that when someone says he put his books on a shelf, don’t be quick to assume that he has an entire library room. It could be a simple bookshelf in his living room.

    5. …That There Were Only 3 Wise Men

    “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,”
    ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭2:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

    Because they presented three gifts and many movies, plays and pictures portray three old men dressed to kill, the most famous assumption in the Christmas story is that of the 3 wise men. If someone came to your house and presented you with a couple of gifts, you wouldn’t count the gifts to assume the number of people behind the gift, would you?

    Matthew 2:1 simply says “Wise men”. In fact, with men of such calibre, they are probably travelling with an entire voyage. Plus, they presented gifts to Herod too – since it was the culture – when they went to inquire of him about Jesus’ birth. The three gifts they presented Jesus were mentioned in detail to draw our attention to their utmost significance to Jesus’ ministry.

    Surely this doesn’t take an inch away from the humble birth of the King of Kings. What it certainly takes away is the vilification of Joseph’s home and the neighbourhood of Bethlehem. It also allows us to meticulously meditate on the story of the first Noël, instead of assuming every year.

    Mind you, this wasn’t written so you could argue out your newfound knowledge with your paddies. Just like the Scriptures, this was written so you could appreciate the birth of Jesus; the greatest of kings, born in the humblest of places.