Christmas Eve 2022

During Advent, we remember each week that Jesus came as our Hope. He came as our Joy. He came as our Peace. He  came as Love Himself. And on Christmas Eve, we light the Christ Candle – Emmanuel – God with Us. This year I’ve been pondering, just WHO is with me? And I’m struck most by this name: “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” Resurrection LIFE is with us and came to be IN us.

Do you have conversations at 4:00 in the morning with the Lord? I do. Often. Maybe because that’s when my house and my heart are most still. Here’s how this one went. He said, 

Life is always in My Image.

Death is always in the enemy’s image.

I always breathe Life in. 

The enemy separates and takes life out.

I conquered Death. Death no longer has its sting because of the Hope of the Resurrection. I turn the Vally of Achor (devastation) into a Doorway of Hope.

What is the Hope? The Body and the Breath WILL be united again. Resurrection.  

My Breath of Life breathed into the Body.

I AM the Resurrection. In Jesus, I brought the Body and the Breath back together. Forever. And now YOU are part of My Body.

That IS Resurrection. The Breath and the Body Reunited. That’s why Ezekiel had to *speak* to the dry bones. Hear the Word (the breath) of the Lord.

My Breath recreates you out of dust. I reversed the curse, literally. 

Now the Word has come and dwelt among you and now dwells IN you richly.

And THAT my friends, is why we celebrate Christmas! 

Here’s the thought that has been new for me this year: Resurrection didn’t happen first at Easter. Easter is what Jesus DID. Resurrection happened first at Christmas – because Christmas is who HE IS. And WHO He is always precedes what He does. 

When He revealed himself to Martha as the Resurrestion and the Life in John 11:25, He had not yet raised Lazarus or been raised at Easter. He was speaking about His identity, not His activity.

Why does this make a bit of difference? Because if Jesus is only the Resurrection because of something He did – of a miracle that happened TO Him –  then I have to wait with my fingers crossed and hope for the same miracle to happen TO Me. But if Resurrection is WHO HE IS – in His very DNA – then I can bank of His same nature and character to overflow in me and to me and through me because I am IN Him and He is IN me. 

So this Christmas, think about the fact that the One who has come to be with us didn’t come only to comfort, (although that is a huge part of it!). He aslo came as Resurrection Himself. Think of every dark, dead place that needs His breath:

Your work.

Your family.

Your provision.

Your emotions.

Your very heart.

The Resurrection and the Life has come. Come to be With you. Come to be In you. Joy to the World!