The Bible Speaks to You: Think, Pray, Love like Jesus
Have you ever poured out your heart, almost begging God to solve a problem, but it doesn’t feel like your prayer is ever answered? You wonder if there’s a better way to pray you don’t know about. Then some days, you really connect with God in prayer and it just makes you want to be closer to Him?
Each week The Bible Speaks to You Podcast helps you rediscover the original Christianity of Jesus. Host James Early, Bible teacher and speaker, and an occasional guest dig deep into how to think, pray, and love like Jesus. And how to experience more of Jesus’s promise that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The Bible Speaks to You: Think, Pray, Love like Jesus
271 – Finding a Deeper Spiritual Meaning of Christmas
271 – How do you celebrate the spiritual meaning of Christmas?
The world tries to make us forget about the real reason we celebrate Christmas with its focus on the excess materialism of the day.
To keep a spiritual approach to Christmas, the best place to start is focusing on Jesus and all he taught and did.
This week I talk about ways to discover the deeper spiritual meaning of Christmas.
- Start with gratitude for Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and everyone in the Christmas story
- Following Jesus's example every day of the year
- Not over-emphasizing the all the running around and festivities
- Finding quietude during the Christmas season to remember Christ's coming
- Reading out loud the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke
- Be more spiritually minded yourself
What would Christmas look like if you took away all the outward celebrations and focused only on Christ?
In this episode I share a poem, The Mystic's Christmas*, written by John Greenleaf Whittier, an American poet of the 19th century.
It's about an elderly monk who was not joining the other monks in the way they celebrated Christmas.
When they asked why, he admitted he used to join in all the festivities, but now he celebrated spiritually in his heart.
I wish you a very Merry Christmas season and I hope you discover this year, a whole new and deeper spiritual sense of what Christmas is all about.
Is there any way you can de-materialize, even in some small way, how you celebrate Christmas? The world is desperately crying out for this spiritual sense of Christmas you have to offer.
Show notes:
* To read a full transcript, the Bible quotes and Whittier's poem, go to thebiblespeakstoyou.com/271
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life.
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