12 Gifts From God Gift # 8 Joy

GIFT NUMBER 8: JOY
by Deb Forbes copyright 2008

Joy is the 8th Gift from God I want to explore. Joy to me is great delight and happiness, but the joy of the Lord goes beyond just feelings. It is delight, happiness, strength, contentment, pure love: it is the feeling and knowledge of being whole and complete. It is being content and happy when you have trials and tribulations and not only joy, but as it says joy unspeakable. 1 Peter 1:7-97 “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.:”KJV It is knowing that your faith in Christ is precious and that at the end you will be with him in heaven, it’s a feeling of satisfaction. Have you ever been so happy that you can’t find the right words to say to express that happiness that’s what joy unspeakable is like and it’s all the time for all the children of God. Now that doesn’t mean that you will never be sad or grieved or angry, but it means deep inside yourself you still have the joy of the Lord. When you are grieved or sad or angry you can draw on the joy of the Lord and find strength to keep going like it says in
Neh. 8:10b “for the joy of the LORD is your strength”KJV When I got sick at first they couldn’t tell me what was wrong which is very frustrating and a little scary really,  but even though those feelings were there I also knew deep in my heart that God cared and was taking care of me and I still was joyful and I drew on that joy I find in God to have the strength to overcome those other feelings and to not give up. Even now as I keep adding other diseases to the list I have I continue to be able to be joyful and feel complete and satisfied because I know the joy from God which is always there and it really does give me strength. I always remember that even though it seems things are mounting up against me that like David says in
Psalm 30:5b “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” KJVwhat a wonderful promise that all we have to do is hold on because joy comes in the morning. People ask me all the time how can you be so upbeat and happy all the time with all that is wrong with you and my answer is I know that I am in God’s loving arms and I have joy in my heart from God because I know its all part of the job God has for me to do. It doesn’t matter if I am sick because I know that eventually I will get the ultimate healing when I go to be with God in heaven. So my faith and the Joy of the Lord sustain me for now in my walk with God and in my job I have to do. This gift of joy is for everyone, all you have to do is to accept Christ and the joy is given to you. Christ is our Joy and at this time of year when everyone is singing about Joy in the World remember the true Joy comes from God. Next time you are faced with troubles then remember the Joy of the Lord is there to sustain you and give you strength. I hope and pray that everyone will draw on this gift of Joy and find strength, delight, happiness, contentment, and completeness that this gift will provide. Thank you God for all you do and for this gift of joy you give to sustain us through this life.

12 Gifts From God Gift # 7 Peace

GIFT NUMBER 7: PEACE
By Deb Forbes copyright 2008

Gift number 7 from God I want to look at is Peace. Peace to me is a calm assurance. When I was a kid I went sleigh riding down a hill that had just a very small path down the middle of nothing but trees. Well I started down, hit a rut, and went headlong into one of the trees. I was hurt and scared and they took me to the hospital but I didn’t calm down and feel better till my Dad got there and once he got there I knew he would make everything alright and I calmed down and was at peace because he was there. The Peace that God gives is a calm assurance that he loves us and has everything in control. This peace is brought to us by his Son Jesus who gave his life for us so that we can have the assurance of God’s love and our home in heaven. In Romans 5:1 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”KJV this is the promise and gift from God that because we believe and accept Jesus as our Lord then we are guaranteed peace from God for our lives.

When in 2000, after being sick for awhile, I finally was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis I didn’t fall apart or get angry or upset. I prayed about it and then I had the peace from God that I was where he wanted me to be.  I felt thankful because he trusted me to use me in this way. Myasthenia Gravis is a neuromuscular disease where your body sees the receptors, that is how the nerves talk to the muscles, and blocks or destroys them because they are seen as being a foreign body and they need to be destroyed. It causes muscle weakness in the voluntary muscles like eyes, eyelids, face, swallowing, talking, chewing, breathing, limbs, neck and back muscles. You can get into a crisis and choke or not be able to breath so it can be very dangerous and life threatening in a crisis. I tell you this because I want you to understand I wasn’t afraid even though this is a serious disease and just one of many I have but because of my faith in God and having Jesus as my Saviour that I have the gift of peace even in my time of trouble. John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”KJV This verse tells us that peace is given to us and we don’t have to be afraid. That is why I can have peace even in sickness and not be afraid of what could happen.

Peace or calm assurance that we are loved by God and are in God’s master plan even as it says in John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”KJV though we have troubles and tribulation in the world we can be calm and at peace because Jesus has overcome the world and as a believer in him we can overcome too,therefore we have the gift of Peace. It is also a peace because we know our final outcome will be in heaven with God forevermore. So remember that even in this world when things are up or down we have the gift of peace from God to hold on too. Phil 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”KJV Pass this gift of peace on to others by sharing your faith and telling them how to receive the gift of peace from God. Thank you Lord for your peace and calm assurance that you have given to each of your children.

12 Gifts From God Gift # 6 HOPE

Gift Number 6: Hope
by Deb Forbes copyright 2008

The 6th Gift from God I want to look at is Hope. In Webster’s dictionary it says hope means “to expect with confidence”. Well the gift of hope from God is to know with confidence that 1. God is always with you; 2.God loves you, and 3. that there is something more when we die than just death. This hope then is knowing and having confidence in God and his promises. I had a very good friend that found out she had lung cancer and when they told her they said it was the worst kind and that there wasn’t any hope for her to beat the cancer. She was strong in her faith in God and she just laughed and told them I have trusted, obeyed and relied on God this far and I am not going to stop now. She was telling them that she had hope even if she had cancer because her hope was not in things here on earth but hope in God and the knowledge that even if she died she was assured a place in heaven. Jeremiah 17:7 “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is”.KJV The hope I am talking about isn’t in material things. We all have had hope that maybe we would get that job we wanted or maybe a good grade on a test but these things are just material and can’t give us anything that is forever, but the hope I am talking about is hope that leads us to living in heaven with God. When we accept Christ as our Saviour then we are assured of a place in heaven when we die. so then we have hope in things to come. Because of the gift of hope from God we have victory over death as it says in I Cor. 15:54-57 54“So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”.KJV Praise God.
The gift of hope from God gives our lives meaning and the assurance that no matter what we are going through we have someone going through it with us in the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn’t mean that nothing will ever go wrong but it means that we have the confidence or hope that God has a perfect plan and that we can get through anything because he loves us and is always with us. Phil. 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”.KJV No longer do we need to feel hopeless because our hope is in the Lord. Trials and Tribulations may come our way but our strength comes in the knowledge and assurance or hope that God has it all in control and while we live we are in Gods loving arms living for him and if we die then we gain living with him in heaven. Phil. 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”KJV So our hope is in the Lord and we can live a full, happy, abundant life because of this hope. When you feel hopeless or know someone who is feeling hopeless remember that when you have Christ in your heart then you have hope as God has promised you. Thanks be to God

12 Gifts From God Gift # 5 Salvation

GIFT NUMBER 5: SALVATION
By Deb Forbes copyright 2008

Salvation is the 5th gift from God I want to look at. All the gifts we have looked at so far have been connected and Salvation fits right in with the rest of them. First God gives us life and love and forgiveness and sends his Son Jesus. He sent his son so that he could make a way for us to be with Him or to give us salvation from our sins. This is seen in 1 Thes. 5:9 “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”KJV. Salvation is necessary because we have done things that keep us from God. It is like when we were kids our parents loved us and provided for us and set rules that were good for us to keep us safe, but as kids we always had to try things anyway and our parents had to step in and help us or save us from ourselves. It is the same with God, he gives us everything we need and loves us, but we still stray and sin as it says in Rom. 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” God loved us enough to save us though by sending his son. John 3: 16-1716 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.KJV”Praise the Lord for his gift of Salvation so that we are saved from our sins. All we have to do is accept this gift from God just like the other gifts. In Romans 10:9-10 it tells us how we can receive the gift of Salvation from God it says Rom. 10:9-10 9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”KJV It is just that simple we have to believe and confess our belief in Christ and ask to be forgiven and we shall have salvation. That’s all it takes for us to receive the gift of Salvation that God has for us. It's just as easy as receiving a Christmas gift from someone you just have to reach out and take it.
This gift of salvation from God is for everyone and at this Christmas time my prayer is that many will receive this gift from God. Once we have received the first 5 gifts I have been looking at from God, life, Jesus, love, forgiveness and salvation then the rest of the gifts I will be looking at come along with these 5 gifts. These gifts are a packaged deal that you don’t want to miss out on. Thank you Lord. God is so good and as David says in Ps 145:3 “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable”.KJV And this God is just waiting to hear from you to accept you into his family and to lovingly give you all the gifts he has for you.

12 Gifts From God Gift # 4 Forgiveness

GIFT NUMBER 4: FORGIVENESS
By Deb Forbes
copyright 2008

Forgiveness is something we all seek at one time or another. Have you ever said or done something that has upset or hurt someone else and then have to ask them to forgive you? When my kids were little one would hit the other or call them a name or yell at them and I would finally have enough of the bickering and fighting and name calling so I would tell them to stop and say I’m sorry. Of course the I’m sorry yelled at each other wasn’t what I was looking for so then I would tell them to hold hands, smile, and say I am sorry like they meant it. This got a quick response because they didn’t want to do that so they would hurry and say it the way I wanted so they would be able to stop holding hands. They may not have meant it then any more than the first time they said it but at least they were talking nice and acting nice for the moment and I think they probably didn’t think anymore about it till the next time they were fighting. The lesson I was trying to teach them was that we shouldn’t do things to hurt each other, but if we do we should say I am sorry and seek their forgiveness. The same is true with God. We do things we shouldn’t and things that grieve God and if we ask him he will forgive us. So the 4th Gift from God I think is Forgiveness. In 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” and in 1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world”. KJV God doesn’t want us to sin but knows we will sin because we are human, so the key is if we ask to be forgiven he will forgive us. He provided this forgiveness through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ for us. All children do things that are wrong even though we, as parents, would like for them not to. We don’t stop loving them because of it but we forgive them because we love them. That is the same with God, it grieves him for us to sin and do wrong but, just like a parent, He still loves us and wants us to have forgiveness all we need to do is like I made my kids do say we are sorry and mean it and ask him to forgive us and he will, done deal, He will forgive us and continue to love us. So the 4th gift is Forgiveness given to us from God for our wrong doing because he loves us. Thanks be to God for being a loving forgiving God. This is a wonderful gift that we get daily if we ask for it. Remember to pass this gift on to others also so that they know they are forgiven too.

12 Gifts of God Gift # 3

GIFT NUMBER 3: LOVE
By Deb Forbes copyright 2008

The third gift from God I want to talk about is the gift of Love. God loves and wants what is best for us. An example of God’s love is in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.KJV God loved us so much that He wanted to make a way for us to have abundant life here and life with him in heaven and to do that He sent his Son to save us. He sent Jesus even though we didn’t deserve this love as shown in Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.KJV We hadn’t done anything to make God love us, but just the opposite. God loved us so much though that He loved us in spite of ourselves. What do I mean just this, we turn away from God and do things that are wrong and hurtful to God. We don’t live with God as the center of our lives, but even when we are sinful God still loves us and has given us a way to be forgiven and to live with him. He didn’t have to do this, but it was his love for us that brought about his gift of Jesus dying for our sins. What a great love that is. It’s an unconditional love one we didn’t deserve but was freely given to us anyway. God loves us period, we don't have to be good enough, or do anything to get this love it is freely given and is and will be there always. He loves us because we are his and nothing changes that. What a comfort, to know we have God's love no matter what!
God’s gift of love to us is an enduring, and unwavering love that we can have confidence in being there always. Rom 8:35-39 35“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”KJV Praise the Lord He tells us right here when we become one of his children by accepting Jesus as our Savior that his love is there for always, what a wonderful gift. So next time you are feeling all alone and maybe unloved remember God loves us always and we never have to be alone or feel unloved. Thank you Jesus. This gift alone is life changing when you think about it. If all those who think they need love and look in wrong places for love and acceptance could know God and understand about his love look at how much the world could be changed. This gift of God’s love is so important for all. We should all try to share this knowledge of God’s love with everyone we meet.     

12 Gifts of God Gift # 2

GIFT NUMBER 2: JESUS
By Deb Forbes copyright 2008

The second gift from God is his son Jesus. Luke 2:11 “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord”. KJV He sent Jesus here to earth as a baby, made him human to live here on earth and he was born specifically to die for us. He was made human to know the pains and hurts suffered by humans and then he went to the cross to die for us. This is such an important gift from God to all of us. Jesus was sent here to save us and to be our Savior. John 3:17 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved”.KJV

Jesus lived among the people and knew what it was to be hurt, loved, hungry, thirsty, to lose someone and to be tempted by the devil. Jesus and God know exactly how we feel when we have these things happen to us too and that can be such a comfort. It should make us feel better when we are going through a loss or sickness or a time of trouble and tribulation or the next time we are tempted by the devil, to know that God has felt these things by sending Jesus to earth. So not only did God send his Son to be our Savior but He insured by this act that we can have confidence that God knows our feelings because He has felt them also. This is another way that Jesus was a gift from God to us.
In sending his Son Jesus it makes all the other gifts we are going to look at possible too. Jesus is the key to all in our lives here on earth and Eternal life. So Jesus is the most important gift from God first because He is our Savior and second because He came to as it says in John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” KJV to give us abundant life. This makes the gift of Jesus the most important part of our lives and all we have to do is except the gift of Jesus from God to have abundant life and all the other gifts too. We should continue to thank God daily for this gift of his Son and most importantly to accept this gift. So with the gift of Jesus we also get within this gift 1. A Savior 2. Abundant life and 3. Understanding. So thank you Lord for your wonderful gift of Jesus.

Written by Deb Forbes
2008 Copyright