Understanding The Gift – Walking In Power with Nate Ortiz

May Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year.

This is Nator Tees and you're watching Walking in Power.

I want to share word with you out of Matthew chapter 1 verse 23.

Man, I know the holiday season has so many different aspects to it.

There's parties you're going to, presidents to be wrapped, concerts to go see, you know,

family to visit, all those kind of things.

And I hope that your holiday season has been great.

But I also, you've been able to take a time just to pause and reflect just, you know,

on this past year, the good and the bad because we know that the Bible tells us that God

takes all things and make them work together for the good of those who love Him and are

in Him in Christ Jesus.

So I hope that you're also taking time to do some reflection and thinking as you hit in

2023 and start a new year.

So I just want to just share a thought.

I know the holiday season can have a lot of mixed emotions with people.

Some love it.

Others are mine.

I know that I've been a painful time in their life but I know that one of the things about

this holiday season, that there's a lot of gift giving and a gift receiving.

And when Jesus was born right with this holiday season, it's all about when Jesus was born

who was born in a manger and it was the most unlikely gift that people thought they'd

receive.

It's been prophesied for years in the Old Testament that there would be this coming

king.

And the fact that this king was born of a virgin in a manger with not a lot of people around.

Not a lot of fanfare.

We really caught people off guard.

They were unsure about this gift, this present, this answer to the world's problems in the

package that it came in.

And I remember as a kid, my parents were very big on you show thankfulness for the gift.

When you open a present, someone gives you a present, a friend, a family member, whoever

it is, when you open them that gift, you show appreciation and thankfulness.

And I remember this as one Christmas when I opened up this present, I just didn't know

what it was.

I had no idea what the actual toy was.

And my face showed it and my parents would tell me, you got to be thankful.

You're making someone just feel bad about the gift or anything like that.

And my parents' heart was pure in it.

But I remember I didn't understand what the gift was.

And sometimes I just didn't know what I was supposed to do with it.

But I quickly found out my parents told me what it was.

And I loved the gift.

It was super amazing and super fun.

But that could be like Jesus in our lives.

Sometimes when Jesus enters our lives, we'd not show the do with this gift.

We're not sure how fits in just our life experiences of what we've gone through.

But in Matthew chapter 1, verse 23, it says this, it says that Jesus was going to be born

of a virgin.

And starting in verse 23, it says, the whole of the virgin shall be with child and shall

bear a son.

And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translates it means God with us.

You know, I want to share this thought that wherever you are with the Lord in your life,

in your faith, that you have to understand that when Jesus came, it was more than just

a came to rule.

But he was someone who came to have relationship with us.

And that his very name, or Jesus, and Jesus has many names in the Bible.

And that's not what I hear it teach about.

But this thought that Jesus, Emmanuel, it means God is with us.

Throughout this season, with the difficult things you're going through, or just maybe

it's just a joyous season, take it in, understand that God is with you in the highs and the

lows.

He's with you when you feel like you're on top of the world, you feel like you're just

in the valley, you're just like you're struggling.

God is with you and he's always going to guide you into this year, the end of this year

and into the next year.

So I just want you to be encouraged with that understanding that as you go with your family

and think about all the things that you've encountered and experienced and what lies ahead,

that God has a great purpose for you.

That he's not going to let you fall, he's not going to let you just wander without purpose.

But give everything you have unto God.

Give it a thankfulness because Jesus, the Bible tells us that he is the giver of all good

gifts and there's no good thing to heal with hold from his children.

So as a good parents, we do that right.

We want to give our best to our kids.

Jesus also wants to give the best to you.

So he's with you but he also wants his very best that you don't feel like you live

this life of struggle, of challenges.

But God is going to bless you, that you'll be a blessing to others, that you don't say

every blessing comes away, stays with me, but you say, how can I bless other people?

And that's what the life of Jesus was about when he came to this earth.

They say, I'm with you, but I'm also for you.

So know that today, know that for weeks down the road, months down the road, years down

the road.

So you have a guy also with you, but he's for you.

And that when you think about life and it feels overwhelming, that there's not that you

can't do without Christ in your life.

And I think that he calls you to his new, the strength for it.

So I hope that you are encouraged.

I hope you have a great holiday season.

I hope you make some great memories, but listen, remember the reason for this season and

thanking Jesus for the life that we have in him.

Even though he came in a unique way, who forever changed the world and changed us today in 2022.

So blessings to all, love you all.

I hope you have an amazing rest of this year and heading into 2023 that you give God everything

that you've got, that you give Him your hopes, your dreams, your visions, what your passion

is.

Because I believe what God is doing in the agency is no small thing.

I believe what He's doing in your life, there's no small thing.

So don't diminish it, don't feel like God, these gifts He's giving you.

You just, I don't know what to do with it.

He'll show you.

Just continue to walk with Him, continue to seek after Him, and He'll show you the way.

Hey, appreciate you all.

Have a great rest of your year.

May Christmas, happy holidays, happy new year.