That Christmas Spirit

“Without the Holy Spirit there would have been no Virgin Mary, no wise men, no shepherds seeing the angels, and no angels proclaiming glory in the highest! God’s Spirit was moving through so many parts of Jesus’s birth story!”

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” 2nd Corinthians 3:17 NIV

Have you ever struggled to get in the “Christmas Spirit”? Maybe you feel a little like Scrooge this year. Life can sometimes make this time of year tough. We tend to lose our focus on what is important. And I’m going to be honest, I have been struggling with that this year. Maybe it’s that my kids are getting older and some of that “magic” just isn’t there anymore. Or that the price of everything is sky high right now. Or maybe it’s the nice, unusually warm weather we have been having.

Or maybe I've Just been too busy to stop, focus, and lean into the reason for this season.

As I began to study and pray over 2nd Corinthians 3:17, God whispered “Holy Spirit” to me. I was unsure why I kept hearing that, so I began to focus on how the Holy Spirit moved and worked through the people around Christ's birth. And what hit me was that without the Holy Spirit there would have been no Virgin Mary, no wise men, no shepherds seeing the angels, and no angels proclaiming glory in the highest! God’s Spirit was moving through so many parts of Jesus’s birth story!

His guidance and presence are so integral to Jesus’s story, but it gets overlooked a lot of the time.

In the same way, we can get so busy in our daily struggles that we overlook the Spirit's guidance or prompting. So if you are feeling like a Scrooge this season, instead of waiting for 3 spirits to guide you, sit and wait for the Holy Spirit to give you peace and guidance. With Jesus in our hearts we now have the same power that He did. Jesus wants us to use the Holy Spirit and keep Him first in our lives. Let your heart be prompted to keep your eyes on Jesus this holiday season. Listen for His voice to help guide you through whatever may pop up. Without the Holy Spirit we would still be in sin and bondage. But with Jesus came the new covenant and with that came freedom, forgiveness, grace and love. He gave us these things to share and what better time to share them than Christmas! People are looking for hope and we can be that shining star guiding them to Jesus.

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” Romans 8:26 NLT

I want you to understand that with the Holy Spirit guiding you, you are free to trust that His will in your life is greater than you could ever imagine. I pray that when you put Him first during this Christmas season, that your focus will shift and you’ll remember His grace and goodness are always there for the taking.

Action Steps:

• If you are like me this season and just struggling to see the “magic”, take a moment today to read the Christmas story in Matthew 1-2 or Luke 1-2.

• Make note of how many times the Spirit of God was used to bring about Jesus’s birth and how without the Spirit we would’ve been lost.

• Reflect back over your life. Can you see a time (or times) when the Spirit of the Lord prompted you? Write down your story so you can share that testimony with others.

• Lastly, take the time to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.

Written by April, mom of 3