This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis (ts@godspeak.org)

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                         A Christmas Word

Child of God, I came to give you the gift of life.  I love you so
dearly and so passionately that I could not watch you trapped by sin
and death and despair.  I could not sit up in Heaven, comfortable and
safe, and watch My precious creation in the bonds of sin and death. I 
could not bare your destruction because My yearning for you is so great.
Child, I choose to come to this earth knowing full well that I would
suffer great pain and that I would die so that you might live.

Why would I be willing to set aside My glory and come and live among
you for the express purpose of dieing a sacrificial death?  Have you
every wondered why I would do that?  It was because I hunger for you,
and I yearn for you and I love you dearly -- more dearly than you can
think or imagine.  Child of My Father, you belong to Him and you belong
to Me because I came to give you life.  And I possess all of the vast 
treasures and riches of heaven.  But the dearest treasure to Me is the 
willing heart of the one who believes in Me and serves Me because they 
love Me.  No treasure in all of heaven is as precious to Me as souls of 
My redeemed ones.

I humbled Myself and came as a baby, helpless and dependent on My 
mother for even My most basic needs.  Can you imagine what it takes for 
the God and creator of the universe to allow Himself to become fully 
dependent on one of His creation?  When I was born as a helpless infant,
the angels looked at one another in utter amazement.  They knew Me as 
the glorious and Almighty One, the God of all power.  And it astonished
them to see Me helpless and powerless.  Do you think it was an easy 
thing for Me to lay aside My glory like that and take on the form of a 
man?  No, it was not an easy thing.  But I did it for your sake, because 
you are so precious to Me. 

I choose to become an example to you.  I set aside My own glory and I
set aside My own power.  But even in this helpless state, your Father
God anointed Me in the same manner that He desires to anoint you -- with
the Spirit of God indwelling and empowering Me.  I was able to do the 
works of My Father because He enabled Me.  Likewise, I will enable you, 
through the same indwelling Holy Spirit that I have sent to My own. And 
I demonstrated the reality of the kingdom of God to you through the spoken
word and through the working of signs and wonders and healings and
deliverances and miracles.  And I said to you that if you believe on Me, 
you can do the same works I did.  And I provided the wherewithal for you
to do so, when I sent My Spirit to you.  I did this because I love you 
and I desire for you to walk in the full measure of My victory and My 
authority.

I walked among you and I taught you.  I longed to pull away for private
fellowship with My Father God, who I have known intimately for all 
eternity.  I longed to separate Myself from all else and simply come into 
His nearness to commune with Him.  And often I would spend the night in 
His sweet presence, praying and fellowshipping and listening to Him.  My 
desire was to stay there always, in the communion with My Father that I 
have known for all eternity.  But many times I pulled away from that 
sweet place of intimate communion to come and minister to the crowds.  I 
healed your sick and freed your demonized ones and fed your hungry and 
taught you of the kingdom of God.  And while I was busy doing this, I 
could not be in that place of sweet communion with the Father that I 
loved.  Yes, He was with Me as I did the works He was doing, but ministry 
takes a portion of My attention and focus off of Him and puts it on those 
I am ministering to.  Why would I do that?  The reason is because I love 
My creation so dearly.  I have great compassion for you and I desire to 
see you well and free from the oppression of the evil one.

Do you know how hard it was for Me to face the pain and the horror of
the cross?  It was so difficult that I was in agony of Spirit and I 
prayed that if possible, I would not have to do this.  But I submitted
to it anyhow -- My desire to give you life was even greater than My
desire to be spared pain and suffering.  So I submitted to the 
humiliation of man, and I submitted to being falsely accused, to being 
spit upon and beaten and tortured and even executed. 

I was not powerless as this occurred.  I could have called on the angels, 
who were nearby and watching in astonishment that man might treat their 
creator this way.  They longed for Me to call on them to come to My 
rescue, for they could not bare what man was doing to the God of the 
universe.  But I choose to become the sacrifice for your sin so that 
you might have life.

So I died for you.  And I descended into Hell and took the keys of death
and Hades away from the devil.  I broke his power over you.  I bought
you back at a very great price.  I did this because you are so precious
to Me and I love you dearly.  I have come to give you life, and that
life is an abundant life with victory over sin and oppression and sickness.  
I have come to draw you into a place of intimacy with your God, that 
nothing might separate you from Me.  I came to give you the gift of life.

And you set aside the day of Christmas you remember what I have done for 
you, how I came down from Heaven to be your Savior.  But I say to you,
as you remember and honor My coming, do not think of Me as the child
in the manger.  Yes, I came that way.  But think of Me in the role in
which I came -- your Savior and Healer and Deliverer.  Think of Me as 
the One who rose from the dead and holds the keys.  Think of Me as the 
glorified Lord and master of the universe who came to set you free and 
Who has given you life.

I died that you might have life.  Receive My life.  Do not take this
gift for granted. Receive The freedom that I have purchased for you,
that the enemy bind and oppress you no more.  Receive the cleansing that
I have purchased from you and let go of the rejection and condemnation
and fears that have tormented you for so long.  I have made you accepted
of the Father, so do not draw away from Him.  Come to Him.  Come to Me.
Commune with Us and let Us fill you with Our light and love and life.

And even as I gave My life for you, I ask the same of you.  I ask that
you give your life to Me.  I ask that you commit your way to Me and
purpose to obey Me in all things.  I ask that you truly make Me Lord
in every area of your life.  I ask that you give Me your life, that
I might live through you and that I might glorify My name through you.
That is what I want from you for Christmas.