The most precious of gifts................by Ruth Johnson

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!…                  Matthew 7:11

The enormity of God’s gift of His Son, and the salvation He brought us, will take this life and eternity to unwrap.



To the Ephesians Paul wrote that the Holy Spirit is only a deposit of our heavenly inheritance.  Jesus’ parable of the talents surely points to our need to invest what He has put within us. 

Many seem to have forgotten, or have no understanding that Jesus was the Son of God and is the reason for the season we call Christmas.  And I’m sure your desire is, as mine, to take people beyond baby Jesus in a manager.  How can we make Jesus' commission to take away the sin of the world relevant, when in a corrupt world people aren't bothered by their sin?  Or bring understanding that Jesus' death released the Holy Spirit so mankind can have a relationship with a Holy God.  He's a loving Father who wishes them to experience His love, peace and joy now, and for eternity.

Several years ago in considering these questions I was praying with a friend and asked that He would give us wisdom and understanding.  As I was speaking my friend had a picture of a huge white box wrapped by a pink ribbon and bow.  We asked the Lord what it meant and Matt.7:11 came to mind.  In faith we prayed our thanks and acceptance before continuing in a prayerful manner to remove the ribbon and lift the lid.  The moment the lid was removed, we both 'saw', and were astonished, when the sides of the box fell outward revealing its emptiness.  Puzzled, we enquired of the Lord.  Almost immediately into my head came the words, “My gifts are invisible” and the words in Ephesians 1: “He (the Lord) is in everything, everywhere.”  And I remembered the song, “He is the air I breathe”.

There is no better time than Christmas to write of the outstanding favour of God upon each of us who believe, and the need to stretch our faith beyond our natural perceptions.  Paul writes in 1 Cor.12 there are different kinds of gifts that God desires to work in and through us.   Each gift is given to us for the common good.  But as Matthew says we need to ask, and believe that through the Holy Spirit we have received God given "wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, ability to administrate, distinguish between spirits, speak in different tongues, and interpret those". Paul adds that we should eagerly desire these greater gifts, but the most excellent is God’s love filling and flowing through us.

Without doubt the Lord is the greatest gift to mankind.  His desire is to reveal to you who He is in you, and who you are in Him.  So my message this Christmas is to unwrap those gifts and let the abundance of that which is in you spill out, it's a gift that could change someone’s life.

My novels seek in a simple way to romance the soul and spirit and  allow the seeds of the Gospel to permeate into hearts and minds.  Available from my website or on Kindle from Amazon.