“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)

 

One of the attributes the Christ-ian shares with Christ in their Christ-likeness is the enjoyment of giving. Our Lord said, “It is better to give than to receive.” I think and would like to believe this is true of all believers. It is certainly true of your writer. I love to give gifts, i actually get giddy when i have to wait to give a gift. At gift giving holidays, i have learned to wait until the last days before the holiday to purchase gifts because i cannot wait to present the gift, (pun intended). We have a tradition in our family, this tradition is called a sick gift. This gift is exactlty what it sounds like, when someone gets sick i get to buy them a gift.

I must confess my reasons for this spirit of giving i enjoy.
1. I like to emulate Christ as He is a Giver.
2. I like to see persons surprised and happy.
3. I like to spend money.
4. I like to know that i do not need the person to praise me for the gift because this tells me that I am giving for the right reason.

At this time of year I like to give non tangible gifts to others through my writing and preaching/teaching. This is not to say that Christ-ians should look at all they receive from God through a preacher or pastor as gifts. For it is written, “All gifts and perfect gifts are from… [God] (James 1). Though all lessons and messages from your minister should be considered as gifts from our Love-to give God. At this time, like I said, I enjoy giving very practical as useful gifts that can be used right now. To cover all my bases, let me also say, all preaching is practical and useful.

Now onto my gifts to my readers. Some of you may have already received some of these but there will be others things you have not received. Some of these things one may not expect to hear from a preacher, but if they looked upon the preacher as a shepherd, as a defender, it should make sense.
1. The gift of confidence.  Scripture states that there is strong confidence when one lives under and in the fear of the LORD. When you look at many of the saints in the Old Testament and the New Testament (post Holy Ghost descending) you see persons who are confident, clever, and capable. The reason and cause of these attributes is their fear of the LORD. When we say fear we mean (2) two things. (1). is genuine fear of displeasing God or disappointing Him and of His chasening Hand. (2). is a grave, deep, and sober reverence for the Godhead.
When a saint honours God in these ways, the saint is promised to be honoured by God. When one acknowledges God in all his ways, God will also acknowledge the saint in all his ways.
Here is a little trick to gain confidence over others and to gain the upper hand in any dynamic. I call it the drill. It is a way to win every stare down you may fall into. It is so simple but O’ so effective. When your opponent is *looking in your eyes, you look at them between their eyes. They will think, and it will look like, you are staring in their eyes but you aren’t. You will win the stare down with this drill. If ever one needs to intimidate another or to throw off someone who is possibly a danger, simply drill inside their brain.
2. This is graphic but is useful. I have written this many times, but not all of our readers have read all our articles. In this day and time, the media would have us think that we all are always a target to a predator. This may or may not be true, but methinks it is better to be safe than sorry. If ever attacked and you fear for your life, God gave you *(2) two thumbs that fit perfectly into an attackers (2) two eyes. Do not merely poke the eyes but drive your thumbs into the brain. I said it is graphic but it is useful. *Boxing the ears is helpful, *using your fist to punch the throat is useful or using the web between your thumb and index finger is very effective. The *old fashion karate chop to both sides of your attackers neck is no joke. The *forgotten charlie horse is very good, ask Jacob when/if you get to Heaven. The charlie horse is a knee, elbow, or heel to the attackers thigh.
The headbutt. Most think they know how to *headbutt others but many are mistaken, there is a science and an art to the proper headbutt. If I were to ask you what part of the body would you headbutt, you would probably say, the attacker’s forehead. You would be dangerously wrong. Never headbutt someone’s forehead with your forehead. One should use their forehead to headbutt the face of the attacker, the nose or mouth of the attacker and even better a side swinging headbutt to the jaw could knock the attacker out.

3. This will be helpful and could stop many persons from wasting their time with the wrong type of persons. Our Lord teaches us that humans speak from the heart. This means that one can read another person by the words they use. In Hebrews  (13) thirteen, the writer teaches us that the believer should offer God the fruit of our lips. These (2) two passages tell all of us that the words that persons use will tell you all you need to know about anyone. I know a person who was dating a girl. As this couple was sitting in a car, waiting for a friend to return from a convenience store, and this couple saw a young black girl pick up a piece of debris and put it into a trash can. The girlfriend said, “Aw, that’s a good N-word.” This person, at that moment realized, this girl is not for me. She spoke from her heart, this guy learned, at that moment, all he needed to know.
My readers, You can read a person by the words they speak. This is a gift that can save you much time and pain.

As the Magi brought our Lord (3) three gifts, so do I bring you, in this article, (3) three gifts.
The (1st) first and (3rd) third gift can be used tomorrow and I pray that the (2nd) second gift never needs to be unwrapped, but it will be there if it is ever needed.

Godspeed