My most favoritest Christmas song is Go Tell it on the Mountain. It is fun how many different versions there are to choose from but there is nothing like singing alongside others live. My favorite recorded version to date is by Tenth Avenue North. Have a listen.

All music rights go to Tenth Avenue North!

Go, Tell It On The Mountain, Over the hills and everywhere

After the shepherds saw Jesus, they went to tell everyone about his birth and what they saw. The people on the low scale of society were witnesses to the birth of the savior. Following their example, we also have things to tell about Jesus, as well, as he commanded (Mark 16:15). Although we do not have to literally tell it on the mountain or hold up signs on corners or billboards - unless God directs you that way but that is another story. But we do get the privilege to live it out. To tell the good news of the life of Jesus with our actions and speech each day we are given breath. We get to proclaim the good news of Jesus and what he has done in our lives. About how he saved us from the sin that so easily entangled us and how we are victorious because of him.

About how he has restored us to better than we have ever been and continues to guide our steps in hope and joy.

There is so much truth in the little saying: share the gospel, use words when necessary.

Our lives speak volumes for themselves. Our actions and demeanor. How we respond to others. How situations are handled. How we interact with the barista or sales associate or co-worker or husband or friend. They are all indicators of where our heart is resting - with God or otherwise.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 1 Peter 3:15-16

Peter tells us to always be prepared to give an answer when someone asks why we do what we do. Why we act the way we act. Why we have hope in hopeless situations. Why we have joy through financial hardships or illnesses or job loss. Why we have peace when others speak maliciously against us and try to tear us down.

Be prepared because people will be able to see the difference in you, whether or not they comment on it. You are different. You are chosen. You are God's beloved.

Praying that you would seek God for direction in your actions and conduct. Praying that God would open your eyes to what you are telling on the mountain about him with your life and that it would glorifying to him. Praying that you would think about what you post on Facebook or Instagram before you hit post. Praying that you would consider your activities and current events and how they relate to your telling of God's story in your life. Praying that the words you use would be ones of encouragement, not only to others but to yourself.

Praying that you would be bold to tell others of what God has done in your life and not be ashamed of where God took you from because someone may still be where you once were.

Praying that you would follow the guidance of the holy spirit as you go about your day and enjoy your daily encounters with family and friends and neighbors and co-workers and managers and each person God places in your path.

Here's to words to speak and actions to accompany them. Here's to telling it on the mountain.

music monday: overcome by jeremy camp

September 8, 2014Tiffany NicoleComment

Do not try to make the bible relevant. It's relevance is axiomatic. Do not defend God's word but testify to it. Trust to the word. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

You can talk until you are blue in the face about the truth of the bible. About how great it is to read. How life changing its text is. Boast of the wisdom sewn in to each page and the lessons that make up the verses. But unless someone actually reads it, your words may be just that. Words.

Your life on the other hand, has mounds to say without ever opening a bible. Your actions and conversations and decisions. Your testimony - the evidence that you are giving about what God had has done, who he is, and claiming the truth of the bible. No one can argue with that. It is yours to claim. Yours to profess. No one can tell you that you have not been changed or transformed. Your constant growing trust in God and the ever growing list of his working on your behalf cannot be argued.

With the lack of truth in the world today and the move from people knowing they are sinners in need of a savior to not understanding they are caught up in sin, your testimony sets a perfect tone.

You story has power and has been written for such a time as this. Do not let the story God has written through you - your personal story - be down played or make you feel ashamed. Perhaps you feel your past was horrible, scattered with drugs and theft and all sorts of personal trauma. Or perhaps your past was not so dramatic and you came to Christ with what you see as just a small tray of issues but nothing so big and dramatic that God could use. The latter is what I thought. My story is not so impressive and could possibly be viewed as anticlimactic. But every story that has Jesus as a main character has a climax. The part where Jesus showed up and turned your world upside down and started the refining process.

Do not be afraid to share what God has done for you. God has given you life experiences to share of his abundant goodness and faithfulness. He has given you people to profess to and the story to go with it. I pray that you would not be so focused on the day to day and caught up in your own agenda that you lose out on those around you who you can invest in. Those you can share what God has done for you personally.

I pray that if you have never written out your testimony, that you would seek God for the words to do so. That you would be equipped when someone asks you about why you are different. That He would show you how he turned your trials in to victories.

I pray that each chapter in your life that was viewed in shame would be lifted up by the power of God and be transformed in your mind as a victory - through Christ you were able to overcome it. That you would freely share openly what Christ did for you and in doing so that you would give hope to someone going through the same struggle.

We are not perfect. It is through our weaknesses that we are made strong. Our testimonies attest to it. We are sinners. Jesus bridged the gap between God and every person who has walked the earth.

Jeremy Camp quotes part of Revelation 12:11 in Overcome, which states: They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. We can overcome the darkness with the light of our testimony because of Jesus. Have a listen.