I prayed to Him and said, "Lord, I want to get them something special, so they'll know how grateful I am to have them in my life and how much they mean to me."
And then the Lord said, "If you could give them anything, anything at all, what would you give them?"
I thought for several long moments and said, "I would give them peace; peace like I can only find when I am with you, Lord."
And the Lord said, "Is that all?"
I thought some more and said, "If I could give them anything at all, I would give them peace. But I would also give them a lifetime of making sure their needs were met so that they could have security. So I would give them peace and security. And faith, Lord, I think faith is important. With faith they would be able to weather the bleak days knowing that better ones are coming. I would also give them the strength to bear those dark days, to stay strong until the sun shines through the clouds. Yes, Lord, I would give them peace, security, faith, and strength.....and love. Love is important too....maybe the most important. If I could give them love then they would know that they are still special even if the whole world turned it's back on them.....they would still be special to me. That's it. I would give them peace, security, faith, strength, and love."
I thought about this for a moment, wistfully thinking that this was the perfect formula.....all I had to do was find a gift that represented love and strength and faith and security and peace. Where would I find such a gift, though? I frowned, troubled again that I was right back where I started from. But then the Lord spoke to me, and He said, "My child, don't feel sad. I have the perfect gift for you to give." and in my mind flashed a picture of a book. A simple book, aged and weathered by years of pages being gently turned.
"A book, my Lord?"
"MY book, my child. You see, in the Bible....in MY Word, you will find peace that only I can give you, a peace that will make the worries of the world fall at your feet. And security. Through my Word you will see that I will provide for your every need and take care of you all of your days, so that you can rest assured and secure. And faith. In my Word you can have faith that the bleak days are fleeting and better ones are already on the way. And strength. In my Word you can take strength in knowing that the darkness will fall and the Son will shine through to guide you and protect you. Nothing can keep you from the Light of the Son, and in this knowledge you can gather strength to move mountains. And love. My precious dear one, in my Word you will find unconditional love that knows no end, for you are special to me and if the whole world were to turn its back on you then you would still be precious to me, because I love you and there is nothing that can change that. I have already given you these things that you want to give as gifts, and they are all there for the giving in My Word."
And I knew right then and there that He was right....I had already received the greatest gift and it was mine for the giving if I wanted to share it. I could share with you the Word of God and in His words you could find all the things I wanted to give you.......peace, security, faith, strength, and love...the greatest gift, provided by the greatest giver - God.
Peace: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11: 28-30
Security: "I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:19-34
Faith: "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." - John 14:11-14
Strength: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. - Ephesians 6: 10-17
and Love: "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” - John 14: 18-21
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:37-39
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