His Plans Unfold With or Without Room

[S] Luke 2:7 --
7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

[O] Despite not finding a room in the inn God brought forth His plan anyways where there was room to receive Him and brought forth the anonymous shepherds to join this one-and-only awesome celebration.  These days we see people lining up the night before to not miss out on the latest gadgets or sales but if Jesus were to have come today, many of us, including myself, would've been indifferent about that while being so engulfed in the busyness of our own schedules and plans to complete.  However, He would've come anyways to the smallest and lowliest place as long as there was room (willingness) to receive Him.

[A] The question of 2012 is:  Will I be available to make room for His plans to unfold in my own life?  Or would I be too per-occupied in my own world indifferent to what God is about to do?  God's will is going to unfold regardless of my answer/choice above so I need to make room for Him that I may join in on the excitement of His wondrous and beautiful works in 2012.

[P] Dear Father, I commit this year into Your hands but at the same time I commit to prioritize and align my life and schedules to make enough room for You on daily basis.  Please continue to send Your Spirit to guide and strengthen me.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Don't Try to Pack in The Word

[S] John 8:37,43 --
 ³⁷"I know that you are Abraham's descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.  ⁴³"Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.

[O] Especially during this time of Christmas where Joseph and Mary couldn't find any room in the inns so gave birth to Jesus in the manger, this passage about having no place for His word stood out today.  Not having room (place) means other things are already fully pre-populating so unless they are offloaded there won't be anymore capacity to withhold anything else.  With my full-plated life I can relate to this dilemma of wanting to retain what God has in store for me while having no room to hold on to His word, and as mentions in verse 43, my senses become more insensitive and I become dull to His word.  This includes the fact that I may be reading His word daily but it will not sink in to the already-crowded heart of mine.

[A] In preparation for reading God's word and absorbing the right nutrients, I need to clear out my crowded heart first to make room for His word to stick.  How can I unclutter my heart more to create space for His word?

[P] Dear Father, just like trying to fill the overflowing glass with more water, may I not just go through the motion of reading Your word when there is no room for it to stick around.  I want to first prepare my heart to make room and time to soak up Your word.  Please give me wisdom to trim out the right places in my life to make such a room.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.