Christmas Podcast 2022: “Don’t Let Anything Steal Your Christmas”
Hello and welcome to Day 11, of CGMissions Christmas Podcast. Today’s podcast is entitled “Don’t Let Anything Steal Your Christmas.” These podcasts are brought to encourage you as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. The theme of these podcasts is and the topic for today is not letting anything steal your Christmas.
You know something, every day is Christmas if you have Christ in your life. So, after this Christmas is over, I am going to remind myself of this. Not only at Christmas, but every day, “Don’t Let Anything Steal Your Christmas.”
Closing
Thank you for being with us today on CGM Christmas Podcast. Join us again tomorrow when we will again share scriptures celebrating Jesus’ birth, hear an uplifting Christmas memory from another contributor, and listen to songs from our album “CGM We Love Christmas.” This is Stephanie Wright. May God’s love, peace, and protection be with you until next time, and remember, “Don’t let anything steal your Christmas.”
The album “We Love Christmas” is a production of Charles George Missions and Macattack Productions and may be ordered on through our website: www.cgmissions.com/podcast
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Hello and welcome to Day 11, of CGMissions Christmas Podcast. Today’s podcast is entitled “Don’t Let Anything Steal Your Christmas.” These podcasts are brought to encourage you as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. The theme of these podcasts is and the topic for today is not letting anything steal your Christmas. Stay with us. At the end of this podcast, we share some Christmas music from our album, “We Love Christmas” some of which you hear playing in the background now.
We always start out with a submission from someone who shares their favorite Christmas memory or gift. But today, the memory share will be included in the message.
First, let’s go to our scriptures which also are tied in with the message.
Our first scripture is from Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” And because He is the Prince of Peace, Isaiah 54:17 tells us, “No weapon that is formed against us shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against us in judgment we shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.”
You might be surprised how many people steal baby Jesus figurines from nativity scenes displayed outside of churches. In one case, two women were arrested in Dubuque, Iowa, in January 2015, for stealing a baby Jesus figurine in December. One absconded with the baby Jesus after she stole it from the manger outside a church and her friend was the get‑away driver. It would be funny if not for the fact that these women were charged with a crime.
But that’s the lead‑in to today’s podcast, “Don’t Let Anything Steal Your Christmas” or shall we say, steal the Jesus in you or steal your joy. This is the time of year when people are under a lot of pressure. To compound matters, some companies who care more about their bottom line than they do about the welfare of their employees will terminate people from their jobs. Or, they will disband divisions of an organization because it is no longer profitable for them. However, we cannot allow these things to discourage us to the point that we let it steal our joy, especially at Christmas, when we celebrate the One who brought us joy. Joy to the World.
I am talking about what I have been living since Christmas 1998. Shortly before Christmas 1997, I had a supervisor who decided he was not happy with me because I alleged that I had been treated unfairly in a certain matter. Yes, I had the audacity to stand up for my rights. Even though I received good reviews a few months earlier, he decided because of this incident, I needed to be reprimanded so he put me on what was called a PIP, a Performance Improvement Plan. In other words, he was retaliating against me and he was trying to fire me. Being put on a PIP was the death knell and almost a guarantee you were going to be terminated from your job.
Well, this could not have come at a worse time in my life. We were not too long in our new home and we had kids in college. I was terrified. Yes, I was a Christian, but I was still terrified of losing my job. I hired one of the best employment attorneys in the state and he carefully walked me through exactly how I was going to handle this attack. I finished my period of review and thought I was okay, but then this same supervisor decided to put me on a second PIP review period which means this went on for I guess three months (I’m not sure, it was so long ago). In any event, I survived and kept my job.
But this is the part of the story I want to emphasize. I love Christmas and anybody who knows me knows how much I love Christmas. Well, I allowed that event to steal my Christmas. I didn’t put up a Christmas tree, Christmas decorations; I didn’t send out Christmas cards (at least I don’t remember sending any out); I didn’t even go to my beautician to get my hair cut during that period (which wasn’t all bad because my hair grew out, you know how it is ladies – that between short hair and getting it longer stage). After that Christmas, I decided I would never again allow anyone or anything to steal my Christmas and I haven’t. There have been, in just the past week or so about three events that could have gotten next to me, but I reminded myself, uh‑uh, not letting it happen, not letting this thing, this person, nor this organization, not allowing anything to steal my Christmas.
So, how do you do that? This is what I do. I first recognize that I am under attack. I immediately acknowledge that God has given me the strength to overcome the attack and then I reject the attack and the attacker. Basically, James 4:7-8a. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
We don’t have to steal the baby Jesus. He came to us free of charge when He was born. That baby was packed with a lot of power. We draw on that power by knowing the Word of God. So, know Him and know what He has said in His Word and believe me, there is plenty of Word to encourage us through any situation.
You know something, every day is Christmas if you have Christ in your life. So, after this Christmas is over, I am going to remind myself of this. Not only at Christmas, but every day, “Don’t Let Anything Steal Your Christmas.”
Closing
Thank you for being with us today on CGM Christmas Podcast. Join us again tomorrow when we will again share scriptures celebrating Jesus’ birth, hear an uplifting Christmas memory from another contributor, and listen to songs from our album “CGM We Love Christmas.” This is Stephanie Wright. May God’s love, peace, and protection be with you until next time, and remember, “Don’t let anything steal your Christmas.”
The album “We Love Christmas” is a production of Charles George Missions and Macattack Productions and may be ordered on Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, and other platforms.
And of course, we close with the song, “Joy to the World” with the guitar instrumentals of James McNear, Jr. and Gilbert Clay, Jr.