Poison can be a liquid, a powder, a gas–or it can be somethin’ in your head.”
              –Ernest Haycox  (Canyon Passage)

    “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
              –Romans 15:13 (HCSB)
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Bring forth the cheer and joy for the season is upon us.  This is a great time of the year for this is the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ.  In our feeble brains it is hard for us to begin to even comprehend this event.  The Almighty, humbled Himself and came to earth.  The Christ-child, fully man and fully God.  The miracle is beyond understanding.
    With Christmas we have the playing of songs.  Most of which, anymore, are secular.  Some of these are good, some marginal, and some utterly ridiculous and disdainful.  However, there are those wonderful carols that we tend to save for this time of year.  Here is one, written by William Harold Neidlinger, that we seldom hear.  

              In the little village of Bethlehem
              There lay a child one day
              And the sky was bright
              With a holy light
              O’er the place where Jesus lay.

God sent His only begotten Son to earth.  The Son of God willfully laid aside the glory that was His in heaven and came to earth for the purpose of saving man from his sins.  He left heaven and came to a manger in a stall in a small Judean town of Bethlehem.  He became helpless at this moment and it was up to Joseph to protect and care for the boy.  However, we cannot see in the spiritual realm, but in my imagination there was a tremendous guard of angels set around the birth of Christ.  Satan would not be allowed to touch Him there.  Maybe it wasn’t seen, but there was a holy light.

              Humble birthplace
              But O
              How much God gave to us that day!
              From the manger bed what a path has led
              What a perfect holy way.

The way of Jesus was indeed a holy way.  He rose from that bed of hay to one day becoming a well-known figure in Palestine.  So much so, that those of the synagogue feared Him.  God set forth the beginnings of the deliverance of mankind in a manger bed years before and then the path that Jesus trod led Him to the cross for the salvation of man.  In God’s way, it was the “perfect holy way.”  Now, man can go back to the Father.  Man can have redemption.  It began in the little town of Bethlehem.

                      Alleluia
                      O how the angels sang!
                      Alleluia
                      How it rang!
                      And the sky was bright
                      With a holy light
                      ‘Twas the birthday of a King.

It is our custom, on a birthday, to adorn a cake with candles.  But think, ponder if you will–the birthday of Jesus, the stars were His candles.  If you have never heard this song it is one that is powerful, especially when the chorus is sung.  The birthday of the King is proclaimed loudly and exuberantly!  Go back and be with the angels for a moment; join in the song and exalt the birth of Jesus.

He always found the crack and pop of the fire soothing.  Fires had that effect on him.”
              –G. Michael Hopf  (Vengeance Road)

     “So they said to each other, ‘Weren’t our hearts ablaze within us while He was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?'”
              –Luke 24:32 (HCSB)
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For the last several years we have spent Thanksgiving camping.  One of my main jobs is to get the morning fire started, keep it going, and make the morning coffee.  I cheated some this year–I didn’t camp.  But since the campsite was only sixteen miles from the house I would get up in the morning, go out and do my chore.
    I have sat in front of many a campfire–hence the title of my devotions, “Echoes From the Campfire.”  It seems that much pondering can go on around a campfire.  Of course, there is the cooking, the coffee, the camaraderie, and the family time.  Many years ago, when I was back in youth, some of the best times were around a bonfire, each person holding a pine cone in their hand and when it came their turn they would toss it in the fire and testify what the Lord had done for them, or what they wanted Him to do, or prayers that had been answered.  Many would repent and come back to the Lord.  It was as if the flames flickering and waving in the fire was doing the same things in the hearts of those around.
    Fire is one of the main symbols of the Holy Spirit.  I won’t go into all of the things that fire does but I will mention them and you can fill in the analogy as you ponder this devotion.  Fire:  consumes, purifies, breaks, softens, hardens, inflames, warms, cheers, fuses, assimilates, tests, illuminates, moves, and ascends.  God, Himself, is referred to as a “consuming fire.”
    There was a time when hunting near Eagle, Colorado that the campfire was a very welcome sight.  It was miserably cold, and I can handle being cold when out hunting.  (I need to add that hunting in Colorado is not sitting in a stand, there is moving around.)  However, when I come to camp I want to be warm.  The only time we were warm that week was when we were arund the fire or in our sleeping bags.  It was cold, but the thought of fire encouraged us to get back to camp in the evening.  That in itself brought cheer to our hearts and minds.
    One other aspect of the fire I’ll mention.  Fire assimilates.  Matthew Henry stated that, “Fire makes all it seizes like itself.”  The Holy Spirit, “the Fire”, is in the process of burning away the old person and making us like Him.  He is working in us.  Remember, the Holy Spirit works from the inside out.  Before He begins to clean the outside, He burns up what is inside and makes it like Himself.  
    This is a lifetime work.  Would that it was not so, but we are so stubborn at times and will fight His work in us.  We are His temple and He will burn everything out that doesn’t please Him.  Some things are like paper and they burst readily into flame.  Other things are like a stubborn old stump that will smolder giving up lots of smoke in its burning.  It will eventually be consumed, but not brightly like other types of wood.
    So, when you are going through the fire, what is it that the Spirit is trying to do?  Is He trying to purify you, or soften you?  Is He trying to assimilate you or harden you?  Is He trying to warm and cheer you or consume you?  Time to ponder.

A man needs to see some mountains every morning so he stays humble.”
         –Duane Boehm  (Gideon Johann)

    “For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.”
         –Hebrews 10:36 (HCSB)
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Psalm 9 (HCSB)
         11 Sing to the Lord, who dwells in Zion; proclaim His deeds among the nations.
         12 For the One who seeks an accounting for bloodshed remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
         13 Be gracious to me, Lord; consider my affliction at the hands of those who hate me.  Lift me up from the gates of death,
         14 so that I may declare all Your praises.  I will rejoice in Your salvation within the gates of Daughter Zion.
         15 The nations have fallen into the pit they made; their foot is caught in the net they have concealed.
         16 The Lord has revealed Himself; He has executed justice, striking down the wicked by the work of their hands.  Higgaion. Selah
         17 The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations that forget God.
         18 For the oppressed will not always be forgotten; the hope of the afflicted will not perish forever.
         19 Rise up, Lord! Do not let man prevail; let the nations be judged in Your presence.
         20 Put terror in them, Lord; let the nations know they are only men.  Selah.

This portion of Psalm 9 is rather somber.  David, a military man, always maintained a concern for the poor and needy.  The soldier is able to see this from a perspective quite different from the average man, the civilian, for he has seen his share of this because of the ravages of war.  David reminds us that God doe not forget His!  For to be forgotten devalues personhood; and affliction compounds loneliness and isolation.  In the midst of all this God is there and sees His children.
    In these verses, look closely.  We see the thoughts of Job, “surely my Redeemer lives.”  The idea of the Redeemer is present; the Redeemer is the family blood avenger.  Paul reminds us that “vengeance is mine”–the Redeemer does not forget.  Man, who is he is the presence of the Almighty?  There is coming a time where justice in its purity shall be seen.  The Lord will come with justice in His hand.
    Even in affliction there is a time to sing praises.  Praises for what the Lord will do.  Actually, when we are in despair; when we find ourselves in “prison” no matter what type, we should be like Paul and Silas and begin to sing praises.  The early church leader, John Chrysostom, put it in more poetic terms, “Prayer is a have to the shipwrecked, a staff to limbs that totter, a mine of jewels to the poor, a healer of disease, and a guardian of health.”  
    God does not forget.  He does not forget the afflicted and oppressed.  He does not forget the wicked and their works.  Therefore, in our lives on this earth we need to praise Him.

               “O Lord, you are a shelter
                For all who are oppressed;
                A refuge and a hiding place
                For those who are distressed.”
                      –Isaac Watts