This year we started the Christmas season by watching the Frank Capra classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life, which stars Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. We have seen this movie many times, but this year we were struck by the contrast between Bedford Falls and Pottersville, and we saw in it a message for times such as ours. Sadly, it seemed to us that our world today looks much like Pottersville.

Praying for our leaders is something we all should do, and it is incredibly important because if our leaders and government go off track, it becomes more and more difficult to “lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” (I Timothy 2:2)

When we are blessed by the Lord, as commanded by Him, when we receive His blessing, His word, His promises, when we practice praise and the Lord Himself is our ruler, then the earth shall yield her increase and our own God shall bless us. 

Have you ever been in that place where the charade was over, and everyone knew your sins and failures?

That is where David was. Even though he was the King – he knew he had done wrong; but it hit him even deeper than just being exposed on the outside - it hit him deeply inside of his soul.

A perfect example of God’s faithfulness and ultimate victory in the end is Jerusalem. As Psalm 48 says – this city will become “the joy of the whole earth”.

In Psalm 48 we see the ultimate heavenly city and the warfare surrounding it, but also the physical city of Jerusalem and the warfare of destruction that has always been around it and continues to this day. Ultimately these two realities and two stories will converge into a beautiful tapestry of God’s faithfulness and presence seen on earth.

This bride is one that is completely desired by the King. That kind of intense love and affection is what causes worship to spring up in the heart of the bride. It is a response to His great love.

The worship that comes out of her is pure and not afraid of rejection. It is this abandoned worship that makes the bride even more beautiful and more desirable to the King as she comes bringing gifts. He draws her close, entreating her to leave behind all worldly relationships and cleave only unto Him, her bridegroom to whom she is now betrothed.