Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end

Dear prayer and financial partners,

Maria, Vicki and George - last warm days of fall

Greetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! I hope that you and your loved ones are enjoying the Lord's favor during this very special time of the year. We have many reasons to bring thanks to God and above all it's His greatest gift - The Son of God - who came down to live among men and manifest the fullness of God's grace and mercy by giving himself up for our sins and providing us with an eternal hope and salvation. I was recently researching the reasons for the Day of Thanksgiving, because like with Christmas and Easter, I really wanted to seperate the precious and holy from the heavily commercial reasons for a celebration. And it did make sense then. I could see, why we today in this modern world full of conveniences need to learn from the 53 Pilgrims who survived the harsh winter of 1621 and as people who have come to know God and His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ we are called to walk in thankfulness every day, not just once a year.

It must have been easy for the 53 Pilgrims to be really bitter and angry with God and their surroundings. According to the historical records, the Mayflower carried 102 Pilgrims across the Atlantic in 1620, but the harsh winter, disease and hunger took the lives of half of that group! Neverthless, the rest of the Pilgrims looked around and saw the mercy of God in bringing them safely across the dangerous ocean deep and providing the first good harvest and blessing them with peace among their newfound neighbors - the Native American Indians living in the area - today's Massachusetts. They gathered, gave thanks to God for His goodness and mercy and of course ate turkey! In one of the letters a Pilgrim sent to his family in England, he has said, that the area around Cape Cod abounds in fowl (turkeys among them) and the lakes and the sea in fish. They lost so many and yet their hearts were full of grace and gratitude and brought thanks to God after the first harvest of 1621. We sure have many more reasons to be thankful!

I want to bring special thanks to our Lord at this time of reminding ourselves how gracious and generous our God is. During our summer ministry outreach, we gathered most of our core ministry team with their families and children. We had been planning for that time of prayer and encouragement and really desired to lift each other's family up before the throne of Grace. One of the families which came to the retreat have been praying for a child for several years. They had the doctors say to them, that was a very serious problem and that medicine may not help. As they were sharing, they were very and and tears flowed down their faces. We said, "Listen, let us come before God in prayer! Let us intercede for you and see what God will say." We were worshipping and began to pray. After all, we felt that we need to focus on intercessory prayer back then. That was the main focus of the entire retreat.

Several days ago, I received an email from Ivaylo and Daniela saying that Daniela is now 2 months pregnant! She feels well and doctors say that there are no complications whatsoerver. PTL! He gave Samuel to Anna when she was desperate and had nowhere to go for help! Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever! He is a miracle workin God!

Christmas is coming! It's that great reason for our thanksgiving and praise, for our joy and hope!

Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever  (Isaiah 9:7)

I have been praying recently for The Kingdom of God to increase dramatically among us. And the passage in Isaiah 9:7 gives us this promise. The Kingdom of God will always increase! That is the promise of Christmas. Each Christmas there are people who experience the Kingdom of God for the first time and receive the peace only Christ came to give. When Mary placed her baby in a manger, it became the throne of our King. We the Christians of today, like the shepherds, still bow before the manger to worship their Messiah.

Jesus came to reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, to reign in our hearts to guide our lives. The Messiah's throne would be over all the people who would belong to the Kingdom of God. Jesus would be the last King the people would ever have because he was the last King the people would ever need. Jesus upholds God's Kingdom with justice and righteousness. That was true on the first Christmas and it is still true today. I wonder how the Pilgrims of 1620 celebrated their first Christmas! It would disrupt a lot of our nativity sets, but imagine Joseph and Mary, the animals and the Magi gathered around the baby Jesus – on a throne instead of a manger. 

The baby was a King. The Magi understood that. King Herod feared it. The shepherds were fascinated and awed by the tiny baby. Many would question the details surrounding his birth. But from that time until now, billions have believed in Jesus as their King. That number will always increase, according to Isaiah.

Christmas means we have a King – and we always will. May we place him on the throne of our lives this Advent season, and give him our worship.

I appeal to you to become our partners in mission in 2014! Help us reach out to children, youth and families in Bulgaria! Let us together serve and bring increase of His government and peace in the lives of many in Bulgaria! 

WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS, YOUR SUPPORT AND YOUR PARTNERSHIP! PLEASE, PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER GIVING $100.00 FOR THE MINISTRY OF NEW HOPE BULGARIA USING OUR ONLINE FORM ATwww.newhopeinternational.org OR SEND GIFTS TO:

New Hope International / P.O.Box 25490 / Colorado Springs, CO 

80936; Call: 1-800-297-9591