Prince of Peace

Advent Thoughts

“For unto us a child is born, to us a child is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God, Everlasting Father Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)

I first heard this verse quoted at a school Christmas program when I was in the fifth grade. Each time I hear it read or quoted, I find myself loving each name given to the child ‘born to us’.

“. . . Wonderful Counselor . . .” Jesus is a source of wonder, a miracle. Who would have come from the glories of heaven as a child born into a poor family but God Himself? He has wisdom to guide us through all the circumstances we face in life.

 “. . .  Mighty God . . . “       God possesses all the might to do for us all we need.

 “. . . Everlasting Father . . .” the child is one who protects us always. He encircles us with His great arms of love and keeps the enemy from inflicting harm on us, His children.

 “. . . Prince of Peace” A friend posted a picture on Facebook that said: “Peace is not the absence of problems; Peace is the presence of Christ. (Sheila Walsh) Jesus gives us HIS peace, not the peace the world gives.  The peace of Christ lasts forever.

Everlasting Father, Father

Advent Thoughts

     John 3:16, 36 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (36) Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.

“. . . eternal Life” We sometimes get the wrong idea about life. As pre-Christians, we lived our lives as if there were no tomorrow. The motto of our lives became “Eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow you die.” We lived for the moment, not thinking about the next day, week or year. Then we heard about Jesus and what He gives us. The most precious gift He bestows upon His children is eternal life with Him. If he gives us this gift, then He is everlasting. Before a person can give a gift, he or she must have it himself.

“Whoever believes in the Son . . .” The way we can receive eternal, everlasting life is to believe on Jesus Christ, the only Son of God. Jesus, who came to earth to save us from our sin, invites us to believe in Him and to share His love.

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name,

he gave the right to become children of God-children born not of

human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

John 1:12-13 (NIV)

When we reflect on what God has done for us, we have to think about His role as our heavenly Father.

An earthly father may or may not nurture his children- show those offspring how to perform the basic steps of taking care of oneself, how to manage to live, how to make good choices to help them through daily living.

Our heavenly Father does the same things but also so much more. He comforts us when we are ill-no matter what type of illness we have. He guides us through the pitfalls of life, no matter how we happen to fall into them.

He guides us through some very tenuous times-serious illness of family members or our own. He comforts us when we hurt. Our heavenly Father is there for us forever- no matter what the need, any time day or night.

Mighty God

Advent Thoughts

“’And He said to them, ‘What things?’ So they said to Him,

‘The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and

word before God and all the people.’” Luke 24:19 (NKJV)

Our Lord met two people on the road to Emmaus. The two talked dejectedly between themselves. Jesus asked them what they were talking about. Their response told the Lord, and those who would read this accounting, what these two among others thought of Jesus.

” . . . who was a Prophet. . . . “ Jesus spoke of things not envisioned by the people of Israel.

(John 7: 37-40)

” . . . mighty in deed . . . “In Luke 4: 17-21, when Jesus went to the temple and read from the scrolls He quoted Isaiah 61:1-2. All the deeds- preaching to the poor, proclaiming freedom to the prisoners, and healing the blind- had not been done before. At the beginning of the passage in Isaiah, the prophecy reads “The LORD has anointed me.” When a person is anointed by God, he or she is set apart for very special Kingdom service.

“ . . . and word before God. . . “We have scriptural evidence of Jesus speaking words that brought healing to those who stood before Him. He restored the ear of the High Priest’s Servant in Gethsemane. (Luke 22:47-52) He called the many demons from the man in the region of the Gerasenes. (Mark 5:1-20)

Jesus Our Wonderful Counselor

Advent Thoughts

“All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, wonderful in counsel

 and magnificent in wisdom.” Isaiah 28:29 (NIV)

At different times in our lives we have needed to seek advice from a person more knowledgeable than we. This advice may come from a doctor, a lawyer, a therapist, an expert on rearing children.

Spiritually speaking, we have an adviser who watches over us every day of our lives. He has watched over us since we were formed Psalm 139:13-16. We call on Him when we have problems or illness in our lives. We worship and praise Him when our lives run smoothly.

His name is Jesus. His role in our lives is that of counselor. Isaiah describes Him as “wonderful counselor; what does that mean to us? Have you had a time in your life where you sought God’s counsel over the advice of earthly friends or worldly ‘experts’? 

Adoration RJD December 2012

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(Taken from Journal 2/26/1997)

Adoration-that’s the devotional topic this week (disciplines for the inner life.) One writer says we use the word ‘adore’ to describe lesser and silly things. And that we have lost the practice of Adoration to God in “superficial wonder and feeling.” (Edward J Farrell)

Pastor Mike, a former pastor at a church we belonged to,  used to tell us we were to “Worship God for Who He is.” that we were to focus upon the person of God and not upon what He can do for or give to us.

Psalm 150 tells us to praise the Lord. The psalmist uses the word “praise” 13 times in six verses. A footnote told me that the phrase “Praise the Lord” in Hebrew is hallelia Yah. The English language has directly taken this Hebrew phrase and made it into one word.

God is Creator, pure, just, merciful, honorable, faithful, truth, liberator, and unifies His children.

Holy one, set apart 

All powerful, none stronger

  Liberator frees us from our sin.

 Life eternal, forever alive                                                                       

Everlasting, no end to God’s presence

 Love, unconditional                                                                       

Yokefellow, always beside us.

All Knowing

 Heavenly Father

Update:

As I prepared this journal entry, I received a phone call. One of the  ladies of our church l had passed away. On Monday, my visitation partner and I went to the hospital to make a call on this dear person. She told us that she had someone with her at all times; her Jesus was with her at all times. Before we left, we had prayer for her; then she had prayer for us. We who went to minister to her, received a great blessing.This lady is with the Lord as of November 30, 2012.  Her Celebration of Life service was Wednesday.

Linking up to beneaththesurface-dawn.blogspot.com

Nativity Alphabet

Advent Thoughts

Bing.com

I was playing with these words one day and found I had some fun while I did this. I thought you all would enjoy this.

A is for Angels-God’s messengers

B is for Beasts-God chose 

C is for Counselor. Jesus is the best adviser we can have.

D is for Deliverer. Jesus delivers us from our sin.

E is for Everlasting- God’s love is eternal.

F is for Forever- Jesus will reign forever.

G is for Glory-To Him belongs all glory.

H is for Hallelujahs- Praises to the King.

I is for Immanuel, God with us

J is for Joy

K is for King of Kings

L is for Lord, A title of majesty and kingship.

M is for Magi, they came from afar to worship the Christ child.

N is for Nova, the bright star of Bethlehem

O is for Omnipotence, Omnipresence

P is for Prince of Peace- Isaiah 9:6

Q is for Quiet. We listen in the quiet for His soft whisper.

R is for Room in Our Hearts-Let us prepare room in our hearts for Him.

S is for Shepherds- participants in God’s plan

T is for Time- God chose the time for His Son to come to us.

U is for unction, an anointing from the Holy One.

V is for Victory- God’s Son gives us victory over the world.

W is for Wondrous Awe

X is for Exaltation- Exalt God for His wonderful Gift to us.

Y is for You and Me- Our Father sent His Son for you and me.

Z is for Zeal-Let’s prepare our hearts for Jesus’ coming with eager anticipation.

Yours Is the Day, Lord, Yours is the night/ Book review

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Edited by Jeanie and David Gushee

The Gushees have brought together prayers from the earliest days of Christendom through 2012. The intent of the book is that believers in Christ will use these prayers as a spring board for times of personal devotions. A prayer for the morning and another prayer for the evening appear for each day of the year. Also the Gushees included information about the Lenten and advent season. Interspersed throughout the volume are pen and ink drawings of certain events in the Bible.

I have enjoyed reading this collection of prayers. One particular morning I read several prayers. As I read them, I felt the presence of God beside me. Early that afternoon, I had to straighten something out with a merchant in our town-they had charged me a fraction of the price on a purchase I had made. God was with me during my discovery and when I went to resolve the error. This book is very well formatted with a Calendar of the Movable Holy Days for the years of 2013 through 2017 at the beginning. The editors include an extensive bibliography as well as a useful index, arranged by author’s names.

I would recommend this book to anyone, clergy or laity, who is searching to draw closer to the Lord.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson, Inc., through their BookSneeze program. All I had to do was read it and give an honest review.