Category Archives: Christianity

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

 God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

In Bethlehem, in Israel,
This blessed Babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which His Mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by Name.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

“Fear not then,” said the Angel,
“Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of a pure Virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan’s power and might.”
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding
In tempest, storm and wind:
And went to Bethlehem straightway
The Son of God to find.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

And when they came to Bethlehem
Where our dear Saviour lay,
They found Him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His Mother Mary kneeling down,
Unto the Lord did pray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

Some Spurgeon from Of First Importance ~

 

“The bridge of grace will bear your weight, brother.”

“The bridge of grace will bear your weight, brother. Thousands of big sinners have gone across that bridge, yea, tens of thousands have gone over it. I can hear their trampings now as they traverse the great arches of the bridge of salvation. They come by the thousands, by their myriads, e’er since that day when Christ first entered His glory.

They come and yet never a stone has sprung in that mighty bridge. Some have been the chief of sinners and some have come at the very last of their days but the arch has never yielded beneath their weight. I will go with them, trusting to the same support. It will bear me over as it has for them.”

– Charles Spurgeon

(Ht: Of First Importance)

How Cheering is the Christian’s Hope ~

 How Cheering is the Christian’s Hope

How cheering is the Christian’s hope,
While toiling here below!
It buoys us up while passing through
This wilderness of woe.
It buoys us up while passing through
This wilderness of woe.

It points us to a land of rest,
Where saints with Christ will reign;
Where we shall meet the loved of earth,
And never part again.
Where we shall meet the loved of earth,
And never part again.

Fly, lingering moments, fly, O fly;
Dear Savior, quickly come!
We long to see Thee as Thou art,
And reach that blissful shore.
We long to see Thee as Thou art,
And reach that blissful shore.

(anonymous)

If you’d like to hear the tune click here.

Photo of Lake Washington taken at Log Boom Park in Kenmore

Thankful Thursday ~ Heirs Because of Christ!

Galatians 4: 4-6

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

What a wonderful time of year to consider all the wonderful blessings that are available to us because of Christ’s coming to earth and ultimately his sacrifice for our sins. Amazing to consider that we are heirs with Christ, simply amazing thing to be thankful for! Blessings on all of you.

 

For more Thankful Thursday head over to Laurel Wreath’s Reflections.

I also have a post below this of 33 things about my marriage up today since today is my 33rd wedding anniversary…I’m thankful for my husband and the 33 years God has given us so far filled with life changing experiences, boring days, sad days, exciting days and all kinds of days filled with His joy!

Photobucket has blacked out all my photos I was storing on their site and they are holding them hostage. I am working on updating my more than 4000 posts.

Coffee and Devotions

 Come and have a cup of coffee with me and consider some thoughts…

I’ve got the gas stove burning

The coffee is brewing. Pick a Christmas cup for your “Joe”. I can also boil water for tea, you know…

I’ve got mine ready to go…

This morning I was reading from John Piper’s Taste and See and I found these thoughts something good to ponder. I’m not including the whole of meditation #5 but parts of it.

“If we would be wise people – people on the way to being “sages” – we must understand how our sinful human hearts and minds work. One profound biblical insight we need to embrace is that our heart exploits our mind to justify what the heart wants. That is, our deepest desires precede the rational functioning of our minds and incline the mind to perceive and think in a way that will make the desires look right. It is an illusion to think that our hearts are neutral and incline in accordance with cool, rational observation of truth. On the contrary, we feel powerful desires or fears in our hearts, and then our minds bend reality to justify the desires and fears….

….It is an old tale. From Cain (Genesis 4:9) to American presidents, truth has been sacrificed to desire, and the mind has been shrewdly employed by the darkened heart to shroud its passions. This is the point of Romans 12:18: They suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” Truth is held hostage by the unrighteous commitments of the heart. The unrighteous heart then employs the mind to distract and deceive. As Jesus says, “Everyone who does evil hates the Light” (John 3:20). Doing the evil we love makes us hostile to the light of truth which will expose the evil and rob us of its fleeting pleasures. In this condition the mind becomes a factory of half-truths, equivocations, sophistries, evasions, and lies – anything to protect the evil desires of the heart from exposure and destruction.

[sophistry -unsound or misleading but clever, plausible, and subtle argument or reasoning; sophism] [I added this definition because this was a new word to me]

We are all given to this. Our only hope is the transforming work of God in our hearts to free us from the bondage of a hardened heart that produces a futile mind.

….we should pray for God to change hearts so that they can see the beauty of truth and love it.

…Romans 6:17, “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were commited.” Obedience came from the heart. Thanks be to God. And if thanks be to God, then let prayers be to God. He is our only hope – to escape our own delusions and deliver others.”

I hope you find these thoughts something good to ponder and learn from today. Go into this new day with truth and grace. Blessings…

Eternal Glory of the Sky ~ Hymn

 

Eternal Glory of the Sky

Eternal Glory of the sky,
Blest Hope of frail humanity,
The Father’s sole begotten One,
Yet born a spotless virgin’s Son!

Uplift us with Thine arm of might,
And let our hearts rise pure and bright,
And, ardent in God’s praises, pay
The thanks we owe him every day.

The day-star’s rays are glittering clear,
And tell that day itself is near:
The shadows of the night depart;
Thou, holy Light, illume the heart!

Within our senses ever dwell,
And worldly darkness thence expel;
Long as the days of life endure,
Preserve our souls devout and pure.

The faith that first must be possessed,
Root deep within our inmost breast;
And joyous hope in second place,
Then charity, Thy greatest grace.

All laud to God the Father be,
All praise, eternal Son, to Thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To God the holy Paraclete.

Words: At­trib­ut­ed to Ambrose of Milan, 4th Cen­tu­ry (Ae­ter­na coeli glo­ria); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to En­glish by John M. Neale in The Hymn­al Not­ed, 1854.

Christmas Traditions ~ Luke 2:1-20 and Swedish Pancakes!

There are so many Christmas traditions that we have enjoyed over the years. Today I’ll share a couple that have stayed with us since Dear and I were married. His Mother started the rich tradition of reading Luke 2: 1-20 at the Christmas Eve celebrations before everyone tore into their gifts. Over the years we tried different ways to incorporate this rich tradition. We started including it on my side of the families gatherings, too. One year while all the cousins were still young I made a very elementary coloring book with all these verses for each child in each family to color and help them to memorize this passage. At our Christmas Eve celebration I brought  several rolls of quarters and each child that could recite any of the passage got a quarter for every verse they remembered! It was loads of fun. Recently my brother dared his nieces and nephews to recite these in Russian and to whoever could he’d give big bucks. Ha! One of my nephews met the challenge and my brother gave him $100 and my father was so pleased he kicked in an extra $50.

 

This is the booklet I made with a picture and one to two verses on each page. I’m sure anyone out there can make a more artistic coloring book with the help of a computer. I made this by hand before I had a computer. This is the cover of one of the stapled booklets that I think was my son Josh’s.

The other tradition that my immediate family enjoys is on Christmas morning after we see what’s inside our Christmas Stockings, Dear cooks up Swedish Pancakes for us all to enjoy. Here’s Dear on Christmas 2005 cooking them up!

 

Do you have a tradition to share with us? You still have time to post it and join in the fun. To read about other traditions or join in the fun head over to My Quiet Corner.

As of June 2017 Photobucket has blacked out all my photos that I had stored there and are holding them hostage. Hopefully I can update my photos on all the posts they have ruined, over 4000 of them.

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus ~ Hymn

 

 Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

(words by Charles Wesley)

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

ht: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/o/m/comtlong.htm

GIVE THANKS ~ WORSHIP

 

Give Thanks

GIVE THANKS
WITH A GRATEFUL HEART
GIVE THANKS
TO THE HOLY ONE
GIVE THANKS
FOR HE’S GIVEN
JESUS CHRIST, HIS SON (X2)

 

AND NOW LET THE WEAK SAY
I AM STRONG
LET THE POOR SAY

I AM RICH

BECAUSE OF WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE
FOR US
(X2)

GIVE THANKS…

 I thought this was perfect for the Sunday hymn/worship song post this week. My sister Kathy was singing it with her grandson Jack (who knew all the words) and I remember singing this simple wonderful song. Have a wonderful Sunday worshipping together.

 

Tuesday In Other Words ~

“Love is beautiful, but it is also terrible–terrible in its determination to allow nothing blemished or unworthy to remain in the beloved.”~ Hannah Hurnard ~

Here’s where I went with this quote.

God is love ~

I John 4: 7-10 ~ “Beloved, let us love one another for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God disciplines those He loves ~

Hebrews 12: 5-14 ~ “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had eartly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

Because God is Love in the purest form and His son resides in us we are disciplined so that we can reflect His image to the world and to glorify Him. God’s plan to save us because of His love for us involved the terrible pain of His son on the cross. When we receive this sacrifice for us we become children of God.  As children of God we need to accept the fact that we will suffer in order to be conformed to the image of God. His Firstborn suffered we will suffer, too.

For more In Other Words visit Bonnie at Ink it Blog.