About Becky Pliego

I am grateful because God, in His grace, called me out of darkness and into his admirable light. When I did not look for Him, He found me. When I was in a pit of sin, He rescued me. I am not walking this road alone, my family is always with me, and we love Him, because He loved us first.

On The Incarnation

Rebecca gave me permission to repost her article on the Incarnation today; Thank you, Rebecca!

Incarnation

The act of God in which God the son, the second person of the Trinity, took upon himself a human nature so that his divine nature and human nature were joined together in one person who is both truly God an truly man.

  • From Philippians 2:5-8:

    Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (ESV)

  • From The Belgic Confession, Article 18: The Incarnation:

    The Son took the “form of a servant” and was made in the “likeness of man,” truly assuming a real human nature, with all its weaknesses, except for sin; being conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, without male participation.
    And he not only assumed human nature as far as the body is concerned but also a real human soul, in order that he might be a real human being. For since the soul had been lost as well as the body he had to assume them both to save them both together.
    Therefore we confess … that he “shared the very flesh and blood of children”; that he is “fruit of the loins of David” according to the flesh; “born of the seed of David” according to the flesh; “fruit of the womb of the virgin Mary”;”born of a woman”; “the seed of David”; “a shoot from the root of Jesse”; “the offspring of Judah,” having descended from the Jews according to the flesh; “from the seed of Abraham”— for he “assumed Abraham’s seed” and was “made like his brothers except for sin.”
    In this way he is truly our Immanuel— that is: “God with us.”

  • From The Wonder of God Over Us and With Us by John Frame:

    Have you ever considered the utter mystery surrounding the incarnation of Christ – God entering our time and space while remaining above time and space as our sovereign Lord? The eternal becomes temporal; the infinite becomes finite; the Word that created all things becomes flesh. It is beyond human comprehension. The one who knows all things (John 16:30, 21:17) must “grow in wisdom” (Luke 2:52). The all-sufficient one (Acts 17:25) must hunger and thirst (Matt. 4:2, John 19:28). The creator of all must be homeless (Matt. 8:20). The Lord of life must suffer and die. God in the flesh must endure estrangement from God the Father (Matt. 27:46).
    In Jesus (God the Son), God, who knows the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10), must watch His eternal plan unfold bit by bit, moment by moment. He grows from infancy to childhood to adulthood, responding to events as they happen. One time He rejoices; another time He weeps. From day to day, from hour to hour, the changeless God endures change. But God the Son incarnate is still God, still transcendent. As He responds to events in time, He also looks down on the world from above time and space, ruling all the events of nature and history.
    Why did God enter time in Christ? Joseph named his baby Jesus, “because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). It was the Father’s love (John 3:16) that sent His Son, “that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” The Son of God took on the limitations of time, even death, so that we who deserve death can have life without limit, forever with God. He died in our place, that we might never die.

Learn more:

  1. J. I. Packer: Incarnation: God Sent His Son, To Save Us
  2. Paul Helm: Incomprehensibly Made Man
  3. Bob Deffinbaugh: The Importance of the Incarnation
  4. Wayne Grudem: The Person of Christ (mp3s): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

 

 

Today I am praying  Psalm 100

Praying the Psalms -Psalm 100

 

Folio 111 verso from a psalter (British Library, Stowe 2). Initial D from Psalm 100 (Beatus).

Thanksgiving is almost here, the last details are on our list and we are excited… It makes me happy to think that Thanksgiving is the opening door to the way that leads us to the Nativitity. We start with thanksgiving, with a grateful heart, we slow down to give thanks to the Almighty One for his mercies .

What a better way to prepare our hearts for this Advent season, and for the celebration of the Incarnation of our Lord?

Let us walk towards Bethlehem with thanksgiving in our hearts!

 

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, 
all the earth!
Make a joyful noise to the Lord,
O my soul!
Do not be quiet today,
praise Him out loud!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come, serve Him, O my soul,
For all that He has done,
Come and serve Him
in your home and family today!
Come into His presence with singing!
Join me little ones,
come with mom and dad and let us
enter today His presence with singing!
Know that the Lord, He is God!
It is he who made us, and we are His;
we are his people, and the sheep of 
his pasture.
God the Creator of all,
the Lord of lords,
has made us, and we are his!
We are His because He bought us
with a price.
We are His and not ours.
Our days are in His hands,
we are His sheep and
He nourishes our souls
and bodies.
Let us give Him thanks!
Let us make a joyful noise!
Let us serve Him with gladness!
Let us come into His presence with singing!
We can not see this and remain quiet,
we cannot see His goodness and not be glad.
We cannot see His new mercies every morning
and not be thankful!
Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
enter His courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Lord, your goodness, your mercy,
your grace,
they are too wonderful to comprehend!
When fears try to threaten me,
I will raise my voice and give thanks
to you, O Lord,
who has promised me goodness,
and steadfast love,
and faithfulness to all generations!
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Praying the Psalms -Psalm 116-

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I love you, my Lord,
because you have heard my voice and my pleas for mercy;
so many times I have sinned and you have brought me before You
 to ask forgiveness, only to find mercy at your feet.

I love you, my Lord,
because you have inclined your ear to me.
 – who else can I call day and night?
    who else will hear my heart beat
    and my deepest dreams?
Therefore I will call on you as long as I live.

When the snares of death encompassed me:
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me:
when I have suffered distress and anguish
I have called on your name:
“O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

– Lord, I am so thankful for this, 
  you not only hear my weary voice,
  but you hear to answer my cry.
  
-Lord, I am forever thankful, because
 you turn your ear to hear the voice of 
 your people, your delight is in answering our pleas.

Gracious you are O Lord,
Righteous and merciful you are, my God;
You preserve the simple;
When I was brought low, you saved me.

Lord,  your deeds are too wonderful for me to grasp,
 you delight in raising up the low;
 It amazes me that you, the Most Holy One,
 will  stretch out your hand to save sinners like me 
 from the darkest pit.

-O my soul, don’t be anxious for nothing,
 have you forgotten Who the Lord is?
Return, O my soul, to your rest,
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.


-Lord, I am grateful because in my iniquity,
 you came to me and cleansed me,
 and not only that but you have dealt  with me
 with many blessings, with many gifts,
 I don’t deserve any of those,
 yet you have dealt with me bountifully!

Lord, my God, you have delivered my soul from
death
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;

My heart can’t comprehend your grace!
I am yours, all my gratitude is due to you!

Because of your perfect sacrifice,
Because of your amazing grace,
I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

What shall I render to You,
O Most High God for all your benefits to me?

What shall I render to you,
O Most High God for all your benefits to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation
 and call on the name of the Lord,
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all His people.

Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of hos saints.
O Lord, I am your servant;
You have loosened my bonds.

For this I am grateful, O Lord,
for who is he who buys a servant
only to make Him free?
It is only you, O Lord, who looses
the bonds that separated me
from your divine love!

I will offer to you the sacrifice of
thanksgiving
and call upon your name, O Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of His people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord,
In your midst, O Jerusalem,

Praise the Lord!

 
 
 
Related Posts:
 
 
 
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>A Grateful Heart Gives

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My daughter’s eye captured this… I love her!

Borrowing my friend Persis’ words, I must say that even though I grew up a Christian,  “I have been doctrinally undernourished most of my life”, it was 7 years (almost 8) ago that the Lord brought us to understand the Doctrines of Grace and since then, we have been devouring the Word of God and theological books. What I learned in the past I learned it so well, that changing all that wrong information has taken a great big deal of time and study.

Now, my family speaks English as our second language, and we are grateful for that and for the fact that we have been able to buy books online and have them shipped to Mexico to nourish our souls. But I want you to imagine for a minute what it is for many people in the Spanish speaking countries, who are starting to be nourished  with sound doctrine and are not  able to find easily good books in Spanish. Think of your five favorite theological books in English, the most probable thing is that they don’t have them all published in Spanish…yet.

We have big Christian bookstores, but I guess you can imagine what kind of books they sell, all those books that preach any thing but the gospel. However, I am grateful for one ministry, one beautiful ministry, that is working hard to get more and more good books, that teach sound doctrine translated into Spanish and published.

I am grateful for them, and I want to invite you to prayerfully consider donating to their ministry (Disclaimer: My family is NOT involved in this ministry, I am not doing this for personal reasons at all) Their books are not sold expensive, I have seen that they try to keep the prices as low as possible, but that is not easy, as you can imagine.

I am so grateful for having all these book options in English, but there are many, many brothers and sisters in the Spanish speaking countries that are “doctrinally undernourished” and maybe, we can help a little bit so they can have more good literature in Spanish.

Faro de Gracia

My gratitude list goes on, only because He is who He is!

911. Being able to read English.

912. My husband willingness to buy all these books for our family.

913. Faro de Gracia

914. A Kindle to read more…

915. The Word nourishing my soul.

916. Laughter at the family table.

917. Our camera

918. My daughter resting her head on my chest.

919. Kisses in the morning.

920. Little one excited about spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa.

921. Our oldest son, his love for books.

922. A model of a virus, a time to make memories.

923. Visiting the park and buying a carnivorous plant.

924. Huge “leaves-cake”

935. Eating out.

936. A date with my Beloved.

937. The song of the birds.

938. Four dogs that make our children’s lives so happy.

939. Silence.

940. Noise

941. Dreams.

942. Tears.

943. Contentment.

944. Tea with my daughter.

945. Yellow and Blue.

946. New music on the piano.

947. Holding hands.

948. Being able to breath today.

May your journey this week be one of gratitude.

Under His sun and by His Grace,

>The Family of God

>T oday, I am thankful for the family of God. I am thankful for YOU, no matter where you are worshiping our Father today, we are one in Him, and this is too wonderful for me to comprehend.

J.C Ryle says in his book Practical Religion, about the family of God:

“Let us strive to live worthy of the family to which we belong. Let us labour to do nothing that may cause our Father’s house to be spoken against. Let us endeavour  to make our Master’s name beautiful by our temper, conduct and conversations. Let us love as brethren, and abhor all quarrels. Let us behave as if the honour of “the family” depended on our behaviour.
So living, by the grace of God, we shall make our calling and election sure, both to ourselves and others. So living, we may hope to have an abundant entrance, and to enter harbour in full sail, whenever we change earth for heaven. (2 Peter 1:2) So living, we shall recommend our Father’s family to others, and perhaps by God’s blessing incline them to say, ‘We shall go with you'”

May you enjoy this Lord’s day with the family of God!

Please, if you have few minutes, I really recommend you to read Persis blog entry today… what she says is VERY important!

>Getting Ready for Christmas

>What is in the oven today? These muffins, they look so good, are easy to make and my kitchen already smells delicious!

Today I am thankful for two specific things:

1. My name coming out of a hat! 

Yes, I am the happy winner of the book that my dear friend Diane @ Theology for Girls, gave away this week:

Commentary on Matthew
“The Gospel of the Kingdom”
C.H. Spurgeon

You need to know that the beautiful picture of Matthew Henry on the cover was painted by Diane’s husband, Robert Bucknell a great artist indeed! (visit his website here)

Thank you, Diane!

2. I am also thankful for all the resources available to study and get ready for Christmas.

Sometimes we spend lots of time thinking about the decorations for our home during the Holidays that we may forget that this is a great time to study some doctrines that are essential for us to know. If we study the sound doctrine, and grasp what it really means Emmanuel, God with us, the Incarnation, God breaking into time becoming man, we will be able to celebrate fully and joyfully this Christmas season.

You don’t have to spend money to buy books if you don’t have it, there are plenty resources available online for you to start studying today!

Monergism offers a large list of resources here.

Grace and Gems has a wide list of resources too. Find them here.

Go to Ligonier  to listen a teaching series entitled Christmas Messages.

Desiring God also offers several options for you to study, check them out.

Well, my friends, my little one is awake and Saturday muffins are ready…

Have a joyous weekend!