Category Archives: Advent

Celebrating the Excellencies of His Name

Posted on by
19

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

This is the season of the year when we purposely meditate on the coming of this child, Jesus. It is a time of great joy because we know that He has come to save His own and our natural response as Christians is to praise Him. To celebrate all of who He is.

During this Advent season, we want to invite you to join us in considering and celebrating the excellencies of the names of our Lord. We want to see Him fully, closer as if to say; we long to know Him better, to worship and love Him more. And we will do this by studying His names. Each of His names, reveals part of Jesus’ identity; each name tells us something about the One who has come to us;  each one tells us of His majesty, His Divinity, His purpose. Each one of His names “possess profound significance and unfading glory” (1) . Oh that we may know Him more!

Octavius Winslow says,

“Each title embodies a distinct meaning and illustrates a particular truth, the significance and preciousness of which the Holy Spirit can alone unfold and the believing heart alone appreciate…. the titles of our Lord are wonderful.”

John Flavel says,

“The titles of Christ are so many motives or arguments fitted to persuade men to come unto him.”

William S. Plumer says,

“Jesus Christ is a wonderful, a glorious person. His names and titles are as important as they are significant. Every one of them is as ointment poured forth. His people sit under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit is sweet to their taste. To them He is altogether lovely.”

Dear friends, let us pray that this Advent we may be drawn closer to Him, that our faith may be strengthen as we see all that He is as revealed in the Scriptures, and in His names and titles; Oh that we may be drawn by the Spirit of God to praise Him even more.

And to open this series I would like to give you a book (I wish I could give each one you, dear Readers one), The Unexpected Jesus: The Truth Behind His Biblical Names by R.C. Sproul. Please leave a comment letting me know that you wish to enter this giveaway. (The winner will be announced Saturday, December 10)

Praising Jesus, our Everlasting King!

post signature

Thanks to my friend Rachel who has contributed to this series with her beautiful photography and creativity by making the beautiful header image. Thank you, Rachel!

Make sure to visit and follow her photography blog and her blog with yummy recipes.

Find the index of this series here.

Grateful For His Coming

Posted on by
3
Annie Pliego Photography

I love Advent season, the expectation, the taking apart a time in our life to consider His coming, to meditate on the meaning of the Incarnation, on the Alpha and Omega, the Promised Savior, on His coming, His Birth, His life, His death.  During this season the books you see on my nightstand, (and in my purse and my car) are books that draw my attention to this event. I want to fully and intentionally live this season considering the miracle, the mystery of God taking the form of a man, setting aside all His royalty, dressed in humility, and take the form of a servant, making himself obedient even to the point of death, and death of the cross.

That is why our home’s decoration changes dramatically, a big tree in the living room (are you serious?), lights, Christmas ornaments hanging from the walls, the table cloth, the napkins, all changes because it is a way for us to be reminded of the all the dramatic changes that happen in our lives when He comes to us. These changes cannot be hidden, they are to be noticed. He has come, the shadow is no longer there, we see Jesus fulfilling every prophetic word in the Old Testament, the so long-expected Messiah has come to save His own. Oh what a blessed day! 

Yesterday was the First Sunday in Advent and as I was reading a sermon by Martin Luther, I was again brought to one of those moments in which you can’t do otherwise but give thanks, abundant thanks: Jesus came to us, He came, and we cannot do anything to win His favor, His grace, we only respond to His calling to us, to His coming, His intrusion into our lives (because He is not a “gentlemen that will never force us” like many say), He comes and breaks our wills and drag us to Himself. Isn’t this amazing? When we loved sin, and darkness, and were sons of the devil, He comes and gives us the gift of faith to respond like Mary did,  “I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” 

Luther says,

“Everything that faith works in you comes from Him, not from you; and where He does not come, you remain outside; and where there is no Gospel, there is no God, but only sin and damnation…therefore you should not ask, where to begin to be godly; there is no beginning, except where the King enters and is proclaimed.”

This is a wonderful time to share the Gospel, to proclaim among our neighbors that He has come, that Jesus came to save His own, He came not in wrath, or to demand a debt, like Luther says. He came to draw us to Him, to deliver us from the slavery in which we lived. Oh what a time is this, to proclaim that He has come, that Salvation has come, that our Redeemer lives! Let us not lay back, let our light shine and preach the Gospel while we still have time.

For these I am grateful today,

post signature

This week, starting on Thursday December 1st,  some of my friends and I will start a new series for the season: Celebrating the Excellencies of His Name.  Would you consider joining us?

Related Posts:

Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord (Christmas is not celebrating “Jesus’ Birthday)
Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord (Gifts We Bring by Elizabeth Debarros)
Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord (A Read Aloud for Little Ones)
Celebrating the Incarnation of Our Lord (part IV)
Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord (Epiphany)

Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Suggested Resources

Posted on by
Reply

Advent is around the corner (it starts the last Sunday of November) which is why today, as time approaches, I want to suggest to you several resources that have been a blessing in our home as we wait, as we sit around the family table, and read about His glorious coming.

Noël Piper says about Advent,

“For four weeks, it’s as if we’re re-enacting, remembering the thousands of years God’s people were anticipating and longing for the coming of God’s salvation, for Jesus. That’s what advent means—coming. Even God’s men who foretold the grace that was to come didn’t know “what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating.” They were waiting, but they didn’t know what God’s salvation would look like.” (source)

Please, continue to read over at Desiring Virtue. (and make sure to link up to your own recommendations!)

post signature


Related posts:

Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord -part 1-
Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord -part 2: Gifts We Bring a guest post by Elizabeth DeBarros- 
Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord -part 3- For Little Souls
Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord -part 4-
Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord – Calvin, Sermon on the Nativity of Christ-
Celebrating the Incarnation of our Lord: Quotes that Nourish

Desiring Virtue

>A Poem to Ponder

Posted on by
1

>I read this beautiful poem and it touched my heart; I asked permission to the author, JD from Poems to Ponder, and he say I could share it with you. For this I am grateful

A Savior, the Christ

 
a teaching rhyme
by JD Collier

a marriage vow
an angel dream
a virgin blessed
a promised King
a troublesome word
a “how can this be?”
an “overshadow”
“may it be to me”

a Caesar decree
a census to run
an inn with no room
a feed trough
a Son
a stable to house
a manger to hold
a swaddling cloth
to ward off the cold

a shepherds night watch
an angel appears
a message of joy
a “peace and good cheer”
a heavenly host
a sky all ablaze
a Savior
the Christ
a chorus of praise

 

the regal robed kings
a star to behold
incense and myrrh
a gift of pure gold
the kings from the east
worship and part
the mother of God
her pondering heart

the words—all familiar
the story—quite old
the tone—amazement
the setting—bold
the subject—a Child
a mystery—the theme
the narrative—holy
the purpose—redeem
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke 2:11
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

John 1:10-14
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  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 natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.   The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
NIV

Other beautiful poems by the same author are, Did You Know?,  Heaven, and God’s Repertory

*********************************

>Joseph and Mary an Advent Scene -and my gift to you-

Posted on by
2

>Isn’t is wonderful? Just look at them! I wonder; how was that journey like? One full of expectation, full of joy, full of weariness and I am sure one full of uncertainty too; after all, Joseph and Mary were humans, bound to their flesh, just like you and I.

May our journey to the manger be full of expectation!

The Baby Jesus was being formed in Mary’s womb; nine months of waiting…  I think of my own life. I pray that daily, on my way to heaven, Jesus may be formed in me too.

The journey is the same, full of joy, expectation, promises,  and weariness too.

But He is in me. I shall not fear.

I am reading this book, Songs of the Nativity; Selected Sermons on Luke 1 and 2 by John Calvin, and I would like to share with you few quotes from the first sermon:

“Our happiness is bound up with faith and faith itself is full acceptance of the promises of salvation contained in the gospel. On what, precisely, do these promises depend? On the fact that God forgives our trespasses and recognizes us as righteous, miserable sinners though we are”

“how is it possible for us to rejoice in God? The Virgin Mary supplies us with the answer when she says ‘in God my Saviour’. That is where our joy begins -with the assurance that God is for us a Saviour. The word “Saviour” does not mean that he comes to our aid once and once only, but that He will always take care of us and of our salvation until He has brought it to fulfillment. We may, indeed, be replete with all kinds of goods, and yet be powerless to rejoice in God. Just to feel joy is simplicity itself. That is what the children of this world do all the time. But to rejoice in God is impossible until we experience the love He has for us, and until we know that He will not desert us but will lead us on to the end… So however many troubles and trials may beset us, whatever sorrows and vexations we may feel. God’s peace is bound to prevail. Nothing should stop us; rejoicing in Him”

Dear friends, thank you for sojourning with me! I love each one of you and I am grateful for you!

Thank you for coming, for reading my words, thank you for your comments, and most of all,; thank you for your friendship.

My little Christmas gift for you, dear readers, is this; I took a series of beautiful pictures of Mary and Joseph on their frail journey to Bethlehem; and, well, you can download them and use them as you wish! You can print any of them, or use them on your blog entries, or as desktops, etc… You can find the whole series at my photography blog, My Daily Journey-through my lens–

May His grace abound as we journey daily on our way to Heaven!

>A Manger and a Cross

Posted on by
6

>

You laid aside your crown, and your royalty, O King, O Jesus.
You came to save. You did not have to come, yet you came.
The manger, and the nativity set; 
the Advent and the carols; 
the gifts and lights and Christmas trees and Posadas are without meaning if we do not raise our eyes.
You came as a baby but you came to grow and obey; heal and love; restore and touch; serve and die.
You came to die, to pay a price, to fulfill an eternal purpose, to redeem your own people.
You came to die a painful death. You came and my sins you bore on that cross.
You died and rose again victoriously.
A baby in a manger is the beginning of a love story. 
It doesn’t end there. 
Let us raise our eyes and see the cross and an empty tomb.

“And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.”
I Corinthians 15: 14

We now decorate a tree to remember that you came as a baby, 
help me now see beyond the beautiful lights…
You were nailed to a wooden cross, a raw tree. 
A tree that you, the Word, created. 
A death tree which held your broken body.
Lord, help me learn that you have called me to die. 
Die to myself, die to the sins that still want to rule over me. 
Die in order to live. 
Help me walk beyond the manger to the cross and then see You sitted at the right hand of God.
I long for that day. 
Face to face.
Show me how to live dying. How to serve and serve and serve.
Let this Christmas be a time of change.
 Let the change start within me.

Image found @ My Daily Journey -through my lens.