Sometimes I just need to be reminded of the great salvation I have been offered. I lose sight of the enormity of not only what Jesus has done for me but also the enormity of what I have committed to do by taking on His name. I forget that I am dead to myself, that nothing matters but Him and what He has called me to and I forget that because of what He has done and the commitment He has made to me, I cannot lose. This is the most powerful reminder I have seen in quite some time. May He be honored by our lives.
Monthly Archives: December 2011
Joy In All Seasons
Isaiah 12:3
Therefore with joy will you draw water from the wells of salvation.
Merry Christmas Season! This is the season of anticipation, of remembering that there is always a season of waiting before God’s promises are fulfilled. Think what it would have been like for the Jewish people who waited and believed for hundreds of years. Think of Mary, who knew she carried the promise but had to wait nine months under the stressful conditions of being an unwed mother in a time when she could have been killed for that. In this season we can relate as we wait for the fulfillment of God’s promise to us in our own lives and in Christ’s return.
One of my favorite Christmas carols, Joy To The World, was actually written in anticipation of the return of Christ. It was written by Isaac Watts, a man of passion for the Lord and a man of principal who endured persecution for living out the the faith he held dear. He was a man of sorrow and hardship and yet a man who wrote one of the most well known hymns about the joy there is in Jesus. He found joy, despite his circumstances as he lived for, wrote about and sang of Jesus.
This is how we must live and how we will overcome the adversity we so often find ourselves surrounded by. It is in worship and devotion that we are able to draw from the wells of salvation that never cease to flow, no matter what the season. Sometimes we have to dig a little deeper than other times and sometimes there is a very personal season of anticipation as we wait on the Lord. It may feel like it is taking far too long, but take heart. The season of refreshing will come. The season of promises fulfilled will come. The season of anticipation is a season of being held very closely by the Lord. Rest. A new season will come and with it new joys and trials but for now think of all the ways He has answered before. He is so faithful.
Joy to the World
Verse 1
Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.
Verse 2
Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
Verse 3
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
Verse 4
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
