Christmas: Welcome to our World!
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Christmas blessings from a branch in the VINE.
Read MoreGlory-filled JOY: Hail, the Incarnate Deity!
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I love this song and this blog. It is an excerpt from my Bible study/ devotional book, The Witness of Our God: Relationship in Every Dimension. (See below)
Enjoy the backstory of this amazing hymn and several renditions of the song.
Then dig into the bible study that amplifies each line of the song with scripture. …
FEAR NOT -- I Am Your PEACE!
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My Child...
Fear not...you are never alone for I am with you!
Fear not...you are never left out for you are one with Me !
Fear not...you are never condemned, but always accepted! I not only love you...I like you!
Fear not...you are always adequate with My adequacy...no matter how helpless and inadequate you feel!
Fear not...you are alive with my everlasting, indestructible life, no matter how dead you feel inside! I am your Life!
I AM in your "right here, right now," whether it be suffering in a hospital room or struggling over a wardrobe choice in your closet...and everything in between...I am with you!
Read MoreChristmas: Welcome to our World!
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Christmas blessings from a branch in the VINE.
Enjoy this family story and a heart-grabbing song, my gift to you.
And most of all, join me in welcoming our JESUS!
Read MoreHe's Here ... Emmanuel!
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He is HERE … right here, right now. The God of the universe in human flesh! Our Redeemer, our Brother, our Friend. The One who was waited for, longed for, foretold … now ours. Celebrate!
Enjoy this magnificent rehearsal of the coming of the God Who is HERE with us!
Read MoreFEAR NOT: Every Day of the Year
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My Child...
Fear not...you are never alone for I am with you!
Fear not...you are never left out for you are one with Me !
Fear not...you are never condemned, but always accepted! I not only love you...I like you!
Fear not...you are always adequate with My adequacy...no matter how helpless and inadequate you feel!
Fear not...you are alive with my everlasting, indestructible life, no matter how dead you feel inside! I am your Life!
I AM in your "right here, right now," whether it be suffering in a hospital room or struggling over a wardrobe choice in your closet...and everything in between...I am with you!
Read MoreThe Mega-JOY of Emmanuel
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Joy is the flag that flies over the soul when the King is in residence!
Chuck Swindoll
Years ago, I was leading a small group of ladies through Paul's letter to the Galatians. In chapter 5, we came to a familiar passage:
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,and self control. Galatians 5:22-23
Julie was in that small group that year, and Julie was from Great Britain. I asked her about Chuck's metaphor. She assured me that it was true. When royalty is in residence at the palace, the flag flies. It's the signal to the "subjects" that their monarch is present.
Read MoreAdvent Devotions: Us with GOD
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A few Advents ago, I met a new-to-me British author, Tim Chester, through his Advent devotional The One True Light. I’ve loved this little volume that has led me year by year through the first eighteen verses of the Gospel of John.
Well, this year I discovered his other two Advent books: The One True Gift (On Philippians, chapter 2) and The One True Story (on the story of Christ through the Old Testament to Jesus’ Coming). So this year, each Advent day finds me meditating through all three, each one in turn.
The books are not coordinated, but one day in reading all three, a thread grabbed and entwined me in an amazing truth: Jesus is not only Emmanuel, God with Us; He is also Emmanuel, Us with God!
Read MorePost Christmas Comfort: Fear Not...Emmanuel Finally & Forever (Part 3)
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As the old year is coming to a close and the holiday glitz and cheer have dwindled, what is rushing in? Anxieties and fears for today and the year yet to come? Then hear these words again from your Creator and Savior:
Fear not, for I am near you!
Fear not, for I am closely associated with you! I've gone through it all too!
And now finally and forever...
Fear not, for I am united with you forever...we are one!
Read MorePost Christmas Comfort: Fear Not! Emmanuel, One of Us (Part 2)
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As near as God has always been to His people, when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, pierced through and entered our human history, everything changed.
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman... Galatians 4:4
God came closer still... He became one of us and so He took on our fears, the greatest of which is our separation from Himself. Even though God was nearby, there was separation...until Jesus!
Read MorePost Christmas Comfort: Fear not...Emmanuel Still! (Part 1)
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Now that gifts are unwrapped, the food at least half-eaten, the many emotions grabbing at us during the season fading, the loneliness getting deeper and the grief, abandonment, "being left out" -- all having left their wounds...and the dread of bills looming in the back of our minds…we feel lost!
So enters in...fear! Yes, fear!
As we meditate on story after story of the coming of Jesus, the Son of God, to our fear-infested, dangerous, earthly, human existence, we hear His message…
Read MoreChristmas Blessings 2021 [with current family photos]: Welcome to our World, Jesus!
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Christmas blessings from a branch in the VINE.
Thank you, dear readers, for journeying with me this Advent! I hope you feel better prepared to remember our Lord, Emmanuel's coming to our earth. I certainly do for the writing.
Read More4th Week of Advent: I Wonder as I Wander
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My friend Penny is a walker (a very serious, fast walker, by the way). But Penny doesn't just walk for exercise, she also "walks" closely with the Lord. So when Penny shares, I listen. And when she shared about a favorite Christmas carol, it made me take notice. Why? Because while walking, Penny has been doing what this song describes.
Read MoreAdvent Devotions: Hail, the Incarnate Deity!
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We would give up everything we've ever written to have penned this one verse, a stanza that comes as close as is humanly possible to capturing the splendor of who Jesus is.
Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ, by Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola, p. 173-174
What is that one verse? that one stanza? Authors Sweet & Viola are referring to the last stanza of the well-known carol, Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.
In my opinion, however, it isn't just the last stanza that is all glorious with the splendor of Christ...it's the entire song. In fact, even the stanzas that were removed* from the older version are splendid indeed. But I'm getting ahead of the story.
Read MoreAdvent Devotions: Us with GOD
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A few Advents ago, I met a new-to-me British author, Tim Chester, through his Advent devotional The One True Light. I’ve loved this little volume that has led me year by year through the first eighteen verses of the Gospel of John.
Well, this year I discovered his other two Advent books: The One True Gift (On Philippians, chapter 2) and The One True Story (on the story of Christ through the Old Testament to Jesus’ Coming). So this year, each Advent day finds me meditating through all three, each one in turn.
The books are not coordinated, but one day in reading all three, a thread grabbed and entwined me in an amazing truth: Jesus is not only Emmanuel, God with Us; He is also Emmanuel, Us with God!
Read More3rd Week of Advent: EMMANUEL, Our God is WITH Us
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If ever we needed to know God is WITH us in every possible way, it's NOW, after another year of the unanswerable "why's" of life. We struggle to make sense of all the violence, suffering, and injustice we see all around us. Though we can't know the answers, we can turn afresh to the One Who has us in the palm of His Hand. The God Who became One of us...flesh and bone and joint and sinew...who experienced every emotion possible, raw and gripping, tender and affectionate! He felt it all! And He feels our current struggle with us too!
Read MoreReflections on Emmanuel, God WITH Us
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Emmanuel…a Christmas Reading
by Kathy Compton
Christmas means different things to different people. For some, it is a difficult holiday because of memories that are cherished…but they are just memories now.
There is an emptiness about Christmas.
For some, it is the delight of family and friends, of decorations and cards, of cookies and carols. There is a fullness about Christmas.
Read More2nd Week of Advent: the Really Good News -- GOD with US!
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"The Good News isn't just that Jesus died for our sins. The Good News is EMMANUEL...GOD WITH US!" So declared Deb at the end of our Bible Study.
As John and I drove home that evening, we reflected on her statement. We recalled a conversation we had had years before when we were discussing what the heart of the gospel ("Good News") is. The Good News isn't just that our sins are forgiven so we can go to heaven someday (and now we just do the best we can in the meantime).
Read More1st Week of Advent: O Come, O Come, Immanuel
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When I was a child, I always loved Advent. There was a melancholia, a longing...but mixed at the same time with anticipation and hope. How did I get all that as a child? I'm sure I didn't, except to say that maybe all the sights and sounds and smells...all the scriptures and songs and prayers and stories of the "liturgical celebration" weren't entirely lost on me, nor on many of you. The reality of our God-Man Jesus has grown in me over the years as I've walked and talked with my Savior.
But whether you have had that sort of background as a child or not, why not journey with us these next weeks. Take it all in as if for the first time...all the sights, sounds, and smells...all the scriptures and songs and prayers and stories.
Read MoreChristmas: Welcome to our World!
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Christmas blessings from a branch in the VINE.
Thank you, dear readers, for journeying with me this Advent! I hope you feel better prepared to remember our Lord, Emmanuel's coming to our earth. I certainly do for the writing.
Read More