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| (Joy To The World...under construction...coming soon!) |
Isaiah 35: 4, 5-6, 10
"Say to those who are fearful-hearted,
'Be Strong! Do Not Fear!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God;
He will come and SAVE you!"
"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped,
Then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the dumb sing,
For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert....
"And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting JOY on their heads,
They shall obtain JOY and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
In these perilous days on earth, many are fearful-hearted, weak, sad, without hope. Many are longing for a miracle...and a way to find JOY in the midst of all this terror and sorrow.
And then we open the Advent window today and there it is: JOY...JOY IS ON ITS WAY TO THE WORLD...It's coming to us in a rough and hand-hewn manger, in a stable strewn with straw and the scents of donkeys and sheep and cattle...JOY is on its way to us...all the way from Heaven, in a helpless little babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, with a young mother, weary and worn from the journey and the birth of her babe in such a rude and dirty stall...and a young father with wonder in his eyes and holy fear as he recalls the message of the angel telling him not to fear...
JOY is on its way to the world, and the Wise Men traveled far and wide, following a star to find the King of Jews as it had been prophesied to them so many months before...
JOY came to the world when Jesus, the little babe in the manger grown to be a man, opened the eyes of the blind, caused the deaf to hear and the dumb to sing His praises, and the lame to run and jump for joy that he had been healed.
JOY is coming to our world today...This same Jesus, grew to be a Man, the Son of God no less, Sacrificed His sinless, pure life on the cross for the sins of the world, so that we would be SAVED!
No matter what this world tries to do to cause fear and sorrow in our hearts, God's Word is sure...His Word is true:
"Be Strong! Do Not Fear!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God;
He will come and SAVE you!"
(Revisiting this post from several years ago, but the message is still the same...and we are still looking forward to celebrating our Messiah's birth...and awaiting His second Advent...hopefully soon! Have a blessed and wonderful Advent and joyous Christmas!)
Hi Pam, Joy to the World, indeed! I'm so thankful that Jesus came--I've been thinking quite a lot lately about the fact that Jesus didn't have to come but He did. He left so much in heaven to come to earth...and so many missed it. With you, I look forward to Jesus' return--oh, to have a redeemed body!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Kim
Oh I am SO glad He came, even though He didn't have to. But because of LOVE, He had no other choice. So many have missed it, but it's not too late...we still have breath in our bodies...so we need to keep shouting the Good News! JOY IS COMING TO THE WORLD! GET READY!
DeleteAmen, Pamela! I have come back twice (so far) to read this. It is encouraging and just plain wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will come and visit again...because every year we need this encouragement to look expectantly for the return of our Messiah! Joy to the World, indeed!
DeleteJoy ... Great Joy! I love the song Joy to the World! Pamela, you do a great job of putting together the truths with your photos! I know the joy of the Lord is your strength today! I can see it in your smiling face!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nonnie. I do know that the Joy of the LORD is my strength...so thankful for that strength today. Thank you for sharing in the joy of the Lord with me!!
DeleteA very joyful post :).
ReplyDeleteOf all the decorations people put up at holidays I was thinking that the picture of the deer and nature outdo them all.
Happy Monday!
Thank you for saying that, Annie. I almost didn't include it...but you have confirmed to me what I was thinking. God's real creation speaks to us, with its beauty and simplicity and purity. He created them all, and we are blessed by their presence. I feel so blessed to have so much of God's creation surrounding me. That does give me great joy!! Thank you for understanding this!
DeleteAnother beautiful post! JOY TO THE WORLD ...OUR SAVIOR'S COME!! Thank you for sharing! God bless you, Pam!
ReplyDeleteThank you and Hallelujah!! Amen!!
DeleteAMEN! Hark! The herald angels sing, "Joy to the world, glory to the newborn king!"
ReplyDeleteAmen!!!
DeleteAmen! Joy is coming soon, and we can all sure use a dose of that, Pamela.
ReplyDeleteBlessings!
Ironically, last night when I shut my light off after reading, the song JOY TO THE WORLD came to me. I fell asleep humming it. You made my day...reading this post of yours.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post, Pam, I love it. And I love the pretty pictures. How are y 'all doing down there---any of this nice chilly weather like we are getting here? It's great walking weather for sure....big soft sweaters and lets GO! LOL
ReplyDeletePS. we put up our manger scene last night.
ReplyDeleteHope to see pictures soon!!
DeleteI've no idea how I missed this! .....Each photo a beautiful accompaniment to these glad tidings. JOY to the World, indeed!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I can't keep up with everyone's every day posts...sometimes I just have to retreat a spell. But yes, we all need more JOY in this world, and Christmas is the time to start sharing the JOY again! It's been a long joy-less year, and we are all in need of some JOY. Thank you for visiting!!
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