“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” Isaiah 9:6-7
We usually read or hear these verses from Isaiah in Advent but it seemed like a good time to read them again as they speak to us of a child that is coming who is going to be very special; a miracle. The past four days I shared with you the story of the feeding of the five thousand from the four Gospels and it was so interesting to read about that miracle from four different accounts; each a little different but each about the same miracle. Jesus came to earth and was born in a stable and walked on water, preached the message of salvation, fed the five thousand, healed people, raised some from the dead and then went to the cross for the lost sinners of this world, like this child and you and me; another miracle for us today. Keep your eyes and ears open for more miracles along your journey and open doors that may lead you closer to your calling from our Heavenly Father to accomplish His will. I am closing today with the words from the hymn ‘O Lord, we welcome Thee’ that were written by Caspar Ziegler in 1648.
“O Lord, we welcome Thee, our hearts for joy are leaping. Thou, Jesus, dearest Child, Thy precious promise keeping, art come from heaven to earth to be our Brother dear; Thou gracious Son of God, wilt banish all our fear. The mighty Son of God, His majesty concealing, dwells with our fallen race to give us balm and healing. The everlasting God descends from realms above, becomes a winsome Child, reveals His Father's love. Ah, sweet and gentle name! Its echoes far are sounding, it pierces hearts of stone and tells of love abounding. O Jesus, dearest Child, on Thee will we rely, and, calling on Thy name, we die not when we die. To Thee alone we cling, for Thee all else forsaking; on Thee alone we build though heaven and earth be quaking. To Thee alone we live, in Thee alone we die; O Jesus, dearest Lord, with Thee we reign on high.”
Dear Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay