Let Me Hear the Good Tidings of Great Joy

A prayer from The Valley of Vision. . . 

O Source of all Good,
What shall I render to Thee for the gift of gifts,
Thine own dear Son, begotten, not created,
my Redeemer, Proxy, Surety, Substitute,
His self-emptying incomprehensible,
His infinity of love beyond the heart's grasp.

Herein is wonder of wonders:
He came below to raise me above,
He was born like me that I might become like Him.

Herein is love;
when I cannot rise to Him He draws near on wings of grace,
to raise me to Himself.

Herein is power;
when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart
He united them in indissoluble unity, the uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom;
when I was undone, with no will to return to Him,
and no intellect to devise recovery,
He came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
as man to die my death,
to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds,
and enlarge my mind;
let me hear good tidings of great joy,
and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore,
my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,
my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father,
place me with ox, ass, camel, goat,
to look with them upon my Redeemer's face,
and in Him account myself delivered from sin;
let me with Simeon clasp the new-born Child to my heart,
embrace Him with undying faith,
exulting that He is mine and I am His.

In Him Thou hast given me so much that heaven can give no more.

HT  Learning My Lines

How To Shock An Angel

I have shocked the angels! I have astounded the heavens! You probably have also. The quote below is from The Blazing Center » How To Shock An Angel:

What could cause an angel to be appalled? What could so deeply stun an angel he would describe himself as desolate? Angels have seen Satan and demons. They’ve seen the gamut of every kind of human atrocity. They’ve seen the foulest evil men and women can perpetrate. You’d think nothing could shock them. Yet there is something that completely desolates, bewilders and undoes the heavenly beings.

Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,
for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water. (JE 2.12-13)

The heavens aren’t surprised by the actions of demons. They’re not shocked by the behavior of wicked men and women. But what stupefies and bewilders them is when God’s people forsake the soul-quenching fountain of living waters for muddy dilapidated wells. They’re stunned and horrified when believers seek joy from the world rather than Jesus.

May the angels be less shocked and Jesus be more pleased and glorified by my future response to his grace.

Glory to God Before Peace on Earth

"Isn’t it interesting how in Christmas cards and on public displays we often see the words, “Peace on earth, good will toward men”? But how seldom we see the prior words, “Glory to God in the highest”! But there is no peace, there is no good will, unless there is glory to God in the highest first. We forget to put God’s glory first. Fortunately, he does not. God will be glorified. "

Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. from Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus.


Hat Tip: Crossway.blog

I Shock Angels

I must confess that I frequently shock the angels. How do I do this? The Blazing Center quotes Jeremiah as follows:

Be appalled, O heavens [angels], at this;be shocked, be utterly desolate,declares the Lord,for my people have committed two evils:they have forsaken me,the fountain of living waters,and hewed out cisterns for themselves,broken cisterns that can hold no water. JE 2.12-13

Thus every time I (or you) seek fulfillment in anything other than Jesus, the watching angels are appalled and astounded. Sorry fellows, but you should already know that I am a sinner who needs his Savior every single day.

The above referenced post goes on to quote these amazing but true words from C.S. Lewis:

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” - C.S. Lewis

May the Lord deliver me from being too easily pleased.