March 7, 2013
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Behold your God who gently leads those that are with young | letter 159 on assurance & joy
http://youtu.be/sA7SMU5dhus
Helicopter Rescues Doe and Fawn on Thin Ice, Nova ScotiaFar more dramatic, far more glorious and far more exceedingly wondrous than that helicopter rescue is the redemption, ransom, and rescue of lost, condemned, helpless and powerless sinners from God's just wrath and from everlasting destruction by the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 40:9 Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
In Isaiah 40, Isaiah brings these words of comfort to the people of God, because our God wants His people to know Him and the comfort He alone can bring.Have you experienced this good news, these glad tidings through the Gospel of peace, through the Prince of Peace, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood?
Have you begun to know God as the God of all comfort?
Have you beheld the mighty power of the LORD God through the Good Shepherd's tending, gathering, carrying and gentle leading?
Has God's Holy Spirit Himself borne witness with your spirit, given you full assurance of hope and confidence before God that you are a child of God, and that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ?
Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Hallelujah! what a Savior!
Hallelujah! what a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.
("Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners" by J. Wilbur Chapman, 1910)Have you received the gift of blessed assurance that you can sing Hallelujah! along with J. Wilbur Chapman?
Do you trust Him who is the Author of our faith to be the Finisher?
Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Have you ever beheld the beauty of the Lamb of God: –– tasted of His unsearchable riches, drunk of God's steadfast love through the everlasting covenant in Christ's blood, and supped of the eternal comfort of the reconciliation –– that His Holy Spirit bubbles up and overflows out of your heart, and you find yourself rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory –– even in your trials and sufferings?John 7:37b “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Related:
Advent # 9 WHY HAS JESUS COME? Adoption: the highest privilege the gospel offers ~ J.I. Packer
Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
Advent # 5 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might draw near to God | Even a Vapor
Advent # 8: WHY HAS JESUS COME? "so that [we] might be WITH HIM" ~ Mark 3:14Happy Father's Day: "Only the child cries, 'Abba, Father'"
learning to run without fear
"The Christian should not just believe the truth, and know it..." | the Father's assuranceMy other letters on assurance & fighting for joy including:
Reflections on my Dad on his 107th birthday* (Letter 33 on assurance & fighting for joy)
letter 42 on assurance & fighting for joy: "Blessed Assurance" - You are a child of God!
John 3:36a Whoever believes in the Son HAS eternal life (letter 64 on assurance & joy)
"give me also springs of water" - Will you be an Achsah? (letter 66 on assurance & fighting for joy)
"But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish." Isaiah 9:1-7 | letter 92 on assurance & joy
Fear not, little flock (Luke 12:32) | letter 123 on assurance & fighting for joy
Lenten Reflections: Why did Jesus die? ACCESS! | Letter 140 on assurance & fighting for joy
Mrs. Turner & Charles Wesley's Pentecost | letter 142 on assurance & fighting for joyScripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission.
Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Champaigne_shepherd.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}
Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Woman_of_Samaria_at_the_Well_%28La_Samaritaine_%C3%A0_la_fontaine%29_-_James_Tissot_-_overall.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}
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Comments (5)
I was as helpless as the doe in the video. I'd have died that way had Jesus not come to my rescue. Of course, there was no reason for my predicament since Christ had long ago taken my place on the cross, but in my ignorance and pride I erroneously believed that I didn't need saving.
(That was an ingenious method of saving the deer!)
Yes, BUT my feeling of zeal seems to fluctuate, but I sure remember the moment that I was born again. Everything changed. Sadly, I did not become perfect in this life.
frank
@quest4god@revelife - By our first birth, we were all helpless and dead!!! Thank God that He loved us and sent His Son to die for us while we were yet sinners! (Yes! That rescue was definitely ingenious!)
@HUMOR_ME_NOW - That remembrance of our second birth reminds us Whose we are and that we need to keep pressing on to make our calling and election sure. Our zeal certainly does fluctuate (and that can be frustrating), but it should serve to humble us and remind us that in and of ourselves we can do nothing, that we are wholly dependent on God for all things always (II Cor. 3:4-6), and we need to ask, seek, and knock for His Holy Spirit. As branches, we need to continue to ask for fresh supplies from the True Vine! ~ John 15. God's will for us IS sanctification, and He's promised to give us all we need to do His will (Heb. 13:20-21: I Thes. 5:23-24).
Love the video but yes, more exciting and wonderful is what Abba has done (and does) for us.
@stephensmustang - Amen! Glory to God!