Genealogy of Jesus and an Old Irish Blessing

"Bless this house, O Lord we pray.
Make it safe by night and day.
Bless these walls so firm and stout,
Keeping want and trouble out.
Bless the roof and chimney tall,
Let thy peace lie over all.

Bless the doors that they may prove
Ever open to joy and love.
Bless the windows shining bright,
Letting in God's heavenly light.
Bless the hearth a-blazing there,
With smoke ascending like a prayer.

Bless the people here within...
Keep them pure and free from sin.
Bless us all, that one day, we
May be fit, O lord to dwell with thee."
(Old Irish Blessing)


AVintage French Prayer card.

 I love vintage cards of any type but especially religious ones. 

Do not forget to light the 2nd Advent candle Sunday.  The birth of our Lord celebration is getting very close!

The Geneology of Jesus

Matthew had given us some of this but he goes no farther back than Abraham.  But Luke brings it as far back as Adam.  Matthew intended to show that Christ was the son of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth are blessed.  And that he was heir to the throne of David.
  Therefore he begins with Abraham and brings the genealogy down to Jacob, who was the father of Joseph, a male heir of the house of David: But Luke, intending to show that Christ was the offspring of the woman, who should crush the serpent's head, traces his ancestry back to Adam, and begins it with Heli who was not the father of Joseph but of the Virgin Mary.  Matthew draws the ancestry from Solomon, whose natural line ended with Jeconiah.  The legal right was transferred to Shealtiel, who was of the house of Nathan, another son of David, which line Luke pursues and so leaves out all the kings of Judah.
  The genealogy concludes with this, who was the son of Adam, the son of God.  He was both the Son of Adam and the Son of God, that he might be a proper Mediator between God and the sons of Adam.  And might bring the sons of Adam to be, through him, the sons of God.

Luke Chapter 3:21 - 38
Source: The NIV Matthew Henry Commentary, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, ( Reference ) An invaluable tool for Bible studies

 God is fail-safe!  When one thing does not work because of the sinfulness of man, He always has another plan to rely on.  God never leaves us without his love.  When we pray for guidance we will find it.  But we must listen with our whole heart, mind and body.  His voice may be a whisper set free upon a gentle breeze, or a little trill in the throat of a bird.  "Be still and know that I am God."  For when you are weak in "self" that is when you are Strong in the Lord.