December
21

Thankful for Blessings from the Lord

And there was Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was advanced in many days, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and she was a widow of about eighty-four years, who stood not back from the temple, serving ▵ God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she standing by, at the hour itself, confessed the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who waited for redemption in Jerusalem. (Luke 2:36-38)

"Asher" in the original language means "blessedness;" but the name involves all that is signified by the words of his mother Leah-"in my blessedness; for the daughters will call me blessed," namely, the delight of the affections which corresponds to the happiness of eternal life …. For when a man perceives this delight or affection, he is beginning to become a church (Arcana Coelestia 3939.1)

Real confession of the heart, being from celestial love, is in the genuine sense confession. The man who is in this confession acknowledges that all good is from the Lord, and that all evil is from himself; and when he is in this acknowledgment, he is in a state of humiliation, for he then acknowledges that the Lord is everything in him, and that he himself is relatively nothing; and when confession is made from this state, it is made from celestial love. (Arcana Coelestia 3880.7)

To redeem means to liberate from damnation, to deliver from eternal death, to rescue from hell, and to release from the hand of the devil the captive and the bound. This the Lord did by subjugating the hells and establishing a new heaven. (True Christian Religion 118)

There is not a nation in all the world that may not be saved if it acknowledges God and lives well; for they have all been redeemed by the Lord, and man is by birth spiritual, whereby he has an ability to receive the gift of redemption. Those who receive the Lord, that is, have faith in Him, and do not lead an evil life, are called: Sons of God, and born of God. (John 1:12-13). (True Christian Religion 729)

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