advent devotionals
Christmas means many things...a time to spend money that you may not have; a season of too much busyness; a season of loneliness; a season of joy; a season of "So, it's Christmas...AGAIN"!
Advent is the season that begins Sunday, December 2nd and continues through Christmas Day. Advent means "Coming" and the focus of the entire season is on the celebration of the first coming of the long-awaited Messiah, and the anticipation of the second coming of Christ Jesus in His second Advent.
As we prepare to celebrate Christ's birth, we will offer an online resource to help you make time and space in your heart and mind to welcome Advent, even in the midst of busy schedules and hectic lives. The devotions will reflect honestly on the Scriptures, all intended to more closely examine the call to change and follow Christ.
How is God calling you to prepare for Christmas? Maybe you need to read this devotion each day? Maybe you need to set aside a quiet time with God?Maybe you need to adjust priorities? Maybe you need to start tithing? Maybe you need to spend more time with your family? Whatever you need to do to prepare for Christmas, know that we're praying for you as you earnestly seek Him.
14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). Isaiah 7:14 [NLT]
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Advent Devotional links will go live each morning through December 25th.
November 27
November 28
November 29
November 30
December 1
December 2
December 3
December 4
December 5
December 6
December 7
December 8
December 9
December 10
December 11
December 12
O Christmas Tree
Read Jeremiah 33:14-16
14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
15 “‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.’ [NIV]
Reflect:
One of the reasons we love North Carolina so much is because of all of the green amongst the grey during the winter. White pines and cedar trees are the predominate species of trees growing in our neighborhood. We have two cedar trees in our front yard, which were damaged, destroyed in fact, by Hurricane Fran…so we thought. Several shoots have sprung from the base of both trees, yielding several new trees, all of which are over 10 feet tall.
Jeremiah uses the lesson of a tree branch to teach an early Advent lesson. He tells of a future time when the stump of Judah, cut down and carted into Exile, would sprout again as a “righteous branch.” The New Testament writers saw this promised branch to be none other than Jesus Christ, Tree of Life, cut down, buried, and coming back to life three days later.
In this season of Advent, even as the days are shorter and the nights are colder, may we behold in every evergreen tree, a Christmas tree, our advent sign of hope.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Your beauty green will teach me
That hope and love will ever be
The way to joy and peace for me.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Your beauty green will teach me.
Apply:
What are you putting your hope in this season? If you haven’t put your hope in Christ, why not begin the season of Advent by beginning (or restoring) your relationship with Jesus.
Pray: Jesus, I want to put my hope in you alone today. Be my Lord, be my Savior. Today, I want to live for you.