Posts Tagged ‘ Second Advent ’

Preparing Our Hearts: Third Week of Advent 2024

I enjoy the Christmas season. I enjoy celebrating Advent.

The first week of Advent can be found here. The second week of Advent can be found here.

The third week of Advent is traditionally seen as being a time for looking at joy. This year, I am using some of the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.

Let’s get into

Week Three of Advent

Sing for joy, Daughter Zion;
shout loudly, Israel!
Be glad and celebrate with all your heart,
Daughter Jerusalem!
The Lord has removed your punishment;
he has turned back your enemy.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is among you;
you need no longer fear harm.
On that day it will be said to Jerusalem:
“Do not fear;
Zion, do not let your hands grow weak.
The Lord your God is among you,
a warrior who saves.
He will rejoice over you with gladness.
He will be quiet in his love.
He will delight in you with singing.”

Zephaniah 3:14-17, CSB

We saw previously that God is our hope and peace, that Christ is our faithful Priestly King prophesied centuries earlier and proclaimed at His birth and before His earthly ministry began.

This week we see the joy that Christ brings. Jesus came to His people, to Jerusalem at the proper time to take away our sin and shame. Our heavenly King came to dwell amongst us, to save us, and to give us full hope of eternity where He will rejoice with us, not condemning us but delighting in us. Let us join in the rejoicing!

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7, CSB

As we await Christ’s second coming, we cast all our anxieties on Him through prayer and thanksgiving, rejoicing in the Lord who saves, giving us hope and peace and eternal joy. Let us worship the King who has come! Let us love our God who dwelt among us and dwells within us by His Holy Spirit to the glory of the Father!

Prayer

Lord, prepare our hearts for joy by the power of the Holy Spirit that others may see the joy and peace You grant us. Help us to see Your goodness in all things and to proclaim the joy of the cross to a lost and hurting world until Your return!

2024
12/15
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Preparing Our Hearts: Second Week of Advent 2024

I enjoy the Christmas season. I enjoy celebrating Advent.

The first week of Advent can be found here.

The second week of Advent is traditionally seen as being a time for looking at peace. This year, I am using some of the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.

Let’s get into

Week Two of Advent

Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has visited
and provided redemption for his people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
just as he spoke by the mouth
of his holy prophets in ancient times;
salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of those who hate us.
He has dealt mercifully with our ancestors
and remembered his holy covenant—
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham,
to grant that we,
having been rescued
from the hand of our enemies,
would serve him without fear
in holiness and righteousness
in his presence all our days.
And you, child, will be called
a prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord
to prepare his ways,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins.
Because of our God’s merciful compassion,
the dawn from on high will visit us
to shine on those who live in darkness
and the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Luke 1:68-79, CSB

Last time we saw how God is our hope, that we can put our faith in Christ our Priestly King.

This week, we look at the peace that Christ offers, but first we look at the faithfulness of God. He promised this peace would come starting with Abraham and through to David. It took a thousand years from David to get to the final prophet of the Old Covenant which came through Moses. John the Baptist, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, was the prophet who ushered in the ministry of the Son of David, the Priestly King who would bring peace.

However, look at what the prophet Malachi said:

“See, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me. Then the Lord you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the Messenger of the covenant you delight in—see, he is coming,” says the Lord of Armies. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will be able to stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire and like launderer’s bleach. He will be like a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. And the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord as in days of old and years gone by.

Malachi 3:1-4, CSB

The coming of this Prince of Peace would be a time of refinement and cleansing. While it is a time of hope, peace comes when His people have been purified. This again looks to the future, when our Priestly King Jesus comes for the second time. Now, we are being made clean by His blood, but at His second coming will be the time that the rest of Creation is purified and renewed.

True peace is knowing the Christ. He has called His Church to spread the message of peace, and as 2 Corinthians 5 tells us, we are His ambassadors until He returns. May we warn the world of the coming judgment that they may have peace with God both now and forever.

Prayer:

Lord, prepare our hearts with the peace of the Holy Spirit, and guide us to those who will believe in the peace you offer. Make us your weapons of peace against the violence of sin and oppression, redeeming the world through us until Your return.

2024
12/08
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Preparing Your Heart – The Fourth Week of Advent 2019

We are finishing up our advent series, first shared five years ago!

It is now the fourth week of Advent! (See the last three weeks’ devotional thoughts here (and here) and here (and here) and here (and here).)

Again, Advent is a time to remember our Lord’s first coming as we look forward to His imminent return.

So, let us prepare hearts for encountering the Lord!

There is a slight twist today in presentation, as well, as we prepare for Christmas!

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

At first we are reminded that sometimes life is going well.
Then we are reminded that sometimes life is hard.

Life seems perfect and flawless.
Or we are dealing with an illness, a tragedy, or the loss of a loved one.

The answer, in any circumstance good or bad, is to fall on our knees and acknowledge that we need a Savior, to seek the God who came to save us from our sin and suffering by coming to us as an infant, the weakest of all things.

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O’er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

The Light of the world calls us to Himself, and only the wise heed His call. Only the wise understand that He truly understands all of our hurts and needs and can help us because He has been through it all.
And He deserves our adoration and worship.

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

It is not only our trials and pains which he helps, but He has called us to love all other people.
We not only see our need for salvation from sin and God’s wrath, we see our need for His love to fill our hearts, to treat our friends, enemies, and strangers alike as brothers and sisters, with love and compassion.

And for ever we shall worship Him and declare His awesomeness!

For He has come to save and will come again a final time to fully redeem His own, and that is the full promise of the gospel!

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
Revelation 22:20-21, ESV

2019
12/22
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Preparing Your Heart – The Third Week of Advent 2019

We are continuing the series originally posted five years ago!

____________

It is now the third week of Advent! (See the last two weeks’ devotional thought here (and here) and here (and here).)

Again, Advent is a time to remember our Lord’s first coming as we look forward to His imminent return.

So, let us prepare hearts for encountering the Lord!

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
    for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
    in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old“

. . .

“for my eyes have seen your salvation
    that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and for glory to your people Israel.”
Luke 1:68-70, 2:30-32, ESV

The first part of the quote is from Zechariah, John the Baptist’s dad, at John’s birth. The second part of the quote was said by Simeon, an old and devout man, when he saw the baby Jesus at the Temple.

These two men knew that the Lord’s salvation was at hand. If you read all of chapters one and two of Luke, you can see that even they did not understand His plan of salvation. They were on the right track, but they were not aware of how things would unfold.

The Lord had come, Emmanuel, God with us, and he brought salvation. It was first brought to Israel, the Jews in Jerusalem in particular, and then it spread to “all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) over the past 2,000 years.

What most everyone then did not know was that first the Lord would bring spiritual salvation, the forgiveness of sins and the repairing of the relationship with God and humanity; the physical redemption from all enemies is still to come.

Let us remember that salvation has come, but we await our salvation from the pain and evil of this world (see Romans 8). We do not understand fully how it will all happen, but we know Jesus will return!

May we not get caught up in the knowledge we have and miss the signs of His coming. May we remember that we are not home yet, and we await our coming Savior. May we bring as many as we can to all of this knowledge of the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of the Father!

2019
12/15
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Preparing Your Heart – The Second Week of Advent 2019

Once again, this series is a re-post from five years earlier, with some additions by me.

________________

It is now the second week of Advent! (See last week’s devotional thought here and here.)

Again, Advent is a time to remember our Lord’s first coming as we look forward to His imminent return.

So, let us prepare hearts for encountering the Lord!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-14, ESV

It is important for us to remember that God’s people, the Israelites, those who painstakingly preserved the written Word of God and pursued righteousness, failed to recognize Him when he came to them quite literally in the flesh.

Jesus said just three chapters later, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23). Our culture today is largely spiritually dull, even in many churches.

Ask yourself, “Would I recognize God if He approached me today?” Seek His face in prayer, Bible reading, and the fellowship of believers. Ask God to reveal Himself to you. Too many missed Him the first time around. Seek the living Lord! Have faith that He is returning soon!

“For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 16:7b, ESV

2019
12/08
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VerseD: Isaiah 40:3-5

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord ; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 40:3‭-‬5, ESV

The prophets of old promised the coming Messiah, who has come and will come again.

Prepare the way of the Lord!

2019
12/02
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VerseD: Zechariah 14:9

And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
Zechariah 14:9, ESV

One glorious Day, our Lord is returning, and Creation will be renewed, sin and death gone, and He will be our light and life forever.

2019
11/12
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