Jesus Is: First Seven Days of Advent 2019
A season of expectant waiting and preparing for the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth on Christmas Day!
Advent is a season of waiting. Waiting for change, waiting for revival, waiting for healing, waiting for new growth… much like the season of winter when all of nature seems to go into hibernation, we wait. As we read and unpack the She Reads Truth Advent 2019 Study: A Thrill of Hope, I am sharing a word of the day that describes Jesus’s character as we wait for the celebration of His brith. In this blog, I am sharing some of my favorite scripture passages and our first seven words from our first seven days of Advent. I hope and pray this encourages your in your own personal waiting!
Day 1: Jesus is forgiving
“Out of the depths I call to you Lord! Lord, listen to my voice and let your ears be attentive to my cry for help. Lord, if you kept an account of our iniquities who would stand? But, with you there is FORGIVENESS so that you may be revered. I wait for the Lord. With my entire being, I wait for the Lord and put my hope in His word. I wait for the Lord more than a watchman waits for the morning... more than a watchman waits for the morning.”
As Kind David pours out His heart in this psalm, we see two important things as we begin Advent: God is forgiving and worth waiting on! Yes and amen!!! I want to encourage you to pray boldly before our Father knowing and believing we are fully forgiven and deeply loved in the midst of our wait.
Day 2: Jesus is compassionate
“Seek the Lord while He can be found. Call to Him while He is near. Let the wicked abandon His way and the sinful one his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive. ”
“Come hibernate with me… come snuggle up and tell me what is on your mind my dear one.” I hear the Lord speak these words over us this winter season. I want to encourage you to draw near to Him and tell Him your worries, doubts, fears, and troubles for He is compassionate and will lavish His compassion on all who come
Day 3: Jesus is a life - giving spirit
“The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a LIFE - GIVING SPIRIT. However, the spiritual is not first but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust, but the second man is from heaven. Like the man of dust, so are those who are dust. Like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. And, just as we my friends have been born into the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.”
Before Jesus there was Adam, just like scripture foretold. And, Jesus was both fully man and fully God. He took on our sin and took on our death, so we could have eternal life with Him. When He returned to heaven, He left us with His life - giving spirit, the Holy Spirit. Yes, the natural had to come before the spiritual, but Jesus was all in one and today we get to experience the same spirit that was alive in Him when we accept Jesus into our hearts and begin to live fully for Him.
Day 4: Jesus is a blessing
“The Lord said to Abram, go out from your land, your relatives, and your fathers house to the land in which I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who treat you with contempt. All the people on earth will be blessed through you.
So, Abram went.”
What is it that maybe God is calling you to this season? God calls all of His children to step out from their comfort, to have faith, and follow Him. Following Jesus often looks like peace without a lot of direction. Notice how He told Abram to go but didn’t tell him where. But, take heart my friends! When we follow Jesus, we get the same promise of Abram and that is the promise of His blessing.
I will bless you
You will be a blessing
I will bless those who bless you
Blessing will come through you
Day 5: Jesus is righteous
“Look, the days are coming when I will raise up a Righteous Branch of David. He will reign wisely as a king and administer justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. this is the name he will be called: The Lord is our Righteousness.”
King David, a man after God’s own heart and even when things looked dry, dark, and dead, much like the season of winter, there was still hope. King David was given promises by God just like you and I are today. Promises of salvation, of peace in the midst of chaos, of joy when face-to-face with suffering… we may loose sight when the days get shorter and the evenings get darker, but HOPE is coming. Just as the sun rises every morning, so is our righteous Savior coming fulling ALL that He has promised to His children.
Day 6: Jesus is strength
“Bethlehem, you are small among Judea— One will come from you to be a ruler for me. He will stand and shepherd them in His strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord His God. They will live securely because His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth. He will be their peace. ”
Friends, God delights in the small. I think often times we think we have to have wealth and fame to be used in this world and that may be true in our society today, but not in God’s eyes. He delights small beginnings and rejoices to use those who feel small and insignificant to do BIG and significant things in this world. His strength is made perfect and is ours to have and ours to use, the only question now to ask is, “are we open to being used by Him for a greater purpose?”
Day 7: Jesus is rest
“I see Him but not now.
I perceive Him but not near.
For a star will come.”
Rest assured my friends knowing and believing with your whole heart that He is coming. His promises stand true and even if you see Him in your life and in your story but not in your current moment— rest. Even if you perceive Him as a comforter, counselor, and friend but do not feel His presence in this season— rest. Just as spring comes each year and new life grows from the cold, empty ground, so will Jesus come and sprout something new and alive in you, but today, we rest.