Advent Celebration

the Hope of Christmas

Ah, ’tis here, and our Advent Celebration has begun.

Today, the candle of Hope lights this cold, frazzled earth and reminds us of God’s special gift to us and to a broken, crushed and fearful world! A world so desperate for stability and, thing is, it’s our hope in our Saviour that is our stability! His hope keeps on giving as we keep on growing in trust, with hopeful hearts in our Lord and Saviour. Finding soul hope in our Lord at this Advent season helps to build precious hope in the hearts and minds of others. This sweet and sustainable gift is contagious and powerful, and we dare not ever let it go

So, In these crazy days of ‘What’s next’ mingling with our Advent celebration, let’s share that precious hope that we’ve found in our Saviour, and reach out to touch lives everywhere because all lives matter this Advent season and always 
Isaiah 40: 31 …

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Always Make Time for the Fun Stuff

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Hope in our Saviour

The hope we have in our Saviour, the hope of abundant life here, and the hope of Glory is truly a blessing that our Saviour’s birth brought forth into a cold, dark, and dreary world! Ponder His birth today, and the amazing gift of Hope He lavishes on us. How truly favored we are to know Him and exist in His presence. 

Serendipity

Luke 2:11-14

“Today in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom His favour rests.”

Isn’t it amazing how the prophecy of the Messiah fell into place through the seemingly normal order of things? God had a plan for our redemption, and He worked that plan, through the divine supernatural as well as the “normal” events. Even though Mary’s pregnancy and the birth of Christ certainly didn’t follow human protocol, the payment of taxes was mandatory, calling this couple on a journey to Bethlehem at a crucial time. At “Just the right time!”

God still has a plan for the world and for all of His children, as He graces us with His divine intervention, leading us along our normal, daily routines to ultimately bring us to the place where He desires us to be. He brought a sweet kind of serendipity into the lives of Mary and Joseph and into the Shepherd’s night that lonely night on the hillside when He dipped into the normal and the mundane and brought something beautiful into the world. He brought life eternal through the birth of His Son so that we could have a part in His beautiful plan of salvation.

Mary and Joseph were faithful to follow His leading and direction through the supernatural, the normal, the tough spots and the rough roads. The shepherds abiding in their normal fields on a normal night were blown away with the glorious surprise that broke through the heavens and filled them with an awe, a joy and a passion that drove them to find the Messiah that had come!

Are you still searching for Him or have you found Him? Let’s be obedient on our journey, even in the mundane and in the ho-hum of our lives. Let’s be found faithful in the excitement of the supernatural as well as in the difficulties and mundane of “a new normal.” Friends, if you truly know Him, be on the lookout, as God may very well be planning some sweet and inspiring serendipity in your life. He can break through the normal, leaving you in awe with an element of beautiful surprise! Please don’t mistake it for a mere coincidence! His surprises have been well planned to break through at just the right time in your life!

If you don’t know Him, He’s in the business of changing lives, and my friend, your transformed life is that beautiful break you search for, maybe unknowingly. Go with the shepherds, in your heart, and seek Him. When you find Him, embrace Him and find forgiveness for your sin that will set you free.

John 8: 36

“ If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

John 8: 12

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Romans 8: 12

“Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

The Hope of the Saviour

Christ’s coming as a baby was God’s gift of humility to humanity. God, the creator of the universe, left the highest of heavenly heights and the sweet and majestic glories of heaven to enter into our world! He came as a fragile, helpless baby in need of love, care, nurturing and the tender hearts of a mom and dad. His name was Jesus, and He grew into a child, a teen and on to a young adult! He walked among us experiencing life as we know it, yet because of His divine genealogy and inheritance, He was without sin. Even so, and even still today, He knows your pain, and He feels it! He knows the battle that rages in your temptations! He walked there! He knows your fears, your failures and your despair! His humility took Him to the cross and His death took Him to the grave. His resurrection took Him to the heights of Heaven, to be seated at the right hand of His divine Father God! His life, death and resurrection provide a solution for our sin problem, our despair and our hopelessness.

This Christmas Advent season, savour that sweet and powerful hope that His birth begins to bring into a world of need, for such a time as this! Yeah, His death and resurrection came, and because of His gift of sacrifice, there is now a totally awesome new life in Christ available for us today. Seek Him, as the wise men did, Find Him as the shepherds did, right where you are, in your less-than-perfect surroundings and situations, and be in awe of a Savior and a mediator, sent by God, who came to serve, to seek and to save.

Isaiah’s prophecy of so many years ago did come true with the promise of a Heavenly Royal King to be born with a promise of hope for a needy people. Let that same Hope fill you and your beautiful soul at this Advent season, and let it rise up in your heart and fill you with wonder.

Isaiah 9:6
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Unwrap His Gift of Hope

What do we do when the future looks bleak and unsettled and in so much need of something positive? When the days are long and unending and the sleepless nights make the pillow a stone rather than a comfort? What do we do then? We hope in the dark! That’s what we do!

We let hope rise up in our souls even in the gray corners of our world. We hope because the Hope that our Saviour brings into our needy lives is our real reason for living. When our hope in Him rises to the top, that medical diagnosis, that financial crisis, that relational snag, that prodigal or maybe all of the above, will pale in comparison! Issues won’t dissipate, but the heart can still sing! There’s no striving, no fear, no worry, or anxiety. Just a plain, simple hope that the best is yet to come because our Saviour of the world is the hope of all our issues, in all of our frazzled world. When our soul’s hope is concrete before our Lord, we can then shine His light and unwrap it for others in need of His precious gift!

Unwrap it this Advent day and let our Saviour’s hope rock your world!

Peace Candle

Shalom

Shalom and PEACE to you today!

Not only does our Saviour’s birth bring Hope, but His birth and very presence usher in a peace that passes all understanding! Let’s light that peace candle today 

The peace he gives is a peace that transcends the dreadful fear of “What’s next?”, or ‘What’s going on?” It’s a perfect peace that the world can’t give or take away, no matter what this crazy world brings to our table. So yeah, really, as serious as this old world stands in its political balance and as controversial as issues may seem and as frightening as the world news is, it all pales in comparison to the sweet, gentle Peace that our Saviour offers to the very soul of us in our deepest distress, because it’s all ok anyway. If we know this one born to deliver the world from its sin, we know we’re in good hands in His safekeeping, and as His divine prophetic plan unfolds before our eyes, it surpasses any crazy plan the world and its top leaders have in store for us.
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It’s a generous gift from our Lord to us. Yeah, Jesus, Our Prince of Peace, came to share Peace with us, and His sweet peace is not as the world gives but rather a sense of well-being welling up within ourselves. A peace that comes from our willingness to change and repent and do a turnabout of direction. A peace that accompanies our choice to walk with Him in His way of salvation and in His ways of abundance. It comes from simple trust in our Prince of Peace, the sweet Saviour of the broken and hurting and those beaten and scarred and torn up by sin’s choices.

So today, “Shalom”, my friends, and may His favour rest on you today as you seek Him during your Christmas festivities and find healing in Him for such a time as this.

Numbers 6:23-26

“The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace ”

And

His Name will be

The Angels Proclaimed His Peace at His Birth

Have you experienced it?