Advent - 4th Sunday is Peace

Excerpts from Crosswalk.com regarding the final (4th) Sunday of Advent 2021

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.”
2 Thessalonians 3:16 NIV

Advent is the season in which believers eagerly anticipate the celebration of Christ’s birth. Reading, prayer, and reflection are ways we can cultivate a sense of holy anticipation this Advent. On the fourth Sunday of Advent, we meditate on the peace that Jesus brings to our hearts and our world. Scripture is the place we can find the promises of God. Let us meditate on these truths and allow them to comfort our hearts this Advent season!

The fourth candle of Advent is called the “Angel Candle” and symbolizes peace. This name comes from the fact that the angels announced that Jesus came to bring peace (Luke 2:14). This week we are reminded that Jesus came to bring peace to our hearts and to our world! We will focus our hearts on the “Lord of peace” who came down from heaven in the form of a baby. God knows that we are in a constant battle against fear! Fear wants to cripple us, to push us to react rather than carefully respond, and fear steals our joy. God has given us the gift of peace so we can live joy-filled lives!

Over this Advent, will you pray that God’s unexplainable peace would be evident in your heart and home? This year we all have faced so much chaos and uncertainty. God’s peace is something we need to grab onto tightly now more than ever. May God’s spirit transform the days leading up to Christmas into a time to joyfully await our King!

Isaiah 9:6
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

Prayer:

Father,
           Please bring Your strength and peace to Your people! We pray that Your presence is felt by all who seek You in a powerful way in this Advent season. Turn the hearts of mankind towards You. We pray that the lost turn to You and find an unshakable peace that nothing else in this world can offer. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

Needing a Boost

 I did not write this one. It is from the Advent prayers posted on ibelieve.com.

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Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.

Luke 2:15

In their travels to see Jesus, the shepherds spread the word of what had happened. We are called to “go and tell” of the good news of Jesus. Just like the shepherds on the night of our Savior’s birth, we are called to go shine light in dark places by speaking of Jesus, and living in such a way that our lives reflect His glory at work in us. 

Father,
           It costs us to follow Christ, and we often lack courage. Give us a boost of bravery when we need it, to remember the shepherds' awe and how they couldn’t help but spread the good news of Christ’s birth. Let us be so full of Your love that we cannot contain it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Silent Nights

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God...
Luke 2:13 NKJV

Tonight, I went to the performance of The Singing Christmas Tree at First Baptist Pasadena. I am so grateful that my daughter-in-love bought me a ticket. They had between 130 and 140 singers just in the tree alone. What a sound! They filled the auditorium with reverberating swells of musical praise! It was very moving!

Throughout the evening, I kept coming back to our verse for today. You know, a multitude is generally defined as more than 100. The NIV reads, "a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel". A company of soldiers is somewhere between 130 and 150. Other versions read "vast host" or "vast number" which is a great many. More than 100 voices... Based on tonight's experience, I couldn't help but wonder how silent could that night have been if a "multitude of the heavenly host" were praising God?

It HAD been silent before that. In fact, there had been 400 years of silent nights from Heaven... From the last words of Malachi until Gabriel spoke to Zechariah, no prophetic words from God the Father. One hundred forty-six THOUSAND silent nights... 

And when Jesus is born, the Passion Translation reads, Then all at once in the night sky, a vast number of glorious angels appeared, the very armies of heaven! And they all praised God, singing... 

No more silent nights!

Prayer:

Father,

          Thank You for music and laughter and voices swelled in songs of praise to You. Thank You for speaking to our hearts and for hearing our prayers and praise back to You. We are ever grateful for the birth of Your Son to redeem us from our sins - giving us something to sing about! In the words of the song, "All my life You have been faithful! All my life You have been so SO good! With every breath that I am able, I'm gonna sing of the goodness of God!" We will not be silent. Help us to stay true in our praise and thanksgiving to You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Getting Prepared

So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.
1st Peter 1:13 NLT

People are now in full swing, trying to get ready for Christmas. Decorating the tree, shopping for gifts, last-minute home preparations for any guests who may be coming to visit. We want it to be perfect... whatever that is in our minds. And we don't know how we're going to get it all done. 

Let me help you. 

The perfect Gift has already been given, the perfect tree lifted Him high, making it possible to cleanse our hearts to be His home - to be fit for Jesus to come live in us (Ephesians 3:17). 

The MOST important thing to remember about Christmas is the advent of Christ - the time of preparation marking the celebration of Jesus' birth over 2,000 years ago, and also for the preparation of His second coming. Are you getting prepared? 

Prayer:

Father,

           We pray Ephesians 3:20-21, Now all glory to You, God, who is able, through Your mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to You in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen.

Closet Hoarders

Don’t keep hoarding for yourselves earthly treasures that can be stolen by thieves. Material wealth eventually rusts, decays, and loses its value. Instead, stockpile heavenly treasures for yourselves that cannot be stolen and will never rust, decay, or lose their value.

Matthew 6:19-20 TPT

It's December and like most people in first-world countries, we are pulling out boxes, tubs, and/or crates of holiday decorations and lights. Lights typically represent something pleasant. As a whole, we're tired of Covid and lockdowns and vax/no-vax debates and just long for something good. The evidence is that for weeks, we have seen posts on social media of people who decorated their homes for Christmas long before Thanksgiving. 

As we finish putting away our Fall/Thanksgiving decor and bring out the Christmas/New Year/Winter boxes, I am struck with the reality of closet hoarding and what is my purpose in all this. Am I giving greater value to earthly treasures than to heavenly treasures?  Do I find my identity in Christ or is my identity found in how good everything looks for the holidays? I'm not in any way saying it's wrong to decorate, we just need to make sure our priorities in life are in the proper order. Is our first order Jesus?

As I was digging through a closet today, I wondered, "Are there closets in Heaven?" I'm inclined to think there are not. After all, what would we store there? What are heavenly treasures? I think they are things like the times we share the Gospel with a lost soul or extend the love of Jesus to a hurting heart or make provision for the least of these. How do you put those things in a closet? And what are we stuffing our closets with now - past hurts? Unforgiveness? It's time to clear out the junk and make room for those things that cannot be stolen and will never rust, decay, or lose their value.

Prayer:

Father,

           Open our eyes to see and our ears to hear what You would have us do for others in Your Name. Soften our hearts and clear our minds from the clamor and call of this world so that we only live and move and have our being in You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen