Tag Archive for prepare for Advent

from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-12-22 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Prepare for Advent: Love

Father, in Jesus Christ You have not only showed us Your love.
You have poured it out on us in Him.

He comes to us fully expressing Your boundless love
in every aspect of our lives.
He comes forgiving,
healing,
teaching,
touching,
talking,
weeping,
smiling,
suffering,
dying, and
rising again.

See what great love the Father lavished on us! (1 John 3:1, NIV)

Father, as we gather together in Your presence on this fourth Sunday of Advent,
help us to realize Your love,
receive Your love,
respond to Your love, and
actively express it to everyone we touch day by day.

As You freely poured out Your love through Your Son,
pour it out through us
on all the world,
through His Spirit within us. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Love Has Come!
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from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-12-15 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Prepare for Advent: Joy

Joy to the world!
The Lord has come!

Father, on this third Sunday of Advent, we celebrate
good news of great joy (Luke 2:10).
Your Son has come to us, and
we rejoice!
He has poured out on us the oil of gladness. (Isaiah 61:3)
He has shared with us the fullness of His joy,
the joy that He finds in You alone. (John 17:13).

He is mercy and complete forgiveness.
He is sufficiency in every situation.
He is full and unbroken union with You.
He is the same
yesterday,
today, and
forever,
so He brings a joy that
trouble,
sorrow, and
death itself cannot destroy.

But this great joy is only a down-payment on
the joy that is to come.
When we see Jesus for all that He is,
our joy in Him will be full and forever.

O come, Lord Jesus!
We are waiting! 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Lord Has Come!
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from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-12-08 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Prepare for Advent: Peace

Father, You are peace.
You are wholeness,
harmony, and
complete well-being.

I long to breathe Your peace
as Christ breathes it,
so perfectly and naturally.
You and He are
one Spirit,
one heart,
one mind,
one love.
As I trust You, I share in Your peace.
I share in Christ, and
He Himself is peace. (Ephesians 2:14)
The fruit of His presence is peace. (Galatians 5:22)
He gives peace in every circumstance. (1 Thessalonians 3:16)

On this second Sunday of Advent,
You give us a glimpse of a new world in which
Your perfect peace flows like a river
through every relationship and
through all of life,
through the very fabric of creation itself.

That peace comes only in Jesus Christ,
who alone can make us one with You.
His peace began at His first coming –
and how I am enjoying those beginnings!
But His universal, all-encompassing peace will not be complete till
He comes again.

O come, Lord Jesus!
We wait for You and
long for You! 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Sweet Peace
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from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-12-01 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Prepare for Advent

Father, Advent reminds me that
we live in a period of eager waiting.
This time between
Your first coming and
Your second coming
is one long Advent season.

Christ has come.
He has brought us forgiveness for sin, and
He has promised to return and do away with sin forever.

He has empowered us for life and service.
He has poured out on us His own holy life,
the life of the Father,
His Holy Spirit.
And He has promised that when He returns,
we will be united with Father, Son, and Spirit
completely and
forever.

He has risen from the dead, and
we are already enjoying His new resurrection life.
But He has promised to come back and
finish His resurrection transformation.
We will be fully risen in Him,
complete in Him,
new in Him,
alive in Him
in ways we have only tasted.

During this Advent season, Father,
heighten within me
the waiting,
the hoping,
the anticipating.
Fix my heart, mind, and daily life on our
oneness with You
in Jesus Christ. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Live in the Promise
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