Preparing for Christ's Coming

Below is the devotional I wrote for our women fellowship group. These past weeks have been so busy and stretched that I only led the study once in November, and for that I used a devotional someone else wrote to reflect on the end of the church calandar and the truth that Jesus proclaims.

Usually I am ready and excited to decorate the house this weekend, but today I am only beginning to reflect on Christ's coming. It's good that I am reflecting on it for today's study to prepare my own heart and mind for the coming of Christ.

Most of my thoughts these days are on school activities and how to finish this semester's classes and plan for exams. It is good to step away from all that and reflect on something so much bigger.

May you too take time to pause and reflect on the coming of Christ as we contemplate what God means in our own lives. That's what this period of Advent is all about. May our time of reflection slow us down enough to remind us of the peace and joy that Christ brings to our own life!

Today is the beginning of Advent. In the church we celebrate advent by using the time to prepare for the coming of Christmas. Often people light candles each day, or each Sunday during Advent. Each candle represent part of the preparation.

The first candle is the Prophecy  Candle, next comes the Bethlehem Candle, The Shephard's Candle, and finally the Angel's Candle. Often a fifth candle is lit on Christmas Day to mark Jesus' Birth.

Today we look at the Prophecy Candle. Each day should be celebrated with the reading of a text. Our texts today come scripture that prophecy Jesus coming.   The Bible contains more than 300 passages that speak about the coming of the Messiah. Many of those texts come from Isaiah. I would like us to read two texts, Isaiah 7:14 and 2:1-5.

These passages reflect on the sovereignty of God and his work throughout human history. I find it amazing that hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, Isaiah wrote of his coming. These passages represent only two of the many ways God shows us his prophetic handiwork. If we believe God is King over all then we claim that he also knows all. The Prophecy Candle reminds us that just as the wise men understood the signs of the times and acted on their understanding of them, we too should claim the handiwork of God, which foretold Jesus birth. Not only should we recognize God's handiwork, we should also reflect on how it appears in our own lives and rejoice that God is there for us.

May we celebrate the amazing act and mystery of prophecy throughout this week. Take time to reflect on how God too knows all the details of our lives, even before i they have unfolded and trust his hand in your own life, just as the prophets trusted in Jesus coming.

Questions: How did the prophets know Jesus was coming? How can we trust prophecies? How can these prophecies give us assurance for our own lives? How can you testify to God’s acts of prophecy in your own life as he guides and encourages to understand how to live for Him?