ADVENT

 

Advent means “to come, to anticipate, a coming, an arrival” and, when capitalized, is most often referring to as the period including the four Sundays just before Christmas…the birth of Christ.  It may also refer to the Second Coming of Christ in the Last Days to gather His Bride (Church).

 

Do you find yourself pressured and tired during the holiday season?  Are you lonely?  Amidst our busy lives we tend to forget that Advent is a growing anticipation.  The image and focus of Christ sometimes gets crowded out by so much frantic activity and noise during the holiday season.  Our many activities and celebrations during this season leave us exhausted.  We soon find ourselves wishing for an end rather than anticipating a coming.

 

This year I noticed Christmas lights going up on houses weeks before Thanksgiving Day.  Even I dug out my Christmas music and started listening to it.  I use a free streaming service which has a nice video of hours as a fireplace burns and Christmas music is played.  People would frown at me.  People said that they “don’t know why stores have started putting out Christmas things for sale even before they take down Halloween” displays and merchandise.

 

Last month my life seemed so busy I even dreaded this holiday season, but when I started playing and singing to Christmastime music the busyness seem to ebb away.  Why?  The Christmas music got my focus back where it needed to be, on Jesus.  Now, much like a child anticipates his birthday, I look forward to celebrating my Lord’s birthday.

 

Advent is a gradual reminder to keep alive and deepen the real meaning of the season.  In our American culture we find waiting so difficult.  Advent is anticipation.  Anticipation is waiting with a focus.  In Advent our focus is on Christ Himself and preparing again to receive Him as the shepherds did many years ago.

 

In this time when we are overextended with little leisure time or peaceful moments Advent brings the opportunity to think daily about the way we prepare for Christmas.  It is like a call to a deeper, more prayerful sense of joy and contentment in our relationship with our Lord.  We can come to know again that He understands all the empty painful places in our hearts and that He is reaching out to share His Light in our darkness.

 

Advent also helps us to see that as busyness and pressures encircle us during the holiday season we can become insensitive to others:  treating them the wrong way, being short-tempered, and not noticing those who are in need.  When we focus on Jesus then it is easier to treat others as He would treat them:  not ignoring them but noticing them, taking a deep breath and speaking kindly, showing them love.  Showing love is a worthwhile endeavor because love counteracts the bitterness and anger that usually destroys the spirit of the season.

 

Each person may celebrate Advent in a different way.  Some individuals and families light candles, some read portions of scripture, some use an Advent calendar ­ opening a window in the calendar for each of the days in December that lead up to Christmas Day.  Some attend special Church services throughout the month.  I sing Christmas songs and write letters.  The key thing is to do something daily to renew your focus on the Coming of Jesus.

 
You have a special opportunity this year to anticipate daily the coming of Christ.  Make a plan.  Celebrate Advent!

 

 

 

 

SIGNS OF THE LAST DAYS (Part III)

Gloria Copeland said (in the devotional book "From Faith to Faith" she co-wrote with her husband), "The Spirit of God is delivering a vital message to you today:  Get ready for Jesus' return!  It's an old message.  But there is a fresh urgency to it.  An urgency you can't afford to ignore."

The thing is that we have waited for His coming for so long we have become complacent and tend to not look for signs that His return is imminent.  If we are not pressing in, trying to draw ever closer to God, seeking out His heights and depths, or actively looking for Him how can we be ready to go with Him when He comes (Mt. 24:44)?

I count myself as one who has not continued to dig deeper EVERY DAY into His Word, in conversation with Him, and praying continually (1 Thess. 5:17).  Oh, to others around me I appear to go hard after God but His Spirit convicts me that what I am doing is not enough.  He is calling me to MORE.  We may not know the exact time and day that Jesus will return for us, but we should be ready (Mt. 24:36, 44-45; 25:13).  I am not ready.

When I was in Mission School my obligation to my program was as follows:

1.   Read the Bible every day:

a.   Two chapters in the Old Testament

b.   Five Psalms

c.   One Proverbs

d.   Two chapters in the New Testament

2.   Spend time every day writing in a journal what God is showing me in His Word

3.   Work every afternoon in my assigned job (mine was emptying all garbages around the campus and dorms)

4.   Do an outreach once a week in the community (I and two other classmates would hold services in a local nursing home, taking turns leading worship and preaching)

5.   Be ready, at any time, to be a witness for the Hope (Jesus) that was within me to those around me

This was in addition to my morning classes, yet I was enthralled and so focused on Jesus that the time just flew by.  It was like being on a honeymoon; my relationship with the Lord just soared!

Upon graduation we each made the commitment to continue doing items one and two daily.  I have to admit that over the years, 32 to be exact, I have relaxed into a nice little routine of reading about one chapter in the Bible, praying for the prayer requests others have given me, praying for our president, and praying for any of my personal needs.  I also share with other residents and with staff as God gives me direction.  God’s Spirit has pointed out to me that it is not enough; I have left my “first love” (Rev. 2:3-5).

I have asked forgiveness of the Lord for becoming lax in my relationship with Him and repented [meaning I choose right now, 5/25/2020, to turn away from my nice little routine and go hard after Him again (Psalm 63)].  Will you pray for me to be faithful?

Are you sensing that we are living in the Last Days and that His return for His Bride (the Body of Christ) is imminent?  We are His Bride, you know.  We need to be ready.  Will you ask the Lord to show you how He wants you to get closer to Him?  Will you join me in “diving” closer into Him?  That’s right, I did not say “drawing”, I said “diving”.  It needs to be an all-or-nothing commitment; it needs to be sudden; it needs to be now!

“I don’t think, friends, that I need to deal with the question of when all this is going to happen. You know as well as I that the day of the Master’s coming can’t be posted on our calendars. He won’t call ahead and make an appointment any more than a burglar would. About the time everybody’s walking around complacently, congratulating each other—‘We’ve sure got it made! Now we can take it easy!’—suddenly everything will fall apart. It’s going to come as suddenly and inescapably as birth pangs to a pregnant woman.”  (1 Thess. 5:2 MSG)

TRUST

"Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong:" -Psalm 37a KJV

Forty years ago today Mt. St. Helens erupted in Washington State at 8:32 am.  I was just getting off the night shift at Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles, OR.  We were about 90 miles east of St. Helens.  I remember all the staff and the ambulatory patients crowding into the observation lounge which looked north across the Columbia River and we could see the ash cloud rising miles up into the sky.  We all worried about friends and loved ones who lived in Vancouver, WA, and Portland, OR.  It was a terrifying event, to say the least.  As I drove home I prayed about protection from further eruptions or from Mt. Hood (in Oregon) which was much closer to us.  After I got home the Lord led me to this verse, "Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong:" -Psalm 37a KJV.  I was immediately filled with God’s peace.  Mt. Hood, my mountain, would not erupt because I had his Word on it.

We, our communities, our nation, our entire world, have and are still going through another terrifying event:  a pandemic.  I could sit here and judge all those around me as they react in fear but I too have experienced fear.  Fear of going outside, especially to the doctor; fear when a caregiver enters my apartment and does not have their facemask on, does not have gloves on or does not wash their hands right after they enter.  Being from a medical background I know just how virulent these unseen bugs can be.  I could be paralyzed with fear, having the medical knowledge I have.  But I am not.  Why?  I have prayed and God has taken me to the Word again, but this time He has given me two verses:

1.   I am covered by the blood of Jesus just as the Israelites had covered their doors with sacrificial lambs blood…the plague shall not come upon me to destroy me (Exodus 12:13).

2.   Since I live my life submitted to God no plague will even come near my apartment (Psalm 91:10).

There is something important to note:  if you do not believe in Jesus and God’s Word why should you expect Him to keep you from harm or heal you?

Leviticus 26:21 says, “And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.”  Ouch!

It really is that simple my friends.  I have made it a conscious choice to walk with the Lord and listen to Him.  Fear does not control me; I choose to TRUST God.  That is where my faith is right now.  Where is YOURS?