Advent Week Two

He is Lord!  

I think that many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one or two sins that were an obvious nuisance, are inclined to feel (though we do not put it into words) that we are now good enough. He has done all we wanted him to do, and we should be obliged if he would leave us alone. But the question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what he intended us to be when he made us...

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on. You knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised.

But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of -- throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards.

You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage, but he is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself. (CS Lewis)

You call Me Master and obey me not,

You call Me Light and see me not,

You call Me way and follow me not

You call Me Life and desire me not,

You call Me wise and acknowledge me not,

You call Me fair and love me not,

You  call Me rich and ask me not,

You call Me eternal and seek me not,

You call Me gracious and trust me not,

You call Me Noble and serve me not,

You call Me mighty and honor me not,

You call Me just and fear me not,

If I condemn you, blame me not.

You call Me Master and obey me not!

Who is really in charge of your life and your daily decisions? You or Jesus? If He is Lord then we must live in submission to His will and His plan for our lives. We must pray daily like Jesus prayed in the garden, "I want your will to be done, not mine." Luke 22:42 

Advent Week One

Our Advent theme this week in the Long-Expected Jesus (Nazarene Publishing House) devotion book is "He is Coming".  We focus on the reality that just as Jesus came to earth as a baby boy in Bethlehem we believe in the reality that Jesus will come again.  Paul wrote the church church in Corinth - Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:7NLT)  Some simple lessons from this verse!

1. We are called to be prepared by gaining every spiritual gift God has for us in our lives.  If we want to be ready and prepared for Christ return or for Christ to show up in our lives when we are willing to seek the Holy Spirit.  Most of us don't like being caught unprepared in our lives.  School work undone, work presentation not completed, people showing up at your house and turkey still frozen... the list goes on for times when we don't not being prepared.  Spiritually we want to be prepared!  Growing in the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives!  Connected with Christ in a way we are comfortable when He shows up!

2. When we are prepared we eagerly wait for Jesus to return.  There can be a great since of anticipation when Jesus shows up in our lives or when Jesus comes to restore the world to its proper order.  We don't have to live in fear of those moments.  We don't have to be embarrassed that we caught off guard.  We can live eargerly longing and waiting for Jesus.  

For 400 years the people of Israel lived without hearing from God.  No prophet spoke to the people.  No glory of God came down on the temple in Jerusalem.  They waiting for a Messiah to come.  When the Messiah did come the people of God where not prepared to receive Jesus.  We are honored to live in a day when the Holy Spirit of God dwells in our heart and His Spirit can help us live connected with God and prepared for Jesus to show up in our lives or in the world!