Week 1 Day 1

 Hello!!!

I am so very excited as we start this study and prepare Him room. I look forward to this every single year. This year you will notice things will be a bit different. We are studying passages this year rather than a chunk, leading up to and then teaching on the birth of Christ. Hope fulfilled in His promises made and promises kept. We can take confidence that He did what He said He would do and wait with eager expectation that He will yet come again. Mondays will set the stage for the week, so save the links! 

For many we have been saying 2020 has been a year like no other. For others who have lived through wars or famine or displacement, or anything else, 2020 might have just been another year. Regardless I think it put in the forefront of every person that suffering is real, loss is real, and that we truly don't know what tomorrow holds. BUT for those of us in Christ we know who holds tomorrow. We have that truth to share as the Light of Christmas this year. Psalm 36:9b in your light do we see light. Jesus Christ the Lord.

This week: We will be studying Isaiah 9:6. I would encourage you to read Isaiah 9:1-7. This is the link of Seeds Family Worship Isaiah 9:6. Also included...Christmas hymns and history! This week: Joy to the World! I will probably include a few artists versions, find a favorite, Wednesday we will go through the words and theology as part of the study. 

For today: Read Isaiah 9:1-7, Listen to God with Us, Sing Joy to the World!

MONDAY:  Our view is from the prophecy fulfilled, so as far as the birth of Christ is considered, in many ways we take it for granted. We didn't sit in darkness (as in waiting for the promised Messiah), we didn't wait with eager expectation on the hope, will this be the year the He comes? We enter into Advent with Immanuel (God with us.) That thought alone makes me want to sob. For centuries, even truly since the Garden of Eden those before us waited for the Savior to come. I enter into the season of His birth WITH Christ. Yet, it is so good to remember this same Christ who came as a babe in the manger with return not as a babe but as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given...The notes in my Bible note here 'The verbs are consistent with HIs humanity and deity.' This thought, fully God, fully man, has been overwhelming to me this year as I studied. The Son of God, taking on human flesh, to come to take away this sins of the world. God made flesh. This is so, remarkable. The one who created the entire universe would allow us to hold Him in our hands. Fully God, fully man. 

Isaiah's prophecy was made hundreds of years before Christ came. In the darkness without Christ it was these promises that people had to hold onto. I think of how incapable I am of holding onto the Word of God for even 5 minutes sometimes without having unwavering faith. And I have the FULL council of God at my fingertips in several translations. Oh how I can take this for granted. How not only have I lost my longing for Him at times, there are seasons I forget there is even one yet to long for.

Friend, this year, I will say often prepare Him room. That is my object as we study together this year. That we take a good deep examination of our hearts. Ask the hard questions. Do I long for Him? Do I yearn for Him? Or am I satisfied by another? Have I put my hope so solely on the things of this world, elections, trips, plans, health, education that I have completely found myself this Christmas still yet not longing for Jesus but longing for it to be over? We have a chance to reset our gaze. That we can look at Him and in His Light see Light. He (Christ) is the radiance of the glory of God!!!! The Glory of God is the Light of the World and especially for this season the true Light of Christmas. Sister- journey with me to the manger as we once again seek and savor the coming of the King. 

Advent Prep!

     Good morning! We are a week away from the official start of our Advent Study for 2020. I wanted to set the tone and make it easy to know what to expect from this study. We are blessed to have many new friends join us this year, and hope for even a few more yet!

     Just a reminder- if you follow on Facebook only and do not receive the email- it CONSTANTLY kicks me out of chronological order and the past few studies ladies have said they never receive the daily notice of a new post. If that is the case simply check this blog link M-F. There should always be a new study, typically up before 9am.

     This year we will highlight several key passages of both the promises made and kept in the coming of Christ at Christmas. Unique this year are 2 features- one every passage we study actually has a scripture set to music feature- I will send the link out each week, with the scripture set to song, it makes it super easy to meditate on and memorize! And 2, we will study a hymn each week so that as we worship through song we can have a better understanding of the theological richness of our Christmas lyrics!

     I am extra excited this year. It has been a very hard year for a million  reasons to every single person in this study. And, in a year where we all joked in 2020 that it would be the year of vision and clarity; many of us have lost sight. But, maybe that was the point all along. We had hopes, predictions and promised we felt entitled too, waited on, and perhaps were even owed. Now, seeing that truly the Lord holds our future and that even tomorrow is Lord willing; many of us have fallen into despair, depression or spiritual darkness. But oh, may we not end that way. In my heart and mind the best way to end 2020 in the most joyful of ways, is to focus on Christ. He has fulfilled every promise and will fulfill what is yet to come. We can trust our hearts and minds and days to the King who is the culmination of the OT prophecy and will come back the completing the NT promises yet. We share so much with those who eagerly awaited the coming of Christ, and so we wait, let again. However, we do it, in the promises fulfilled, they waited to proclaim EMMANUEL, the hope of God with them; and we wait with eager expectation rooted and grounded in the fact that EMMAUEL, God is with us! We do not wait alone.

     The study notes in my Bible this morning struck me. In Amos 4 it talks about the Israelites, who "though enthusiastic about ritual had no relationship with God." I needed to take a deep breath. As I study for this time this is not the first reminder that I can get lost- in the sentimentalism of Christmas, in the feeling that rushes into my heart during the Candlelight Christmas Eve services or the traditions that come. I can be super enthusiastic about the traditions of Jesus- and forget to invite Him to the celebration. This year, much of that in many areas of our world will be stripped away. And as we ask ourselves almost every study we do together, will Jesus be enough?! It is the greatest gift to end a very hard year with the birth of the Savior. Such a gift. His goodness and grace; being born to die; to take away the sins of the world. 

     Ps 36 has been so etched in my heart and 1 verse in particular has struck me. Verse 9 For with you in the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. 

    In your light do we see light. Jesus came, the light of the World, the exact imprint, the radiance of the Glory of God. In His light do we see light.

     May Christ and His sufficiency be the greatest Light of our Advent season. May we set Him high that others may see the Light of Christmas. <3

Praying for each of you as we start this journey- Next Monday.