Showing posts with label A DEVOTIONAL FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2015. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A DEVOTIONAL FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2015. Show all posts

Sunday, November 27, 2016

SEASONS - A DEVOTIONAL FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2016



(WRITTEN BY SHEILA GAIL LANDGRAF)




 So here we are in the first Sunday of Advent! 

We light the first candle that speaks to us of faith.  Great faith often requires constant waiting.  You know right away that Advent is all about waiting.  We are waiting on so many things! 

We are waiting on Christmas to come.  We are waiting on answers to numerous prayers.  We are waiting on bad situations to turn around and become good.  We are waiting on things that we have needed, things that we have hoped for; many are the things we are waiting for. 

Waiting is a strange place to be in a world that seems to demand instant gratification.  The art of waiting has been lost and buried away in our high-tech, fast moving world.  But as we approach the candle of faith to wait on the greatest gift of all, that of Christ Our Lord; we begin to slow down.  God helps us to wait, just as He helped Mary and Joseph in that long ago day when the child was first expected.  We are waiting, like them, for unseen things, things that we have hoped for but have not yet seen with our eyes.  We are waiting on evidence of a new day, the day that only Christ can bring to us, and we start to move slowly, to open our eyes, to look around at who and what we have become in this life and to lift our hands in hopeful worship for our only hope.  As we light the candle of faith, we light the candle of faith in our hearts.  True faith is not afraid to wait. 

True faith does not have to be large to work in our lives.  Start small and watch your faith, even if only the size of a mustard seed, start to grow.  Do that one little thing that God has put in your heart as you are waiting.  See what God does to make it grow.  Mary’s son was born a child.  The wise men had to follow a star.  All things do not happen in an instant.  Wait on God to make the faith inside of you to grow, but open your heart to do the little things that he is showing you as you go through this season.  Eventually, if you wait long enough, the baby will show you The Messiah and the trail of the shining star in the sky will land over Him.   You will know, if you wait with faith in your heart. 

There was a long time that the prophets were silent as they waited on God to provide a Messiah.  Standing before the advent wreath and lighting the candle of faith reminds us of that time.  We are not only waiting in faith that opens our eyes; we are also waiting in silence that opens our ears to the Words and the promises of God.  Quietly we take the time to reflect on God’s timing and that it is not like ours.  We know God will break through our silence with the sound of a baby’s cry and we will consider it the sound of sheer joy!  It is much like the sound of the shofar that announces good news.  We wait anxiously to hear its call as we light the candle of faith and bring the season of Advent into our hearts and homes. 

Advent is all about faith and waiting.

 What are you waiting on God for this year?


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