First Week of Advent – Anticipation
December 3 – 9, 2023
In anticipation of the Lord’s soon return, believers everywhere are called to “wake from sleep.”
Because our salvation is nearer to us today than when we first believed, we affirm that the day of Christ’s glorious coming is close at hand, and the night of sin and sadness is on its way out forever.
In light of this certain prospect, we are to cast off the works of darkness, putting on God’s armor of light, and to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us make no room for fleshly desire or practice, not gratifying our flesh but seeking to please the Lord in all things.
The Lord is coming soon; let us do all we can to live resonant with that belief. The day of our deliverance is near!
We invite you to follow our weekly Advent devotions.
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Sunday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
The night of the curse is far gone, and the day of our salvation is close at hand.
Monday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
Our salvation is closer today than when we first believed.
Tuesday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
The day of Christ’s coming is close at hand, and the night of sin and sadness are on its way out forever.
Wednesday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
We are to cast off the works of darkness and put on God’s armor of light.
Thursday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ’s light.
Friday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
We should make no room for fleshly desire or living, but rather seek to please the Lord in all things.
Saturday’s Reflection
Scripture for the Day:
Affirmation:
With the Lord coming soon, let us walk properly as in the daytime.
Time for Reflection
Worship is the supreme and only indispensable activity of the Christian Church. It alone will endure, like the love for God which it expresses, into heaven, when all other activities of the Church will have passed away.
It must therefore, even more strictly than any of the less essential doings of the Church, come under the criticism and control of the revelation on which the Church is founded.
Considering the outpouring of books on worship in recent years, it is obviously a subject of great interest and importance for contemporary Christians.
Yet, sadly, worship is an issue that continues to divide us, both across the denominations and within particular congregations.
Benediction
O Lord, Who has revealed to us that “the night is far spent, the day is at hand,” grant that we may ever be found watching like servants who wait for the coming of their Lord; that, when He cometh and knocketh, we may open to Him immediately. Save us from all love of this world, that we may wait with patient hope for the day of the Lord, and abide in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming; through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen.
~ Adapted from Romans 13.12; Luke 12.36, John 2.28.
In Selina Fitzherbert Fox. A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages:
Forty Centuries of Prayer, 2000 B.C.-A.D. 1916. NewYork: E. P. Dutton, 1943. p. 212