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Advent Emmanuel - Devotions for Christmas
About the book
For many, this is the season excess: more gifts, more food, more parties, more decorations, more, more, more! We jam pack our December days and nights until there is no room for another thing, another activity, another moment for anyone else. So full, yet so empty. In the days of Caesar Augustus, when a young couple came into town, there was no room for them either. The people were so full of themselves, most missed the most important event of all time. Someone made room and they were filled for a life time. This year, may we push back from the table and make room in our lives, in our budget and in our Christmas for Christ.
That is my wish as I offer twenty-
Honoring the traditional Advent Calendar in which a small gift is opened each day as Christmas approaches, with each reading, I offer you a gift. It may be a gift that you receive or that you give, but either way, you will benefit from putting your faith into action.
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Psalm 34:8
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Proverbs 17:17
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.
1 Corinthians 16:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13
Inspirational Verses
Excerpt from the book
Christ in a Real World
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. -
Can you imagine the smell of the stable where Jesus was born? If the shepherds expected to find the Messiah in the sweet smell of heaven, they were likely surprised to find Him amid the odor of their own very familiar world. The Savior of mankind was not surrounded by the incense of perfumed priests, but the smell of hard working common men and lowly beasts. He would be a carpenter with calloused hands and burdened with the responsibility for this widowed mother and siblings when work was plentiful or scarce.
He is one of us, albeit the best of us, and He knows what it means to give until it hurts. He did. May we follow His example.
Today’s Gift
Be sure to visit the “real world” this season, a world that may be uncomfortable or unknown to you. Connect with a local nonprofit that will enable you to step into a new experience such as feeding the homeless, delivering blankets or coats to those in need, making cards or small gift bags for seniors in a nursing home. Walk in the shoes of someone less fortunate than yourself today and begin to understand how Jesus felt in our skin.
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