Day 2: Hope's Origin

Theme For The Series: In this 21 day Advent devotional we are focusing on anticipation and the Incarnation, Christ’s presence In the world, the return of the King.

Intro Prayer: “Jesus, please help me in this time to be fully present to You and to myself that I may commune with You for the sake of your glory and the world around me.”

Silence: In this time, try and become silent before the Lord both internally and externally for 5 minutes. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back to stillness.

Praise: Bless the Lord by declaring these truths about Him!

“You are the source of my life and my shepherd. You sent your Son and the Spirt for me. You are my savior and salvation. You strongly support me. You speak to me and silence the accusations of the enemy. I know the sound of your voice.”

Devotional: The prophet Isaiah lived at a time when each hoped in human ruler was failing. Each person that was supposed to lead the people to life and peace was, in the end, corrupt.

It was a dark, dark time.

We can relate to Isaiah’s situation because we all know what it is like to hope that certain people or certain circumstances will lead us to life and peace only to find out, in the end, they were corrupt or made false promises.

But, as we learned yesterday, times of darkness make us appreciate the light more.

And into Isaiah’s darkness, God began to speak about a new hope and a new leader who would be marked by wisdom and justice. This leader would not fail but would succeed in leading establishing justice and leading His people to real life. The Spirit of God was breathing living hope in a dark world.

As you meditate on today’s Scriptures, let them do a deep work in you of both realizing your need and realizing that origin of real hope is from God.

Scripture: Read today’s text slowly. Feed your spirit on the words. Your goal in this time is to commune with Jesus through His Word. Take note as you sense His Presence.

Isaiah 11.1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

Worship: Worship forms the truths of Scripture deep within our lives. This week we will be worshipping to the song O Come O Come Emmanuel sung by Lauren Daigle. It is a classic song reminding us that Hope is coming. (If you are reading this via email, here is the link to the video.)

Listen: Take time to listen to the Holy Spirit. Write down anything you sense the Lord speaking.

Obedience: What from today is the Lord calling you to put in practice? Could be to pray for someone, to call someone, to serve someone etc.