Day 6: Hope Made Flesh

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!

“God you are wise and your ways are wonderful. By your will we live and move and have our being. You are at work in our world and at work in my life. You speak to me through your Word and you guide me in your ways. You weep with those who weep. You welcome prodigals home and you are with us. You will be with me even into my old age and you will not leave me to the grave.”

Devotional: John’s Gospel opens describing the great mystery- the Incarnation of Jesus. He uses several powerful images to describe this event like God’s word, God’s light, and God’s Son. And while there is much to be said, about all of them I want to focus you in on the line:

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The word John uses for dwelling is rooted in the Old Testament word of The Tabernacle: The place where God dwelled. At the incarnation, God made his home among us, by taking on human flesh and coming in the likeness of a man. Hope took on skin and, as the Message paraphrases it, came to live in our neighborhood.

As an aside, if you have ever been confused about what Christians mean when we say, “Jesus was born” and you are wondering to yourself, “How can God be born? Wouldn’t that cease to make him God?” You are asking a good question, and I put together a talk for you to explain it a bit more. You can listen to it here.

As you meditate on today’s Scriptures, let them do a deep work as you contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation!

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.

John 1.1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

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.