Tuesday, December 5, 2017 Advent Week One! Hope! Day 2: God’s Hope for Your Future

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Advent Week One! Hope!

Day 2: God’s Hope for Your Future

Scripture:

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Isaiah 55:8-12

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. “ 

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Psalm 33:11

The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

Lamentations 3:26

It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Zechariah 9:9-17

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword.

Devotional:

Oh, the wonder of Christmas! And the wonder of God’s amazing heart toward us and the hope that He has given. As I study this morning, I find myself feeling like a blushing bride at my wedding as I read the vast number of Scriptures from the heart of God about His desire for our hope. He has such a beautiful, restoring, passionate love for us, my friends! He desires us not to be prisoners of the shame of our past, but prisoners of hope! For this purpose did Jesus come, humble and in human form. He is the Savior of the World, and the Restorer of our Hope! If you are, like me, in the midst of parenting children with particular challenges, hope is something that can be pretty hard to come by. If you, like me, are still potty training a six year old as you are working with a child with developmental delays, or on the other end raising a future CEO as you navigate the parenting of a strong willed child….exhaustion and frustrations can often eclipse hope that God is desirous that we and ours have the future we dream. In truth, we may not necessarily have “the dream” we concoct, but there is no doubt that God has every intention of establishing us in hope. He will GIVE us HIS dream as we wait for him. Let us wait on Him today, and allow His dream to be established in, through and for us and our children!

Prayer:

Thanksgiving:

Gracious Lord, Father of Hope, I praise You today! You are amazing, and Your works are mighty and awesome. Thank You for this beautiful reminder that Your hope extends from millennia past, and that You have established us by Your plan. You are worthy of praise. I join with the saints and the angels in saying, Glory to God in the highest! Glory to God. Thank You, Lord. Thank You.

Confession:

I also open my heart to You daily as an act of my will to bring my heart and life under Your examination that You might continually cleanse me. I pray that not one character defect may alight in me, but that daily confession will be a lifelong discipline that will foster deeper intimacy with You. (Take time in the Presence of the Lord to allow Him to examine and reveal areas needing His touch and forgiveness. Mine today: I lift my difficult relationship to You and ask that You forgive me for ruminating over the problems we have. Help me to turn to You with prayer instead. Help me to stop trying to “fix” or control the conflict, but allow You to work in Your time.)

Supplication:

I lift my needs and concerns to You today. I pray for peace, joy, and a very real sense of Your Presence as I navigate this day. Perfect that which concerns me. Infuse that hope from Your heart to mine. (Take time to journal needs, concerns, requests. Mine today: I am finally taking a much-needed half day of rest. Bless me with rest and healing. Thank You that I do not have pneumonia, and that our doctor was willing to take the chest X-ray to confirm and give us peace of mind. Please relieve my symptoms of wheezing and chest pain and coughing. Help me to take care of our children, but also not to overdo it today.  Help our children to be able to be understanding that I need rest when they return home.)

Intercession:

I lift my children to You today and thank You that You are even more intimately invested in their lives than I am. I pray for Your peace and protection, I pray that they will be rooted and grounded in Your love, that You will fill them, Holy Spirit. I pray that they will have a true and abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. I pray that Your Fruit will blossom forth as they are continually filled with You. I pray for health and healing from the tops of their heads to the bottoms of their feet. I pray for honest confession, repentance, and humility. I pray for empathy, compassion, and honesty in relationships.  (Journal specific needs, requests, concerns. Make special note of victory and progress. Over the past year, this discipline has given me such a different perspective on how God truly is moving. Without the record, I don’t know if I would have the understanding of just how far we have come. I strongly encourage each of you to even just simply jot down one or two things a week, so that you can gather the nuggets of hope that God is giving! For Christian today: I pray continually that he will initiate toileting on his own. I pray that he will have no accidents in his pullups and be able to return to underwear. I pray that he will have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I pray that the wonder of Christmas will touch his heart. I pray for his speech, and in particular that he will be able to talk relationally with us. I pray for Chloe today that You will cover her heart and mind and establish compassion, empathy, and a heart of a servant toward others. Remove the self-focus, and teach her Your Way. Thank You for her imagination, story telling, and determination to read and write. She is a wonder and a treasure.)

Thanksgiving and Consecration:

Father I bless You for this time with You, this sacred space of prayer and relationship. I pray that each person joining me today will have just such a protected time and space. I pray for each child represented here that they would embrace Your heart of hope for them, and they will receive You early and walk in Your Truth for life. I pray that You seal this time for Your Kingdom. Thy Will be done, Lord, on this earth as it is established in heaven. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen!

Blessing and Benediction:

Jude 24-25

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
²⁵ To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen.

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