ADVENT
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Daily Reading: 1 John 3 In this chapter the apostle John seems intent on proclaiming the message of God’s lavish love towards us. He frames everything else he writes with the great, central truth of the Christian gospel – our belovedness: 1See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be
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Daily Reading: John 3:1-21 Why did Jesus come to earth? That’s the sort of question a preacher might ask the congregation and then be met by stony glares. There are just so many possible answers that everyone knows that the particular answer they shout out is highly unlikely to be exactly the one the preacher
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Daily Reading: Isaiah 63:7-19 This complex prophetic word through Isaiah contains much to ponder, but our focus for today is particularly on what it reveals about what it calls “the steadfast love of the Lord“. Verse 7 explains that what follows is a recounting of the praiseworthy ways God’s steadfast love has been expressed. It’s
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Daily Reading: Psalm 36 Yesterday, Psalm 33 announced the unfailing love of God for all humanity, and how He has fashioned each human being individually, in love. Today Psalm 36 particularly points to the generous love of God which is poured out when someone turns to God in faith and “takes refuge” in Him. 7 How
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For this final week of Advent 2023 our attention shifts to the theme of LOVE – God’s love. Daily Reading: Psalm 33 “The earth is full of His unfailing love!” (v.5) The apostle John proclaimed in 1 John 4:8 that God is love. Here Psalm 33 declares that He has written His character into His
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Daily Reading: Jude 1:17-25 Once again, our Bible reading reminds us that joy comes from the presence of the Lord and not from circumstances. Jude celebrates that God is able to keep the believer from stumbling and present us before His glorious presence without fault and with “great joy”. That “great joy” is “agalliasis” in
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Daily Reading: Luke 1:26-45 In this scene from Luke 1 there are four people in the room. Two are adults and two are infants. Two are breathing and being sustained by the oxygen in the room. Two are being sustained by their mothers’ bloodstreams. In our Western mindset, we would not imagine that one of
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Daily Reading: Isaiah 12 This beautiful, prophetic victory song was inspired by the Holy Spirit and composed by Isaiah for use on “that day”. “That day” refers to the day promised in chapter 11 – the day Christ will reign as king. Now, while it is true that the Kingdom of Christ has not been
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Daily Reading: Psalm 856 Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Psalm 85 is a prayer for those moments when we take an honest look at the current state of our relationship with God and His work in our lives, and find ourselves wishing for more life and a greater measure
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The angels announced Jesus’ birth as “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10), so it is only appropriate that every year, in the third week of advent, our theme is JOY. Daily Reading: Psalm 16 “11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at
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