Advent

During this season of Advent I want to carve out extra extra quiet time to prepare my heart, be attentive as I work actively for His coming in my heart. Invite the sacred into your life. Make time and space for a deeper, more intimate relationship with God. It's not about piling more tasks on our Christmas to-do list. It's about giving ourselves and others permission to love God in a renewed way. This is a compilation of several different books, and sources I have been reading about Advent season as well as some verses the Lord has illumined to me. "Deep calls to deep" Psalm42:7. "Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me." Psalm 43:3

Time in His presence is irreplaceable; He is the source of our impact in & on the world.

An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream (Matt.1:18)...We discover in all five dreams that obeying God's will takes courage, dedication, and real love for people and the mission God has placed in our care. Mary and Joseph obeyed God's will, and so must we.

Instead of shouting to us from the sky in frustrated anger, our God knows how to quietly and gently show up even in the earthquakes, winds and fired of our lives. In response to our noisy frantic, self-exhausting ways, our Lord say, "Be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10

The prophet Elijah experienced the voice and gentle touch of God at one of the lowest moments of his life. Exhausted by his efforts to run from the death threats of Jezebel, queen of Israel, Elijah came to the point of feeling so alone and so disillusioned that he wanted to die 1 Kings 19:4. Those feelings of despair, however gave God an opportunity to show His wisdom.

First strengthening him physically...The Lord renewed His servant's physical strength by giving him sleep, food, and water (19:5-8). Then God renewed Elijah's spiritual perspective by speaking to him not in a howling wind but in a "gentle whisper" (19:9-12).

What Elijah heard in the calmness of God's voice was also experienced by other men and women. Troubled people like Abraham, Job, Ruth, Rahab, Joseph, and Paul all discovered that even in their worst problems, God was gently using the voice of His wisdom to get their attention, surrender and trust. Agur is quoted by readers of Proverbs as an exceptionally wise man (30:8-9). Agur, however, had a different view of himself. Overwhelmed by how foolish he felt in the presence of his Creator, Agur wrote "Surely I am more stupid than any man, and do not have understanding. I neither learned wisdom nor have knowledge of the Holy One" Prov. 30:2-3. He felt clueless in his own understanding after listening to what his Creator was quietly saying to him.

By seeing and admitting what he couldn't understand on his own, Agur came to the place of wanting to treasure every word of God more than his own understanding (Prov. 30:5-6). So the wise man prayed, "Two things I request of You (deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies from me; give me neither poverty nor riches-feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You and say 'Who is the Lord?' or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God" Prov. 30:7-9.

By reminding us that we are not our own, Agur brings the wisdom of the where we stand in relation to our own Owner, Provider, Protector.