The New Arrives!

Yesterday on the blog we saw God’s glory depart from the temple. The sacrificial system would no longer provide access to God.
The old was gone—but the departure signaled the new that was approaching.
Then came the 400 silent years.
God was quiet.
Until . . .
Gabriel delivered the message that God would give Zacharias and Elizabeth a son in their old age, a very special son (more on that tomorrow). He would prepare the way for the Messiah—the new and living way. Their son would be the forerunner who would announce the fulfillment of God’s promise to once again dwell with man.
“To make ready a people prepared for the Lord” . . . what an assignment! John the Baptist, the older cousin to Jesus by six months, son of a priest and long-awaited child to parents in their old age—he would herald the Messiah’s advent by delivering a message to prepare hearts to receive God in flesh.
Can you hear him from the rocky crags and crevices of the Judean wilderness?
After 400 years of waiting for a word from God, He breaks the silence with the birth announcement of a repentance-preaching prophet! And the Word from God to a people with hardened hearts was the same as it is today: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
John the Baptist’s ministry was foretold hundreds of years earlier and was the fulfillment of this prophecy:
How do we prepare for celebrating Advent?
How do we prepare our hearts for God’s glory to be seen in our lives?
The same way John told God’s people to prepare—through repentance.
Pause and ask the Spirit, the same Spirit who filled John the Baptist as a babe in the womb, to search your heart. Ask Him to soften any hard places, to open your eyes to areas of disobedience, to convict you of sin that needs to be dislodged, brought down, made smooth—basically any sin that needs to be repented of in order to prepare your heart for the kingdom work God has for you today.
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Thank you for speaking at the Christian Women Conference in West Point, NE. Your message was a great blessing to my marriage. Today is our 24th anniversary and my best present to my husband will be to come to him tonight with humility and ask him for forgiveness for not allowing him to grow and be him. I have learned from you.
May God bless your ministry.
Hello Maggie ~
God bless you, dear sister! I am so very grateful that God has spoken to you and you are willing to humble yourself. I pray that it is a very special anniversary and that God begins a new work in your lives. Did you pick up a copy of “Fierce Women” at the conference? It will provide you some encouragement as you continue to demonstrate true love to your husband. There is a lot of practical help in the book.
Stay in touch, I look forward to hearing how God is at work!
Pausing to pray for you now ~