Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video and lyrics from Michael Buble’ singing the old Christmas classic … I’ll Be Home for Christmas … a reflection of what Christmas is … AT HOME!
=============
Highlight Verse[s]: Genesis 28:15b-16 [NLT] … 15b One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.” … 16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”
… In a dream God promises Jacob of the ultimate home coming.
==============
Highlight Passage [context]: Genesis 28:10-17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God promises Jacob that one day He, The Lord, will take Jacob and God’s people back to the Promised Land … to their eternal home.
=============
Reference Passage : … John 14:1 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus’ promise to His Disciples (and us) that He will come for His Bride and take us to our eternal home.
Reference Passage : … Revelation 22:20 [NLT] … 20 He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” … Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
… And what a great Christmas wish this is!!
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Tim Gustafson, relates a personal story of a very special Christmas tree and a reminder of being home for Christmas. The ODB author wrote: One year Christmas found me on assignment in a place many of my friends couldn’t locate on a map. Trudging from my worksite back to my room, I braced against the chill wind blowing off the bleak Black Sea. I missed home.
When I arrived at my room, I opened the door to a magical moment. My artistic roommate had completed his latest project—a nineteen-inch ceramic Christmas tree [see photo] that now illuminated our darkened room with sparkling dots of color. If only for a moment, I was home again!
This season can be warmly special if we’re home for Christmas, as Michael Buble’ sings. Or it can be a lonely time if we’re not home, longing for loved ones to share the Advent season.
I have wonderful memories of Christmases spent with my grandparents as a child. I have special memories of seeing our kids squeal for joy around our Christmas tree as they grew up. And this year we’ll spend our Christmas around a tree with our grandchildren in the home of one of our girls.
But the greatest Christmases are yet to come; and they will be spent with my Savior in the home He has waiting for all who’ve come to long to be home with our Lord and Savior. And, my dear ones, … God promised His people that one day He’d bring them HOME to the Promised Land (see highlight passage); and our Lord promised us that He would come again to take us home for the ultimate Advent season [see John 14:1-4].
So, as the Apostle John wrote longingly from his vision of going to our home in glory, [see Rev. 22:20] … I say longingly this Christmas, … ”Come soon, Lord Jesus!”
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … I so look forward to spending all my eternal Christmases … in our home with You, dear Lord. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
No comments:
Post a Comment