And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another– and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

It’s not enough to run our own race, stay in our own lane, do our own thing, and mind our own business.  On God’s Christmas List, He wants us to help others along the way, too.  In so many places in the Bible, God teaches us to look out for the wellbeing of others (Genesis 18:17-33, Philippians 2:4, Galatians 6:2, Luke 10:36-37, etc.).  Part of that wellbeing is to bring out the best in our fellow man, not egging them into their worst behaviors.  It also involves meeting with likeminded Christian people and strengthening each other.  As it becomes more difficult with the darkness of our world building like storm clouds all around us, we will remain strong by encouraging each other, meeting with each other, and by holding one another accountable. 

On this Christmas Eve and always, that’s what God wants: His people standing strong, grounded in God-fearing unity, and shining brightly with His Gospel truth to be joyfully shared with the world which desperately needs Him.

Think About It: 

• What are some of the ways we can spur one another on? 
• What tangible actions can you take today to encourage someone else? 
• Why would God admonish us to do it all the more as we see the Day (of His Return and Judgment) approaching?

Dear Father, help me to see that Christmas and the birth of Christ wasn’t just about a little baby in a manger, but a revolutionary act of reclamation of Your people by Your perfect design.  Remind me often that had it not been for Your intervention at Christmas in the person of Jesus Christ, each and every man, woman, and child no matter where they lived or who their parents were…all would have been lost for eternity because that’s just how bad sin is.  Open my eyes and my heart to the gravity and power of what You accomplished in the Incarnation.  It is why Christmas endures and will until Your return at Your second advent, Lord Jesus.  Amen!

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:22-23) 

When all else around us fails, when people fail us, when our family fails us, and when we fail ourselves, this is the hope we can hold onto:  God is faithful.  Period.

Think About It:

• To know without a doubt that God is faithful is greatly reassuring.  We don’t need to turn to the right or to the left in search of something or someone who will be faithful.  What is our assurance based upon?  Read Hebrews 10:5-25 for context of this important assurance.
• What does unswervingly mean?  Why does God encourage us to hold unswervingly to hope?

In Scripture and therefore on God’s Christmas List, we hold onto hope.

Dear Lord, when I am prone to doubt, when I am lonely and questioning everything, when I do not know where to turn, please dear God, remind me of this assurance:  You are faithful.  Help me to look with eyes of faith not through the lens of my circumstances which are temporary.  Help me to know the eternal weight of glory that outweighs my afflictions.  I thank You and praise You for Your faithfulness.  Amen.

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Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

It’s often said that Christianity is a relationship not a religion.  But there is a religious aspect to it, too, enough that God would put it on His Christmas List. 

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James. 1:27). 

God desires that we honor purity in our religion. 
Pure.  Faultless.  Those are the bookends of acceptable religion and religious practices.

Think About It:

• Religion can be viewed as the outworking of what one has hidden in his/her heart.  Can we have different outworking depending on our call and our environment? 
• Most of us don’t encounter orphans or widows all day long.  How are those two individual groups pointing to a Christ-honoring religion? 
• Why is it important to God that we do not become polluted by the world once we are in relationship with Christ? 
• A Christianity without religion misses something, but a Christianity without a relationship with Jesus Christ misses everything.  What are they missing and why must Christ be in Christianity?

Dear Father, Jesus prayed to You saying, “I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.  My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:14-15).  Give us strength to stand our ground on purity.  Give us hearts to pursue religion of caring about others in tangible ways.  Give us comfort so we may comfort others.  Give us hope so we will not become discouraged when we are ridiculed and reviled as Jesus was.  Remind us every day of Your goodness to us and help us to appreciate the fullness of life You give.  May we keep Christ in Christmas and in our hearts always.  Amen.

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Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

In a world filled with division, rancor, and deceptive behavior, God has as an item on God’s Christmas List for Christ followers to be every bit as countercultural as Jesus was.  The attacks upon Him were as hateful and cruel then as the attacks upon God-fearers today.  The vitriol oozed from every pore as they called Him “Mary’s son” (Mark 6:3) suggesting His birth was illegitimate.  They called Him a drunkard and glutton, a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 11:19).  They viewed His words as blasphemy (Matthew 9:3).  They had Him crucified.

You think you’ve had a bad day or two.  It doesn’t compare.  But into this world, God calls us to rise above it.  To pursue peace and holiness.

Think About It:

• In Hebrews 12:11-15, we read, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”  How do bitter roots grow? 
• How do we keep from cultivating bitter roots?
• Is it easy to rise above it when falsely accused? 
• In what way does fixing our eyes on Jesus who endured worse (Hebrews 12:3) help us to stay the course?

God wants us to pursue peace and holiness.

Dear Lord, even though others sow bitter seeds and grow bitter roots, let me follow my Savior to higher and better actions.  Let me pursue peace and grow in holiness.  We praise You for the power of Your Holy Spirit who guides and teaches us, helping us to discern those bitter roots.  May I aim for the kind of holiness that is possible because of You.  Be glorified, Lord, in my actions.  Amen.

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Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see… And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’ (Hebrews 11:1, 6)

When we made Christmas lists and wrote letters to Santa as children, we hoped that on Christmas morning, under the tree, we’d find what was on our list.  We might have been so excited we couldn’t sleep that night at all, and before sunrise we’d be creeping down the stairs to look and see if Santa had come.  We believed Santa existed and he read our letters and reindeer could fly with a sleigh full of gifts for good girls and boys.

God operates differently because God isn’t fictional.  He’s real.  Therefore, our faith is in someone worthy of hope and assurance.  There is no doubt that what we ask for in His will, we will receive…all those precious promises!  When God has our faith on His Christmas list, He doesn’t need it for His benefit.  He wants it for ours.  That’s because He knows our faith acknowledging His grace and forgiveness are what saves us and that’s what He wants.  Everyone to know Christ and be saved!  “The LORD rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness” (1 Samuel 26:23).  That—in itself—is all the reward we could ever ask for, but He gives more.  He gives us a relationship with Him through Christ for all eternity. 

Think About It:

• But when God gives reward for faith there’s an individual element to it too.  In Matthew 16:27, we read “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done”.  How does the “individual aspect” incentivize the Christian toward good works? 
• Why does He reward the individual? 
• Read Ephesians 6:7-8  “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.”  How is God’s reward offered without prejudice?

God wants…us to have faith!

Dear Lord, please remind me, even when the task at hand is hard or unpleasant, even when my circumstances are stressful and undesirable, even when my struggles are greater than my pleasures, that it is You whom I am serving.  Help me to have the kind of faith You reward.  May I be found obediently serving You and doing so with joy because I know You exist and I know You reward faithfulness in serving others.  I love You, Lord.  Amen.

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Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

Why would God want our display of the fruit of the Spirit to be on His Christmas List?  The “fruit of the Spirit” isn’t like a divine Harry and David gift box showing up with festive wrapping.  It’s not many fruits…it’s one type: of the Spirit.  The fruit-filled life looks like Jesus’ life.  And there’s no law against that.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-25).

Think About It: 

• How well do you display the fruit of the Spirit?  If not well, how do you grow in your faithful display?
• What role does prayer play?
• If the Father is the vine dresser and the Jesus is the vine (John 15:1-17) then what do we need to do?

Dear Lord, please prune my life of anything that does not bring glory to You. Help me to accept the difficult times I experience as being the painful pruning so I can be more fruitful. May I be blessed to display fruit for Your glory this day and always. Amen.

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Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:12-13)

The whole reason Jesus came was to reveal the Father’s love for us.  First in the Incarnation, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, entering into the human reality of mortality, seeing human sin up close, knowing the death sentence sin brings, feeling every temptation just as we do, and yet all the while, He was doing something more.  He showed us what love looks like.  It looks like Jesus on Good Friday, hanging obediently on a Cross, giving up His spirit and breathing His last.  From a cradle (or manger) to the Cross to a grave (that couldn’t hold Him), Jesus displayed the greatest virtue: Love.

Think About It:

• Do you know what that kind of love means?  What it looks like? 
• When Scripture says we know “in part” why can we not know fully this side of heaven?

God Wants Us to Know the Greatest Virtue: Love

Dear Lord,  give me grace to aspire to increasing knowledge of You, that I might know love, the greatest virtue.  May Your Holy Spirit teach me how to love others sacrificially and selflessly.  Teach me, Lord, to be a better friend, spouse, parent, and child.  Teach me how to love.  Amen.

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Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

The disciples gathered around Jesus and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.   But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.  They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:6-11)

Witnessing about what God has done goes all the way back to the beginning of humankind.  It took a dramatic and powerful turn at the manger and another dramatic, and even more powerful, turn at Jesus’ Ascension.  At the manger it was one person telling another with human effort.  After Jesus ascended, the Holy Spirit could come and live in those with faith to believe.  The telling of what God has done suddenly had a different power source.  Why might witnessing be on God’s Christmas List?

Think About It:

• Why is the Holy Spirit “the best kept secret of evangelical Christianity”? 
• When we witness about Jesus Christ, who is really speaking?  Read Matthew 10:19-20
• Do we have any reason to fear if that is the case?

What God Wants for Christmas is for us to be witnesses and share Him with everyone.

Dear Lord, please present me with easy opportunities to share the good news of what You have done in giving us a Savior, born on the very first Christmas.  Encourage me in the power of the good news so that I will readily share who You are with everyone I meet.  Stand in the gap, dear Lord, between my boldness and my accuser who makes me fear what others will think.  May I bring glory to You by telling others how amazing You are!  Amen.

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Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

Some standards are impossible to meet with our own abilities.  Jesus provides what we are lacking in order to fulfill what He wants from us.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.  

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life f or one’s friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit– fruit that will last– and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

This is my command: Love each other. (John 15:5-17)

Think about it:

• Why does God ask for things that are impossible on our own? 
• What does “impossible” cause us to do and feel?
• Which results are the God-honoring options? 
• How did Jesus set the new standard of love?

What God wants for Christmas is… for us to Love One Another as He Loves Us

Dear Lord, we praise You that by remaining in Christ, we can do Your will.  We praise You that Your standard of love causes us to look to You.  May we always be grateful that Jesus came as a little baby to teach us of Your great love and He displayed it to the very end of His earthly life.  Thank You that Your love is with us always and will be for all eternity!  Amen.

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Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.

Have you ever stopped to think about why God would want us to receive His Holy Spirit and why it might make it onto God’s Christmas List?

“The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.  Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”  And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.

“A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:20-29)

Think about it:

• Jesus had a lifespan of 3 decades and then He died.  No more Jesus walking the earth.  How did the Holy Spirit take over and do what the earthly Jesus could not? 
• What does it say about the limitations of Jesus on the earth?  Why was He limited as the Word made flesh?
• Read John 16:7.   Why was/is the Holy Spirit necessary for us to be sent as He was and for us to do His will?

What God wants for Christmas is…for us to receive His Holy Spirit by faith.

Dear Lord, I need You every hour and the presence of Your Spirit to guide me.  I thank You that You have not left us as orphans but You have come to us, by faith, in Your Holy Spirit.  Thank You that He points to the Lord Jesus and reminds us of Your call, Your Word, and Your will when we are at the end of our resources.  Grant us strength to do Your will, now and always.  Amen.

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Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:  

• Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
• The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
• The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times.  Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence.  His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
• The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology.  They began November 29, 2015.
• Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols.  You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives.  They began November 30, 2014.
• The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John.  It began December 1, 2013.
• The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story.  It began December 1, 2012.