Lord of all Creation,
—written by Steve Hindalong and Marc Byrd
Of water, earth, and sky
The heavens are Your tabernacle
Glory to the God on high
God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are Holy, Holy
The Universe declares Your majesty
God of Wonders
We live in an age of Mock Omniscience, having the world at our fingertips and the ability to search any question we have for answers on the worldwide web. It’s easy to elevate our own intelligence, artificial or real, but we still need God who alone has all the answers.
Forgive us, Lord, for failing to magnify You, the God who is beyond our galaxy, beyond time, and beyond creation.
Let’s begin our Advent season by worshiping the God of Wonders who deserves to be exalted as Holy and to receive all glory.
Principle: Our God of Wonders is beyond any created thing or being.
Aim: See our God as worthy of being exalted.
At Christmas, a prayer: Lord God, Your plan is so far above anything we could ever have imagined. You are loving and holy! Your justice is true! Your righteousness is without flaw! Hallelujah! How amazing that You would look upon our impossible predicament of wickedness and rebellion, yet because of Your character of love, You would implement Your mysterious plan to rescue us anyway. We acknowledge we are truly unworthy of this mercy on account of sin in our lives. Even the best of us is a sinner by inheritance from Adam and that from the moment we take our first breath. We repent of our evil ways and come to You for forgiveness knowing You are merciful. Oh Hallelujah! Your wisdom is beyond all searching, and Your plan—mysterious even on the night of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ—perfectly displays Your love, justice, and mercy. We praise You! We lift Your Name above all names! We give You glory this day in anticipation of celebrating during Advent and beyond, marveling at who You are! Be magnified in our thoughts, our prayers, and our lives. You are worthy! Amen.
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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 search feature to the right and are as follows:
- “Visitation Principles” was the theme of last Advent’s devotional series. It delved into reasons Jesus came as outlined in the Book of Hebrews. They are archived beginning December 1, 2024.
- “From the Jews for the World” was an important devotional exploration of how Jesus’ Jewish heritage was necessary for the salvation of Gentiles, too. It is archived beginning December 3, 2023.
- “Awaken Remnant” was the devotional topic for 2022. It began November 27, 2022, and highlighted the remnant found throughout Scripture as evident in Jesus’ lineage.
- The multi-faceted Interlude between the promise of a Deliverer and the birth of our Messiah and King was the theme of 2021’s devotional series. It is archived beginning November 28, 2021.
- 2020’s Devotional Series Divine Intervention began on November 29, 2020 and explored God’s activity on behalf of a hurting world and nations in tumult– Intervention for you and for me when our status as sinners required nothing short of a miracle.
- God’s Christmas list explored what might be on God’s Christmas list, learning what He wants from us. It began December 1, 2019.
- 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.