"Rejoice!"

 Thursday, December 7, 2023 (5:24 a.m.)

Blessed God,

Thank You! ♪O Come, O Come Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel♪

(5:50 a.m.)

Father, I come before You with concern. For friends. Family. Mankind. Nations. Earth. The cosmos.

(7:01 a.m.)

Thank You for creating them all. Forgive us our sins in not treasuring and taking proper care of them.

Dearest Lord, how truly I thank You for who and all You are. We have little idea regarding everything of which You are capable. We get small glimpses of Your grace. Your glory. How often we take it all for granted. Forgive us Father.

You supply our every single need. So many times before we are even aware of them. Lord God, how I thank and praise You.

By simply coming before You with the singing of Your call for us to ♪Rejoice! Rejoice!♪ I get to search and find so very much more than I ever expected. My heart is bursting with excitement. So eager to tell. Truly agog with every single Amazing Glimpse Of Grace You supply.

Blessed God, thank You for Advent hymns that are based on Your Truth. Thank You for a completely unexpected Advent Devotional with the same title as I was singing earlier.

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” by Dr. Virginia Ward. Originally chanted in Latin, the song sings of our longing for Christ. “... with a specific request to unite the hearts of all mankind to one another. Emmanuel, the One we hope for, is anticipated by all the nations. He is the One who can bid our sad divisions to cease. He is the One who can be our King of Peace.”

Anticipating Your arrival in the form of a newborn, “we are asked to rejoice. In the midst of a health pandemic… economic challenges… racial division. Our hope and great gladness can only be found in Emmanuel, God who is with us and shall be with us until the ends of the earth. Rejoice! Rejoice!”

Yes Father. Continue teaching us to truly rejoice as You would have us! In You. With You. By, through and for You.

As circumstances continue dividing Your people further and further apart, let us ponder the words of A.J. Gordon. “Our task is not to bring all the world to Christ, our task is unquestionably to bring Christ to all the world.”

And how do we do that? By Your love! Jesus said so. “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35).

Bring us back to loving as You would have us love. You. Others. Ourselves. With all of our hearts, souls, minds and strength (Mark 12:30-31).

Do all You must to Your good and perfect end. We love, need, trust and want You. Thank You Father. Praise You Lord. Use us. Amen.

(481 words ~ 8:16 a.m.)