Day 5 of our 2018 Advent Contemplations.
Welcome to the Blue Ocean Advent devotional podcast. This is Day five: Thursday, Dec. 6. I’m Emily, and I’ll be your guide today.
Let’s start with a moment of gratitude. I’ll give you 20 seconds of silence to think about something you’re thankful for, and to thank God for it. Let’s begin now.
[20 seconds of silence]
Now we’ll move on to our petitionary prayer. Today we’ll pray for our church. You can start by praying something like, “God, give me hope for _________ in my church.” And then remember various people before God as they come to mind. Let’s take 20 seconds of silence to pray.
[20 seconds of silence]
Our Scripture reading today comes from Psalm 18. During the first week of Advent we focus on cultivating hope—practicing being wide-eyed, and looking for signs of God in everything. Let’s listen for this in the psalm.
I’m using The Message translation. It begins:
I love you, God—
you make me strong.
God is bedrock under my feet,
the castle in which I live,
my rescuing knight.
My God—the high crag
where I run for dear life,
hiding behind the boulders,
safe in the granite hideout.I sing to God, the Praise-Lofty,
and find myself safe and saved.The hangman’s noose was tight at my throat;
devil waters rushed over me.
Hell’s ropes cinched me tight;
death traps barred every exit.A hostile world! I call to God,
I cry to God to help me.
From her palace she hears my call
my cry brings me right into her presence—
a private audience!
But me she caught—reached all the way
from sky to sea; she pulled me out
Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,
the void in which I was drowning.
They hit me when I was down,
but God stuck by me.
She stood me up on a wide-open field;
I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!God made my life complete
when I placed all the pieces before her.
When I got my act together,
she gave me a fresh start.
Now I’m alert to God’s ways;
I don’t take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways she works;
I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
and I’m watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to her eyes.
____________We’ll close today by meditating on Romans 5:5, which says:
“And hope will never fail to satisfy our deepest need because the Holy Spirit that was given to us has flooded our hearts with God’s love.”
Take a few moments now to meditate on what it means to have your heart flooded with God’s love.
Our Concluding Prayer:
Creator, almighty and everlasting, you have brought me in safety to this new day: Preserve me with your mighty power, that I may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all I do direct me to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus my Lord. Amen