Welcome to the Blue Ocean Advent devotional podcast. This is day twenty-three. I’m Emily, and I’ll be your guide.
Let’s start with a moment of gratitude. I’ll give you 15 seconds of silence to think about something you’re thankful for, and to thank God for it. Let’s begin now.
[15 seconds of silence]
Now we’ll move on to our petitionary prayer. Today we’ll pray for people we have a hard time loving. Let’s take 25 seconds of silence to pray for and remember our loved ones.
[25 seconds of silence]
Our Scripture reading today comes from 1 John 2:7–11. It says:
Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.
We’ll close today by meditating on the phrase:
… the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
Take a few moments now to meditate on those words: … the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.
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