Tuesday 11 November 2014

Day 11: Leaping for Joy

Welcome to our 25 day Advent study and Advent Calendar which we are preparing through November to be able to use in December.   Each day has a Bible Study related to Advent, a worship video, a passage telling the Christmas Story and a Bible verse to ise on your Advent Calendar.  You can download the PDF with today's study and verses here.

Advent Study
“But for you who revere My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.”    Malachi 4:2

Here God provides a beautiful picture of what the coming of Jesus means for those who trust in Him as their Savior. It is like the sun rising and bringing healing to all upon whom it shines. Those who reject Jesus and His healing forgiveness will find a much different fate, but it is all joy for the forgiven people of God.

It’s no accident that Jesus is called the “son of righteousness.” Although the world would expect Jesus to come like a ticket-taker and collect tokens from those who have accumulated the sufficient amount of righteousness, that isn’t what we learn about Him from the Bible. God knows that our sinfulness will always leave us empty-handed in the righteousness department, but Jesus has an overabundance of righteousness that becomes ours through Him.

At the coming of Christ, we will leap like calves because the burden of our sin will be completely removed. We don’t realize just how much our sin weighs us down because we live each and every day of our lives under its heavy weight. Even for the strongest, sin is a tremendous burden that drags us down to the grave. The righteous healing that Jesus brings removes that burdensome weight and we shall leap for joy forever in ways we can hardly imagine.

Prayer
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the healing that you bring through your forgiveness. You promise to take my sins away and free me to live the way you intended. I love you and praise you. Amen.

Ponder
Do you leap for joy at the mention of His name? Can you release the sin that is weighing you down right now and feel His healing?



Worship Video



Christmas Story
Luke 1:39-45
Mary Visits Elizabeth
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”


Bible Verse
Luke 1:42
In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!


You can see our creative responses at AdoreHimCreations and NewlyCreative.

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