Day 3: The Source of Strength

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
'May [the Lord] strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when out Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones.'  1 Thessalonians 3:13 

These words from the apostle Paul to some of the very first Christians are a great lead-in to how God’s way of salvation is exactly opposite to the world’s. Where worldly theologians would encourage us to strengthen ourselves, Paul prays that God Himself would be the strength of His people. Paul could write this with confidence because there are many places in the Bible that tell us that this is true, such as Psalm 28:8 – “The Lord is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation.”

What comfort in these days of Advent to acknowledge that while our own strength is limited, God’s is limitless. There will always be times when our strength is not enough; but when God is working on our behalf even the worst trouble cannot overcome God’s strength.

The world would not expect this, thinking that we can accomplish this on our own by being so good that there is nothing to blame. But Paul reminds us that the only way we can truly be blameless before God is to have our sins forgiven. This forgiveness can only come through faith and trust in Jesus who took away the punishment for our sins so that He might present us blameless to God.

Prayer

God, when I do things on my own and fail to invite you into the process the results are hit or miss. I now release my selfish ways and invite you into my life. I ask that you be present in my thoughts and actions. While Christmas is traditionally a very demanding time of the year, help me to focus o the real gift of the season, your son Jesus, who you sent to take away the sins of the world. I am so grateful for your gift of forgiveness. Amen.

Ponder
Think about how you have done things in your own strength and the results.   How had God's forgiveness changed your life and how can you tap into God's supernatural strength in the future?


Worship Video

Christmas Story 

Isaiah 11:1-10 

The Branch From Jesse 

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him -
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord -

and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
    or decide by what he hears with his ears;

but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

Righteousness will be his belt
    and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

The wolf will live with the lamb,
    the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
    and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear,
    their young will lie down together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.

Bible Verse 

Isaiah 11:1 

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from roots a Branch will bear fruit.

You can see our creative responses at AdoreHimCreations and NewlyCreative.

Don't forget to share your work by adding a link to your page, flickr or blog using the linky below.

Day 2: Promises Fulfilled

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 

'The days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the houe of Judah.'  Jeremiah 33:14

In the days leading up to Christmas, it is traditional to read the Bible and focus on the promises God fulfilled. God’s first promise to us came the very same day Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin into the world. As God cursed the serpent, which was the devil, God promised, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers, He will crush your head and you will strike His heel” (Genesis 3:15). The very same day that Adam and Eve condemned themselves to death by breaking God’s law, God promised that one of their descendants would come and make everything right again between God and sinful people. God repeated this promise throughout history whenever His people needed to be reminded that He would rescue them from sin and its deadly consequences. 

In the days of the prophet Jeremiah, God’s people had forgotten about Him and were facing their destruction at the hands of the Babylonians. But God had not forgotten them. Despite their disobedience and unbelief, God declared that He would still keep His part of the promise and send a Savior. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem was the beginning of the fulfillment of this promise, and the death and resurrection of Jesus was the complete fulfillment of our salvation.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). According to your will, enable me to share the gift of your salvation with those I meet so that they too will know your saving grace. Amen.

 

Ponder

Think about the idea of promises and what it means to keep them. God always keeps his promises. What promises has he kept with you?

Worship Video

Christmas Story 

Isaiah 9:2-7

The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.

You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
    as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
    when dividing the plunder.

For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
    you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
    the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor.

Every warrior’s boot used in battle
    and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
    will be fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this.

Bible Verse 

Isaiah 9:2 
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light

You can see our creative responses at AdoreHimCreations and NewlyCreative.

Don't forget to share your work by adding a link to your page, flickr or blog using the linky below.

Day 1: Pause, Ponder & Prepare

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 
'At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and gret glory.  When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.' Luke 21:27-28

An “Advent” is about the preparation, anticipation, and expectation of something that is coming. Every Advent season, Christians look forward to celebrating the day when love was born – the day our Savior, Jesus Christ, was born in Bethlehem.

We can’t exactly say what people did in expectation of Christ’s first coming, except that it may be like our awaiting the time of His return. Jesus tells us that His second coming will be preceded by all kinds of anguish, perplexity, and terror. These are not the sorts of things that give us hope, but Jesus tells us to stand up in hope because our redemption is near. It takes great faith to be hopeful when it seems like the whole world is falling apart all around you. Such faith does not come by accident; instead it comes from God. This faith is also often strengthened by the very hope that sees us through pain and suffering.

We prepare during the season of Advent so that our faith can be strengthened in the confidence that our redemption is near. As we pause to prepare for the annual celebration of the Savior’s birth, we live in confidence that Christ Jesus has redeemed us and no matter what chaos is going on in the world He will come to rescue us from it.

Prayer

God, thank you for bringing joy to the world by sending your son, Jesus, to take away the punishment for my sins so I can have a relationship with you. I am grateful that you are always in control and you give me hope. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Ponder

Let your mind wander to your memories of Christmas as a child, the excitement, lights, colors, etc.  How do you compare the anticipation you had about Santa and getting gifts with your anticipation of the coming of Jesus Christ?

Worship Video



Christmas Story 
1 John 1:1-5

The Incarnation of the Word of Life

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.   The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.  We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.  We write this to make our joy complete.

Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 

Bible Verse 

1 John 1:5

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

You can see our creative responses at AdoreHimCreations and NewlyCreative.

Don't forget to share your work by adding a link to your page, flickr or blog using the linky below.

Starting tomorrow

Advent in November

If you haven't already please read all the preparation posts on this blog. Start with the very first one from September and work through all the October ones.

Where can I find the PDF downloads?
All the downloads can be found on the October blog posts entitled Ponder & Prepare   Each daily post will also have a PDF download which has that day's Study, Bible Passage and Bible Verse.

Daily blog posts
We are running this blog from 1st - 25th November because if you want to make an Advent calendar it is best to make it through November so you can use it in December. You could make the journal through November and use it in December.

The PPP blog will have 25 days of blog posts. Each day will have the Advent Study and the Christmas Story. There will be a link on that post to Diane's personal blog and to mine. On our blogs you will see our responses to the study and the calendar.

How long will this blog be available?
The blog posts will be live for ever or until Google removes the blog. The linky on the blog posts is only live until 31st December. You can share your work via the linky, in the Flickr group or in the Facebook group whichever suits you. You will still be able to add to the link on the blog through December but you will have to look back through the November posts.

On your own blog

You are welcome to blog about your Advent study and/or Calendar but please put a link to Pause, Ponder & Prepare.

What are the creative opportunities here?
This Blog offers you a choice of creative opportunities. You can either do the Study or do the Calendar or do both.

The Bible verses are for the Advent Calendar. The calendar tells the story of Christmas over the 25 days. The Study is a set of devotionals with points to think about or journal about.

Should I have prepared my journal in advance?
No. Some people have been preparing everything in advance. Some people are doing it each day in November. Some people are going to save it for December. You do whatever suits your timetable.


Thanks for joining us for this time.   We hope you all find this project rewarding.

Invitation to a Blog Hop

To celebrate the launch of a new online Christian Community you are invited to hop around the world on Saturday 1st November.

You can visit the founding members of His Kingdom Come and on their blogs you will find details of how you can enter to win one of these three fabulous prizes.

Do join us on Saturday from 8am GMT, 4am EST, 1am PDT. 

The blog hop starts at AdoreHimCreations.

Prepare

This is the last of our introductory posts and today we will look at making the Advent Calendar.

Each day on the blog will be a Bible passage which will tell the story of the coming of Jesus.  There will also be one verse chosen from the passage to use on the Advent Calendar.  You can choose a different verse if you wish.

You can download all the passages and the indivdual verses now.

Bible passages        Bible verses

They will also be available on the daily download on each blog post.

Shop bought Advent calendars are often chocolate related and have little windows to open each day.  How you choose to make your Biblical Advent Calendar is of course up to you but we will be showing you over the next 25 days how to make a tag one.

There are plenty of ideas for Advent Calendars on this Pinterest board.  The great thing about finding this sort of inspiration is that you don't have to copy slavishly one idea - you can take the ideas from different people's take on the calendar and make your own.

You can buy manila tags from a variety of sources or you can cut your own from white card.  Or how about making tags from pelmet vilene and adding fabric and stitch.

You can find tag inspiration here.

You can make a set of 25 tags all the same size or you cut them different sizes.  You can choose a colour scheme for the whole set or do different colours each day as the mood takes you.

Traditional Christmas colour schemes are often

red and green         red, green and gold      red and gold

green and gold        blue and silver          blue and white

or you could choose a contemporary set of colours.

Another decision you need to make is how you are going to display your calendar.  This will obviously depend on how you choose to make it.   Bernice's plan with the tags for the advent calendar is to have one side of the tag decorated as a Christmas decoration with the number on it, with the other side having the Bible verse on it that tells the Christmas story.   She plans to put up some ribbon or twine and peg all the tags to it with the numbers facing out and then each day in December turning the tag around.

We look forward to seeing what you choose to do.   Share your creations in the Flickr group, the Facebook group or use the linky on each blog post.

You can find our preparations at Adore Him Creations and Newly Creative.

Ponder

Today's post is about the Advent Study.

Diane has written a 25 day Advent Study.  You can respond to this in many ways.

* You can read each day in November and ponder the questions.

* You can come back and read the posts in December.

* You can print off the whole study now.

* You can print each day as it comes along.

* You can cut up the study and stick it in a book.

* You can write down your thoughts that arise from the Ponder points.

* You can make an altered book.

* You can ignore it altogether and just make the Advent Calendar!

* You can make a book for the study which is also the storage for your Advent Calendar - more information on that in the next post.

 
You can download the whole of the Advent Study here or you can download each day's study with the calendar verses each day through November.

Diane has also designed some printouts for us to use.      Tabs & Tickets       

We have designed the Advent Study and Calendar to be useful to  you and so we are not telling you how you should use it.  You decide how you want to use it.  We will show you what we are doing but that isn't what you have to do.

You can find Diane at Adore Him Creations and Bernice at NewlyCreative.