Today is Thursday, Dec. 22, the twenty-sixth day in the Advent season.
Morning
Praise and Thanksgiving.
As we draw closer to Christmas, let’s pray with Mary, lifting up Luke 1:46-55 and expressing our belief that mercy is truly shown from one generation to the next, so long as we honor God.
Let’s also pray this together:
“Lord, your grace and mercy are evident in the story we move toward celebrating, the birth of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your overwhelming, powerful love. Continue to sustain us with the Holy Spirit until such time as we we see the fiery, wooly-haired Christ before us, injecting truth into a false world in need of remaking. Amen.”
What other words of thanks and praise might we lift up?
Confession. Let’s quietly search our hearts once again for what is within us that is not of God.
Petitions. As we move toward celebrating the great truth that changes the world, let’s once again pray from global concerns down to personal concerns, seeking how we might be the answer to some of the problems around us.
Scripture: Revelation 22:6-20.
Silence.
Noon
Let’s continue to pray this prayer together daily:
“Lord, we are in a season of expectation. We remember the Israelites’ past desire for a savior to arrive, and we mirror what they felt as we long now for the return of Jesus Christ. Come Lord Jesus, come! We pray this with some trepidation, knowing we never feel completely ready for such a day, and that loved ones around us may not be ready. And yet we continue to pray, Come Lord Jesus, come! We trust that your grace at your return will so overwhelm sin and death that all will be set right. As we pray for your full arrival, teach us how to make ourselves ready, living as watchful people. Amen.”
Night
At a minimum, let’s spend some significant time in a quiet, reflective state before retiring for the night. Embrace the day’s spiritual victories and release the failures.
Sleep well. May visions of Christ in the manger and Christ to come pervade your dreams.
Methodist Life 