Christmas and Advent Devotionals

Can you imagine for a moment how the Christmas story might have been written if Mary and Joseph lacked the capacity to adjust to things beyond their circumstances? Where was hope in the middle of their scandalous story?

As you focus on the manger scene with your family, encourage each other with the bigger story of Genesis to the end of time, knowing that this little baby redeemed every moment in time. May your Christmas be big as your consider the grandeur of redemptive history on both sides of the manger!

Looking at all that God has given us despite what we have done to him humbles us. It makes us want to give generouslybecause he gave everything for us.

This Christmas, Pastor Rick Warren invites you to receive the best gift ever given - God's gift of salvation. By accepting Jesus as your Master and Savior, you can experience a deeper relationship with God and find peace, purpose, and forgiveness for your past mistakes and hurts.

You and your spouse may not always feel “in sync” this time of year—but with these simple, Christ-centered shifts, you can walk through Christmas in step with each other and the Spirit.

Because of His steadfast love, we can remember we are loved even when we feel we are not. We can find our confidence in who He says we are, not in what a family member may say. Because of the power of God within us, we can extend forgiveness even if we don't experience reconciliation this holiday season.

Christmas, commercially at least, cannot live up to the promise, to the standards we’ve set in our minds. At best, Christmas is a promise of greater things to come. However, it’s not Christmas that will give us life; it’s Christ.

As Christians and believers in Christ, we carry a flicker of light through all of the frustration and darkness. A hope that carries us through grief and hardship, especially when magnified by the holiday season.

His glorious Christmas gift to the world has eternal benefits to all who receive Jesus as written in 1 John 5:11, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.”

Will you do something with me today? Give God your busy. He will give you backhope, rest, and the renewal you need in orderto soak in the sparkle and significance of this blessed season.

I wonder if the participants in the original Christmas story ever dreamed that the celebration of Christ's birth would become so hassled and hurried. The shepherds? The angels? The wise men? Mary and Joseph too?

As we approach the holiday season again, we are faced with yet another opportunity to pause in the midst of all the excitement, decorations, and commercialization, to consider again the origin of Christmas—the One whose birth we celebrate.

"And now, dear children, continue in Him, so than when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming" (1 John 2:28).

The simple secret is this: To experience a great year, just do what Jesus said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things [the things you and I worry about] shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). If you will seek Him first, He promises to meet all your needs.