First Week of Advent, Day One

Writer's Note: Advent begins on Sunday, November 29, 2009. Different traditions follow different Scripture reading schedules. Some advocate a once per week reading. Others advocate a daily reading. Still others schedule four Scripture readings per day. I'm taking a moderated approach by choosing five Advent passages per week, then basing the devotional on the passage of the day. Some of these passage are longer, so I have provided a link to biblegateway.com, so you may read the entire passage.

I hope that you are blessed this Christmas season.

God bless,
Allen White
Simpsonville, South Carolina

Week 1 Day 1: Isaiah 11:1-10

And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. Isaiah 11:2-4 (NLT)

Here we catch a glimpse of the Savior’s coming nearly 2000 years ago and His soon return. Isaiah saw the whole thing all at once. We haven’t seen leopards napping with baby goats or lions sharing a meal of hay with cows. That day is yet to come.

Jesus ushered in the start of this new era. We still experience it today. Jesus showed us a new way to be human. He showed us what it means to have a life empowered by the Spirit.

Isaiah prophesied that “the Spirit of the Lord would rest upon Him.” Doesn’t it seem unusual that the “second” member of the Trinity would need to depend on the “third”? Jesus is fully God and fully man. Why would the Almighty Son of God who created the Universe need to depend on Someone else to do His work? Because He came to save us and to show us the life that God intended for His followers to live. A life empowered.

We read in Philippians 2 that Jesus humbled Himself in order to fulfill His mission on the earth. He didn’t act on His own. He only did the things that He saw the Father doing. And, He performed these acts through the power of the Spirit. Then, Jesus tells His disciples, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen” Matthew 21:21 (NLT).

What do you need to trust God for today? Maybe you have been exhausting yourself over solving a problem. Have you asked God what He can do? Men, have you found the great adventure that Perry talked about a few weeks ago? Ask God what adventure He has in store for you.


Copyright © 2009 by Allen White

All Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. Copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.