We love taking trips throughout the year. While my family usually only starts thinking about the trip a week before we leave (when I remind them to start packing), I, however, have been planning and preparing for weeks or even months. I have made all the reservations, researched our destination, and created packing lists so we\u2019re ready for almost anything. I make sure they know what to bring: warm clothes for cooler weather or backpacks and water bottles if we\u2019re going on a hike. Even though unexpected things may still come up, I do my best to prepare us well. I do it because I love them and want them to enjoy the trip, feel relaxed, and be fully present together as a family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the same way, Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Jesus. In today\u2019s Scripture reading, we see that God had gone to great lengths to prepare His people for the one true Savior. In Isaiah 40:1\u20135, we read that God saw the struggles His people had faced for generations. He knew their pain and suffering, and He promised that it wouldn\u2019t last forever. He comforted them, spoke gently to them, and assured them that He would make a way. There would be a path to repentance and hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the New Testament, Luke 1:5\u201325 shows us that God continues to be faithful and fulfill His promises. The angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a child despite their old age. This child, who we know would be John the Baptist, would go before Jesus and help prepare the hearts of the people so they would be ready to worship the one true God. John would be filled with the Holy Spirit from the day of his birth. He would be a great sign for the Lord going before Him and turning the hearts of the people towards God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gabriel\u2019s message was hard for Zechariah to believe. Instead of trusting what the angel said, he questioned it\u2014struggling to have faith in God\u2019s plan. As a result, Gabriel told him he would be unable to speak until the child was born. It\u2019s a powerful reminder that God can always be trusted, even when His plan doesn\u2019t make sense to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These scriptures remind us, especially during Advent, of God\u2019s faithfulness in preparing a way for His people to worship Him as the one true God. He had not forgotten. Instead, He was making a way for them to be in relationship with Him again, through hope in His Savior. Advent invites us to remember that we can trust God completely\u2014He always knows what we need, and His timing is always perfect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We love taking trips throughout the year. While my family usually only starts thinking about the trip a week before we leave (when I remind them to start packing), I, however, have been planning and preparing for weeks or even months. I have made all the reservations, researched our destination, and created packing lists so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":72671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent25"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72991],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#SheReadsTruth","devotional_text":"THE PROMISED MESSENGER<\/b>
\r\nby Lauren Eve<\/i>
\r\n
We love taking trips throughout the year. While my family usually only starts thinking about the trip a week before we leave (when I remind them to start packing), I, however, have been planning and preparing for weeks or even months. I have made all the reservations, researched our destination, and created packing lists so we\u2019re ready for almost anything. I make sure they know what to bring: warm clothes for cooler weather or backpacks and water bottles if we\u2019re going on a hike. Even though unexpected things may still come up, I do my best to prepare us well. I do it because I love them and want them to enjoy the trip, feel relaxed, and be fully present together as a family.<\/p>
\r\n
In the same way, Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Jesus. In today\u2019s Scripture reading, we see that God had gone to great lengths to prepare His people for the one true Savior. In Isaiah 40:1\u20135, we read that God saw the struggles His people had faced for generations. He knew their pain and suffering, and He promised that it wouldn\u2019t last forever. He comforted them, spoke gently to them, and assured them that He would make a way. There would be a path to repentance and hope.<\/p>
\r\n
In the New Testament, Luke 1:5\u201325 shows us that God continues to be faithful and fulfill His promises. The angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a child despite their old age. This child, who we know would be John the Baptist, would go before Jesus and help prepare the hearts of the people so they would be ready to worship the one true God. John would be filled with the Holy Spirit from the day of his birth. He would be a great sign for the Lord going before Him and turning the hearts of the people towards God.<\/p>
\r\n
Gabriel\u2019s message was hard for Zechariah to believe. Instead of trusting what the angel said, he questioned it\u2014struggling to have faith in God\u2019s plan. As a result, Gabriel told him he would be unable to speak until the child was born. It\u2019s a powerful reminder that God can always be trusted, even when His plan doesn\u2019t make sense to us.<\/p>
\r\n
These scriptures remind us, especially during Advent, of God\u2019s faithfulness in preparing a way for His people to worship Him as the one true God. He had not forgotten. Instead, He was making a way for them to be in relationship with Him again, through hope in His Savior. Advent invites us to remember that we can trust God completely\u2014He always knows what we need, and His timing is always perfect.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"19","scripture":"Isaiah 40:1-5, Luke 1:5-25","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}