Family Devotional: Hope

Each Sunday you will find a devotional designed for families to use with an Advent Wreath.  If your family is like mine we often sit down together for supper, and this is usually the time I plan to begin discussions about God in our lives.  Isn't that all a devotional really is?  An opportunity to talk openly about how God is working in our daily living.  I want to encourage you to take the time, sit with those you love and talk about Jesus.  Merry Christmas!

                                                                                                                     Stacy

HOPE

First Sunday of Advent

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:  The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."--Isaiah 7: 14

The prophets spoke of a coming Savior.  Challenging the Israelites to turn from their sinful ways.  They did not and the prophets all died, and God was silent for 400 years.  What did the people do during the silence?  They waited and hoped.  Hope is a hard word to define.  Webster's dictionary defines hope as "cherishing a desire with anticipation, to expect."  The people were hoping for a Savior.

(Light the first candle of your Advent wreath or any candle will do.)

As you light the candle ask those around you...what are you hoping for in your life?

Read Matthew 1: 18-25

Immanuel means "God with us".  And isn't that the hope of all persons...that God would be with us.

Discussion Starters:  Do you think God is with us?  How do you know?  What happened today that proved that God was with you?

Closing:  We celebrate this season because Jesus is God with us.  God himself, wrapped in skin, born as a baby.  The hope of all the world.

Prayer:  Ask the youngest in your family to give a thanksgiving prayer for the baby Jesus.