Daily Devotion for December 1, 2025
Today we are beginning our Advent/Christmas devotions. The Messiah is coming!
We will continue our study of Galatians on January 7 (the day after Epiphany).
Prayers
Scripture
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Casing Crowns tells us to make room for Jesus!
The family hiding from the storm
Found no place at the keeper’s door;
It was for this a Child was born
To save a world so cold and hollow.
The sleeping town did not know
That, lying in a manger low,
A Savior King who had no home
Has come to heal our sorrows.
Refrain:
Is there room in your heart, (3x)
For God to write His story?
You can come as you are,
But it may set you apart,
When you make room in your heart
And trade your dreams for His glory.
Make room in your heart.
Make room in your heart.
Shepherds counting sheep in the night,
Do not fear the glory light;
You are precious in His sight.
God has come to raise the lowly.
Mother holds the Promise tight—
Every wrong will be made right.
The road is straight and the burden’s light,
For in His hands He holds tomorrow
Music and Lyrics by
Matt Maher and Mark Hall
To Remember God During the Day
Lord God, the heavens are telling of your glory and the wonders of your love, the sun by day, and the moon and stars by night. Yet, as clouds will cover your sky in gloom, as the ceilings of men's buildings hide the sky from my sight, so the cares of this existence block your majesty from my mind.
I look with hope to the day when my knowledge of your glory will never be hidden by the concerns of the world, and I may know you every moment of time, forever; but until then, forgive me for all the time I spend with my face bent to the things of earth, your Spirit ignored and forgotten; for you are always there, willing to show yourself to me and guide me and comfort me, if I only lift up my head and see the sky above.
Prayer for Peace
I thank you, Master and Lover of mankind, King of the ages and giver of all good things, for destroying the dividing wall of enmity and granting peace to those who seek your mercy. I appeal to you to awaken the longing for a peaceful life in all those who are filled with hatred for their neighbors, thinking especially of those at war or preparing for war.
Grant peace to your servants. Implant in them the fear of you and confirm in them love one for another. Extinguish every dispute and banish all temptations to disagreement. For you are our peace and to you we ascribe glory: to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto ages of ages.
I pray, Lord our God, for all those who suffer from acts of war. I pray for your peace and your mercy in the midst of the great suffering that people are now inflicting on each other. Accept the prayers of your Church, so that by your goodness peace may return to all peoples. Hear us and have mercy on us.
Meditation
Remembering those who suffer in war.
Benediction
Now all glory to God, who is able to keep me from falling away and will bring me with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time,
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
Luke 15:18-19 (KJV)
I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Isaiah 11:1-9 (ESV)
The Branch From Jesse
shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him — the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord —and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra's den, the young child will put its hand into the viper's nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Notes on the Scripture
Today we turn our eyes to one of the greatest events in human history: The coming of our Savior. Our Scripture is a beautiful passage from Isaiah; like much of Isaiah, it foretells the coming of the Messiah.
Advent is Latin for “coming,” and we call the days before Christmas “Advent” because we celebrate the coming birth of Christ. He was born as an historical man, a real flesh-and-blood person, to enable us to be born in the Spirit. So in a sense, we celebrate the birth of mankind. For although people were human before, and had souls, the coming of Christ was the fulfillment of our original purpose: to be made in the image of God.
We prepare to welcome the arrival of a unique King into the world, as had been prophesied in Isaiah. We celebrate that the Word will become flesh, in order to give us the hope of salvation, the deliverance from sin. This period is one of excitement and preparation, for we have come to know Christ and what He has accomplished for us.
He is coming to dwell among us, God is coming to walk with us as a man, a simple man, a carpenter, to whom human beings could talk and worship and with whom they could eat. He was born as a humble little baby and the people alive in that time would have seen him, just like any newborn. And we know that He will come again and all who believe in Him will see him in the full glory of His Kingdom.
