Advent Devotions

This year, during Advent, Malcolm has written a series of devotions that you can use as you journey through the season. They are simple reflections, that remind us of deep truths or help us to discover them for the first time.

We are going to make them all available as we go along through Advent, but if you would prefer to have them to print out or have for yourself all at once, you can download them here.

The following is Malcolm’s introduction to the devotions to set the scene for all that you can explore through them.

Advent and Hope

Hope is allowing the confidence that what God has said He will do, He will do to shape our emotions and our attitudes. It is, if you like, faith working its way into the present from the future just as faith is the evidence of current hope. One of the greatest lacks in the world around us today is the lack of hope. Hopelessness is a blight on the human spirit. It crushes the hungry, destroys the poor and eats away at the strength of the oppressed. It is one of the devil’s greatest weapons. We conquer hopelessness with the power of God at work in our lives. The hope God has given us can be shared, it can be seen and it can be sensed. That hope is rooted in the promises of the Old Testament prophets and was birthed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is as strong today as it has ever been and is available to all who will look to Christ. This week, perhaps we can pray for those people and places around the world where hope is being strangled by fear and oppression and where longing has grown faint because of the constant barrage of pain, hunger or tragedy.

Amidst the hustle and the bustle of the approach to Christmas, I pray that these little devotional thoughts will help you to realise how close God is to you, and how much He loves you. May you be able to find a few moments of stillness each day and have the opportunity to connect with the God Who is always there, always loves you and always longs to draw you into a deeper experience of His love and grace.

May Christmas be more real in your heart and life this year than ever before.