This week, our time together will focus on the promises of Jesus and how they provide us with enduring hope, unshakable security, and a peace that passes all understanding. So far, we’ve witnessed a compassionate Jesus promise rest for our weary souls and that because He cares for us, we need not worry. Fully embracing these promises is easier said than done - life happens and we hesitate, doubt, or forget His faithfulness to us, which is what makes today’s promise of a helper in the Holy Spirit such a gift. The Holy Spirit provides comfort and wisdom by reminding WHO we are and WHOSE we are.

Yesterday, we explored Jesus’ promise of rest for our weary souls and how it's found in an abiding relationship with Him. Yet, we often resist slowing down and embracing His rest because worry directs our steps. Jesus speaks into our worry with His next promise that reveals the thoughtful care He provides us.

This week, our time together will focus on the promises of Jesus and how they provide us with enduring hope, unshakable security, and a peace that passes all understanding. We start our exploration of these promises with an invitation from Jesus to rest; which is ironic on a Monday, at the beginning of a work week, smack dab in the middle of the holiday season.

A prayer of forgiveness was how Jesus responded to the enraged and unruly crowd, chanting, "crucify Him!" And, as always, He took it a step further by giving them a visible example of forgiveness and showing the lengths He would go to ensure that prayer was answered for everyone.

Moments before Jesus is betrayed, arrested, and eventually crucified, we see, in John 17, Jesus doing something He rarely did - praying for Himself. He's not teaching the disciples how to pray or praying about the concerns and circumstances of others; Jesus recognizes the impending crisis and chaos coming His way and that leads Him to seek out God's presence and strength. These recorded words give us a unique behind-the-scenes glimpse of the Son praying to His Father in a time of need.

This week's time centers on the prayers of Jesus and how they provide insight into Jesus' mindset, nature, and heart. Through it all, we see that the impending cross was in the background of each prayer, standing in the shadows of His life and ministry. Nevertheless, Jesus knew what awaited Him, and in today's passage, we see Jesus' troubled soul meeting a willing spirit.

Jesus understood how simple, yet at the same time incredibly complicated, our connections with others can be. Nevertheless, the oneness of believers was such a priority to Jesus that it served as the topic of His most extended prayer, and it's this prayer we want to meditate on today.

Happy Monday, and welcome back to our Advent Meditation devotional series, where we're spending the days leading up to Christmas reflecting on Jesus Christ and the hope His arrival and eventual return brings us. This week, our time together will focus on the prayers of Jesus and how they give us profound insight into the things that occupied His mind and burdened His heart. They reveal what matters most to Him. Prayers put to words the emotions, thoughts, and concerns rumbling deep in our souls.

Very few words in the English language evoke more emotion than the word freedom. Something inside us feels liberated and joyful whenever we hear it or experience it firsthand. We picture chains being broken and the world's weight taken off our shoulders. So it is only natural for us to yearn to be free.

For many of us, we define the holiday season as one of the few times that we see the family and friends that we care about. The weeks, months, and sometimes years of separation can make reconnection that much more special. On the other hand, when reconnection doesn’t happen, whether due to distance, loss, or circumstance, it can be heartbreaking. The weight of grief and the sense of separation diminishes our spirit. Today, as we look to the life of Christ, we will consider the pains of a different separation and the lengths God will go to seek and save the lost, and then, celebrate their reconciliation.

Toddlers are curious, with their favorite question being "WHY?" As we grow older, we continue to ask, "WHY?" but the weight and seriousness of the issues we're trying to understand are more profound. At one point or another, we've all pondered the question, "WHY JESUS?" Why did He come? Why was He needed? Why does He matter? Fortunately for us, Jesus welcomed that question and was more than willing to provide an answer, and it's the answer we want to look at today.

Today's reflection confronts a daily battle taking place behind the scenes; it's a tension we all face - humility versus pride. Those are our options, and one always wins out. We all pursue convenience to some degree and living in today's age, it is easy to experience. Everything we could ever want or desire is at our fingertips. Convenience is the ultimate value in our culture. But Jesus offers a different way of living - defined by a servant's heart.

This week we turn our attention to exploring the purpose of Jesus and why He entered our broken world and made His home among us. By understanding His purpose, we gain a greater appreciation and clarity on our own. Before we begin, I want to pause and provide space for you to pray that God will bring clarity to your calling and how it's attached to an encounter with His love.

Consider for a moment the abusrdity that for centuries we’ve been celebrating the birth of someone who at the time arrived to no fanfare in a small farming village in the Middle East. Somehow, this individual who grew up and became a simple carpenter changed the course of human history. No one has had a more significant impact on shaping this world and culture than Jesus Christ. But, why Jesus? What makes Him so remarkable and why does His life bring us such hope as believers? What we do with Jesus matters.

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Often, we view these words of Jesus only through the lens of salvation and what awaits us in heaven. Yes, it encompasses those aspects, but there is something deeper Jesus wants us to understand. Jesus isn’t talking about a place we will go to someday; He’s speaking about a person who wants to be in a life-giving relationship with us every day.

Today, we encounter Jesus talking to a large crowd, after extending grace to a woman caught in adultery. Those who dropped their stones and left have returned, perplexed by this radical display of love. It is in this moment that Jesus speaks about a light that brings hope to the darkness in our world, and at times, inside our hearts.

What makes Jesus our hope, not only in the holiday season but every day and in every moment, rests in His heart, character, and nature. We don’t want to run past this profound truth, so this week we’re spending our time together reflecting on the different ways Jesus describes Himself in the Gospels. Yesterday, we considered how our spiritual hunger, those deep longings for meaning, purpose, and value, find their ultimate satisfaction in Christ Jesus - the Bread of Life. Today, we want to remind ourselves that we all need the intentional and compassionate care of a Savior, and we need look no further than Jesus, the One known as the Good Shepherd.

Today, we encounter Jesus right after He pulled off a culinary miracle by feeding 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. With their hunger pains gone, the crowd marveled at what transpired. Having a captivated audience, Jesus took the opportunity to speak about a different type of hunger and thirst - this time a spiritual one.

As a parent, this is harder to swallow for my kids' sake than my own. I wish they didn't have to face trials; I wish I could protect them from the broken and ugly parts of the world and keep them in a bubble of goodness. But that isn't a reality, and as I read today's passage, I recognize my job as a parent is not to save my kids from pain; it is to help them walk through the pain that life will inevitably bring. It is to help them learn and grow through the good and bad moments and ultimately remember they are loved. But isn't this what Christ calls us to do as people, not just parents? God designed us to be in community with one another and walk through life together. 

God will always race to our rescue. When we call out to God, He doesn't hesitate to rush to our side. Even if we don't feel His presence right away, we can trust that God is close to us in our heartbreak (Psalm 34:18). It's important to remember that our emotions don't often reflect our spiritual reality. Our feelings tell us warped stories about God; they will tell us He is far from us and that He doesn't have a loving reason for letting us experience hurt. They will say He is slow to save us, even though His help always comes at the right time (2 Peter 3:9).