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Help Breathe New Life into Our Church Leaders
The week after my father passed, I returned home to St. Paul, Minnesota, to preside over Read More
Mary Austin | Read Malachi 3:1-4
Some years ago on his birthday, writer Ross Gay challenged himself to find something delightful each day during the year. He eventually compiled his findings in The Book of Delights, sharing the pleasures he found. Most of them were things like time in his garden, an encounter with a teenager...
God of restoration and hope, your presence is a joy to us. We give thanks for all of the joys that fill our days, seen and unseen, remembered and forgotten. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
The prophet Malachi speaks of a future day when God’s messenger will come to prepare the way for the Lord. The Lord will then purify the people and restore proper worship of God. Christians believe that John the Baptizer was this messenger, preparing the way for Christ. In Luke 1, the Holy Spirit fills Zechariah, John’s father, who proclaims that the fulfillment of God’s promises to their descendants has begun. Luke continues the story of John in chapter 3, describing John’s ministry of calling people to repentance. They need to prepare the way of the Lord in their own hearts, thus fulfilling Malachi’s prophecy. Paul in Philippians focuses not on the advent of Christ but on the ongoing power of Christ’s presence to make us blameless and righteous in God’s sight.
Read Malachi 3:1-4. How have you encountered the refiner’s fire? What was your experience?
Read Luke 1:68-79. In what ways have you experienced God’s tender mercy in your life?
Read Philippians 1:3-11. How do you make expressing your gratitude for others a daily habit?
Read Luke 3:1-6. How are you preparing the way of the Lord? What crooked paths are you helping to make straight?
Respond by posting a prayer.
