† = ♥

Does anyone remember the Advent calendar I did last year and stopped a few days before Christmas as work just got a bit crazy? (Seriously 8 shows in 3 days is just not normal!)

I'll just conclude with this since it's Good Friday and we remember Jesus bearing the sins of the world before we celebrate the resurrected Christ on Sunday. 

Saviour 

 Isa53.5, 1Peter2.24, John1.29, 2Cor5.21, Heb2.9 &9.28, 1Peter2.24 

 

The cross is a place we don’t have to run to every time we sin. Jesus did that, once and for all, everything was dealt with on that cross 2000 year ago.

We go to the cross to glorify God and marvel at the magnificent, wondrous and awesome thing we call salvation. Hearts cannot contain how beautiful it is. 
If we sing "Oh come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord" at Christmas, how much more reason to sing it now :)
Happy Easter everyone x


Thoughts from last years Easter.

advent day 19

Release captives/those who sit in darkness

Isaiah 61,  Romans 5.19 & 7.6

Because of one man we are all captive to sin and because of one man who was also God we are all released. Amen.

The lovely Gregor of MG fame sent me this about a week ago... cutie Aussie kids telling the Christmas story. Enjoy x

advent day 18

All nations shall be blessed by Him

Psalm 72.17, Acts 15.7-18

What can I say. I live forever grateful knowing this!

advent day 17

Banner for the peoples

Isaiah 11.10, entire NT :)

This might seem really weird. Nowadays when we talk about banners it is a flag or most probably a bit of advertisement on a website. Oh how far we've come in this technology age haha

Anyway, what Isaiah is talking about is another definition of the word banner - "something that represents a belief or principle" or "the standard of an emperor".

Jesus came to set a new standard and we are blessed because of it.

advent day 16

The First and the Last

Isaiah 48.12, Psalm 90.2, Micah 5.2, John 1.1, Revelations 1.8&17

...from everlasting to everlasting...

...the Alpha and the Omega...

...origins are from of old, from ancient times...

Who can comprehend it? Before the foundation of this world was laid, Jesus is. Horrible grammar but truth :)

advent day 15

Mighty God 

Isaiah 9.6 Matthew1.23

When I think about the signs and wonders that accompanied Jesus wherever He went, all I can think of is, “What a mighty God do I serve! “.

The really mind-blowing thing is that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He healed, He commanded the elements, He brought order into chaos, and the list goes on. 

Don’t ever think for one second that that is the Jesus that was. He still is and is waiting for us to surrender our lives and work the same miracles in our lives.

One of my favourite scriptures is in Job when after all the friends have spoken, God speaks:

Where were you when I created the earth?

Tell me, since you know so much!

Who decided on its size? Certainly you’ll know that!

Who came up with the blueprints and measurements?

How was its foundation poured,

And who set the cornerstone,

While the morning stars sang in chorus and all the angels shouted praise?

And who took charge of the ocean

When it gushed forth like a baby from the womb?

That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds

And tucked it in safely at night.

Then I made a playpen for it,

A strong playpen so it couldn’t run loose,

And said, ‘Stay here, this is your place.

Your wild tantrums are confined to this place.’

Job38 (MSG)

This is our God! How awesome is He...

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend x

advent day 14

Peace

Micah 5.5, John 14.27 & 16.33, Acts 10.36

If I had to describe peace, it would probably be something along the lines of "absence of fear/violence/destruction".

The peace that God brings is something beyond our understanding. Knowing that God is with you, no matter what. Always available and always listening, all we have to do is ask for it :)

advent day 13

Gentiles seek Him

Isaiah 11.10, John 12.18-21

advent day 12

Light for the Gentiles

Isaiah 42.6, 49.6, Luke 2.32

When the idea, of spending this advent season to investigate Jesus, was born sometime during the summer it was a result of reading through the book of Luke. It tells the story of a man named Simeon, who was waiting for the promised Messiah. The Holy Spirit told him something no-one else knew about and promised that he wouldn't die before he hadn't seen the Messiah.
Now we don't know when he was given that promise or how long he had to wait, but that man was waiting eagerly. It made me realise...
number one. how amazing was that encounter that he was bursting with anticipation no matter how long he had to wait.
number two. that we don't have to wait for the Messiah to come, He's already been here and made a way for us - cheers all around, hooray!
number three. do not give up on the promises God has revealed to you, He will come through. The best is yet to come and we've seen nothing yet :)
If Simeon wouldn't have listened in the first place or just shrugged it off he might have never encountered the Messiah. When he meets him in the temple courts he speaks the most incredible things over him - one of them being that he would be a light for revelation to the Gentiles - leaving his parents amazed. Read the whole account here.
Incredible! So much to learn and immensely grateful to be on this journey.

advent day 11

Servant

Isaiah 52.13, Zechariah 3.8, Philippians 2.5-8, John 17.4

This is the one aspect that still breaks me. Why would God come down to serve?

"Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the nature of a slave, becoming human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death - and the worst kind of death at that - a crucifixion." Phil 2(msg)

There is a line in a hymn that brings it down to this:

How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure.

Got nothing to add to that. Hope you have a great start into this new week x

advent day 10

Precious cornerstone

Isaiah 28.16, Acts 4, Ephesians 2.20

cornerstone, noun

def.

• a stone that forms the base of a corner of a building, joining two walls
• a stone ceremonially laid usually at the corner of a foundation to mark the occasion of a building being erected, often inscribed
• an indispensable and fundamental basis

Jesus came to renew the covenant God made with His people. On him rests everything.

Heart is overwhelmed x

If you're wondering why this weird advent calendar... check out day one.

advent day 9

Shepherd of Israel

Micah 5.4, Isaiah 40.11, John 10

If you want a great description of what it means to have an amazing shepherd...

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

he refreshes my soul

He guides me along the right paths

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surly goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord 

forever.

Psalm 23

I have found this to be true again and again. I lack nothing!!!
Hope everyone's up for an amazing weekend. We've got shows coming out of our ears this weekend, hearing the kids laugh during it makes it all worth it :) 

advent day 8

Offer salvation to all mankind

Joel 2.32, Romans 10.12-13

Jesus was born into a culture that seemed exclusive. If you were not born into it, too bad you didn't have access to God. His sacrifice changed that once and for all. Everyone is welcome, everyone is called and no matter what your background is whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved :) I love that and it always brings me back to this song... this time a banjo Christmas version x

advent day 7

Hope for the hopeless

Isaiah 42.3, John 4

If you ask me it should be more like hope for humanity!
Jesus is the reason we can smile at our future, no matter what. If He is for us what power can be against us!

advent day 6

Anointed

Psalm 2.2, Isaiah11.2, Matthew 3.16-17, Luke 4.18

anoint 

def. nominate or choose (someone) as successor to or leading candidate for a position

In Old Testament times priests and kings and prophets were anointed, to be set apart to lead their people. When Jesus came, he made a pretty big declaration. A declaration Isaiah wrote about in one of my favourite passages of Scripture :)

The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me.
He sent me to preach good news to the poor, 
   heal the heartbroken,
Announce freedom to all captives, 
   pardon all prisoners.
God sent me to announce the year of his grace— 
   a celebration of God's destruction of our enemies— 
   and to comfort all who mourn...    

Isaiah 61.1-2 msg

Crazy thing is, because of Him, this gets passed on to us. Now He calls us anointed :) 

advent day 5

Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him 

Isaiah 11.2 & 61.1-2, John 16.7, Matthew 3.16-17

Already running a day late and it's only the fifth haha
Reading these prophecies has calmed me, to say the least. Told you before that it makes me feel safe and I'm drawn closer to God - almighty and beautiful, just, full of grace and abundant in love.
Best thing about it, His Spirit didn't only rest on Jesus, when he left he sent the Holy Spirit to be with us(see John 16). In 2 Corinthians 5, talking about the eternal side of things, it says that

"Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."

Blows my mind and I wish I'd live more aware of that fact. So grateful!

advent day 4

Wonderful Counsellor

Isaiah 9.6, Matthew 13.54

Have you ever felt God whisper to you? It is this still small voice coming to you in the most random situations and it is so personal it rocks your world.
When I went to Sydney, i had all intentions to study event management. Little did i know what was going to happen over the next couple of years. After a crazy year I left, mostly because the course i wanted to take wasn't offered anymore, thinking: right this is it, moving on. 
Now I laugh about it but it was such a major decision back  then. The jobs I applied for never worked out and I was a bit clueless as to what was goin to happen next.
Anyway i was sitting on a train, minding my own business, when God started speaking to me. The one thing I clearly understood was "you know that you have to go back."
Doesn't seem like such a hard thing right, but I was at the other side of the planet and had no idea as to how this was going to happen.
In one afternoon I had he cheapest flight down to Australia, a place to stay, a car and a job with Hillsong United. It was unbelievable.
What followed were 18 of the best months of my life. Pretty ridiculous if you think that I could have just said no to God's counsel. So glad I didnt :)
Hope the week ahead will be a great one x

advent day 3

Everlasting Father

Isaiah 9.6, John 8.58

This phrase has accompanied all day and I have to say it makes me feel safe!

advent day 2

Immanuel

Isaiah 7.14 & 8.8, Matthew 28.20

God with us. I rest assured and got nothing to add to that :)

advent day 1

There is this idea that has been lingering in the back of my head for a couple of months now.
Why not break down this year's Advent season and instead of all the lights and kitsch and mayhem, take the time to get down to why we celebrate Christmas - the coming of Jesus.
I'm just gonna share this journey of discovering of what was said about Christ before He was born and how it was fulfilled. Kinda excited about this and you'll just have to tag along haha It will be a very personal calendar, bear with me.
I'll start with my favourite...

Prince of Peace

Isaiah 6.9, John 16.33, Colossians 1.20

Can't tell you how often I've experienced this to be true. There is a reason that Paul said that God's peace transcends all understanding. 

You don't know why or not even how, but in the most crucial situations your heart is still. So thankful x