Early Christmas Presence - Day 1
Introduction: Early Christmas Presence
I have two little girls—almost 3 and newly 5. I built my home on what was formerly a cotton field, decades passed, farmed by my grandpa and his siblings. With my grandparents still living, there are four generations represented on our plat of land. As such, my daughters have a beautiful relationship with their “Papa Joe,” 75 years their elder.
The girls frequent the home of their great grandpa about three times a day. There is literally a beaten path from my home to his and the girls love to be in his presence. He adores them, but their relationship is very one-sided; the girls go to him and receive gifts of loaded baked potatoes, produce from his garden, miniature bottled waters, band-aids for their dolls, saltine crackers, milk and all kinds of unusual things. The girls never return empty handed from his presence. Although they usually take nothing to him, except their company.
As winter arrived and daylight hours have shortened, the girls have been taking some of their strolls to him in the dark. Out of concern, he went to Wal Mart and bought them each a flashlight, so they could see an illuminated path to his presence.
My grandpa’s sweet gift of light to my girls quickly shifted my mind to Christmas and the parallels between the stories. The truth is that not only is Jesus Christ the Light of the World, He is the only Way to the Father and a gift from the Father.
Jesus’ Presence ushers us safely into the Presence of Father God—a pathway otherwise darkened and obstructed by sin and death. His Presence creates and illuminates a pathway for us to enter into because of His defeat of sin. Often too, our relationship with the Lord, is one-sided; He gives, and we are always in receipt. All that we can bring to Him is our very life.
“With these things in mind, Christmas is one of the most special times of year as we set our hearts on celebrating the arrival of Jesus and the momentary and eternal impact of His Presence. ”
This Christmas Devotional from Entourage Ministries, “Early Christmas Presence,” will look at the responses recorded of those who encountered, or learned of, the earliest physical presence of Jesus as an infant, a child, or even in the womb. While there are other characters that are traditionally part of the Christmas story—we are only going to look at the ones that have a recorded response very specific to the arrival of our Savior King. Don’t be surprised to see a few not included.
While we are exploring the impact of the Presence of Jesus to these familiar characters, our goal is that you see yourselves in these story-lines. In this we pray you evaluate and celebrate the presence of Jesus in your own story—OR—accept His invitation to be a part of His story and to experience His Presence for the first time.
Join us now, as look at we begin to unwrap Early Christmas Presence.
How to use this material:
Each day you will read content online and click the link for the podcast to finish. The podcast audio will go deeper into the concepts, scriptures and reflection questions introduced in the written materials.
The Word of God is transformational—as we provide the biblical text for each devotional, we encourage you to dive into the Word for yourself and see what other truths God would unfold to you personally.
Biblical text for all devotionals is Matthew 1 & 2; Luke 1 & 2.
This work was written by the ministry team members at Entourage Ministries. Learn more about Entourage Ministries at www.entourageministries.com or visit us on Facebook and Instagram.
Podcast to begin tomorrow (day 2).