Laurie Hopkins

The children of Israel were crossing over into the Promised Land.  

When they crossed the Jordan (while the waters were held off for them) they took 12 stones up from the bottom of the Jordan and carried them out and across with them.  

Joshua took those 12 stones and set them up in Gilgal as a memorial, a remembrance for the future, of what the Lord has done for them in drying up the waters until they had crossed over.  

It was an important turning point in their history and as such was important to mark for remembrance.  

We all have had turning points in our lives; times when things changed, times when the Hand of the Lord reached out and turned a situation around and in doing so changed the course of our journey. 

It is, therefore, important for us as well, to set up marks of remembrance so we are able to look back remember and acknowledge the Hand of the Lord at that point in our journey.  

How do you make marks of remembrance?  

Is it a note or a picture, a journal entry, a blog posting, an important “something” that you hold on to? Not only will it serve as a reminder for us, but it will also open up opportunities for us to share with others who are curious about our “memorial.”   

As we approach the end of one year and the first days of another, it is a good time to reflect on the year behind and consider some of those moments that we want to mark for the future!

Taken from: Advent Devotions to Take You Deeper: A Season of Faith (Laurie Hopkins, 2018, pages 38. 39).

Let us pray together:

Heavenly Father, Almighty God, we come before You once again and praise Your Holy Name.  We thank You for this journey through Christmas as a season of faith.  We thank You for the opportunity to fellowship together through these devotions; the opportunity to seek Your Voice and Your will for our lives and the opportunity to see Christmas as a lifelong event, not just a season dictated by retail and media, that leaves us burned out and deflated on the 26th of December.  We know that You have a much greater plan and purpose for our lives.  We understand that You sent Your Beloved Son to earth in the form of a Child for a much greater purpose than gifts and glitter; that you sent Him that He would live as a man and be sacrificed on the cross, rising again on the third day, to cover our sins and grant us eternal life and an eternal walk with you!  We ask for Your guidance and direction, Father, as we seek to understand faith and how it impacts our lives and our decisions and our walk with You.  Grant us wisdom and understanding.  I ask, Father, that You bless each and every one reading these devotions – their families, friends, homes and lives.  That You would show each and every one of them that You loved them enough to send Your one and only Son to die for their sins; that they just need to believe and confess with their mouth that they are in need of a Savior, that Jesus is that Savior and that they want Him to be Lord of their life.  “’The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ [that is, the word of faith that we preach] that if you confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:8-10.  We pray all of these things in the precious Name of Jesus.  Amen and Amen and Amen.

Taken from: Advent Devotions to Take You Deeper: A Season of Faith (Laurie Hopkins, 2018, page 34).

Let us pray together:

Heavenly Father, Giver of light, knowledge and faith itself, we come before you and thank you for this opportunity to see Your direction and guidance in this Advent season. Once again we acknowledge that the sparkle of Christmas has dulled and we wish to regain our joy and faith in the Christmas season.  Awaken our desire to see and hear more of what you have for us while not relying on our knowledge or our ability to take care of things ourselves. Keep us from being blinded by the darkness and help us to choose the light, even the very Light of Your Son, Jesus Christ, in whom we pray.  Amen and Amen and Amen.