This week, until 6 December, you can purchase Daily Prayer 2 from Kevin Mayhew Ltd at a 10 per cent discount, using the code DAILYPRAYER10 when ordering the title from the company’s website. With the book normally retailing at £19.99, that’s a saving of £2. Just type the code into the relevant box at the online checkout between the dates given.
Meanwhile, here’s the fifth of the sessions I’ll be posting this week from the book, to run alongside this promotion.
Prepared for what?
Read
A voice proclaims: ‘Prepare the Lord’s way in the desert, make ready there a straight highway along which our God can come.’ Isaiah 40:3
Ponder
‘Here’s one I prepared earlier’ – words made famous by the children’s TV programme Blue Peter. The catchphrase became so familiar that, even today, its very mention is guaranteed to raise a smile. Of course, the importance of being prepared can scarcely be overemphasised. Imagine being operated on by an untrained surgeon, or entering a marathon without months of training, or sitting an exam without first revising, or listening to a sermon delivered off the cuff. In countless areas of life, if we’re not prepared then we or others will suffer the consequences. Hence, another catchphrase, immortalised as the Boy Scout motto: ‘Be prepared’.
That, in a nutshell, is the message of Advent. But prepared for what? Despite what the hustle and bustle associated with this time of year may tell you, these few weeks are not just about getting ready for Christmas – writing cards, buying presents, stocking up with food, hanging decorations and so forth. Rather, they’re about ensuring we’re ready to meet Jesus should he come again, about honouring and serving him in our lives, about hearing his call and glimpsing his presence in the world around us. Just as the surgeon goes on learning, the athlete goes on training, the student goes on revising and the preacher goes on studying, so discipleship involves ongoing development. It calls for faithfulness in prayer and worship, in reflecting on the message and meaning of Christ, in consecrating our time and gifts to God, in examining ourselves to ensure we are still walking in faith. It means, in short, ensuring that we remain ready and willing to walk the Christian way. Whoever we are, none of us is as ready as we like to think. Advent offers us the opportunity to take stock, to reflect and to respond.
Ask yourself
In what ways does Advent prepare you to serve Christ better? Do you still work at your faith? Are you as ready to welcome him as you once were?
Pray
Redeemer God, prepare me to worship you: to recognise your love, mercy, purpose and power and to offer my heartfelt praise. Prepare me to serve you: to understand your will and to respond to your calling, consecrating my life to the growth of your kingdom in thought, word and deed. Prepare me to know you: to learn more of your goodness, truth and nature, your work in human history across the years. Prepare me to welcome you: to live each day, each moment, in the light of your promises, ready to welcome my Saviour Christ when he comes again in glory. Make straight a highway in the wilderness of my life, so that he may work in and through me, by your grace. Amen.
Remember
Proclaim the word; be prepared whatever the season; patiently correct, admonish and encourage and teach one another. 2 Timothy 4:2
Close
Lord Jesus Christ, in all my preparations for Christmas help me to make ready for you so that I may welcome you more fully into my life, both now and on the day of your coming again. Amen.