It’s true: we have daily battles to fight! We play a real part in all of this! But, we cannot forget spiritual principle #1. Exodus 14:14. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating that Christ comes not just to teach us to be nicer, but to fight for us.

What happens when deceitful ideas that play on our disordered desires are normalized in society? We get the third enemy of our soul. How do we prepare for this enemy?

What happens when we have two desires, which are mutually exclusive, both of which feel “authentic” and “true”? Why is this? And what do I do to fight this battle?

Advent is a time of waiting, a waiting characteristic of the whole Christian life. But what do we do in this time of waiting? What does it look like? And what are the challenges we will face?

The goal from the beginning was for all mankind to share in the eternal life of God (i.e., the divine life) and this is what is restored to us in Israel’s Messiah King, Jesus.

We don’t like thinking about Jesus’ return. We’ve heard a lot of scary things, judgmental things, fire and brimstone things about the “Day” that Jesus returns. So what gives? Is this “Day” that is coming a cause of fear or is it good news?

Advent hope stems from Christmas: God who is faithful to his promises came once, and so we have hope that he will come again. That is our great hope: our great hope is that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again to completely establish his eternal Kingdom on earth as in heaven, for which his first coming opened the Way and his second coming will bring to completion.