What if the way we tell time shapes the way we love God? We trace the deep roots of Advent and Candlemas to show how the early church used feasts to form memory, kindle joy, and carry light from the sanctuary into ordinary homes. Along the way, we meet Anna in Luke 2—a widow of great age whose quiet devotion becomes a loud sermon about steadfast hope. Her story pushes back on the myth that only big platforms change the world, revealing how staying, fasting, worshiping, and praying can open our eyes to recognize Christ when He draws near.
We explore how secular calendars took center stage and why the church once organized life around retelling God’s acts. From the Nativity candles taken home as living reminders to the offering of light returned on Candlemas, these practices were never about optics; they were about formation. We dig into the history, the Reformers’ calendar cuts, and the way those choices still shape how we mark the season today. Then we contrast Zechariah’s divinely imposed silence with Anna’s honored voice, highlighting Luke’s careful theme: God dignifies the overlooked and entrusts His message to those the culture underestimates.
This conversation is both historical and deeply practical. You’ll leave with simple ways to embody Advent: light a candle and pray at dinner, choose a modest fast to make room for presence over hurry, begin and end each day with short prayers, and serve quietly without fanfare. If you’ve ever wondered how to move beyond holiday noise into holy attention, Anna’s life offers a clear path—steady, unseen, and radiant with hope.
My hope is that this podcast helps grow your faith and equips you to accomplish your dreams and goals!
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Episode Transcript
Welcome to another episode of the podcast.
Today I'm going to be sharing ateaching that I recently did at
our staff chapel.
My hope is that this encouragesyou and that your love for God's
word deepens.
Okay, I'm excited to bring thisto you today.
(00:28):
We're continuing our idea aroundAdvent and around keeping in
mind, okay, so um like in churchliturgy, in the church calendar,
so as secularism has continuedto rise, what has happened is
that culture shapes the churchcalendar.
(00:52):
Used to people live their lifearound the church calendar.
But as people have continuouslybecome more secular, we are
seeking to create a utopia hereon this earth.
That's why we see death as lossand not as gain.
And because that drive ofsecularism has gotten so strong,
(01:13):
we live our lives, our calendar,our cultural life, and we see if
we can fit church in.
But used to the person's lifewas shaped around the church
calendar.
So um just like a quick littlelike history break here.
Um, are we okay?
Okay.
(01:34):
Um, so whenever it was aroundthe year 325, I believe, um,
that Gnostics were um growingincreasingly more loud and just
saying that Christ wasn't a realhuman, that he was a divine
spirit, but he was not human,and that he didn't suffer like
(01:54):
we suffered, that he didn't, hewasn't like an actual man.
And so confronting thisGnosticism, um the early writers
um basically say, like, we needto have this return of telling
the story.
Now keep in mind, in the OldTestament, um, whenever God was
gonna do something, whenever hedid something big, he would
(02:15):
institute a feast.
And the point of the feast wasA, he was teaching a people that
had been in slavery how tocelebrate, like how to
experience joy.
They had experienced bondage.
And so he's teaching them how tolive a life of celebration and
joy.
But also every time they had thefestival, the point of the
festival was to retell themiracle of what God had done.
(02:38):
So every festival that we see inthe Jewish calendar, the purpose
of the festival was I'mretelling the story.
Because keep in mind, thethought that you would ever have
66 books bound together that youwalked around with, that was
like inconceivable to any othergeneration.
Up until the last 500 years,that was like revolutionary.
(02:59):
They never thought that would bepossible.
So the Christian tradition andthe Jewish tradition, even
further back, was passed downorally.
And so every feast that we seeimplemented was because God was
passing down the tradition fromthe fathers to the children,
from the grandfathers to thechildren.
And so every time they gatheredon these festivals, they would
(03:19):
retell the story about what Goddid and about the miracles that
they've seen.
And so in this time, it wasaround the year 380, um, that we
have the first writing.
And what it was called is thenativity.
And so they started celebratingwhat we uh now call Christmas.
They called the nativity.
(03:40):
And they basically decided as aNew Testament church, we have to
retell the story of Christ'sbirth.
We have to instill within ourchildren the idea of that he was
born of a virgin, that he umthat he was completely sinless,
that he was a hundred percentman and he was a hundred percent
God.
Now, all of these things youhave zero problem with.
(04:01):
Like these aren't hard conceptsfor you because orally it's been
passed down for to you since youwere born, since you were
little, you had the idea ofseeing a nativity.
So when we see old art, you seethat Jesus looks like a man
child.
Like he looks like a tiny, thisis gonna be whatever.
I don't care.
He looks like a midget, okay?
(04:22):
I'm just gonna say it.
He looks like a midget sittingon the virgin's lap.
Okay.
The reason why they painted himthat way is because it was
heretical to think of Jesus as ababy, like to think of him as so
helpless that he would be ababy.
So oral tradition goes on.
So the biggest day that wouldhappen is on February the 2nd.
(04:43):
Does anybody know what Februarythe 2nd is?
I guarantee you don't.
Rayleigh knows.
Do you know what February 2ndis?
What is it?
Yes, it was candlemiss.
So candle miss happened onFebruary 2nd, which is what
(05:03):
we're about to read in Lukechapter 2.
And so they would celebrateJesus being brought to the
temple to be dedicated.
It was 40 days of purificationthat Mary would have gone
through to be able to presentthe baby at the temple.
This is where we see Simeon.
This is where we see Anna.
So now I'm like taking youthrough liturgies.
Okay.
(05:24):
So on the nativity, what wouldhappen is the church would get
candles and they would light acandle and saying that the light
has come into the world, thenwhat you would do is the Psy
household, the Hamiltonhousehold, the Martinez
household, the Harrisonhousehold, they would take that
candle home to their house afterthe church service that day.
(05:46):
Now keep in mind, this is thedarkest time period of the year.
And they're saying that thelight that came in the world
also came into their homes.
So they would bring the lightinto their home.
They would take this candle.
This would be like the holiestthing that you could get in a
service.
They would bring that candleinto their homes, and every
night they would light thecandle as a reminder that Christ
(06:09):
came to bring light, not justinto the world, but into my
home.
And they believed as they werelighting that candle in their
home that it would keep evilpresence away, that it would
keep the enemy at bay.
It would be a reminder to them.
It was a visual, tangiblereminder to them about Christ
coming in the world.
Now, on Candle Miss, on Februarythe 2nd, you would bring the Psy
(06:30):
household, the Hamiltonhousehold, and the Martinez
household would all bring theHarrison household, you're not
left out.
Um they would all bring theircandle, what was left, and it
would be an offering that theyplaced at the altar, saying, The
light that you've given me, mayI always return back to you to
receive what I need.
And so Candle Miss was like ahigh holy day.
(06:53):
So the reformation happens, andwith the reformation, um,
basically there's like all thesewritings of different bishops,
and they're basically saying,There's too many festivals in
the calendar.
Like we're celebrating too manythings, there's too much going
on.
The people can't manage this.
Like, we have to start takingthings away.
All Saints Day, too much.
(07:14):
Like, we can't do all thesedifferent things.
So they started stripping thingsout of the calendar, and all the
bishops are writing back andforth when you read the
writings, and they're like, it'sjust too much to ask of the
people.
So we're gonna take these thingsaway to make their life easier.
And if we take these thingsaway, it'll make church
participation go up because nowthe people aren't required to do
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so much because they werearguing back and forth.
It's too much for every personto get a candle in the
congregation, and then they gohome.
And how are they supposed tokeep up with the candle?
And some of them have lost theircandle, and what do we do when
people lose their candles?
And how do we like mitigate thislike problem?
And so, what we're gonna do iswe are gonna have a marrying of
(07:56):
candle mists and then nativity,and we're gonna call it
Christmas.
So, your candlelight moment atthe end of a service isn't for
an Instagram, it's actually likea high holy moment that the
early church did to remind us.
So when we see candles being liton Christmas, it's reminding us
(08:20):
Christ came into the world, buthe didn't just come into the
world, he comes into my home.
He comes into my home.
He wants to like what'shappening here, he wants to come
home with me.
And so we are picking up in Lukechapter two that long little
historical little bit.
You feel yourself gettingsmarter, change the way you see
things a little bit.
Um, in Luke chapter two, we seeum the famous story of Anna.
(08:44):
Um, and now you know it'scandlemiss, it's February 2nd.
What we would celebrate isFebruary 2nd.
Do we know definitively?
People argue all the time, well,do we know definitively the
date?
No, nobody knows the date.
It's the date that we've beencelebrating.
Shut up.
Like if if okay, let me just usewhenever somebody gives you crap
theology, just turn it back onthem.
(09:05):
So imagine it's Pastor Jimmy'sbirthday uh a week ago, but
today I say we're going out tolunch for Pastor Jimmy's
birthday.
If you're a heretic, you wouldsay, y'all, y'all are just
heretics celebrating hisbirthday today.
His birthday was a week ago.
No, I'm still celebrating ittoday.
And in that moment, thecelebration is as real for
Jimmy.
He feels just as honored, hefeels just as loved as though we
(09:29):
would have done it the weekbefore.
It's not as much the point isthe day as the point is the
heart posture towards him.
So when you see people arguingabout calendar, just eye roll
really hard and just reversethat back on them.
We don't use that for anythingelse, like anything else, but we
just want to be hyper umreligious and we want a virtue
signal that we're more holy thaneverybody else.
(09:50):
But whatever.
Anyways, so Luke chapter two,just roll up on them and say,
Well, what are your thoughts oncandlemass?
See where they go with that.
Um, Luke chapter 2, 36 through38, and says, Now there was one
Anna, a prophetess, the daughterof Phanil of the tribe of Asher,
and she was of gr a great age,and had lived with a husband
(10:11):
seven years from her virginity.
And this woman was a widow abouteighty-four years, who did not
depart from the temple, butserved God with fastings and
prayer night and day.
And coming in that instant, shegave thanks to the Lord and
spoke of him to all those wholooked for redemption in
Jerusalem.
(10:32):
So this happened on February the2nd.
This would have been 40 daysafter Jesus' birth.
And there's a few things thatthe text tells us about her.
Um, number one, she was veryold.
The Bible says she was of greatage.
Again, I often think, like, howis the Bible, like, how is
scripture, if scripture wasgoing to remember you by
something, I don't think anywoman would want to be
(10:52):
remembered that you're very oldand then just blasting your age.
Rude.
Um, so one of the things that'slike under debate is is she 84
or what is she?
Um at this time, marrying agewas 14 to 15 years old.
And so some would say that shewas 14 to 15 whenever she got
married.
She was married for seven years,putting her at 22.
(11:14):
And then some would say shelived 84 years without her
husband.
Um, some would say she literallywas 84, but even the way the
Greek reads, it's very unclearwhere she was.
But we know for certain shespent at minimum 60 years of her
life devoting herself, waitingfor the Messiah, like waiting
for the promised son of God.
(11:36):
The Bible tells us that she wasa widow.
Luke takes time to tell us thatshe's a widow.
It doesn't tell us about thetragic loss, it doesn't tell us
about how her husband dies, butit does tell her the her heart's
response to the loss.
She was drawn closer to God.
And I think it's beautiful thatwhen we go through
disappointments in our life,because it's not if you go
(11:57):
through a disappointment, it'swhen are you going to go through
a disappointment?
Does it drive you deeper intothe community and into the heart
of God, or does it drive youfurther away?
And Anna, here she is in thatculture society, her full
identity would have been inwhose wife she is.
It doesn't speak of anychildren.
And in fact, the rhythm of herlife, some theologians would say
(12:18):
that she didn't have kids.
But the text is silent.
But normally, if a woman wouldhave had a child, it would, it
would mention that because heridentity was in that.
Um, so we don't know.
The text is silent, but I thinkwhat's beautiful is she has
every reason that she could haverun away from God, and yet we
see her running to him.
And um, what's interesting isthe Bible also tells us about
(12:39):
her family line.
She was of the tribe of Asher,and Asher is the son of the
handmaid of Leah, um, Zilpha.
And Asher literally means happyor blessed.
And Luke is weaving together forus because Mary, whenever she
comes in and she sings a song toElizabeth, um, just previous to
(13:01):
this, she calls herself happyand blessed that the Lord would
call her to carry the Messiah.
And so, and even in Jesus' firstmessage in Luke chapter four,
Luke records that he writes inthe Amplified, it says, Happy or
blessed are those.
Like that's the very first wordswe see recorded of Jesus and his
(13:23):
first message.
I think it's beautiful, it'slike this theme of happy and
blessed, but yet she's a widow.
It's like it's he's puttingthese two things, not to just
give us her historical line, butnarratively, it's like you, he
wants you to feel the tension ofsometimes like what your name
is, where you came from, itdoesn't line up with what you're
(13:43):
presently seeing.
And sometimes it doesn't looklike what culture would define
as happy or blessed.
And yet that's exactly who youare.
It's exactly who you are becausewe're not what we're presently
experiencing.
We are we live in a greaterreality, and then her uh
father's name, Fanil, um, whichliterally means face of God.
(14:04):
Face of God.
What's beautiful is Phanil, hisname meaning the face of God,
and we see Anna, who wouldliterally see the face of God in
the courts of the temple.
Like his name was in prophecy,what Anna would experience in
(14:25):
reality.
Anna literally saw the face ofGod in the Christ child.
Then we have Anna, and her nameAnna, in Hebrew, it's actually
the name Hannah.
And we all remember a girl namedHannah.
And Hannah goes all the way backto 1 Samuel.
And so, 1 Samuel, we see a womannamed Hannah and she wants a
(14:48):
child.
And what do we see her doing?
She comes down to the altar andshe's praying.
And y'all remember Samuelpresumes that she's drunk, and
it says that her lips weremoving, but there was no words
coming out.
And he's like, What are you?
What's wrong with you?
Are you drunk?
And she's like, No, my lord,like I I want a child.
Like, I'm I'm believing God fora child.
(15:09):
And the story goes on.
Hannah gets pregnant.
Um, we see, I'm sorry, it wasn'tSamuel that came down to the
altar.
It was Eli that came down to thealtar.
Hannah got pregnant with Samuel.
Sorry, my bad.
So, anyways, y'all are followingthough, right?
You're okay.
Okay, great.
I'm sure you all already caughtthat.
Sorry about that.
Okay, but there is no wordsrecorded in our prayer.
So the old testament, what he'sdoing here, again, Luke is very
(15:32):
intentional on how he's writing.
The old testament, Hannah, issilent, but she's misunderstood.
The New Testament, Hannah, issilent, but understood.
She lives this life of silence.
And what's beautiful is that shespends her life doing these
(15:53):
ordinary things.
The Bible tells us there's fourthings that she did.
Number one, she did not departfrom the temple.
She did not depart from thetemple.
Like finding a family of God andrefusing to leave amidst
heartache, amidst hardship,amidst disappointment.
(16:16):
You're waiting for something forover 60 years.
I'm sorry.
I talk to people all the time.
They're like, Crystal, I've beenpraying for a year.
I'm like, no, hold up.
Imagine devoting your entirelife to something, and yet you
refuse to depart.
Like, my faith is not wavered bywhat I see.
(16:36):
My devotion to God is notwavered by what I'm
experiencing.
It says that she did not departthe temple.
Number one two, it says that shewas fasting daily.
Fasting daily.
We don't know if it was daily,we don't know if it was
annually.
It's open, but she lived a lifeof fasting.
I think for us, it's reallyimportant that we live our life
in this rhythm of uh fasting iswhy we're fasting in January.
(17:00):
And so, used to in the churchcalendar, um, Advent began the
beginning of a new Christianyear.
And so the new year began withthe first day of Advent.
So in the Christian calendar, wewould turn the page there.
You would fast leading up to thenativity.
And the nativity, a lot oftimes, the first meal that
somebody would have, they wouldtaste, is that of communion.
(17:23):
And so the way they would breakthe fast was with the Lord's
body and with the Lord's blood.
And so for us, we have acultural calendar that again
shapes the rhythms of our churchnow.
We've like, because of theReformation, thank you, Martin
Luther and John Calvin, um, wehave flipped it around.
But we, what are we still doing?
(17:44):
We're still adopting that NewTestament, that practice of
beginning our year, beginningour rhythm with 21 days of
prayer and fasting.
And then it says that sheworshiped daily.
She worshiped daily, like shelived a life of worship.
She lived a life of worship.
And then finally it says thatshe made prayer day and night.
(18:04):
She gave prayers day and night.
Okay, I'll just say there'speople in the Bible that I
aspire to be like, and theirlife is just so high that I just
I there's no way I can attain toit.
Like Samson, love him, what aking, but cannot relate to
Samson at all.
Like supernatural strength, notat all.
(18:25):
I can't even open a jar in mykitchen, right?
Like, I can't relate to Samson.
There's people in the Bible thathad like great feats, like Noah,
don't know what it's like tobuild a ship.
Sorry, I don't.
I don't, I don't know whatthat's like to have never seen
rain and to like have that kindof.
I don't know what that's like.
Abraham can't relate.
Sorry.
There's a lot of that story.
I can't relate.
(18:45):
David can't relate.
Like, I I I love him, but Ican't relate.
But Anna, like, what a queen.
Like, literally, all of thesethings are things that any
believer, no matter where youare, what time period you're in,
no matter what city you findyourself, what season of life,
whether you're a mother, whetheryou're a child, whether you are
(19:07):
80 years old, or whether you're20 years old, I can live this
life.
Like, literally, when I look atit, her life of devotion was
like, it's not something flashy.
It's not something extravagant.
And you might even be like,worshiping daily, like legit,
it's putting on a song in yourcar on the journey.
And prayer day and night.
It's not saying she prayed frommorning till night.
(19:29):
It means she began, her life wasan inclusio every day.
She began with meditation on theLord.
Let my thoughts and intent bepleasing unto you.
And she ends the day withgratitude to the Lord.
That's literally what it means.
I can live that life.
And Anna, to me, like inspiresme because it's that natural
rhythm that sometimes weovercomplicate our spirituality.
(19:51):
And Anna brings it way down thatthis is what it looks like to be
faithful to God.
Just being faithful to hishouse.
It's living a life of prayer,living life.
Life of worship and havingfasting in my rhythm.
Okay.
So then it tells us that she's aprophet.
She's a prophet.
I think this is, it made melaugh as I was studying this
(20:13):
because there's eight women inthe Bible who are described as
prophets.
We have Miriam, who is Moses'sister.
She was a prophet.
And the Bible records like a fewlines from her.
Then we have Deborah, who is oneof the judges of the nation of
Israel, who is a prophet.
We have Isaiah's wife ismentioned as a prophet in Isaiah
(20:34):
chapter 8, verse 3, and which isinteresting because it says
she's a prophet, but we have nowords recorded from her at all,
but she's a prophet.
Then we have Anna here in Lukechapter 2, and then we have the
four daughters of Philip in Actschapter 21.
And what's interesting is wehave the Old Testament prophets
that all of them had husbands.
(20:56):
All of them were married.
They had like that male headshipcovering.
Then we have these New Testamentprophets who, all of them being
female, none of them, the I themain commonality between all of
them is they didn't have ahusband.
And yet the Bible says they wereprophets.
So here are these women.
Okay, I want you to feel thetension of the text of what Luke
is doing.
(21:16):
In that culture society, youdidn't have a voice unless you
had a husband.
And yet God uses people whoshouldn't have a voice, and he
says they have a voice to me.
That their voice matters to me.
They matter to me.
Now, keeping in mind, Lukechapter 2, Acts chapter 21, both
(21:38):
of these are Luke writing.
Luke's gospel is known as thegospel of women and the gospel
of the outcasts.
And Luke's main emphasis is thatChrist came for the people that
nobody else would have wanted,but he also came for women.
And so we see this emphasis inLuke highlighting this to us.
But I think what's beautiful isLuke is like so purposefully
(22:00):
allowing us to feel thistension.
So do you remember the storyright before this?
Um, we have this man who'sfaithful unto God, him and his
wife, uh Zachariah, and he isthere believing God for a child
with Elizabeth.
Y'all remember this?
And it says, and the lot fell toZachariah, and he goes into the
holy place.
Now, I'm just gonna like bringyou back to remembrance of the
(22:23):
Old Testament.
Whenever you got the lots castand you were able to go into the
holy place, this only happenedhow many days a year?
One, one time a year, y'all aredoing great.
Okay, and whenever you would gointo the holy place, what would
the priest be wearing?
Does anybody remember what thepriest would be wearing?
Do you remember?
Robe, the bell.
(22:44):
Why did they have bells on?
Yes, they want to know if Godstruck them dead.
Okay.
So in the whole tribe of all thepriests, so in the priesthood,
for the lot to be cast, andPastor Jimmy gets to go into the
most holy place.
(23:05):
This is literally aonce-in-a-lifetime opportunity
where we get once in a lifetimeopportunity, literally once in a
lifetime opportunity.
So, congratulations, PastorJimmy.
You need to go in the most holyplace.
Put this on unless you die.
Like, goodie.
Like, I hope you haven't sinnedthis week.
Yippee.
All right.
So Zechariah's going in.
(23:26):
Now he's going into the mostholy place.
He he's the text is wanting youto feel the tension.
You've got this life ofbarrenness, this life of doing
exactly what God's wanted you todo.
And yet the fruit of what youprayed for has never happened.
And now you get to go into theholy place.
And the Bible says that helingered there a long time.
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Okay, what is everybody thinkingoutside?
He's dead.
Like a hundred percent, he'sdead.
They're like, ring a bell.
Okay, so the priest would have arope tied to his waist because
if he were to drop dead, thenthe people outside the tent
would drag his dead corpse outof the presence of God.
(24:10):
Okay, so we have this man who isa priest, and he's in the holy
place.
And your Bible says he asked thequestion, but he asks it out of
doubt and unbelief.
And in that moment, the Lordsays, You're not gonna speak,
you're not gonna say anything.
And he comes out and he'scompletely mute.
(24:30):
So they're like, bro, what didhe see?
Like, we've never had thishappen before.
So he goes home, and now I justalways think about what is it
like for Elizabeth?
Because now she has a husbandwho can't speak, and he's like,
I just want to know how thathappened.
Because we know she gotpregnant.
(24:51):
That was weird.
And he's silent the wholepregnancy.
But the minute he's able tospeak, what does he do?
He prophesies and he begins topraise God.
All the questions are gone.
All the things are gone.
And I used to think that thesilence was a curse, but now
(25:14):
looking at it, I think thesilence was a blessing.
And it was him being able torealign, re-calibrate his heart.
Now, see what Luke is doing.
We have Zachariah, who's apriest, who should have a voice.
He is a man, he has beencompletely clean, he's got all
this authority, he's the man ofGod.
(25:35):
He went into the most holyplace, has no voice.
We have Anna, who is a widow,has no husband, should not have
a voice, and yet the Bible callsher a prophet.
And Luke is allowing you to feelthis tension of these two
stories back to back.
And yet, here we see in hersilence, she's actually
(25:57):
preaching the loudest message tous.
And in her silence, even thoughthere are no recorded prophetic
words of all the 60 plus yearsof Anna's faithfulness, God
looks down and he says, She is aprophet.
And actually, she's the firstperson to preach the gospel.
(26:18):
Everybody's told you it's Maryat the garden.
It's not, it's her.
Homegirl goes and tellseverybody the Messiah has come.
Come see the Messiah.
He's here.
That which Israel has awaited,he's here right now.
She goes and she's preaching thegospel.
And as I thought about this, Ithought, could it be that God's
(26:38):
more concerned about our silentprophetic lives than we realize?
Our lives are a prophecy, notwith words, but yet God's
recording everything we say anddo.
The silent prophecy of walkingwith a loved one as they
(27:02):
transition into eternity.
The silent prophecy of walkingwith a prodigal person in the
church.
Your name isn't in lights.
Nobody even knows.
You're just faithfully walkingwith them through the process of
discipleship.
The silent prophecy of helping afamily in need this holiday
(27:26):
season, and they don't even knowwhose name to thank.
But God knows.
The silent prophecy of showingup early and staying late.
The silent prophecy of forgivingsomebody of the pain again.
And I began to think about atthis Christmas season that
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perhaps it's not all the thingsthat we do that everybody else
records.
But perhaps the emphasis is thesilent lives that no one sees
and no one knows about, but Goddoes.
Because I wouldn't call Anna aprophet.
I wouldn't call her life aprophet, but God did.
(28:10):
And I think for some of us, likethe reminder of this Advent
season is Advent.
The whole point is we'reawaiting Christ's return.
It's remembering He's comingagain.
And are we going to be preparedwhen He shows up?
And it's the life of silentfaithfulness that we're living
right now that's preparing us.
And God's doing something somuch deeper.
(28:30):
And yeah, maybe it's not flashy.
And yeah, maybe it doesn't lookextravagant, but God sees it.
God sees the faithfulness andhe's going to honor it in a
great and beautiful way.
And so, Father, we just thankyou so much, Lord, for all that
you're doing.
Lord, may we be silent prophets.
(28:52):
Just faithful wherever you haveus.
May Anna's life inspire us thisChristmas season.
Lord, may Zachariah's silence,Lord, inspire us this season.
May God, our prayer be lessabout give us the right words to
say, but Lord, let our lives bea prophetic act in our silence.
(29:14):
That Lord will be faithful toyou, faithful to do whatever you
asked us to do.
Not for recognition, not for athank you, not for any of those
things, but just because youasked us to do it.
And so, Father, right now inthis Advent season, may we wait
for you.
Lord, anything that we've beenfilling our life with that isn't
(29:36):
you, Lord, we repent.
Lord, anything that we'vesatisfied ourselves with that
isn't your presence, Lord, wejust ask for your forgiveness.
And Lord, I thank you that thisChristmas season that will slow
down, recalibrate our hearts,help us retell the story that's
been told for 2,000 years, theone that poured first from the
(29:57):
lips of the angels and the lipsof Anna in the temple, that our
Messiah is here, that he hascome.
We love you so much in Jesus'name.
Every person I believe is thatAmen.
Amen.
I love you guys.
Have a great day.
Thanks so much for hanging outhere on my podcast.
(30:18):
Do me a favor and hit thesubscribe button if you haven't
done so already, so you nevermiss out on anything here on my
podcast.
Also, one of the best ways forus to begin to reach other
people is by you sharing.
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