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What requires the most preparation for you at Christmastime? What is part of your tradition during this season that requires a lot of waiting and preparation but it pays off with getting to sit back and receive the glory and wonder that it brings?

START THINKING

Read Isaiah 40:3. Several times throughout Scripture we are told something like "Hark!" or "Listen!" or, in other words, "Pay attention!" Why do you think God often begins his messages to us with this?

If we don't stop and pay attention, what will we miss or not see? If we do stop and pay attention, what should we see that we normally don't see?

In this verse, the prophet Isaiah talks about a wilderness. The definition of a wilderness is an "uninhabitable and inhospitable region." But yet, that's where this king is coming to. What about this world makes it a wilderness for Jesus to come to, and what does that mean for your life and the people you know?

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Read Isaiah 40:3-4. These verses describe a preparation for a coming king that requires obstacles to be removed so that a straight highway can be built to allow the King to come. If we see that as an example to follow, and that we must remove the obstacles in our lives that stand in the way of Jesus coming into our wilderness, what are the obstacles that you may have to remove?

The reality is, literally removing obstacles in a wilderness would be a very difficult, time consuming, and exhausting process. So it will likely be the same for us! The obstacles that need to be removed will take a lot of work and sacrifice. What will it take for you to do that? What are the steps that would be involved? How does this play into you maybe not wanting to do it, and how can that even help you to know what those obstacles may be?

Lowering the mountains and raising the valleys makes the "playing field" level. Spiritually speaking, when do you feel like a mountain that may need to be lowered? When do you feel like a valley or low place that needs to be raised up? Who are the people in your life that may see themselves as the low places that need to be raised up to seeing that we all have a shared need for Jesus?

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Read Isaiah 40:5. The result of the preparation is that ALL people will see his glory. Historically speaking, this happened! All people saw a star in the east. Romans tells us that all people, through creation and consciousness, experience the glory of Jesus. Building off of this principle, how have you seen and experienced the glory of Jesus in your life when you have prepared the way for his Spirit? What did you do that made it possible to not quench his Spirit?

What do you sense the Spirit telling you to do this Christmas to prepare the way for others in your life to experience the Glory of Jesus? Who will you invite to attend a Christmas service and how can you volunteer at one of the services to prepare the way for others to experience Jesus? What will you sacrifice to be able to give your biggest gift to Jesus through the Christmas offering so that you can play a role in preparing the way for other people to know Jesus?

START PRAYING

Each person share one obstacle that you want to remove over the Christmas season so that you can experience the glory of Jesus in your life and to help prepare the way for other people to experience his glory. Pray for each other to be committed and faithful to preparing the way and removing the obstacles so that Jesus can make his glory know to each of you and to the people in your life.