Inspiration in the Season of Waiting
During the Christmas season throughout church history, much of the Christian Church has celebrated Advent, a four-week period of expectant celebration. Each week of the advent season focuses on a different aspect, or theme, for exploration in hopes of understanding Christmas in a new and deeper way. This season of waiting and anticipation allows Christians to reflect on Jesus’ miraculous birth and look ahead in preparation for His soon return.
Assemblies of God executive leaders share thoughts on each theme of the traditional advent season.
HOPE – Assistant General Superintendent Rick DuBose
Hope is the ability to believe in something you desire that is not yet a present reality. The anticipation of its arrival someday, no matter how impossible it seems today, is at hope’s core.
Christmas is a great example of hope fulfilled. The Jews kept the Law, Passover, and other festivals for generations, thereby kindling their hope for the coming Messiah. As long as they had hope, they could survive - even thrive - while they were waiting.
The apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:13 that there are three things that remain, three that must continue on no matter what else comes and goes. One of them is Hope - it is an essential.
Hope fuels our dreams and desires with a confidence that allows us to embrace joy and happiness no matter what our circumstances. When hope is present, we can look past momentary pain, struggles, battles, circumstances, and situations. By hope, Jesus looked beyond the cross, enduring its pain and suffering, because He was hoping for His coming and promised glory (Hebrews 12:2).
Our enemy cannot defeat us unless he can steal our hope – and part of sustaining our hope comes through perseverance of our faith. If we feed our faith in God with the promises of Scripture, our faith will strengthen our hope, and we will continue to remain faithful to our God given desires until what we are hoping for comes to pass.
The greatest hope, called The Blessed Hope, is the completion of what the Jews waited for, and it began on the first Christmas day. May your hope come alive this Christmas as your faith is strengthened through the miracle of this blessed season. Merry Christmas!
PEACE – General Secretary Donna Barrett
As different as we all are, one assignment we all have in common from the Lord is to guard your heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
But how do we do that? How do we walk out that important assignment?
In Philippians 4, Paul gives us the actions that are our responsibility to carry out - and at the end of these actions is an amazing promise that God has attached to our obedience.
Our Part
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:4-6, NIV).
Sometimes in moments of confusion or chaos we call out to God, “Lord, please tell me what to do!” And while He will always come to our aid, our part is to:
• Choose joy and rejoice
• Be gentle
• Focus on Christ’s return
• Don’t worry
• Pray often
• Bring petitions before God
• Be thankful
That’s a tall order—but we’re not robots waiting for God to overtake us and do all the work. He assigns us our part.
God’s Promise
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus…Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:7, 9, NIV).
The circumstances can be chaotic. The season can be difficult. Yet peace can flood our hearts beyond all human understanding—when it is rooted in Christ Jesus. God is filling our “to-do list” with the actions we are to take so that He can pour His peace into our lives.
Choose just one action step today, begin practicing that, and watch how the peace of God moves in and saturates your heart.
JOY – General Secretary-Elect Brad Kesler
The angel announced to the shepherds that with the birth of Jesus there would be “good news of great joy that will be for all people,” (Luke 2:10).
True joy entered the world with Advent.
Christmas gives us a beautiful opportunity to remember that Jesus is the source of our joy. We can be tempted to root our joy in the changing circumstances of life, but circumstances rise and fall. When they do, our emotions can follow—leaving us feeling like an emotional yo-yo. The joy of the Lord, however, is steady and remains our constant strength.
Paul exhorts the church to “Rejoice in the Lord always…,” reminding us that rejoicing is ultimately a choice. While our deepest joy comes from the Lord and His salvation, He graciously blesses our lives with additional gifts—such as friends and family.
Christmas offers a meaningful moment to connect with others and rejoice together in our shared faith journey. As we do, we encourage one another to keep finding our joy in the Lord.
Many enter the Christmas season carrying fresh grief or recent loss. It is normal and natural to feel sorrow as we mourn a loved one or face other painful changes. Yet the Lord is present with us in the midst of our sadness. Because He is with us, we can experience a deep, enduring joy—even as we walk through difficult times.
LOVE – General Treasurer Rick Ross
The fourth week of Advent welcomes the season’s final theme: love. At Christmas time, we remember the love that God showed to all humanity when He chose to draw near to us in the form of a baby.
Love in the Advent season is not a warm, fleeting sensation – it is a courageous act of sacrifice that was made by our Savior on Christmas day. Jesus’ love, the love that compelled Him to step into the darkness of the world, met all of our needs with divine compassion. His love was humble, not wanting for attention, yet it changed everything.
This Christmas, recognize and reflect on the pure love that was shown through Christ’s birth. Allow this kind of love to offer peace where frustration is present and grace in difficult situations. The love of God says no darkness is too deep, no distance is too wide, and no brokenness is too great for the transformative healing balm of His love and presence.
FINAL THOUGHTS – General Superintendent Doug Clay
More than simply marking days until Christmas, Advent calls us into a transformative spiritual practice—one that mirrors the very heartbeat of Jesus’ life and ministry. It invites us to embrace a posture of hopeful waiting in the midst of uncertainty, trusting that God is faithful even when we cannot yet see the fulfillment of His promises. It challenges us to become courageous peacemakers in a world torn by conflict and division, choosing reconciliation over retaliation. It empowers us to cultivate resilient joy that isn’t dependent on circumstances but rooted in the unshakeable reality of God’s presence. And it compels us to practice self-giving love that flows freely to a world still groaning under the weight of brokenness, injustice, and suffering—a world desperately longing for redemption.
Advent reminds us that we live in the “already but not yet”—the kingdom of God has broken into our world through Christ’s first coming, yet we still await its full consummation when He returns. In this sacred tension, we are called not to passive resignation but to active participation in God’s redemptive work. We wait, yes, but we wait expectantly, being led by the Spirit to bring glimpses of heaven to earth.
“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently,” (Romans 8:22-25, NIV).