Are you ready for Christmas? With all the gift shopping, family gatherings, office parties, traffic jams, and travel, Christmas can be very tiring as you prepare for it. However, there is a deeper side to getting ready for Christmas and that is preparing for the miracle of God in your life. Sometimes you can receive a gift and not be ready or even appreciate the gift or the giver and the truth is you might not be ready to receive God’s gift or even appreciate it even though God gives it in love.

• Have you ever received a gift you didn’t appreciate? What was your response?


• How are you preparing for Christ in this busy Christmas season?

Read Isaiah 7:1-6. The same fear that arose in King Ahaz as he was challenged by two other kingdoms is the same fear that arises in all human beings as they face challenges and struggles in this life. However, most of the struggles you face are the result of sin, either yours or someone else’s, as well as the persistence in doing your own thing instead of God’s. But the good news is that you have a great and loving God who not only sent the greatest Christmas gift of all, Jesus, to save you from your sin, but also to encourage you even now to rely on God who is the only person in whom you should hope and trust.

• What are some of your personal or professional fears right now? How much hope are you placing in people, places, or things to combat those fears?


• Is there something you need to cut out of your life right now to allow you to place more hope and trust in God?

Read Isaiah 7:7-9 & Hebrews 11:1. Just as God told King Ahaz to stand firm in his faith, God is speaking to you to stand firm in your faith this Christmas season and to prepare for the miracle about to take place in your life. Getting ready for Christmas means getting ready to receive the miracle of God, who intervenes on your behalf no matter what your circumstances or your life situations. And even more than that, God blesses you so that you can then bless others, showing up as a miracle from God in their situations or fears.

• Being honest, whose point of view do you seek in solving major problems or issues in life? Where does God fit in?


• Has God miraculously intervened in some way in your life this year? Explain.


• Where do you need God to miraculously move in your life right now?

Read Isaiah 7:10-14. Not only did God bring good news to King Ahaz but proved to him with a sign that what God said would happen was definitely take place. And even though Ahaz didn’t want to listen or hear what God had to say, God proved it to him anyway. God wanted Ahaz and all of Judah to know that God would take care of them and that God was present with them and they should have no fear. Getting ready for your Christmas miracle also means knowing that God, who is all powerful, is with you, and that God will do what God says God will do. Read Isaiah 40:18-23, 28-31

• Have you ever purposely not sought God’s direction because you had already decided to do it your way? What happened?


• How do you listen for God’s voice/direction? How often do you seek God’s point of view?


• Do you truly feel God’s presence with you this Christmas season? Are you sharing that with others?


• What will you do to get ready for God’s miracle for your life? Will you truly trust in God?