Day 22 God Says Hineni First
Isaiah 52:6
“Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”
Before we ever whispered “Here I am,” God spoke it over us.
His Hineni precedes ours.
His nearness is not something we earn—
it is something we receive.
We can only say, “Here I am, Lord,” because He has already said,
“Here I am for you.”
This is the great gift of His love—the eternal “Here I Am.”
To know God’s name is to know His character.
And only when we know who God truly is can we begin to understand who we are and the goodness of His presence in our lives.
We come to know a God who is here for us in plenty and in need,
in success and in failure,
in faith and in doubt.
A God who is approachable and attentive—
who sees, who hears, who moves toward us with compassion.
What other god is like this?
Who else opens Himself to His creation?
Who else draws near to the small, the weary, the lost?
No other god is known by love.
It is Jesus alone who bears the identity of Love Himself.
This love is unfailing.
This love is the light of the world and the Joy of Christmas.
This love meets us in our suffering and sings hope, peace, and joy over us.
This love satisfies the hunger of our hearts.
This love went before us, is with us now,
and will carry us into eternity.
Where are you hungry for the love of Jesus this Christmas?
Which part of God’s character speaks truth to who you are today?
Day 23 – Emmanuel
Isaiah 7:14
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall call his name Emmanuel.”
Christmas is God’s Hineni: “I have come. I am here.”
Sometimes, I struggle with being present. My mind tends to pull toward the past—what has been—or leap toward the future—what might be. My children know when I’m not present and will say, “Mom, did you even hear me?” Or “Mom, you are not even paying attention.” It takes intention for me to pause, come back to the moment that I am actually living, and be present with my precious children.
In the Old Testament, Jesus is promised and longed for, with generation after generation holding onto the hope of Emmanuel—“God with us”.
Then, in the fullness of time, God put on human form and became with us.
The God of the universe—Maker of galaxies and Giver of life—
entered our world.
Not as a ruler or a nobleman,
as a poor child, in an ordinary Jewish family,
in an obscure town, living most of His life in obscurity.
He ate and slept, experienced tiredness and hunger,
and bore the full weight of being human.
This is almost inconceivable.
And yet this is the mystery revealed:
The eternal God stepped into time and said, “Here I am.”
The hundreds of prophecies and promises throughout the Old Testament—
found their “Here I am” in the birth of Christ.
He is not only the Savior of the past or the Savior of the future.
He is the Savior who is present.
Our Wonderful Counselor.
Our Mighty God.
Our Everlasting Father.
Our Prince of Peace.
This Advent season, I have been speaking “Here I am Lord. I am here.” “Here I am, Lord. I am here.” God, I am available, ready, present in this time and space to hear from you and to simply be with you.
I believe one of the greatest gifts we can give to those around us is to be truly with them. To be present with them, looking them in the eye, hearing them, and delighting in them.
God gives this way of being present to us. “Here I am. I am here.”
How might you choose to live in the here and now today?
How can you give the gift of your “Here I am. I am here” presence to someone you love today?
Day 24 – The Manger
Luke 2:11–12
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
Not a throne. Not a temple.
A manger.
God’s presence in the most unexpected place.
Years ago, when our fifth child was still a baby, my husband and I traveled to Israel. It remains one of the great joys of my life—to walk the land I had spent so many years reading about, with our infant daughter in my arms.
One afternoon our guide showed us an ancient manger. It was carved from stone, with a shallow indentation where feed would have been set for the animals. Our group encouraged us to place our baby girl in it, and for a moment we all laughed and took pictures—our tiny daughter lying in a manger in Israel.
The Son of God was laid in a manger.
Pause long enough for that to settle in your heart.
The angels told the shepherds that this would be the sign—not just a baby, but a baby lying in a manger. A feeding trough. His first bed was a place where animals ate. God entered our world in deep humility.
Bethlehem means “House of Bread.”
And into the House of Bread came the One who would call Himself the Bread of Life.
The night before His death, Jesus broke bread and offered it to His disciples: “This is my body, given for you.” The God of the universe entered the world in a place of feeding, in a town named for bread, witnessed first by shepherds who tended the lambs used for sacrifice. From His first moments, His life pointed toward the offering He would become—the Lamb of God, the Bread that sustains.
Even as I write this, I feel that familiar rush of wonder.
How God comes so low, so near. My soul cries out in praise!
Jesus offers us His presence in the humblest of places.
He offers us His very self as food—our daily bread, our manna from heaven.
From birth to resurrection, and into eternity, He is the Bread of Life.
What part of the Christmas story stirs wonder in you?
If Jesus entered our world in such humble places, what humble places might He be inviting you into today?
Day 25 – Christmas — Hineni in Your Heart
Ephesians 3:17–19
“…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend… and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” This morning, whisper again: “Here I am, Lord. Fill me with Your Spirit.”
God’s desired dwelling place is not a building or a mountaintop—but the human heart. By faith, Christ makes His home in us, and His Spirit bears fruit through our ordinary lives.
Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus—God with us. My prayer is that you would know His love in a deeper way… how wide and long and high and deep it truly is. We cannot yet see His face or feel His physical embrace, but Jesus has given us His Spirit—our Comforter, our Teacher, our Helper, our Guide. The Spirit of God is not an idea. He is present. He is personal. He fills the hearts of God’s people.
Our bodies have become His dwelling.
Our hearts have become Christ’s home.
This is Christmas.
We long for the day when Christ returns and makes all things new. But our waiting is not empty. It is filled with Hineni—God’s continual “Here I am” in us through the Spirit.
At creation, God the Father spoke, the Son was the Word and the Light, and the Spirit hovered and brought forth life. At the Incarnation, the Spirit overshadowed Mary and the Word became flesh. Today, the same fullness of God—Father, Son, and Spirit—dwells with us and within us, producing His life and His fruit.
The miracle of Christmas is not only Jesus in the manger, nor only Jesus in His ministry, but Jesus present now by the Spirit—the living God who indwells us, gifts us, and grows His fruit in us. Hallelujah, indeed.
Where do you see the fruit of the Spirit in your life today?
How might you welcome the fullness of God—Father, Son, and Spirit—into the ordinary and extraordinary moments in the coming year?
I invite you to take a physical posture of presence as we complete this Advent series. Open your hands, lift your arms, kneel, or simply turn your face upward—whatever posture your heart needs today. Whisper, speak, sing, or even shout, “Here I am. I am here.”
Thank God for the gift of His presence. The gift of His Spirit. The gift of His love. Open your heart to Him, and rest in the truth that He will never leave you.
*Here you can find a Hineni Advent Spotify playlist I’ve created with songs paired to each devotional for your further reflection and enjoyment