GPS: Grow, Pray & Study Guide

For week starting on December 14th, 2025

“My Soul Magnifies the Lord, and My Spirit Rejoices in God My Savior”

“This song that then flowed out of Mary’s faithful heart flipped the

script of power in society. She, a lowly young girl, pregnant and

unmarried, easily dismissed or decried by most of society,

becomes the most blessed. Like the work of the Holy Spirit, her

very being disrupted the status quo, and to this day, her words call

us into the renewing spirit of mercy and justice… (Katie Gordon).”

 

Dear Lord, thank you for your power and love; power that is

beyond our imagination and love that overcomes even our

sadness and regret. Renew us with your spirit of mercy and

justice as we face each day. Amen.

 

Monday 12.15 “Look, the young woman is with child and

shall bear a son.”

Isaiah 7:10-16

“Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your

God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will

not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear

then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that

you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a

sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and

shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time

he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the

child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land

before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.” God loves

us too much to give up on us!

 

Tuesday 12.16 “Restore us, O Lord God of hosts.”

Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

“Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock!

You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth before

Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might, and come

to save us! Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be

saved. O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your

people’s prayers? You have fed them with the bread of tears, and

given them tears to drink in full measure. You make us the scorn of

our neighbors; our enemies laugh among themselves. Restore us, O

God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved… But let

your hand be upon the one at your right hand, the one whom you

made strong for yourself. Then we will never turn back from you; give

us life, and we will call on your name. Restore us, O Lord God of

hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.” We must faithfully

cry out to our Lord. He will hear us!

 

Wednesday 12.17 “In order that we may bear fruit for God.”

Romans 7:1-7

“Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those

who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only during

that person’s lifetime? Thus a married woman is bound by the law to

her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is

discharged from the law concerning the husband. Accordingly, she

will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her

husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law,

and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. In the

same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of

Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been

raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. While

we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law,

were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are

discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that

we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the

Spirit. What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means!

Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I

would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You

shall not covet.’” Let us be set free by God’s grace, and joyfully bear

fruit for our Lord.

 

Thursday 12.18 “For he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:18-25

“Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his

mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived

together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her

husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her

to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he

had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a

dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary

as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save

his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been

spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall

conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which

means, ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as

the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but

had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he

named him Jesus.” Joseph faithfully accepted this son, whose name

meant, “God is with us.”

 

Friday 12.19 “They went up as usual for the festival.”

Luke 2:41-52

“When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent

word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to

come, or are we to wait for another?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and

tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the

lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are

raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed

is anyone who takes no offense at me.’” Jesus lived among the poor

and needy and quietly cared for them.

 

Saturday 12.20 “His mother treasured all these things in her

heart”

Luke 2:41-52

“And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his

answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his

mother said to him, ‘Child, why have you treated us like this? Look,

your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.’ He

said to them, ‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know

that I must be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand

what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to

Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these

things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and

in divine and human favor.” This is a powerful vision of our Lord

growing and learning and living in our world.