Ascent 2025: Week 4 - Strength to Keep Climbing
- Emma Li
- Dec 21, 2025
- 4 min read
Hello everyone!
And here we are, in the fourth week of Advent. We light all four candles, Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love, as the journey reaches its fullness. Together they reveal God’s enduring love: the strength that sustains us through every hardship, the steady hand that holds us secure as we climb with humble confidence.
This final week anchors the whole journey. It reminds us of a love that bears all things, believes all things, and endures all things, a love that carries us all the way home.
Let love propel your 2025 story forward as you go through these daily reflections:
Day 1: Held, Not Just Helped
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39 - ESV version)
Love holds us tighter than any trial, giving strength in the valley, where true resilience comes from being deeply known, not just helped.
List three "separators" trying to pull you. Declare Romans 8:38-39 over each; feel love's grip.
Day 2: Love That Endures
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:7- ESV version)
Enduring love shows us how to be resilient, protecting our hearts, trusting God’s timing, hoping in the dark, and keeping us going when our strength fails.
Apply 1 Corinthians 13:7 to one hardship. How does it strengthen your next step?
Day 3: Resilience Rooted in Love
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9- ESV version)
Fear crumbles when love roots resilience, God's presence commands courage, turning valleys into climbable paths with steady, love-fueled power.
Face one fear; repeat Joshua 1:9. Note love dissolving its hold.
Day 4: Loving Yourself in the Valley
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17- ESV version)
Self-love reflects God’s love, giving grace for our limits, bodies, and emotions, growing humble strength through quiet rest, not constant striving.
Speak Zephaniah 3:17 over your reflection. Extend grace to one "valley flaw."
Day 5: Loving Others from Overflow
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. (John 13:34 - ESV version)
Overflow means serving without burning out, giving love as we’ve received it, building community strength, and showing discipleship through life’s challenges.
Perform one love act (listen, give, serve). Trace its root to God's prior filling.
Day 6: Ascent 2025 Testimony
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5 - ESV version)
Review four weeks: Love weaves hope, peace, joy into testimony, naming growth from "just enough" to climbing strength.
Write your full "Ascent 2025" story paragraph, and share it with me if you feel led to.
Day 7: All Candles Burning
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19- ESV version)
Finale: Four flames symbolize integrated life, hope lights, peace guards, joy anoints, love empowers endless ascent into 2026.
Thank God per theme. Declare: "My new story climbs in love."
Worship Song
This week`s song is "Reckless Love" by Cory Asbury, a pursuit that "leaves the ninety-nine," overwhelming valleys with strength: "Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God."
Simple Activities
Gratitude Jar:Add daily thanks notes; read on Christmas for joy's harvest.
Generosity Seed: Gift time or resource from "first fruits," trusting joy's strength multiplies. (Malachi 3:10)
Closing Prayer
Everlasting God,
We come to the end of this ascent with grateful hearts. Thank You for walking with us through hope, peace, joy, and love. Thank You for meeting us in the valleys, steadying us on the climb, and reminding us that we were never climbing alone.
When the path was steep, You gave us strength. When the way felt unclear, You became the way. You turned suffering into endurance, endurance into character, and character into a hope that does not disappoint. Your love has held us, shaped us, and carried us further than we thought possible.
As we step forward into what is new, help us to perceive it. Make rivers in our dry places and paths where we once felt stuck.
May our stories reflect Your faithfulness, and may our lives rise as living testimonies of Your enduring love.
We trust You with what`s ahead.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Week 3 Scriptures at a Glance
Key Verses
Anchor Romans 8:38-39; 1 Corinthians 13:7; Joshua 1:9
Grace Zephaniah 3:17; John 13:34
New beginning Romans 5:3-5; Isaiah 43:19
Thank you for joining me this Advent season. May God shower you with His blessings, and I pray that you will encounter Him in new and meaningful ways along this journey.
With love,
Emmanuella
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