Prayer

12 Gifts of Christmas / Day 3- Prayer

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But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:32 ESV

Can you remember a single time in the life of Jesus when he said, “I’ll be praying for you!”? He prayed when He was woken from sleep in a storm and He prayed in the desert for forty days. He prayed when people were hungry to multiply bread and He prayed for God to forgive His enemies from the cross. Everywhere and always Jesus prayed because He knew that His Father was listening. We probably already knew about those prayers of Jesus but did you ever stop to think that Christmas is in fact, the ultimate answer to every person’s prayer. God heard and He sent us His Son.

Prayer is also the greatest gift we can give to anyone this Christmas, every needs Jesus and anything is possible when we pray. Those who feel alone can experience His presence; He came as Immanuel – God with us. For friends who have lost their way, the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem answers their prayers for forgiveness because He came as God’s sacrifice for sin. For the friends or family who feel life is very dark with this pandemic, He is the light of the world.

For those feel week, He came as to be our strength. For those of us who know we have done things wrong and hurt others, Jesus shows Himself as the friend of sinners. no matter our need, Jesus is the answer to our prayers . What greater gift we could give to someone else is there than to be able to honestly say “but I have prayed for you”

In the Silence of Worship

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We often think of worship as something we do, sing or listen to. But as I was reading my Bible this morning I came across Psalm 105 where David lists nine attributes of a worshipper. At first He talks about the kind of worship we are all familiar with such as singing about how great God is and making sure everyone hears. But then David goes on to list four things we do in silence.

Psalm 105:3-4 Glory in His name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and His strength. Seek His face always.

In this Covid-19 year with just two days remaining till Thanksgiving it can be a struggle to focus on being truly grateful. When I came across this morning’s verse and was encouraged I saw that four silent acts of faith that matter far more to God than all the noise coming from our mouths or instruments. Today we will look at just the first two.

Glory in His Holy name – So is that like the Pentecostal church we visited years ago where we were startled by someone who suddenly stood up and shouted “Glory!”? Does it mean saying, “God is good!” when we’re in church? Or just maybe glorying in His name means something looking forward expectantly to seeing God’s glory in every small thing of my day. Those silent moments of worship are like what Jesus said about the kingdom of God being a small seed that grows into the largest plant in the garden.

Let the hearts of those who seek your face rejoice – Genuine rejoicing lips are rooted in honest rejoicing hearts. You might wonder if seeking God’s face isn’t like a religious game of hide and seek with the Almighty. No! NO! He wants us to find Him just as my wife delighted in hiding baskets filled with chocolates and colored eggs for our children to find on Easter morning. But our children had to be seeking. They had to read and follow the clues she left behind on tiny folded pieces of paper. As they raced from place to place their excitement grew till suddenly behind a doorway or inside a closet they each joyfully found what they had been looking for! Do you have a joyful testimony of something you discovered this year as you spent some of that extra Covid-19 time on seeking His face?

If it has been a struggle to set aside quiet time to just sit in the presence of God and seek Him I hope this music from Eric Terlizzi which I loved to listen to while I prayed some years back may be a blessing to you as well.

Thanks for your prayers

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Dear friends I want to thank everyone so much for their prayers and encouragement as we have been working towards the reopening of nursing home ministry here in Florida. Wow God has really been opening doors especially for the holidays. We have now a monthly outdoor meeting, though only with those in independent living apartments. But we also have Christmas caroling for two facilities approved for those on the inside! In addition I was able to finish writing a 30 day Large print Christmas devotional and our small group took an offering to purchase 35 to give out. This Saturday we’ll be giving away the first half of those at Sunshine Christian Village and the rest next week t a different facility.

Most encouraging  to me personally, is the many people including some of the residents who are joining together with us to make this possible. I have seen over and over again how God is at work even when things frustrating and hopeless. Please don’t stop praying because at this point I have no idea how long the doors will remain open. That is why we must give our best doing what we can in the here and now. We should never reserve our forces for doing what’s perfect tomorrow when God has given us today to do what is possible.