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Christmas Eve Prayers

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Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. ~Plato

A letter was written and posted in early December. Presents were purchased and shipped to the grandparents’ house so Santa wouldn’t be trapped in a confessional on the long drive there. Everywhere were the smells and sights of Christmas. Everything was set. Everyone was happy.

And then came Christmas Eve.

The bullet-pointed wish list was tossed aside for some new thing. The previously longed for toy was replaced by a new desire. What was just right before was now just wrong.

Have you been there?

As a parent, it is frustrating.

As Lord of All, it is expected.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18: 1-8 NIV

Jesus tells us to keep on praying and never give up. Let God know this isn’t a Christmas Eve wish but truly desired.

Have you been praying for years? Are you consistent in your request? Have you fasted and wept? Are you wearing the judge out with your asking?

Over the years I have discovered that my husband doesn’t really mean that he is interested in something unless he talks about it at least four times. In his agonizing over something, he shows me his heart, his true desire.

That’s what God is listening for
 – your heart.

As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” . . . He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

. . . When he came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” 

“Lord, I want to see,” he replied.

Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. Luke 18: 35-43 NIV

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How to Pray

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This should be the motto of every follower of Jesus Christ. No matter how dark and hopeless a situation might seem, never stop praying. ~Billy Graham

“I asked them to translate the Lord’s Prayer into Chinese. I thought it might be helpful for me if I could pray a little in their language.”

“Why? It’s hard enough to pray in English.”

I was talking to an old friend, one I am sure has been praying for at least 50 years. I understood her question -praying in Chinese will be difficult to learn and it isn’t necessary -but her statement left me stunned.

Praying in English is hard.

For a nearly life-long Christian? How can this be?

In Luke 11, Jesus’s disciples ask him to teach them to pray. It was normal for a rabbi to teach their followers to pray. The disciples even comment that John the Baptist taught his disciples to pray.

Jesus gives them a simple way to approach the Father. Direct. Unassuming. Grateful. Full of forgiveness.

 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.” 

It must have left the disciples stunned. No flowery speeches? No self-effacing condemnation?

Jesus follows his sample prayer with a lesson, a little story.

You need something badly from your neighbor, so you ask. It’s not a cup of sugar on a Saturday afternoon, but some money in the middle of the night. You’re humiliated to have to ask, but you ask anyway. The neighbor loans you the money.

Jesus wants to know why you’ll ask your neighbor, but not your Father? He encourages us to ask.

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” 

But we have all asked God for something and he hasn’t given it. We’ve stood at the door knocking for years. Our knees are giving out, our back is weary, and our knuckles are bloodied.

Jesus asks, how many of you would give something horrid to  your child? Would you hand him a snake or a scorpion? Of course not. And neither will God.

 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Good gifts?! Really?

Cancer sure feels like a scorpion. A prodigal child feels like a snake. The loss of a child, a job, a home, a marriage -it all feels like evil served on a platter.

This is where praying gets hard.

Do you trust Jesus? Do you believe that he and his Father have your best interest at heart?

Jesus says a strong man can protect his house until someone stronger comes along. You can’t handle the cancer alone. You can’t force the prodigal to come home. So many things you can’t replace.

But it isn’t up to you to do any of those things. God will take care of it all. He only asks that you . . . pray.

The Lord reigns forever;
    he has established his throne for judgment.
He rules the world in righteousness
    and judges the peoples with equity.
The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
Those who know your name trust in you,
    for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:7-10 NIV