Whether it’s in a flurry of family joy or a day of quiet, cold calm, my prayer for you on this day is that you would experience deep connection to the faith that calls you to rest, the hope that calls you to aspire, and the love that calls you to serve.
I pray that in believing you find an abiding place for your anxious or distracted thoughts. A place to believe that God is still good, and that the riches of His grace are forever inexhaustible.
I pray that in the midst of your uncertainties and insecurities, your fatigue and your failures, you find your way back to the Still, Small Voice.
With the passing of another year of joy mixed with sorrow, clarity colliding with uncertainty, and satisfaction dancing with longing, I pray that you would know in beautiful new ways how grace works.
I pray that you would find delight in being chosen by a Heavenly Father for a plan no less significant than Mary or Joseph, and that you would discover this year what the continuous unfolding of that plan can mean personally.
I pray that you would find the personal care of a God who orders your steps and is far more aware of the details of our lives than you or I could recognize.
I pray that in the trials and struggles that await in the coming year, you will find that Patient Friend who sticks closer than a brother and makes intercession for you at that right hand of the Father ever and always.
As the curtain descends on another year and we pause to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas, my prayer is that we can discover in new and meaningful ways how the coming of Jesus all those years ago can speak to you and I still today…
I pray the experience of Anna, the prayer warrior widow in the Temple, will remind you that regardless of your outward circumstances, you are never, ever alone.
I pray that the calculations and seeking of those astrologers from the East will alert you to miracles and possibilities that may be available to you beyond what you ever may think or expect.
As the night falls on another Christmas and you face a new
year, my prayer for you is that in your waiting, working, and worship you’re
drawn afresh to the abundant life and fulfilled purpose we’re all seeking.
I pray that regardless of the challenges or hardships you
may face or the mountains you may climb, you will live with the expectancy that
the breakthrough you await is getting here soon.
I pray that your sorrows and losses will point you to the healing
and joy that comes from knowing the steadfast, ceaseless love of the Lord as
you draw closer to Him.
I pray that your limitations, that others may use as excuses,
point you instead to a Christ whose strength is made perfect in your weakness
and His grace.
I pray that the birth of Jesus is a reminder to you of the faithfulness
of God to swaddle His message of love in an intimate language you and I can
understand.
I pray that this Christmas will remind you of the blessings God
has shown you through the years and that His goodness will inspire new
dimensions of gratitude and draw your heart to want Him more.
In all the buying and giving and receiving this Christmas, I
pray your soul awakens to your Pearl of Great Price, who offers beauty for your
ashes, and for your spirit of heaviness He offers a garment of praise to adorn
you.
In the fatigue of the busyness and the grind of the
schedule, I pray that “peace on earth, good will toward men” is more than a
phrase or song – that in Him that’s something you see for yourself.
Finally, in those seasons when you feel most alone, I pray
that you would find in Him that the nearness of God is your good, and that the promise
of Emmanuel – “God with us” – isn’t just for the world… it’s up close and
personal for you as well.
As the stillness of a silent night gives way to the glory of Christmas dawn, I pray for you this year that the message of the coming of Jesus into this world would speak peace and delight to your longing for life.
I pray that the Birth that continues to bring joy to the world would give birth to new joys and gratitude in your own life and your family.
I pray that you would find in a little town of Bethlehem the heart of a Heavenly Father who was willing to find an answer for your sin and sorrow because of His yearning for you. [click to continue…]
As the joy of expectancy greets the heart’s nostalgia for days and lives gone by this Christmas, I pray that you would experience a fresh encounter with a God powerful enough to whisper His truth in a still, small voice.
I pray that He would manifest His presence in ways that bring new clarity of vision and enflamed imagination for the exploits you and I can do.
I pray that the joy of your salvation would fill you to overflowing as you are conformed daily into the image of Christ and learn to patiently wait on Him. [click to continue…]
It was a harsh and hostile time, filled with great uncertainty. Public favor seemed to rock back and forth. One minute they were praised and celebrated, and the next they were vilified. A generation earlier a ragtag cast of characters had electrified the world with the testimony that Jesus Christ, who had been crucified outside Jerusalem, had risen from the dead and was alive to this day.
But what started in a supernatural flurry of worship and wonder soon turned ugly. [click to continue…]
As your heart gathers around memories of Christmases past and delights of Christmas present, as the busyness and stillness collide in something called “holiday,” I pray that like all those involved in the first Christmas, this would be a day of wonder for you.
I pray you would embrace joyfully the beauty of mystery – knowing that the mysterious is a cousin to the miraculous – and you are gloriously free from being able to explain everything in 140 characters or having to control any and every outcome. [click to continue…]
When everything around you seems unsettled, and old foundations, once-sturdy, have given way to more invisible calls for faith…
As familiar faces and customary graces distance themselves, each for reasons of their own – each creating their own sense of short-term grief or longing…
I pray that you will experience a fresh rush of God’s Spirit – manifesting Himself powerfully, touching your heart tenderly, transforming you beautifully, reminding you faithfully that you are never truly alone. [click to continue…]
