This is the Truth Network. Encouraging Prayer. God offers an open invitation for His people to talk with Him at any time about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the best-selling Prayers for Prodigals and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray.
And now, here's James.
Well, today on Encouraging Prayer, we're going to talk about the wisest prayer that anyone can pray. And to set this up, we're going to start by talking about the wise men. There's more to them than meets the eye, you know? And there are some things about them that, you know, we kind of get wrong, James. Yeah, yeah.
There's a lot we don't know about the wise men. We don't know exactly where they were from. Matthew just tells us that they were from the East.
Some think they were from Arabia because the trees that grow frankincense and myrrh come from that region. But, you know, those were precious commodities that were traded all over the place. Yeah, they also didn't show up at the manger, right? We don't even know how many there were. Yeah, yeah.
Now, that's a fun one. You're right. We don't know how many there were. And we know from what the Bible tells us in Matthew 2.11 that they didn't show up at the manger. It says, on coming to the house.
So by this time, Mary and Joseph were out of the manger area, into the house. All those manger scenes with Melchior and Balthazar and Casper aren't quite right, are they? And we also don't know what their names were. The Bible doesn't tell us. Yeah, it's the stuff of urban legend is what it is.
You know, and here's the other thing that's kind of fun about it. They weren kings either At least there nothing in Scripture that says that they were kings But you know lest it seems like we just raining on everybody parade here at Christmas time there are some things that I think are really important to point out about them. First of all, they were wise men, and the word Matthew uses for them is magi. And that phrase, magi, refers to an elite class of astronomers, you know, deeply spiritual people. And interestingly, that was an elite class that was in Persia and in Babylon.
And so here's the thing that really gets me. I think, and it's just conjecture, but I think that they were from Persia, from Babylon, from that area. First of all, because that's directly to the east of Jerusalem. And secondly, even though the Babylonian Empire was centuries gone by then, the interesting thing is that in Daniel chapter 9, he gives this prophecy about 70 weeks in which he talks about an anointed one who is also holy, who would be king. And could it be, because the book of Daniel tells us that he was placed over all the wise men in Babylon, so could it be that he started a tradition centuries ago?
And what happens with these guys is that that tradition is carried on. And they know if you calculate in Daniel 9, that whole 70 weeks period and weeks meaning years and all of that, too much to get into here. But it ends up right at the time of Jesus. And so it could well be that these guys knew, wait a minute, this time is coming. And then when they saw the signs in the sky, it was like, OK, man, here we go.
And I really think that what going on here So they go to Herod you know Herod feigns enthusiasm about this And then of course they warned in a dream after they see the baby Jesus But the thing that gets me also is what they do when they see the baby Jesus. Not only do they present their gifts, they do something even more important. Do you remember what that is? Yeah, and they actually do it first. They worship.
They worship. Yeah, yeah. To me, that's what brings, what comes down to the wisest prayer. Because you've got two responses here. You've got Herod, who really wants to kill the baby, and you've got the wise men who are worshiping.
And Herod's perspective is there can only be one king. And I think sometimes if we look at our own hearts and lives, we can be like that too. And so the wisest prayer is, Jesus, I want you to be king. I want you to be king. I want you to be king of my life.
You know, not what I want, but what you want.
Now, that's a tough prayer. But it all starts with worship, right? Yeah, and there's a beautiful insight in that. You just described, James, that I don't know that I ever isolated until you kind of said that, that worship is prayer. Yeah.
Yeah. It's heart to heart. You know, it's, it's bowing before him in our hearts. And as, as Christmas comes up, I hope that that's, you know, where we're going to go because that's what it's about more than anything else. Yeah.
And it's kind of neat from my perspective that two of the three gifts are very much connected to prayer. Um, certainly the frankincense is, you know that was what we would find in in revelation that you know is held these bowls of incense that are the prayers of saints right right and then the myrrh again is this spice that that is used as part of you know to burn and to you know picture this that would come But again, it leads to that idea of worship, that idea of prayer. And so all three gifts in their own way, as you're pointing out, they point to that heart-to-heart place, that place where we actually commune with God, which can only happen through prayer. Yeah, that's right. And, you know, the other amazing thing is the timing, when they gave these gifts.
Because what happens right afterwards? You know, of course, Herod goes crazy because he finds out that the wise men left by another route. and then he starts, you know, slaughtering the boys who are two years and younger, which also shows you, by the way, that the wise men showed up a little later. And interestingly, Joseph and Mary take Jesus to Egypt to protect him.
Well, how could they, who were poor, how could they afford the trip?
Well, now they have gold, frankincense, and myrrh, you know? Wow, that leads me to think it's time to pray.
Well, let's do it. Oh, Lord, help us to present ourselves before you, to worship you. Help us to give ourselves to you as the only gift that we can give, the best gift we can give, because you are the best gift of all. And we praise you, Lord. We ask your blessing on our listeners this Christmas, the beauty of your spirit to fill us and give us hope to keep us in that relationship with you that we may always worship in Jesus name.
Amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. you
