Singing and Praying your Way Through Christmas

Nothing says Christmas like a water buffalo. For a poor family in Asia, getting a water buffalo is like getting a farm tractor to pull a plow, or getting a milk truck full of delicious milk, or getting a stand at the market to sell cheese.

A water buffalo opens the door for work, food, and income. More importantly, it opens the door to talk about Jesus. And nothing says Christmas better than that. This is Chris Hughes with the Christian Perspective Podcast with Chris Hughes, where we encourage our listeners to engage the culture with Jesus Christ. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds, so enjoy it, share it. But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the bestselling 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. So today, we want to start by wishing you a very Merry Christmas to our wonderful listeners in many places, including India. We're so excited to know that Encouraging Prayer broadcast and podcast has folks listening all over the world.

And how exciting. There's people in India that will be listening today on Christmas Day, James. That's wonderful.

It really is. And we wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, wherever you may be. And today, we're finishing up with our singing and praying our way through Christmas series.

And Robbie, because it's evening already in India, it's appropriate that tonight we're going to talk about Silent Night and some of the story behind it. It is, after all, probably the most known, most loved Christmas game of all time. Did you know it's been translated into something like 140 languages?

Really, that's amazing. And I understand that it was first written in German, actually, which I know is one of your favorite languages over 200 years ago. So the lyrics are a little different.

They are. The German says that everyone is sleeping except for Mary and Joseph. We're watching their blessed curly haired boy. How cool is that? Really? So the story behind this Christmas song is pretty amazing. Right? It started on a Christmas Eve with a poem that Joseph Mohr had a couple of years before.

Right. He actually wrote it, I think, in 1816. But the church was located right by a river not far from Salzburg, and it flooded earlier. So the organ wasn't working, and he was in a rush to kind of, you know, fix things for the Christmas Eve service.

They had to change their plans. So he had this poem that he had written a couple of years before, and he wanted to sing something new at the service. And he went to his friend Franz Grube, the church organist. And in just a couple of hours, Grube basically composed the melody, and it was played on the guitar that night.

Wow, it's like The Hills Were Alive with Sound of Music based on that one. It's Austrian, you know? Yeah, I know. I get the picture right there on that river. So I love that. It shows how God is able to take even our rushed efforts where things are broken and nothing seems to work and use them.

Yeah, that's exactly it. And the message of the song is all about Jesus and the peace He gives. And if we take that to heart, especially when things are going wrong in our lives, but all the time, you know, if we take that to heart, it changes everything. Yeah, we were just talking about how it really stopped a war, at least for a day. Yeah, World War One, Christmas Eve in Belgium in 1914.

I mean, man, talk about an amazing story. The British heard the Germans singing Silent Night where they were dug in, and both sides are behind their defenses, and there's this no man's land in between. And then here comes this carol just, you know, lilting over this area of sin and death. And of course, the British know the melody, and they start singing it in English. And then this beautiful thing happens. The men start to lay down their weapons, and they come out into the no man's land, and they're still singing, and nobody's shooting. And they shook hands, and they gave each other gifts from their rations. And the next day, they talk and laugh together and even organize soccer matches.

And it's a true story. The event is called the Christmas Truce of 1914. And of course, all this was frowned upon by the higher ups, but just look at the difference Jesus makes in our hearts when we let Him in and receive the message of His peace.

That's so amazing. I mean, let's talk about this song in really a prayer. Yeah, yeah, the whole thing, again, is really about the peace Jesus gives.

It's about love's pure light and the grace that saves us. And the truth is that if you know Jesus, and if you're sincerely trying to follow Him, there's a peace only He gives. And He promised it when He said, Peace, I leave with you. My peace, I give to you.

I do not give as the world gives. So do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Yeah, that's right in John 14.

Right, right. And what's happening in that chapter is that Jesus had told the disciples that He's going away. And of course, they're upset about that. They're questioning, where's He going? And why can't they go with Him? And it's then Jesus tells them that it's good to be with Him. And it's good for them that He's going away, because if He goes, He'll send the Comforter, His Spirit, who will be His presence with them always. And as He describes what that'll be like, He describes His peace. And that's the beautiful secret about Jesus' peace. He is His peace. That's what His presence does in our hearts and lives, as we live close to Him. That's why He's called the Prince of Peace.

Wow. So our challenge is to let His peace rule in our hearts, right? That's what Paul wrote about in Colossians.

Exactly. And the way that happens is through living heart to heart with Him in prayer. And that's what we really want to encourage our listeners toward this morning. This has really been our theme for the year, just being with Jesus, you know? And as we are, He keeps us in His peace. So what we need to do is go to Him in our hearts to love Him, to turn from anything that separates us from Him, any sin in our hearts and lives, and ask for His forgiveness. And know that as we do, He's even more willing to forgive us, you know, than we are to ask. And then stay close to Him and you'll rest in Him. Literally sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace, you know? His peace is peace with God and there is no greater gift. So James, can you wrap us up by praying that we will live there and know Him and share His love with others as well?

Absolutely. Let's pray. Lord, help us. Help us to receive you because you are peace, to live with you in our hearts close to you, just resting in who you are and all you have done for us. Lord, thank you that you are Christmas, that this can happen all year long as we rest in you in the beauty of all that you are. In Jesus' name, 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. This is the Truth Network.