Even More Christmas Prayers

This is Hans Schile from the Finishing Well Podcast.

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Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. So today is the third and last of our More Christmas Prayer series. We're taking snapshots from the Christmas story and drawing on them to help us pray. In the first one, we looked at Jesus being Emmanuel, God with us, and we prayed we would be with him. In the second one, we looked at what the angels said to the shepherds and prayed to receive Jesus' peace. In this one, we're looking at something the wise men said and the difference it can make for the way we pray and celebrate Christmas. And it's a big difference, James. Yeah, the story of the wise men or magi fascinates me, Robby.

Just think about it. Who are these guys? They're not Hebrew. They come from the area around Babylon, probably most likely from Persia, and somehow they're watching the skies and they know that something significant happened. And it has to do with the birth of a king and all of that had to be revealed to them by God. The magi were seekers in the ultimate sense of the word. They were searching for the God of the stars and they make this connection. And it's interesting that Matthew is the only one who tells about them because Matthew is writing primarily to a Jewish audience and it's almost as if he shares their story as a way of showing that God was even at work to draw non-Hebrew people to himself. So I just love their story. It fascinates me.

Oh, yeah. You can only imagine the Herod, how he must have felt when these brilliant men show up and say, where's the one who's been born king of the Jews? Because Harold had saw himself as the king even though he was a Roman puppet and he would do anything to stay in power and so, unfortunately, the slaughter of the innocents that happens later is to show us. So even Jesus' birth, you see this spiritual battle was going on.

Yeah, that's right. And what Herod does is absolutely evil. And you can imagine that when the magi say, we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him, Herod knew that a Messiah was prophesied.

He may have expected, like most, expected someone to come in power and he's doing everything that he can to stop him so that he, Herod, can stay in power. But let's go back to the second part of what the magi said because that's what really helps us right now. And that is, we have come to worship him. Yeah, I love that part.

Yeah, me too. And what a great thought to turn into a Christmas prayer. Jesus, I have come to worship you, or just Jesus, I worship you. You know, this is the ultimate antidote for the secularization of Christmas. Let's just say that you're listening to the radio at Christmas time and you hear songs that have nothing to do with Jesus, you know, like jingle bells or it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas or even, you know, silver bells, which, you know, just from the melody almost sounds religious, but nothing, you know, nothing against those songs per se, but they're all about the external stuff, about the wrapping at Christmas, about the paper, but not about the present inside.

Oh, I got you. The real present is Jesus and what the magi said calls us back to that, right? I can see why praying might be a really good idea.

Yeah, right. I mean, when you're, you know, getting pulled this way and that by all the Christmas rush and the business and distractions at this time of year, you know, the devil's bait and switch approach, he throws this at us to think about anything other than Jesus, all this other stuff at Christmas. And that's why we need to make the magi's words our prayer and statement of faith for life.

Jesus, I have come to worship you. Oh, I like that because, you know, even the story of the magi is one that has been elaborated on and we just need to keep our focus on Jesus. Some will even tell you magi's names, but Matthew never gave them.

Yeah, that's exactly right, Gaspar. Or my personal favorite, Balthazar. May I call you Balthazar? Oh, I am no wise man. I might be a wise guy, but not a wise man. Yeah, me too.

I just need Jesus very badly. Yeah, we sure can say that again, but we all do, right? Yeah, yeah, and that's the point of all this. That's why we can and must worship him, because otherwise we just get caught up in the rush and tripped up in our own mess, you know. Another thing about the magi is that they didn't show up at the manger, even though that's where most of our Christmas plays and manger scenes.

You're right. Matthew tells us that Mary and Joseph and Jesus were now in a house, and he's no longer in a stable, so it must have been a little later. That's right, and really, their words give us a great prayer, not only for Christmas, but for any time afterwards. You know, it's a reminder of the very reason we were born, the very reason why God made us in the first place. I have come to worship you, Lord. That's good, because praying that really helps us to turn our hearts to him and really love him more.

Yeah, it does, Robbie. I mean, if you think about it, at this time of year, we use the word adore a lot. Oh, come, let us adore him.

We sing, oh, come, all ye faithful. And that word adore is a special one. It shows devotion and tenderness of heart, and for me, that's one of the main takeaways from Christmas. Babies bring out tenderness of heart in us. They make us forget ourselves.

You know, we make funny faces. We say and do things we normally wouldn't, that out of context would seem silly, but we want to have tender hearts toward Jesus. We always want to adore him, because God's word tells us that he draws near to the humble but keeps his distance from the proud, and we don't want to keep our distance from him, and we certainly don't want him to keep his distance from us. So I really want to encourage our listeners to pray this prayer, to encourage us all to pray this prayer. It's not just a prayer for Sunday mornings when you're sitting in church, you know. It's a prayer that should happen at any time, anywhere during our lives.

Yeah, it really brings us back to what matters most of all, doesn't it? We need to pray, Jesus, I've come to worship you, several times a day. So, James, could you finish our segment today with a prayer that we could just live there, there in a place of worship more, both at Christmas and every other day of the year?

Absolutely. Let's pray. Oh, Jesus, we love you, we adore you. Father, we praise you for your son, Holy Spirit, we worship you. You are his presence with us now. So, Lord, we have come to worship you. You made us for this, and we want to live there. We want to worship you, especially at Christmas, but every day, every day, Lord, keep our hearts in this place of worship, we pray, because you deserve it. You are worthy of it. We love you, we adore you, and we worship you. 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.