Let’s Pray: It’s Christmas

Even today we get to take time to pray! 

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Transcript

Press means to apply force when God said press prayer reaches every single situation He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through And in this podcast we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us Greetings everybody and welcome to the press podcast. I am so glad that you have joined me Once again on our prayer journey through the scriptures of the bible It is amazing to look at each and every prayer. I know personally i've learned so much by looking at the prayers I don't come into this knowing what to say or how to say it I really do look at the scriptures to see okay god, what were they asking you? How did you respond or why didn't you respond? What got them in that scenario? And how does this apply to our lives? I am so grateful for the blueprint of the bible Today if you've been listening sequentially Then we are celebrating christmas And I started not to do a podcast on christmas because i'm like everybody's busy blah blah blah but I wanted to say something and I shared this with my youth department a bit But I want us to remain focused You know, I was in a conversation a couple of days ago and our church is having prayer on This coming sunday night in addition to morning service They asked me so let's be real.

Are you actually going to church sunday night? I consider not going because we do so many family activities on christmas eve christmas eve and my house is bigger For my family than the christmas day. It's busier. We have so many traditions that I like to keep up as a mom And so I considered not going but when they said that First I was like, well i'm deciding they were like yeah because We're supposed to have family time.

It's more about family And that made me say i'm absolutely going on sunday night I don't want to get to the place where I take something that is because of christ and make him secondary in that time You know, I know some people have Issues with christmas or say it's not the day jesus was born. This just isn't the podcast about that I don't know that he was born anywhere near december 25th But I don't mind celebrating his birth on december 25th What I don't want to do Is pretend that this is supposed to be about him And make it all about me and mine If i'm going to celebrate him if i'm going to say this is for him Then I want him to get glory out of it. And that's just my principle in anything I do so When that issue or question came up about prayer going to prayer on sunday night because it's christmas eve And I hesitated and they made it clear.

It shouldn't be about Anything but family that night my whole mindset Said no, I want god to be first In every day every way and in everything in my life And that includes holidays. I'm, so glad god doesn't take breaks from me And I don't want to take breaks from him what i've learned is When people do things out of obligation then when they have time constraints They'll just cancel on you or they'll postpone you You see it wasn't something their heart was committed to It's just something they had to do or their routine But when they find something better something their heart can go after They will reschedule the obligations To please their hearts I fell in love with god not out of obligation I don't count prayer or talking to god As something I have to wake up and do There was a time in life when I would wake up and say oh man I forgot to pray I have to pray today or and I just wanted to check the box, you know It was a good thing to talk to god But if I forgot then I just felt bad so I needed to do it so I wouldn't feel bad And so i'd say a little quick prayer so I could check it off my list But not really to communicate with god not really to touch him or to let him touch me It was just a one-sided i've got to talk to you today because that's what I should do kind of conversation i'm grateful that over time things have changed because god is my friend and I don't want to make him feel as if I have to talk to him every day or He might be mad at me so I better hurry up and do it. No, I don't want the obligation of prayer I want the relationship that comes with it.

I want him to know he's loved. I want him to know I appreciate him I want him to know how much he means to my day I want him to know that I care what he's thinking for me today That his plans for me matter I want relationship And in relationship There are obligations But it can never be driven solely by obligation and be healthy Because you don't get in a relationship with someone and just want their obligation You want their heart? And god wants our heart today He wants us to keep him first not because we have to but because we want to And yes, you know what if you're still working on the want to and living in the have to Then stay right there keep working on it because keeping your obligations builds character It builds endurance And it does build love because you do start to find out What you were obligated to he opted into and you start to figure out how much he loves you So some things do start with obligation and practice and routine But at some point we have to outgrow that where we Don't just do things because we have to but because we love him Today this season this christmas time is a good time to love god back It is a good time to pause and think About who he is why he came and what he's done for you I know that in our culture christmas has become so commercialized and there's so many moving pieces some supported some don't There's so many arguments you can make But why don't we just make today about jesus? Why not make today about thanking him about appreciating his sacrifice? About appreciating him coming down from heaven not for himself, but for us That is such an amazing feat some of us have gotten calls to bring food across town or To drop off this or that and we wouldn't go do that because we didn't want to He left heaven put on flesh that can decay rot and stink and came for me and you and today with our voices Let's find a moment to tell him. Thank you for that I know you may have other requests and everybody's christmas is not a happy day There are times when it is a hard day for very many people for very many reasons with all the emphasis on love and family loss Or lack of what you want from your family or disappointments or frustrations within the family feel emphasized during this time Everybody's not happy.

Everybody's not singing christmas carols all day long Whether today is a hard day or a day You're going to open a million presents and you're very excited or a day filled with candy canes and hot chocolate No matter what Can we leave the christ in christmas today? Can we make him first in it? I don't write merry xmas I don't do any of that because I don't celebrate christmas because of an ex It was because he was born It's a moment to remember him Take the moment today And in your prayer time, it would be a good time To tell him thank you to tell him that you love him to tell him that you appreciate him And to fight to focus on god in this season don't just accommodate life During this time in your relaxation And take a break from god We want him even in our breaks even in our relaxation Even in our hard times even in our happiness So today make god first And keep pushing in prayer the love that motivated the cross Is the love that god wants to motivate you to find him today He loves you And i'm so glad he came if you're glad he came Then by all means give him praise And press with us today because prayer reaches every single situation Join the movement join the community like share and subscribe to this podcast Visit us at press to pray.com or find us on instagram or facebook Did you know that when you are quiet your voice is missing to god's ears I know some of us have prayed and we're wondering how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if god already knows how will I know god is answering? And what do I do when I feel like god's not listening? But god is listening for your voice. It's too quiet in this world for the troubles We have you have to raise your voice and god wants to hear from you It's too quiet a book about prayer is designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith visit press to pray.com

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