Monthly Archives: December 2012

Almighty God, creator of time itself, we thank You for this past year and thank you for always being there for us in good times and bad times.   There were so many memories this year and so many things to be thankful for.  Thank You for the gift of time.  That is really all that we have here on earth and we squander it.  Help us in this coming year to live a life that is full of love and mercy to others.  Help us to slow down to enjoy the tender moments of this life.  Guide us so that we will be quick to listen and slow to speak so that our relationships with each other will be similar to the relationship that You have with us.  One that is full of never ending forgiveness, grace and love.  The same love that set us free from bondage to sin and death in the form of one small child that changed to world forever. To you alone be all the glory in each and everyone of our lives.  In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, we pray.  Amen.

Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of the world surround us with Your grace. Bring peace to our hearts, bring peace to our minds, and bring peace to this world. Jesus, there is a void in this world that only You can fix. This world needs hope and rejuvenation. We need to be woken up from our complacency so that we can be driven to live a life committed to the cause of Christ. Help us to not get so caught up in materialism and the ways of this world that we forget just how blessed we are. We are all blessed because 2000 years ago You humbled Yourself to come down to this world as a fragile baby that would show the generations of the world just how much God loved each and every one them. We can celebrate Your birth, life, and resurrection every day of our life because You have triumphed over all. Sin and death have no hold on us because of You. That is the good news that we share with the world each and every day.

Emmanuel, God with us, thank You for surrounding us with the Hope that only Christ can bring.  Let our words mean something Lord.  Let our words reflect our actions that glorify our Father in heaven.  Let our faith be the driving force that propels us forward into this Advent season into a deeper relationship with the One who saves us from sin and death.  Let our hearts be genuine, true and honest so that we can share the same love that You shared with us by sending Your only Son to this earth as a fragile baby that would save this world from it’s own destruction, it’s own hate and it’s own despair. So as we open the last present and take down the last ornament from our tree we can celebrate the birth of the Savior all the rest of our days because we are redeemed and loved by God and that bond can never and will never be broken.

Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly into the darkness of this world. Let Your light shine into our hearts and minds so that we can see beyond the limitations of our perspectives and instead focus on the fact that You chose to humble Yourself in human form so that all would know that God is always with us. Emmanuel. Let Your words inspire our words. Let Your love for us be the same love that we have for each other. And let Your grace, mercy and forgiveness be the model for the way that we live our lives. You reach out your hands to each and every one of us through every moment of our lives. We are never alone. So teach us to reach out our hands to all of God’s children in the same way that You do for us. That is the true revelation of story of our Savior: that God is always with us and that God, Himself, will never leave us.

Come Lord Jesus, come into our hearts and minds. Revive our faith and passion for the cause of Christ. It’s so easy to just think about ourselves this season and about what we want that we forget the stories of those around us. We pray for the families who struggle to provide, we pray for those who are alone, we pray for those who are sick, and we pray for those who have lost hope. Don’t let us hold our love for You within the confines of ourselves but instead help us to give it away this Christmas season so that in some small way we might share the joy that the Savior was born for all people. Let our life bring people to know that even though they may walk through these dark valleys, that the light of Christ is always there to guide them through and beyond the hardest of times because God Himself will never leave us. And amidst the bustles of the busyness of the holidays, when we are drained of energy, remind us that the true celebration is that God loved each and every one of us so very much that He sent His only Son not to condemn this world but to save it. Let the hope that a little baby boy in Bethlehem brought to the world be born again in all of us so that we can share God’s love with all people.