Christmas is the entrance of “great joy for all people.” It
is a time that should reveal to us the joy of life that comes only through
Christ. And this realization of joy comes when our lives become prayer. I am
convinced that in order to be one who “rejoices always” we must be one who
“prays without ceasing” so that in everything we will “give thanks.”
As Paul writes to the church of Thessalonica:
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give
thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess 5.16-18).
Our call to rejoice and to pray are not suggestions, they
are expectations. And why? Because Paul knows that when our hearts our consumed
by prayer then all we experience, all we encounter awakens us to our need of
Jesus, and in this need we come to realize His unceasing love. We come to
recognize that in Christ and through the Spirit we are the beloved, that in His
birth we have been born into His eternal joy, which produces a heart that wants
nothing more than to give thanks to the One who transforms us into more than
conquerors.
To give thanks in everything is the result of a heart of
worship. It is the natural result of one whose life is saturated in prayer. For
when we bow our hearts in faithful adoration to the One who came to give us the
abundance of life, we can do none other than rejoice always.
When our lives become a fountain of prayer our hearts overflow
with the sweet melody of a radical love that rejoices in the truth of love
poured out. When we embrace the Spirit so as to go deep into the heart of
Christ, our lives become the truth of His birth daily.
Christmas is a time meant to be erupt in the Christmas
miracle and this happens when we are bathed in prayer. It is a time that when
we look upon the birth of our Savior our first response should be to fall to
our knees so that we might become His insane love lived out.
Giving our hearts to Jesus through unceasing prayer is such
a sweet offering that in Revelation the prayers of the saints are called
"incense," because, when they ascend to heaven, God smells the sweet
savor of our hearts in them (Rev 5.8). Moreover, what a profitable thing
unceasing prayer is! It does more good than service; for in our service we
might help but a few, even a dozen of needy individuals, but with our prayers we
intercede on behalf of thousands, millions, the world!
