Ascend to Heaven

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!