A Prayer about Christmas Memories

He [God] has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors. (Luke 1:51–55 NIV)

I am glad that so many of you are enjoying the prayers I am sharing on Friday’s from Scotty Smith’s book, EVERYDAY PRAYERS

Heavenly Father, as the Holy Spirit prayed this magnificent prayer through a stunned Mary, little could she have imagined what was ahead. Her birth pains in nine months would be greatly surpassed by her heart pains thirty-three years later at the foot of her son’s cross.

But there’s one thing she did understand—at least one thing she took to heart from her years of growing up in a home of faith. She was taught that you are a God who remembers to be merciful. You have proved this beyond all doubt.

Father, I worship and adore you this morning for your memory and for your mercy. I’ve got a lot of great Christmas memories, but I am most thankful that Christmas is a celebration of what you did not forget and what you will never forget. With the gift of Jesus, you remembered all the promises you made to Abraham and to his descendants, which includes me. I’m humbled and overwhelmed.

You promised Abraham you would take him to a land of your choosing, make of him a great nation, and through that nation ultimately bless all the families on the face of the earth (Gen. 12–17). No one could fulfill these promises but you.

Like Mary, Abraham could not have begun to imagine how all of this would play out. But the promises you made to Abraham and the prayer prayed through Mary all find their fulfillment in your Son, Jesus. I praise you for your memory and your mercy, Father.

Indeed, Jesus, you are the fulfillment of all the covenant promises God has made. Because of your faithfulness, from the cradle to the cross, we live in the embrace of the Father of mercies, whose mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness! Because of you, Jesus, the only sign of amnesia in our Father is his forgetting to remember our sins against us, forever! What peace, what joy, what hope this brings me today.

I pray with the faith of Abraham and the humility of Mary, in your gracious and loving name. Amen.

Smith, Scotty (2011-09-01). Everyday Prayers for a Transformed Life: 365 Days to Gospel-Centered Faith (Kindle Locations 8794-8806). Baker Book Group. Kindle Edition.

Have a blessed weekend, brothers.

Running with JOY,

Bill Welte
President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Micah 4-5; Proverbs 21; Revelation 12

Quote of the day:  The church set aside this four-week pre-Christmas season as a time of spiritual preparation for Christ’s coming. It is a time of quiet anticipation. If Christ is going to come again into our hearts, there must be repentance. Without repentance, our hearts will be so full of worldly things that there will be ‘no room in the inn’ for Christ to be born again.…We have the joy not of celebration. Which is the joy of Christmas, but the joy of anticipation. John R. Brokhoff

Bible Memory: Level 1: James 5:7  Level 2: James 5:7-12

Prayer Quotes:  Our opportunity must be intercessory, the whole power of our intercession lies in the certainty that prayer will be answered. – Oswald Chambers