(ADVENT 14) Unwrapping Christmas: Confidence in Prayer

When we feel hopeless or helpless, when discouragement and despair set in, we can be reminded that we have a powerful Savior who walks with us and invites us to call upon Him. James chapter 5 contains these words:
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

The expectation of what God can do in response to our prayers can be highly motivational for us. We have to reject the tendency to explore other solutions and then perhaps to pray. It's been said that prayer should not be our last resort; when everything else fails. We can be confident when we go before the Lord, knowing that if we come to Him with the right posture, according to His Word, that we will see Him do incredible things.

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We now move on to another gift in our series, Unwrapping Christmas, part of "25: A Christmas Advent-ure," the annual Faith Radio Advent Guide.  Yesterday, we talked about how God has granted us access to the throne of God. Today, we concentrate on what we do when we get there. 

Today's gift is: confidence in prayer. 1st John chapter 5 states:
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Dedham, Massachusetts has gained some unwanted attention because of a decision by a public library not to continue the tradition of displaying a Christmas tree. The Christian Post reported:

Lisa Desmond, the library’s branch supervisor, wrote on Facebook Dec. 2 that the decision was made because some people “were made uncomfortable last year looking at it.”

Desmond wrote in her post that she was given “zero explanation” for the move: “When I asked, I was told ‘people’ were made uncomfortable last year looking at it. I’m sorry WHAT?”

Desmond has been at the library for almost 30 years and said she had never heard a negative comment about the tree; she also pointed out that the library has “celebrated and included everyone in our community..."

Well, everyone except those who celebrate Christmas, it seems.  The article goes on to say:

A few days later on Dec. 6, Desmond shared some comments made about her initial post from Diane Loud, who accused Desmond of putting “people’s lives in a lot of danger” by revealing the library’s decision about the Christmas tree.

The article says: "In her profanity-laced post, Loud also appeared to mock the beliefs of Christians, referring to God as a “magic sky daddy..." She said that Desmond "...who claim to believe in Christ and Christmas or whatever...you're trying to hide behind — are the least gracious, most hateful, most disgusting trash in the world." Loud, who is "listed as a member of Dedham’s Human Rights Commission," added, “Is this what you think your magic sky daddy wants? Where in the Bible was this again?”

The Christian Post article noted that the city issued a statement saying that the original post "has quickly evolved into a polarized environment and has led to the harassment and bullying of town employees...," and that the behavior "cannot be tolerated." 

And, the Washington Examiner reported on this, out of Philadelphia:

Philadelphia welcomed the Christmas season last week as the city held its annual tree lighting ceremony. The bells were jingling and the halls were decked, but the night was anything but silent as hundreds joyfully gathered to watch the city light up its Christmas tree. The event had nearly everything one would expect of a tree lighting ceremony except one essential thing — calling it a Christmas tree. Instead, Philadelphia city officials resorted to calling it a "holiday tree."

The article said this wasn't the first time the city of brotherly love had attempted to remove the name "Christmas" from a Christmas event - it tried to do the same thing with its Christmas Village, but after national ridicule, it recanted.

Today's Advent entry has to do with confidence in prayer - it is intended to be such a powerful aspect of our lives, but we have to ask if we are taking full advantage of it.  We can become angry or frustrated over our personal situations or what we see occurring in the world.  Sometimes we can feel helpless, but we can ask ourselves if we have prayed about any of it!

The Dedham city officials issued a statement about intolerable behavior that was set off by one employee's expression of concern about a Christmas tree in a library.  Seems they pinned the blame on the library supervisor - you have to admit that she may have been in the right regarding the tree, but perhaps could have handled the situation in another manner. 

For us, that's where prayer comes in - we can make it our goal to place prayer before proclamation. If we're speaking to others about delicate or potentially explosive situations before going to the Lord, we heighten the risk of missing a solution. If we're following Biblical instruction to speak the truth in love, we have to get God's heart on a matter.

We can be reminded to pray for those with whom you disagree.  I've heard it said that it's hard to be mad at someone for whom you're praying.  That doesn't mean we are not to be firm in our convictions, but we can do that in the right way.

It's easy to become discouraged about decisions made by leaders.  But, if we're not careful, we can be consumed by our disdain for what they are doing. The Scripture directs us to be in prayer for our leaders.  All of them; not just the ones we like. When we are dissatisfied with the direction of our governing authorities, that can motivate us to pray. 

We can always seek to build our confidence in Christ.  We build our faith through Scripture, and when we pray in accordance with God's Word, we can increase that sense of expectation of what God can do.