December 22

• Background to today’s prayer
  • Myrrh is an odd gift…for a baby?
  • But remember, this baby came to die
  • He came to die a HORRID death.
  • We need to remember this during the Christmas season,
    • There is NO MANGER scene without the cross.
  • Think about what that means. . .He came to suffer and die for you and me.

• Today’s prayer

Lord, as Your Son came to earth, to go to the cross it is appropriate that one of the Magi’s gifts was Myrrh (Matthew 2:11) which is anointing oil, used at one’s death. We recognize now Lord, that His birth signified that His life would end in a bitter and ugly, embarrassing and alienating death, on a Roman cross. Lord we know this because of passages like John 10:11-18 and John 16:16-22. So as we enter this season of prayer, we are reminded that their would be no manger, with a beautiful cooing baby Jesus, without a bitter and degrading cross, coupled with You turning Your back on Your Son for a time. . .so we might be saved. Lord, we praise You, even as we beg You to show us brokenness, that we might understand Your heart and then pray for the nations and the church with the fervency that only a broken heart can.

Merry Christmas,

MARK S MIRZA