December is a festive month and everyone is in the holiday mood. The Christmas spirit has checked in and people look forward to reuniting with their loved ones.
Most offices are not busy and people look forward to going home for the holidays and enjoying a much-needed rest.
One thing you can do to prepare for this glorious month of December is to pray.
God invites us to pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers in Ephesians 6:18 and this holiday season is a good place to start.
Below are 5 prayer points to get you through December.
#1 Loving and Peaceful Family Gatherings
Many people in the world look forward to going home in December. That is when they get time off work and can take a break.
Families around the world gather to celebrate Christmas but things don’t always go well. What can you do? Pray for love and peace over your family.
Pray that God’s love and peace will be upon every family gathering you have planned. Lift every heart to the throne of grace and ask for each to experience the love of God and the peace of Christ.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace and he fills our hearts with his peace that surpasses human understanding.
Ask God to teach each person to love like he loves us in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
Pray each quality of love over your family members and see the love of God manifest in every gathering. We can give the love of God even to those we consider unlovable.
A good prayer request is for family members to lay grudges to rest and focus on the One who loves them.
They can forgive just like Christ forgave them and they can love others with the love of Christ for it never fails.
#2 Healing of Family Relationships
Family is a big deal in December. It’s when people are free to visit other family members and catch up on the good old times.
Growing up, many family relationships were strained or estranged by betrayal, abuse, infidelity, abandonment and many other issues.
People just moved on and away and buried their pain.
We also see this play out a lot during Christmas movies, meaning it’s something that happens a lot. Instead of dealing with the pain, people cover it up with alcohol, drugs, work, disappearing acts, etc.
Pray that God will pour out a spirit of forgiveness in every family member who is hurting so they can forgive their offenders. Forgiveness paves the way for healing.
Ask the Holy Spirit to convict those who hurt others and give them the grace to repent and make things right with those they hurt.
Seek God to reunite your family and put the desire to come home into the hearts of estranged family members. God can bring together all family members and heal them of painful memories.
Declare Psalm 107:20 over your family, that God will send his word and heal every one of them.
#3 Thank God for Giving the World a Savior
God loved the world so much that he gave Jesus to us so we will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
This great act of love from God deserves thanksgiving from us every single day.
Thank God for giving us a Savior who has set us free from slavery to sin and has given us everlasting life.
We can now live the abundant life Jesus came to give us and look forward to an eternity with God.
God deserves thanksgiving from us for reconciling us to himself through Jesus. We can now have a relationship with him and rejoice in his redemption.
Through Christ he has given us the ministry of reconciliation to reconcile others back to him.
Raise your voice in thanksgiving to God because through Christ he has redeemed you from the curse of the law and diseases. You and your loved ones can enjoy good health.
Ask God to open the hearts of all people in the world to accept the precious Savior he sent into the world.
Jesus is a gift to the world, and he is our hope and salvation. This is enough to show our gratitude to God every day.
#4 Safe Travel During Christmas
Everyone wants to enjoy Christmas with their loved ones and will travel across the world to do so.
Travel involves taking a flight, train ride or a road trip. Sometimes people have to travel late at night or drive for very long hours in order to make it home for the holidays.
There are many dangers that come with travel but prayer can protect you from them.
Pray that you and your loved ones will travel home safely and get there in good time for the Christmas celebrations.
For those driving for long distances, ask for alertness of mind and periods of adequate rest.
They also need to find hotels, motels or other places to rest and refresh.
Petition God for the provision each family member needs to make travel arrangements and the supplies they will need for the journey.
Those traveling with kids will need special travel arrangements and the wisdom to plan feeding and bathroom breaks.
Request the Father to send his angels to guard everyone as they travel and protect them from accidents of every kind throughout the journey.
God sends his angels to encamp around his children to deliver them from any evil attacks (Psalm 34:7).
#5 The Grace to Rest in God
December is a good time to rest after a year of hard work. Offices are less busy and one can afford to take their annual leave.
As people take time off work to rest and rejuvenate, they sometimes carry the failures of the year ending and anxiety over the coming year.
When one cannot achieve their goals by the end of the year and feels overwhelmed by the pressures of the coming year, they can lack peace of mind.
This can lead to one being present in gatherings physically but absent mentally.
Pray for God to give you rest and an unwavering trust in him to keep you on the right track in life.
He is the God of second chances, new beginnings, new opportunities and restoration.
Ask God to give you rest from all that didn’t work out or what you didn’t achieve and to redeem anything you lost.
When God gives you peace of mind, you can face the coming year with faith and hope. Don’t worry about anything.
One of your prayers can be for God to show you his plan for your life in the coming year and how you can plan for it.
Conclusion
There are many things you can pray over in December. The five points above are to get you started. Think about more things to pray for because God never tires of hearing your prayers.
In fact, he promises that when you ask for anything according to his will you will have it. Believe he answers every prayer you pray.
You can include prayers for your city, country, the less fortunate or events near you.
Engage your children in praying for your family and others during the Christmas season.
Enjoy the festive season but also remember to pray. Your prayers have power to change things.
