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Episode 21 - How to Thrive During the Holiday Season (Recipe Inside)
14 Plays12 days ago
For some, the holiday season is an uplifting and joy-filled time. And for others, they remember loss and experience grief during this season. Bryan unpacks a 3-part "recipe for refreshment" from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.
Pray and See is a ministry of Central Ohio Youth for Christ.
- Central Ohio Youth for Christ: www.coyfc.org
- Gracehaven: www.gracehavenohio.org
- WellSpring Counseling: www.wellspringcolumbus.org
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What would you like to hear more about with prayer? Email: pray@coyfc.org
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Transcript
Introduction to Pray and See Podcast
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome to the Pray and See podcast. I'm Brian Brooks, your host. I'm glad to connect with you to share how God moves through prayer in our Youth for Christ ministries and some things I've seen in my own life.
00:00:18
Speaker
It's great you're here to listen in and take a few minutes out of your day to think about God, how to connect with Him, and be a part of what Jesus is doing in the world. And if you're just joining us, go back and listen to the beginning episodes to hear the stories and engage in praying to God and praying for other people by trying some of the
Power of Prayer in Transforming Lives
00:00:36
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challenges. Prayer is a unique opportunity we've got as a follower of Jesus to positively influence people anywhere, in any situation, with God's power, love, and grace.
00:00:47
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and it's stories of answers to prayer that show us who god is i think they're really motivating so i'm inviting you to keep learning with us because i want you to see what we get to see at youth for christ if you're someone who you came because i sent you the link or someone else did you're not sure what you think about god i want you to hear that a next step for you you can listen to this content and it would be of some benefit to you, but understanding that God wants a relationship with you, that he is initiating that.
God's Love and Relationship through Jesus
00:01:25
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God sent his son Jesus into the world to make a way for people to be forgiven, so that whoever believes in him would have a relationship with him. This is what Jesus says in John 3, 16 and 17.
00:01:40
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God so loved the world, he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world,
00:01:52
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but to save the world through him. And that's true for every person that decides to open their heart, ah to put their trust and faith in Jesus Christ.
Connecting with God in the Holiday Season
00:02:02
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So let's get into it. Let's pray and see what God does. Pray along with me.
00:02:08
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God, the holiday season of celebrating Christmas, kids on a school break, visiting family and friends, it's both a great time, but really a busy time. I'm living in the tension now of wanting quality time with my family and friends while also going to a bunch of events.
00:02:26
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And in the middle of that, the rest of life continues. This holiday season and this week, we want to connect with you, God. We want to see what you're doing in the lives of people around us.
00:02:37
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This holiday season and this week, we want to connect with you, God, to see what you're doing in the lives of people around us and share your love with other people. Can you help us refresh our perspective?
00:02:48
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Amen.
Overcoming Holiday Challenges with a Spiritual Recipe
00:02:49
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The holiday season here in America is supposed to be a refreshing time, but it's usually exhausting. extra events, visits. Some people and families emphasize gift giving and gift receiving.
00:03:01
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Well, a few weeks ago, i started to think about this holiday season, praying a little bit to clarify with God, okay, what posture, perspective, attitude do I wanna to have through this time? And I'm not sure for you if this season brings good memories to your mind, or it's a reminder of loss or a difficult season.
00:03:23
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For me, it's kind of all of the above. But what I want to share with you today is a recipe for refreshment during the holidays.
Stories of God's Faithfulness in Challenging Times
00:03:32
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For rest, for joy, for refreshment.
00:03:35
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It's rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances.
00:03:43
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Also during the holidays, some people bake desserts. And think of this as another recipe to make, but make it every day. Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in everything.
00:04:00
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Well, here's a couple stories. In the midst of a busy time of our Christmas events, it's also been a busy time at YFC. And I took on last minute meeting a little over a week ago, going to go with our staff to visit a school.
00:04:19
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And we were connecting with a school counselor.
00:04:23
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Well, I walked in, actually I rushed into the meeting. I wasn't sure what I would encounter. I asked that God would bless the time. And it turns out the school counselor we were meeting with was someone that we had met years ago.
00:04:37
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i went from being uncertain to who we were going to connect with, to all of a sudden being in awe that God brought someone that we had met over a decade ago.
00:04:49
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who is now at a school that's a new area where we're doing campus life. And i just was pleasantly surprised that God showed up. He's faithful.
00:05:00
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He is the one that is providing opportunities to connect with young people. We just need to ask to trust him and show up. Another story that's been brewing is kind of in the midst of challenge, suffering, and a little bit of tragedy, where some of our staff in our Grace Haven ministry have encountered a really difficult season of loss that has caused other people to need to step in and pick up some of the load.
Rejoicing and Gratitude as Spiritual Practices
00:05:32
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I was thinking and praying for one of our staff members who's pitching in a whole bunch, covering extra at our group home and sent her a text, hey, thinking about you, praying for you, and sent a couple verses that I had been reading in the Psalms, praying through the Psalms.
00:05:52
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But the response I got back from this woman was her joy and refreshment and seeing God show up and seeing his faithfulness in sustaining her, her family, and her coworkers.
00:06:07
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The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18, and through eighteen This is the recipe for holiday refreshment. It's always be joyful, never stop praying, be thankful in all circumstances for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
00:06:30
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And this is our recipe for refreshment during the holidays. Rejoice always or always be joyful, pray continually or never stop praying and give thanks in all circumstances.
00:06:45
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Let's take this apart. Rejoice always or be joyful always. I think there's a difference between rejoicing in something versus about something.
00:07:02
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You know, I shared a staff member at Grace Haven went through tragedy. a longtime mentor of mine that is involved in our organization just experienced a very large loss in his family.
00:07:16
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That is not something that we rejoice or we are joyful about those circumstances. But the Bible says we can rejoice in, in the middle of things that are even bad.
00:07:31
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How we do that is we can latch on to rejoicing in circumstances by remembering what God has done in the past, that God has kept his promises, remembering who he is.
00:07:46
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God is faithful, he's loving, he's good, he is true, he is righteous, he's just. He's infinite and I'm finite. Also remembering what he's accomplished in the past.
00:08:01
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This gets us into praising God for who he is. And we did an earlier episode on that, that you should go back and check out. But the Bible also says rejoicing is a safeguard for us. It's protective.
00:08:17
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From what? It protects us from the poison of resentment, complaining, and being cynical or fatalistic about life.
00:08:32
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The second thing after rejoice always is pray continually or never stop praying. This is not saying pray every minute of every day.
00:08:43
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And even by doing this podcast, i I really hope you don't get the picture that I lead some type of monk life and I pray every second of every day. I don't.
00:08:54
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I'm a normal guy trying to follow God. I wanna see God move in the lives of students, my family, my friends, my neighbors. But praying continually, i think, involves expecting to see God move.
00:09:13
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Psalm 73, 28 says, As for me, it's good to be near God. I've made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
00:09:26
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being near God as a posture, having prayer be a reaction to things that come up, being willing to pray spontaneously in addition to having a planned time.
00:09:39
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We can pray to our Heavenly Father because God is approachable at all times. We can trust that He is at work even when we can't see it and we find out, or maybe we don't, but we we might find out later on how He's working.
Embracing Gratitude in Everyday Life
00:09:55
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The third part is gratitude. Be thankful.
00:10:01
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Give thanks in all circumstances, not for all circumstances, but in it. We can learn to recognize and express appreciation for benefits we've received from God and from other people.
00:10:14
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The passage says in everything, give thanks.
00:10:20
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If we are not grateful, How does this show up? How would we know? What would we look for to show us that we're not grateful? Well, maybe I'm dissatisfied with my life.
00:10:35
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I don't like how things are going. I can't find anything good. Maybe I'm harsh and critical of other people. Or I tried to read to read the Bible, but it just feels like I'm going through the motions. I'm unable to connect with God. It's very dry.
00:10:52
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Another thing is we could be unaffected by other people, either their pain or their joy. Gratitude is important all through the Bible.
00:11:07
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Here is a little quote from author Nancy DeMoss, who wrote a book called Choosing Gratitude. Try, for example, to sustain persevering faith without gratitude, and your faith will eventually forget the whole point of its faithfulness, hardening into a practice of religion that's hollow and ineffective.
00:11:34
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Try being a person who exudes and exhibits Christian love without gratitude, and over time your love will crash hard on the sharp rocks of disappointment and disillusionment.
00:11:49
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Try being a person who sacrificially gives of yourself. Without the offering, being accompanied by gratitude, and you'll find every ounce of joy de drained by a martyr complex.
00:12:05
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She continues on and says, the choice before you and me today is, do we only give glory to God for the part of our life that's going the way we want?
00:12:16
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Or do we worship him, trust him and give him thanks just because he is God, regardless of the dark, painful, incomprehensible places we encounter in our journey?
00:12:30
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It's a sacrifice either way. If we go on without gratitude, choosing to be bitter, constantly bemoaning our fate, we force ourselves to live in already unhappy conditions with the added drag of our gloomy disposition.
00:12:52
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Well, gratitude involves 1. Recognizing the many benefits we've received from God and others. including a blessing that may come disguised as a problem and a difficulty.
00:13:07
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Two means acknowledging God as the ultimate giver of every good gift. And three is expressing appreciation to him and others for those gifts.
Applying Teachings with Practical Challenges
00:13:22
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So our recipe for refreshment during the holidays is rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. And here's a challenge for today. You know, listening isn't enough to strengthen your prayer life or to do things differently.
00:13:40
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I'm giving suggestions and challenges because they're concrete, specific, doable ways we can put these things into action.
00:13:49
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but we need to actually act. So here's five. One, this is from my friend Daniel. He suggested, get out your phone.
00:14:00
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Look at your photos that show you something about your life and rejoice in the life that you have. Two, what are you thankful for today?
00:14:11
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Write that down, think about that. And then we can rescue others from the holiday overwhelm they might have by asking them this question too. Three, who deserves or needs a word of thanks from you?
00:14:25
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Who in your life could use a bit of encouragement today? Four, what has God done in our ministry that we can thank him for together? And lastly, the things that you identify to be grateful for, push that to praise.
00:14:41
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That's how we can rejoice. Go ahead and share this podcast with friends, family, students who are interested in not only connecting with God, but maybe they need some encouragement.
00:14:52
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Maybe you want to invite them into the same process of finding refreshment and peace during the
Engagement and Community Connection
00:15:00
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holidays. If you found it helpful, go ahead and share and share it. Send them the link. But I'd like to know, what would you like to hear more about with prayer?
00:15:08
Speaker
Go ahead and send me a line at pray at C-O-Y-F-C dot org. I'd love to interact with you there. Pray and See is a ministry of Central Ohio Youth for Christ.
00:15:20
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Go ahead and look us up on social media to see the other things we get to be a part of. And you can come join us. We'll see you next time.