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Renee Swope

Encouraging and equipping moms to parent with God's grace and confidence.

Read An Excerpt: Chapter 1 & 2

A Christmas Prayer

Several years ago, I wrote a Christmas prayer to help keep my heart where it needs to be. Each December I put it somewhere in my home where I’ll see it often – to remind me of what matters most. And each year, I share it here with you, my blog readers, in case you’d like to pray it, too.

The Manger of My Heart
This Christmas, Lord, come to the manger of my heart.
Fill me with your presence from the very start.
As I prepare for the holidays and gifts to be given,
Remind me of the gift You gave when you sent Your Son from Heaven.

The first Christmas gift -the greatest gift ever,
You came as a baby born in a manger.
Wrapped like the gifts I find under my tree,
Waiting to be opened, to reveal Your love to me.
Restore to me the wonder that came with Jesus’ birth,
when He left the riches of Heaven and wrapped Himself in rags of earth.
Immanuel, God with us, Your presence came that night.
And angels announced, “Into your darkness, God brings His Light.”

“Do not be afraid,” they said, to shepherds in the field.
Speak to my heart today, Lord, and help me to yield.
Make me like those shepherd boys, obedient to your call.
Setting distractions and worries aside, to You I surrender them all.

Surround me with Your presence, Lord, I long to hear your voice.
Clear my mind of concerns and all the holiday noise.
Slow me down this Christmas, let me not be in a rush.
In the midst of parties and planning, I want to feel Your hush.

This Christmas, Jesus, come to the manger of my heart.
Invade my soul like Bethlehem, bringing peace to every part.
Dwell within and around me, as I unwrap Your presence each day.
Keep me close to You, Lord. It’s in your wonderful Name I pray.

© 2012, Renee Swope

www.ReneeSwope.com

*******

 

Christmas Prayer PDFs (simply click on the words/links below):

Comments

  1. I read you A confident Heart book and it changed my life . I then introduced it to my women’s bible study group and we did an online book tal during the summer. It had a great impact on each one of us. We still bring it up often and quote parts of it frequently. I also joined the online bible study on this web sight. Thank u for what you and ur ministry is doing to change women s heart around the world. I am a Canadian and I wonder if ur tax receipts work here do you have a Canadian branch. Please let me know as I would like to support ur ministry by donating. May God continue to bless you as you bless us each and every day. I love ur. Christmas Prayer

  2. I would to download a copy of your prayer. It is beautiful. This is a lovely prayer.
    I will frame it and put it out every Christmas time to remind me of the the most perfect Christmas Gift. I will share it with family and friends.
    Thank you Renee!

  3. Hi, I donated to Proverbs 31 Ministries for the first time today. Thank you for all you do. I did this P31 online Bible study at the same time I was leading a women’s Bible study on the book of Romans, at my church. Participating in the A Confident Heart Bible Study gave me the confidence to lead the class I am teaching. I don’t know what I would have done without the encouragement of ACH. I also started using ice breaker questions like you do at Twitter parties and Facebook parties. This led to such great sharing in my class. I also read Tracie Miles’ devotional, “The Centerpiece” out loud to my class before Thanksgiving. It really touched a chord with the ladies of my class. I also liked your when/then statements, your am/fm thoughts and your turning away from/turning toward statements. In my class I came up with a saved from/saved to brainstorming exercise. There was good participation and we came up with great lists. I also started having door prizes which is a hit with the ladies. Thanks for the door prizes I won yesterday at the Twitter party. Merry Christmas. Take care. Janine

    • p. s. Thanks for the beautiful prayer. I will keep it for myself and share it with others. Thank you for sharing it with us.

  4. slightly off topice but how long did it take you to make this blog, i have been wanting to make my won for awhile but i have never got around to it, do you think you could hit me up with en email with some advice or tips thanks.

  5. Thank you for reminding me that I must remember that I am chosen. That God is there even in the darkest moments and he is the light that will shine. Thank you

  7. I would also like a copy of this poem. I thought I entered my e-mail to receive it, but nothing has yet happened. Or maybe I haven’t given it enough time. Thanks!

  8. Thank you for sharing! Too often I find myself speaking to God when things are going bad or I’m struggling. I have been trying to work on getting time with The Lord to deepen my bond with Him. This poem and devotional have both helped remind me to keep God first. Printing this poem will be a physical reminder to stay in prayer. Thank you from a newbie in Christ.

  9. What a great reminder for all of us that we need to reorganize our busy schedule and let Jesus come to our heart. Thank you for the great poem! It will be a great poem to share with my friends and family.

  10. Thank you for the beautiful prayer. I would like to download a copy. And thank you for your daily words of encouragement. I look forward to reading your e-mails and I am so looking forward to your class in January. Have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year.

  11. May I please have instructions on downloading your Christmas poem, “The Manger of My Heart”?
    Thank you, I am hoping to share it with my MITI prayer group tomorrow morning.
    Thanks and God bless you and the work He has established for your hands.
    Merry Christmas!

  12. Loved the Christmas prayer… I am going to read it every day. After the last 3 days with the stomach virus in my house. I am appreciating the pause to Thank God for all of his GRACE. Merry Christmas.

  13. Thanks so much for your beautiful Christmas Prayer. I touched me in so many varied ways. I’m looking forward to giving it as a gift to my friends this Christmas. May God bless you and your ministry. Merry Christmas.

  14. Touched my heart in many, many ways. Sharing this with my friends would be an extra gift from the heart. Thank you all for what you do! Merry Christmas and God Bless

  16. I’d love to have a printable version of the Manger of my heart poem. Very powerful and just the words I needed today.
    God bless!

  17. I am a stay at home of 20-year old triplets..We desperately need one more car..we have 3 cars for 5 drivers..So, guess who usually is left at home..Yes, It is me…I hope to at least get a tree and get some shopping done. Hopefully, we will all go to my brother’s Christmas Day which has been a ritual since my Mom passed Christmas Dec. 16, 1993..
    I attempted 3 times to post a reply. Hopefully, you will get it.
    “God’s word is filled with promises..to give us Hope!”..Emmanuel–God with us!
    For young moms, Try to find a manger that has “Baby Jesus” separate..and take Him out until Christmas morning..I did this when my triplets were 2 or 3..I had to used the big manger that goes with outdoor Christmas displays of the nativity…I put it in front of our tree..I will never forget Sean’s joyful face when he picked up Baby Jesus Christmas morning..He was so excited!
    I also shared this on my wall. Hopefully, I will be in your drawing. Merry Christmas!!!!

  19. May I please receive the instructions to download a copy of the prayer: The Manager of My Heart

  20. Thank you for this beautiful prayer. I am sharing it with my Bible study sisters. We are on chapter 6 og A Confident Heart. Our group is living the study and growing from it. Thank you!

The Unwrapped Gift & Christmas Give-away!

In my devotion featured at Proverbs31.org and Crosswalk.com today, I shared about the year I planned for the perfect Christmas and how I almost missed what God had planned for me. Click on the title if you’d like to read “Unwrapping His Christmas Presence.”


My sadness caught me by surprise that day. I thought if I got to be with all of my family eating holiday meals, opening gifts and celebrating, it would be the perfect Christmas. But there was something missing.

When Christmas day came, my house was full yet my heart felt oh-so-empty. It wasn’t until I snuck upstairs and sat in my walk-in closet talking to God and reading my Bible that my mind was quiet enough to untangle my thoughts and process my disappointments.

That afternoon I realized I had been trying to turn my childhood Christmas disappointments into grown-up dreams come true.

You see, my family wasn’t all together for Christmas when I was growing up. My parents were divorced, so we spent our Christmas day with one or the other. Usually after all the gifts were opened and toys were played with, I felt sad as a child and always wondered why. I think I just wanted us to ALL be together. And 25 years later, as an adult, I was sure that getting my wishes was going to give me the perfect Christmas feeling I was trying to create.

I wanted all those longings from long ago to be fulfilled that Christmas day in 1999. Yet the longings were still there because I was looking to something that couldn’t give me what I longed for, not as a little girl or as a grown woman.

What I longed for was the presence of God’s Peace. What I needed was the gift of His perspective. What I craved was a renewed sense of His purpose. But I was so focused on all the people and presents that I honestly forgot to unwrap the most important present- the gift of God’s presence.

Sitting in my closet realizing what had happened, I sensed God saying it wasn’t too late. The gift of His presence was still there, always there, waiting to be unwrapped and enjoyed. So I told Jesus about the longing in my heart and how I needed and wanted Him to fill it. His peace came, washing away my anxiety and disappointment. Reminding me of His forever love and abiding presence. As I shared in my devotion today, it ended up being the perfect Christmas after all.

In the year that followed, a Christmas prayer was birthed in my spirit and ended up on the tip of my pen. By the following December it became my Christmas gift to Him. Today I’d like to share it with you ~


The Manger of My Heart
This Christmas, Lord, come to the manger of my heart.
Fill me with your presence, from the very start.
As I prepare for the holidays, and gifts to be given,
Remind me of the gift You gave,
when you sent Your Son from Heaven.

The first Christmas gift, the greatest gift ever,
You came as a baby born in a manger.
Wrapped like the gifts I find under my tree,
Waiting to be opened, to reveal Your love to me.

This Christmas, Lord, come to the manger of my heart.
Search me and know the most intimate parts.
Reveal to me if I have ever hung a sign within,
Claiming it off limits, implying “no room at the Inn.”

Restore to me the wonder that came with Jesus’ birth,
when He left the riches of Heaven
and wrapped Himself in rags of earth.
Emmanuel, God with us, Your presence came that night.
As angels announced, “Into your darkness,
God brings His Light.”

“Do not be afraid,” they said, to shepherds in the field.
Speak to my heart today, Lord, and help me to yield.
Make me like those shepherd boys, obedient to your call.
Casting distractions and worries aside,
to You I surrender them all.

Surround me with Your presence, Lord,
I long to hear your voice.
Clear my mind of concerns and all the holiday noise.
Slow me down this Christmas, let me not be in a rush.
In the midst of parties and planning,
I want to feel Your hush.

This Christmas, Jesus, come to the manger of my heart.
Invade my soul like Bethlehem, bringing peace to every part.
Dwell within and around me,
as I unwrap Your presence each day.
Keep me close to You, Jesus.
It’s in your wonderful Name I pray.

© 2010, Renee Swope ~ www.ReneeSwope.com

(Feel free to print or share this prayer by copying it with copyright and the link to my website please, and then paste into another document.)

**********************************
A “Christ-Centered Christmas Give-away”

  • The ADVENTure of Christmas book
  • Bath & Body Works Mint Chocolate Candle
  • Bath & Body Works festive candle holder
  • Unwrapping His Presence message on DVD
  • Rest Assured message on CD
  • $5 Starbucks Gift Card
**********************************

Enter to win by giving the gift of encouragement and His Christmas Presence:


1) Send a copy (or link with today’s post & Christmas prayer) to a friend, co-worker, pastor, women’s ministry leader, family member or neighbor you want to encourage today.

2) Tell someone (via email, twitter or Facebook) about today’s give-away and how they can enter to win here.

3) Send today’s devotion, Unwrapping His Christmas Presence, to help someone find or keep Christ in their Christmas.

4) Click on the word “comments” below to tell me if you did one, two or all three! Each time you do, you will be entered to win!

5) Describe your perfect Christmas if you could have one for another chance to win.

Check back Friday morning for more Christmas encouragement, another holiday give-away and the name of our winner! If you’d like to be notified you can sign up in my sidebar for email updates, follow me in Google connect, or friend me on Facebook!

Comments

  3. What an awesome reminder, especially for me right now when it is so easy to concentrate on stress you know will happen thanks to the negative attitudes and actions of family that may or may not be around this year.

    I also shared this with my Prov 31 yahoo group and my WBTB forum. Along with the Unwrapping His Christmas Presence devotional. I know that they will get as much out of this as I have, or at least hope so! 🙂

    Kathy
    [email protected]

  5. What a beautiful reminder! With Christ at the center, every Christmas will be "perfect."
    I e-mailed this to my parents and a dear friend and posted the link to Facebook.

  6. Thank you so much for sharing this. I took the lovely picture above the prayer and used it as a background, enlarged and muted, then centered the prayer on it. I'm printing out for my daughter and emailing it to some dear friends who value their intimate relationship with God.

  7. Honestly, I can't forward your devo because all my friends get the Prov 31 devos by now. However, you described my perfect Christmas in your prayer…one where I would focus on the great gift of Jesus, my Savior and friend, and one in which I would not let busyness pervade my life but let His peace reign. I hope that by doing this I can be a good example to my kids on how to really celebrate Christmas. Thanks, Renee, for the wonderful reminder and prayer.

  8. Your poem was very heartwarming and made the Christmas story very personal as you asked the Lord to make you make room for Him and not deny Him a room in the inn. I am sure you brought Christ to many with this poem. I am planning to send this poem out as well as send to my e-mail list the Proverbs 31 devotional on the Unwrapped Gift. May God continue to use you as His pen for others to know Jesus in a personal way. Love, Kathy

  11. I shared your prayer on Facebook and my blog! Thank you! Your P31 devotion today was wonderful. Praying that we all remember the true meaning of Christmas! Love to you and your family.

  12. What a beautiful poem/prayer, thank you! My perfect Christmas would be peace in my family, a healed marriage and a teen that was walking with God.
    I had to forward your post to our Pastor's wife who is also walking a painful road right now!
    Blessings!
    I will be sharing the good news with many, it really is beautiful!
    Blessings,
    karen

  13. I have done steps 1-3. I love the poem and I am going to share it with my family and friends that donot have email.

    A perfect Christmas to me would be being with all my family and friends. I would like to make it one big birthday party for Jesus's birthday. I would like to sing hyms and have everyone to tell what Jesu's birth means to them.I would like to hear how it has afected there lives. This to me is the true meaning of christmas.

  14. I have done steps 1-3. I love the poem and I am going to share it with my family and friends that donot have email.

    A perfect Christmas to me would be being with all my family and friends. I would like to make it one big birthday party for Jesus's birthday. I would like to sing hyms and have everyone to tell what Jesu's birth means to them.I would like to hear how it has afected there lives. This to me is the true meaning of christmas.

  15. I am going to email this to my family I think it will keep us all focused on why we are celebrating. Thank you for reminding us.

  17. My perfect Christmas happens every year because I get to share it with my husband and three (this year thanks to Charlie who arrived in August) boys

  19. I copied and pasted it and put a pretty border around it. I gave it to my co workers and I am going to give it out at our ladies church social next week. Thanks for sharing this…it is exactly what I needed to hear.

  20. I replied to all three comments. Loved your poem and sent it to several people. My perfect Christmas would be for my 84 year old dad who is taking chemo treatments for prostate cancer would soften his hard heart and accept Jesus Christ as his Savior. I will pray for him until he takes his last breath and keep trusting God to be faithful.

    Sweet Blessings,
    Donna

  21. 1. I e-mailed your lovely Christmas poem to some friends and co-workers. 2. I shared your devotional with my daughter and daughter-in-law. 3. The perfect Christmas would include spending time with my husband, children and grandchildren. My grandchildren are just babies, but I hope to start a tradition of sharing the real "Christmas story" with them year after year. Have a blessed Christmas!
    Myra [email protected]

  22. Thank you for this great reminder today! All my family will be visiting the week of and week after Christmas, so I know I'll need this reminder!

  24. I shared with three friends via email. A perfect Christmas would be one where there was lots of love, laughter, and fellowship. Holidays are usually a lonely time of year for me.
    The poem was very touching, and I hope my friends like it as much as I did. It certainly touched my heart. Thank you.

  26. I shared the devotional with 24 people, including my father, who I'm not sure is a Christian. I shared in the email how anyone who read the devo could get more info on winning a prize. Some of the woman I shared this with say they are Christian, but don't really practice it. So I guess I did ALL 3.
    Thank you for sharing your poem with us. It really hits home!

    Rita Presser
    [email protected]

  28. My perfect Christmas hasn't happened in its entirety yet – but this is how it would go… All my kids would be home for Christmas and we would read the Christmas story and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus like we used to do when they were little. Then we would have a big breakfast. After we eat and open gifts, we would volunteer somewhere to help make someone's Christmas a little more special.

    • This sounds absolutely delicious! I must admit we don’t eat breakfasts like that (just some cornflakes or bread is enough in the morning with my schedule) but it would make a great lunch, too, methinks.Laura Janssen recently posted..

    • För att citera Lars Hedegaard frÃ¥n Tryckfrihetssällskapets tolkning av islam…"Islam är INTE en religion. Islam är en totalitär världsuppfattning, en ideologi som i sig HAR en religion, kan man säga. Det är en politisk filosofi som är jämförbar med nazism, stalinism och andra kända totalitärer." Vad var det ME8 skrev…"Det är skillnad pÃ¥ religion och politik."Skulle inte tro det när det gäller islam!Dragonen

    • The fact that I don’t see you on a daily basis, which means I’m spared the judgment and criticism that prevented me from developing even a sliver of self-esteem. Well, you’ve taken care of that. Thanks.

    • PLEASE HELP AS SOON AS!?when i install i get:trying to overwrite ‘/usr/lib/libdbacommon.dylib’, which is also in package com.dba-tech.commonSub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)???? please help

    • My partner and I stumbled over here from a different website and thought I might check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to checking out your web page yet again.

    • qe tal chicos supongo qe bien en estas aventuras siempre se pasa bien a la vez qe aprendeis algo nuevo…..je ..je..soy la mama de adrian y espero qe tanto el como su amigo arnau junto a los demas compañeros disfruten de todas las actividades qe se hacen al maximo .qe sepan qe se les hecha de menos .besos de toda la fai##ia&m8230;&l8230;..

  31. This was a beautiful post and poem- I am sharing on my own blog (with your copyright) and to mom's in our MOPS group at church, Thanks so much!

  32. I sent your poem to my sister, I thought that it would cheer her up at this time of year. I also printed it out and I am giving it to a friend of mine, and to the people that I have come in contact with. I know that they will enjoy the poem as much as i am.

  33. The "perfect" Christmas for me would be smiles all day-sharing love and joy w/o expecting anything in return. Simply letting Jesus shine through all of us.

    Amy V.

  35. I sent your Christmas prayer to my sister. We both tend to get overwhelmed by too many commitments and need to refocus on the Peace of Christ. Thank you.

  36. I shared this poem thru e-mail with some close women friends. I also shared it with the folks on Facebook to read the poem and try their luck at winning the great prizes.

    My perfect Christmas – silly but true, that the Christmas lights – ALL of them would work at the SAME time =)

  38. Shared this on my Facebook page and sent to several friends. My PERFECT CHRISTMAS would be one where there were no more orphans waiting for their forever families and all would be with their family for Christmas and not alone in an orphanage. Where they would KNOW HIS LOVE and never be ALONE again on Christmas.
    Blessings, Kim mom to 8, soon to be 9 via adoption!

  39. I forwarded your devotional to my mom and to my friend (who is a counselor and can share with those who need their hearts filled this Christmas).

    My perfect Christmas would be to have my family together. My husband has a disorder that makes it very hard for him to be around people and so we celebrate by ourselves. Add some kitties and some hot cocoa, and I'm a happy Jesus-girl!

    God bless you.
    Jennifer

  40. I am passing your post along to my sister and our pastor's wife. In my mind I am always picturing a Martha Stewart Christmas…thank you for the reminder that it CHRISTmas that I need to celebrate. My perfect Christmas would be shared with my side of the family all together just like when we were growing up. We haven't been together for a holiday in over 10 years.

  42. My favorite Christmas is easy. It would be to have all five of my children and all six of my grandchildren with us at the same time. I have two sons and 1 daughter in law in the United States Air Force and a daughter in Denver. We have been all together once in the last ten years.

  43. My favorite Christmas is easy. It would be to have all five of my children and all six of my grandchildren with us at the same time. I have two sons and 1 daughter in law in the United States Air Force and a daughter in Denver. We have been all together once in the last ten years.

  44. My Perfect Christmas – This is easy…I am the mother of five grown children, and Grandmother of six almost seven grandchildren. Two of my sons and one daughter-in-law serve in the United State Air Force. Another daughter and her husband live in Denver. My perfect Christmas would to be to have them all home at the same time. It has happened one time in the last 10 years.

  45. I've been in good shape, mentally, while preparing for Christmas this year UNTIL I watched a Martha Stewart's Christmas special yesterday – all night I was dreaming up "improvements" to make to our holiday…I know we're right where we need to be and this was a great encouragement to me.

    Thank you!

  46. My perfect Christmas – my extended family aould agree to forgo the presents in lieu of donations made in each others' names, spend some time together sharing a meal, then I would like the rest of my day to myself,a quiet day of reading and relaxing and taking in God's presence in a soft winter snow.

  47. I have just done the 1st three….. via email and facebook… planning to do more….

    The perfect Christmas …..I guess in some ways despite missing my dad since he passed away in July that this year is because he is no longer sick but in his heavenly home.. no more sickness and is fellowshipping with his Savior..

  48. Renee~I'm sitting here (on the floor next to my closet too) and feeling empty. It's hard to imagine that I can feel empty when I look around and see so much to be thankful for. But I long for His peace and perspective to fill me up also. Thank you so much for sharing this. It makes the story of Christ's birth alive in all of our lives right here and now. I can't wait to share this poem with family and friends and think I'll print it out for my fridge too! Merry Christmas! Margaret

  50. I am sharing your Christmas poem to members of my extended family,hoping they can experience a truly blessed Christmas with the right heart…