Welcome to the Prayers of Rest podcast. I'm your host, Ashereda. And this episode is brought to you by our Patreon prayer partners, whose financial support helped make this podcast possible. Even though we've already passed the Advent season, the truths of Jesus' names remains timeless. So we're going to continue our season based on unwrapping the names of Jesus.

And if you haven't already, it's not too late to order a copy and stash it with your

Christmas ornaments because 11 months from now, your future self will thank you when you

open up the bin and discover that you've already got your devotions for the season covered.

From one procrastinator to another, trust me, you'll be so glad you did.

As we begin, find a quiet place where you won't be interrupted and take a deep breath

as we enter into God's presence together.

Today's reading comes from Matthew, Chapter 1, verse 21.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,

because he will save his people from their sins.

We begin our time of prayer by reciting God's goodness.

God, we praise you that Jesus did what no one else could do. No other military leader in Israel could be

the rescuer. Jesus, you are the one who rescues us. The light of the world that shines in dark

places. The king of kings who rules over all of cosmos.

The resurrection and the life that stands against death and overturns it and makes it come undone.

The man of sorrows who experienced every hardship and every broken part of being human, yet without sin, the bread of life who gives himself

for us that we might never be hungry again.

Emmanuel, God, with us.

All of this wrapped up in the precious name of Jesus, our Savior, the one who had come to rescue us from our sins.

What a beautiful name it is. We praise you today, Jesus. So in the next few moments,ite God's goodness. So we move now into a time of expressing our neediness, confessing our sins to God and our need for His forgiveness.

God, we humble ourselves before you and confess that too often we live as if we don't need a

savior, as if our own plans, our own resolutions, our own goals, our own man-made systems and processes and tools and tech

...