Welcome to Season 2 of the Prayers of Rest podcast. I'm your host, Ashrida Choochoo, and this season

will be praying through 10 names of Jesus based on my Advent devotional, Unwrapping the Names of Jesus.

I'll share more about the book in the upcoming episodes, but for now you can download a free sampler at Unwrappingthenames.com, where you can also

find out how to listen to the audiobook for free. You can go to that link in the show notes,

but again, it's unwrapping the names.com.

Friend, I am so excited to be back with another season of prayers of rest.

If this is your first time listening in, welcome.

I'm so glad you're here.

I'll be leading you in prayer using a simple guided prayer format with the acronym rest.

That is, recite God's goodness, express your neediness, seek his stillness, and trust His faithfulness.

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 2.2.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Judea, during the time of King Herod,

Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who has been born, king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. Let's enter into a time of prayer together, and we're going to use the acronym, rest. And so we begin with the R.

So we recite God's goodness.

And I'm going to take some time to pray out loud and then I'm going to invite you to

respond by praying in your own heart.

So let's begin by reciting God's goodness, praising Him for who He is and for what He has done.

Oh Jesus, you are the king of kings.

From being born in a manger, unrecognized by the Magi, to being lifted up on a cross, an unlikely throne,

and yet declared by Pilate, King of the Jews, to your promised return that you will come back,

and you are faithful and true, and you are the king of kings and the Lord of Lords.

...