May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. 2 Thess. 2:16-17
Dear heavenly Father, thank you for your relentless commitment to encourage us, your beloved, and often beleaguered, people. You could delegate a legion of angels, you could send a bird to sit on my shoulder, you could have a few friends call me—any of which would be nice; but you, yourself, come to us in the Bible. I’m humbled, grateful, and yes, encouraged.
Your Word is such a gift to us. It’s a treasure trove of hope, an artesian spring of well-timed refreshment, a perpetual supply of redemptive surprises, and endless pre-paid return trips to gospel sanity.
Father, because of the “eternal encouragement and good hope” of your grace for us in Jesus, I can risk making myself vulnerable today and cry out to heaven, without posing or pretending. I need your steadfast love and daily mercies, for my laundry list of weaknesses. I’m not in control of things and people I want to control; I still have unresolved conflicts and bruised relationships from the past, haunting me and beckoning for some form of redemption.
And there’s the always element of spiritual warfare swirling about me—the thief is constantly looking to rob and destroy, seduce and condemn us, any way possible. It could just be the tension of life in the “already and not yet,” or maybe I’m trying to do life with too little sleep. Then again, possibly it’s just the groaning of birth pangs in my heart, so wanting to be much more like Jesus than I already am—much more free and loving. Probably it’s all of the above.
In any case, and every case, I look to you, Father, to meet my needs and bring yourself a lot of glory today. I cast my cares on you because I know that you care for me. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ near and exalted name.