A Prayer about the God Who Encourages
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 NIV)
Gracious Father, just reading your Word encourages me. 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 and I’m very grateful.
The Scriptures are such a gift to us. They are a treasure trove of hope, an artesian spring of well-timed refreshment, a perpetual supply of redemptive surprises and 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 with- out muting or masking my weariness. Lord, I’m more than a bit weary as the day begins. I feel tired, discouraged, listless, on edge, and uptight.
I don’t know if I’ve tried to get too much done in too little time. I’m not sure about the spiritual warfare issues swirling about me; it could be the accuser whispering lies and condemnation. Perhaps it’s just that I’m getting older and I don’t have the same energy I used to have. 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. Probably it’s all of the above.
In any case, and every case, I look to you to encourage my heart and strengthen me for gospel deeds and words all this day long. I cast my care on you because I know you care for me. I pray in Jesus’ name, with thanksgiving and glad anticipation.
Amen.