A Prayer about Completion
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Phil. 1:6)
Gracious Father, today is a great day to be reminded that “salvation is of the Lord.” You’re the one who begins the “good work” of redemption in our lives. You’re the one who is carrying it on, even when you’re not working according to our timetable and agenda. And you’re the one who will complete our redemption on the day Jesus returns to finish making all things new.
This is incredibly good news, I recognize as I ponder my story and the lives of other people you’ve placed in my life. I can’t be my own savior, and neither can I be anyone else’s savior. The pressure is off! What a great relief, but also what a critical truth to remember. This good news, this best of all news, leads me to offer these earnest prayers . . .
Father, give me the same confidence for my friends you gave Paul for the Philippians. Sometimes irritation, worry, and fear loom larger in my life than patience, trust, and hope. When this happens, I’m pretty worthless as a friend.
Teach me how to wrestle in confident prayer for others, like Epaphras, who wrestled in prayer for the believers in Colossae (Col. 4:12). My tendency is to wrangle emotionally rather than wrestle believingly. This leaves me worn out, and it simply frustrates others. They feel pressure from me to change, rather than encouragement in their journey.
Keep me tender enough to engage in my friends’ broken stories but tough enough not to give in to the pulls I often feel from them. Help me not to get entangled in things that have nothing to do with me, but give me the tenacity to stay present. Teach me how to wait on you without falling into self-protective passivity or self-validating activity.
Only the gospel is sufficient for the demands of loving well, so I abandon myself to you and your resources. Help me see others as you see them, Father, and help me to love them as Jesus loves me. I pray in Jesus’ compassionate name.
Amen.