Expecting Brokenness

The world is obviously broken. The world does not function in a predictable manner. Earthquakes and storms have killed thousands of people. Hearing and watching the news, observing our circumstances, and listening to the experiences of others will make us arrive at the obvious conclusion that the world is broken. The creation that God has declared to be good in Genesis 1 has been damaged by sin.

And we know deep inside of our hearts that it is not just the world that is broken, we also are broken. We could not live this life without experiencing sickness, deformities, and incapacities in us and the people around us. People are dying every day. Death is the ultimate consequence and universal proof that our bodies have been damaged by sin.

That is why, we should expect brokenness in our lives and the lives of others around us. We should not be shocked and stressed out when brokenness surfaces because it is to be expected from the world and the self that is broken and tainted by sin. And when we ground our expectations and perceptions with this reality, brokenness becomes a little bit bearable because we have accepted the truth.

But God is just so loving, gracious, and merciful because He did not just leave us and this world in a never-ending state of brokenness resulting in horrible suffering in this life and eternity. God sent his Son to rescue us and the world from brokenness. Christ lived, died, resurrected, and ascended to save His people from their brokenness and their horrific destiny. The Holy Spirit applies the saving work of Christ in our hearts when we hear the good news of what Christ did to sinful people. God grants us the grace to repent and have faith in Jesus. We become new creatures in Christ through faith. (1 Cor. 5:17) Indeed, there is still available hope in this broken world through Christ. God is in the process of ridding ourselves of all brokenness that we have until it is fully gone when we will be in His presence and see Him face to face.

And it is not just us that God is transforming, “the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Rom. 8:22) will also be transformed to our long-awaited dwelling place: a new heaven and a new earth. (Rev. 21)

In this ever-joyful state of glory, the brokenness we have experienced in this world are light and momentary as compared to what God has prepared for us. Let us wait with joyful longing the time when we will have our glorified bodies to be with the Lord of glory in a glorified place. This is the time when we joyfully experience God and everything that God has created in all its fullness. Sin will be no more. Brokenness will be no more. Pain will be no more. Because “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:4)

As Each Day Passes By

As each day passes by, I become increasingly aware of how sinful I am and how I am deeply loved by my Savior. Every day is an opportunity to attest to how broken I am. There are things that I ought to do that I do not do. There are things that I do that I ought not to do. Every day, I fail my Savior, so every day, I gaze upon what He did on behalf of me on the tree. He suffered and died for my sins to free me from its penalty. He lived for me to clothe me with the righteousness that I desperately need. I receive this wonderful gift of salvation by turning away from sin and trusting in Christ. By grace, I turn away from my sins and continually trust in Him every day because I need to be desperately reminded of who Christ is and what He has done.

As each day passes by, I become increasingly aware of how I need Him. Apart from Him, I am a hopeless sinner headed to eternal damnation. Because of what He did, I am rescued from my misery and I am now ushered to joy through His presence in me. I stood condemned but through Him, I stand righteous. Because of Him alone and not in anything owing to me.

As each day passes by, I become increasingly aware that I could never be sufficient. I will always be dependent on grace. Thoughts that make me want to rely on myself and make me want to be confident in myself should be put to death because God alone is my source of strength and confidence. He supplies every grace that I need. I should be happy knowing that I have a dependable Father and He will leave always take care of me.

As each day passes by, I become increasingly aware of how sin so easily creeps into my heart; that sin is so deceitful that is why I should be vigilant. I am at war every day. I am a soldier and God has blessed me with armor and a weapon to stand still and resist the enemy. There is no time to be lax because the enemy is like a lion always seeking someone to devour.

As each day passes by, I become increasingly aware that God is the giver of every good thing and that I should live in gratitude to Him. I will always be a receiver of His wonderful gifts. I have nothing to boast about because I receive the things that I have because He is merciful, loving, and gracious.

As each day passes by, I become smaller and smaller and God becomes bigger and bigger. And that is how the ways things should be because every thing revolves around God’s glory and not on me. He alone should receive the spotlight and I should happily point people to Him because in Him is true life that lasts for eternity.

Our Hearts are Yours

Our hearts are naturally prone to wander and run after broken cisterns that could hold no water than rest our soul’s thirst in the Fountain of Living Water. Apart from the saving grace of God, our hearts are captives of sin. Sin rules and governs our lives. But through His regenerating power, our hearts are transformed and made new. We now have the divine enablement to allow the Holy Spirit to rule and govern our lives because it has now been his dwelling place.

Our sinful flesh and the Holy Spirit are in a constant battle of tug-of-war. Praise God that we are given the opportunity to participate in our sanctification. We could either give our hearts to sin or the Holy Spirit; give our wills to the rule of sin or the rule of the Holy Spirit; give our bodies to unrighteousness or holiness.

At times of wandering, let us remember Christ who bought us with a cost; He set us free with His precious blood. Let us remember the One who is alone worthy of hearts because He showed His love towards us by dying for our sins on the cross. And as we remember the love of Christ and what He did to have His bride, let us altogether say, “Our hearts are yours.”

When Satan Accuses You

“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” (Romans 8:33)

Satan is the accuser of the brethren. (Rev. 12:10-12) Satan uses our failures, sins, flaws, and weaknesses to tempt us to wallow in self-pity, shame, embarrassment, guilt, despair, hopelessness, and uselessness to disable and immobilize us from the work of the ministry. People who are part of the kingdom of darkness could also be used by the king of darkness in his evil schemes. We receive insults from others. We get hurt by the words and actions of others.

But you know what? The world around us and satan might accuse us but it will never change the standing that we have before God. That is why the apostle Paul asked the rhetorical question in Rom. 8:33, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?” No one. Not even satan. He is already a defeated foe. All the accusations, insults, and schemes to tempt us to despair are useless. All the charges that could be brought against us are useless even though the charges are true. Why? Because God has already cancelled the record of debt that stood against us when Christ nailed our debt to the cross. (Col. 2:14) The charges that make us guilty before God were owned by Christ on our behalf. He paid our fine to set us free from sin’s penalty.

God is fully aware of all the charges that could be raised against us. However, the good news is, that the righteous Judge who alone has the right to condemn us as guilty has justified us. What an amazing reality that is! That we are declared righteous in the sight of God because we are covered by the perfect, spotless righteousness of Christ. Christ’s righteousness is a gift from God that becomes ours through faith alone in Him. He suffered and paid for the consequences of our charges so that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1) There is no room for wrath because Christ satisfied the wrath of God on the cross. All there is for us is love.

Brethren, when satan accuses you, let us be reminded of the words of the hymn writer:

excerpt from Before the Throne of God Above

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within.
Upward I look and see Him there,
Who made an end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the Just is satisfied,
To look on Him and pardon me.
To look on Him and pardon me.

Brethren, when satan tempts us to despair with all the charges because of our guilt, remember that Christ died for that charge to free us from it. No more guilt. No more shame. Because Christ took it all. The shame and the guilt ended on the cross of Calvary. Let us not look down in despair because there is a wonderful reason to look up and see that our Loving Savior is there.

Debtors of Grace Forever

We are debtors of grace forever even at times that we are unconscious that the grace of God is operating in our lives; enabling us, transforming us, sustaining us, forgiving us, and strengthening us.

It is the common grace of God that makes the sun shines, rain falls, and oxygen flows to the believer and the nonbeliever alike. (Matt. 5:45-47) Apart from the sustaining grace of God, every thing in the world will fall apart. The planets, moons, stars, and the sun will move out of their proper places and then collide with each other resulting to chaos, disaster, and calamity.

Apart from the grace of God, we can never move one inch of our bodies. We could never exercise our mental faculties and physical capabilities because “in him we live and move and have our being”. (Acts 17:28)

By His grace, there’s life.

By His grace, there’s motion.

By His grace, there’s existence.

Salvation is all by the grace of God. (Eph. 2:8-9) Grace has worked all the way from the time of repentance from our sins and trust in Christ as our Lord and Savior to our moment-by-moment effort to pursue sanctification to the second-by-second preservation until the moment we die. It is all by grace.

It is by grace that God chose us before the foundation of the world. (Eph. 1:4) It is by grace that we are loved beforehand by God. It is by grace that we are predestined to be Christlike. It is by grace that we are effectually called unto salvation and justified through faith in Christ until our glorification. (Rom. 8:29-30)

Everything is undeserved. Everything is unmerited.

We can do the things that we do for God because of the strength that God supplies so that in everything we do, God alone would be glorified. (1 Pet. 4:11) The effort that we expend to be transformed in the image of Christ is empowered by the gracious God who is “at work in us, both to will and to work, for His good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13) We willed and worked because He graciously willed and worked through us. Apart from the grace of God that wills and works in us, we can never accomplish anything.

We will be debtors of grace forever. From childbirth to death, grace has worked in us in wonderful and amazing ways. Our debt towards grace increases every second of our lives until eternity. We will forever be indebted to God. That is why we will be forever grateful for the grace that sustains us, saves us, sanctifies us, empowers us, preserves us, and that will glorify us. Grace should crush our pride, humble us, and cause us to praise the glory of His grace. Indeed, “for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

All praises belong to our gracious God that we are debtors of grace forever.

The Priceless Power of Christ

Passage: [John 11:1-44]

I. Christ has Power over our Sufferings [John 11:1-4]

Christ has power over everything; even death. Christ is all-powerful and He can do everything that He pleases in accordance to His perfect will and nature.

We might be saddened over illnesses and death of loved ones just as Mary and Martha were anguished over Lazarus’ illness (John 11:1) and death (John 11:14). But, we should be reminded of the awesome reality that we could take comforting refuge in the perfect power of Christ over every kind of suffering and even death, knowing that, the all-powerful conquering death of Christ caused the death of death.

There are so many things which are beyond our control; just like the unknown and the unforeseeable future but Jesus Christ has complete control over it. He has perfect rule and absolute governance over every atom, molecules, stars, sky, moon, sun, all heavenly bodies, events in history, and over every little details of our lives. Therefore, we could solemnly trust in His perfect sovereignty. We can be at rest knowing that He is our Rest and He is powerful enough to give us rest and everything we rightfully need.

When we come to think of it, we are just the ones who are radically powerless. But praise be to God that Jesus Christ has immense power over all our sufferings. (John 11:4) Let us give every burden to Jesus Christ knowing that we are not alone. One word of the Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient to make us alive in whatever circumstances that harm and kill us just as when He commanded “Lazarus come forth”, and then, Lazarus was resurrected by the resurrecting power of the Resurrection and the Life. (John 11:25)

May we, by the amazing grace of God, increase our trust and dependence to our Lord Jesus Christ knowing that He has power over our sufferings.

II. The Power of Christ is Sovereign [John 11:5-16]

The sovereignty of God means that He has the perfect power to do whatever that pleases Him. Fortunately, Jesus exercises His overruling power in behalf of the whom He loves just as He loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. (John 11:5)

There are times in our lives that we might question God’s working in our lives because we think that God should act in our preconceived timelines but God’s ways are unfathomable. Who would have thought that He would stay two days longer in the place where He was instead of going immediately to the family of Lazarus? (John 11:6) We must always instill in our minds that His perfect will is over ours and His will always happen in His perfect timing not ours.

After two days, Jesus went to Lazarus in Judea (John 11:7) despite the opposing Jews who would stone Him. (John 11:8) What a magnificent, marvelous, and matchless love of Christ! Jesus Christ would always go an “extra mile” to show His love for you and me just as He did to Lazarus.

Jesus did this miracle of resurrection for our sake so that we may believe (John 11:15) that He is truly the Resurrection and the Life. (John 11:25) What an amazing love!

In verse 16, we see the pessimistic brutish heroism of Thomas. He would go with Christ to die with Christ. The succeeding verses say that there’s no harm that fell upon Christ and His disciples. So, assessment of Thomas of the circumstance is unwarranted and untrue. Praise God that our minds are so small and too limited to know the will of God in our lives. That is why, we are always amazed by the fatherly loving hand of Providence working in our lives. Nevertheless, may we be like Thomas who is willing to die with Christ and may we say with the apostle Paul that “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21) and “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20).

III. The Power of Christ is Saving and God-glorifying [John 11:17-44]

Praise be to God that we can never save ourselves with our sin-stained hands. Only the unblemished, unstained, and nail-pierced hands on the cross of Calvary can save me from the eternal punishment of my sins.

Despite the fact that Christ extended His stay before going to Judea (John 11:6), He is never late. There might be times in our lives that do not make sense to us but take heart and good courage that Christ is always on time to show His perfect love for you just as He arrived after 4 days in the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:17).

Jesus is sympathetic to our sorrow just as His loving and merciful heart was troubled when He saw the weeping of the family of Lazarus and other Jews (John 11:33). Our loving Savior was deeply moved to the point He turned the mess of sin to a miraculous message of resurrection. (John 11:43-44) It is very comforting to know that Christ is hurt by the things that hurt us.

This is just one of the many miracles recorded in the gospels. Jesus Christ did all these miracles so that we might believe that He is indeed the Son of God and that by believing we have everlasting life and happiness in His precious name. (John 11:42)

It is my prayer that our faith in Christ would increase all the more so that we would all see the glory of God in a much deeper sense. (John 11:40) May our sufferings not go to waste but may it rather be used by God for His glory and the good of others. Just as the circumstance of Lazarus was used by our Lord Jesus Christ to strengthen the faith of His disciples and other people, and most especially, the faith of Thomas.

And as we meditate upon this miracle in the gospel of John, may we be filled with thanksgiving like Jesus Christ (John 11:41). There are countless ordinary blessings we experience from God every day. May we never resort to a spirit of thanklessness but may we “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thess. 5:16-18) 

APPLICATIONS:

A. Take heart. Christ has power over your sufferings.

B. Whatever the difficulty you are in, always trust the sovereign power of Christ in your life.

REFLECTION QUESTION:

How would you answer Christ in John 11:25 – 26?

“ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

REFECTION ANSWER:

“Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” (John 11:27)

The Greatest to the Least

Romans 8:32 (ESV)

1. He who did not spare

2. his own Son

3. but gave him up for us all,

4. how will he not also

5. with him

6. graciously give us all things?

1. God did not withhold His most precious Son to us. He did not keep His beloved Son with whom He is well pleased. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are perfectly happy and perfectly in love from all eternity but Triune God agreed among themselves to send Jesus Christ into the world to save His people from their sins.

2. God the Father did not spare His Son: Jesus Christ. The greatest Gift mankind could ever receive. The best Person in the universe who alone could save and satisfy our souls and grant us everlasting life when we repent from our sins and trust in Him as Lord and Savior.

3. God the Father willingly gave His precious Son up for us. God was not hesitant in a split second to save His people from their sins. Jesus Christ, our Husband, willingly sacrificed Himself for the salvation of His wife; for the bride of Christ to be with Him for all eternity.

4. Since God the Father gave up His most important Possession for His people, it is just logical that everything that is infinitely less than the worth of Christ could also be given to us. The Father gave the greatest. How much more the least? He is the God that gives the Greatest to ensure the least. He is the God who won’t withhold anything that is necessary for our sustenance and sanctification because He did not withhold His Son whom He ought to withhold from us.

5. We are united with Christ when we turn away from our sins and trust in Christ. All promises are now available for us because we are in Christ and Christ bought with His blood all promises in the Bible.

6. God, in His overflowing grace, could do far more than we ever ask or think, because He has given us the Best. How much more the lesser things? I don’t mean to say that health and wealth are assured. But all things include all promises and graces that are necessary for our sanctification as we are here in this world. What a comfort that the promises in the word are bought with the precious blood of Christ. One of my favorite promises in the bible that I repeat to myself everyday is Isaiah 41:10 which says: “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” God’s presence is assured because we are in Christ and because of that we shall not fear and be dismayed. God’s righteous right hand will strengthen us, help us, and uphold us because we are in Christ. What great hope that we have in Christ! “ For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.”

Praise God that we can claim all the promises in the bible because everything has been secured by the precious blood of Christ. Let us continue to soak our hearts with the promises of God so that our faith in Him will increase more and more each day because we experience that He is faithful to fulfill the daily promises that He has spoken. Let us delight in the word of God and meditate on it day and night grab a hold of His wonderful promises and look forward in hopeful anticipation that He who promised is faithful!

Count Your Blessings

This was one of the hymns that was sung for our last worship service at church before the pastor asked us to share our testimonies on how God has demonstrated His steadfast love and His faithfulness towards us for the year 2023. There was a time limit of two minutes per person so that more people would be able to testify to the amazing grace of God in our lives for the whole year round.

The chorus of the hymn goes as follows:

Count your blessings;

Name them one by one.

Count your blessings;

See what God hath done.

Count your blessings;

Name them one by one.

Count your many blessings;

See what God hath done.

The hymn was timely and appropriate as a precursor to set the tone of our testimonies. We should indeed count all of our blessings to see what God has done for us in the year 2023. And, as we count each of our blessings, we should express our heartfelt gratitude and awe-inspired adoration to God from whom all blessings flow and to whom all glory belongs.

Two minutes will never be enough to count the innumerable blessings that God has bestowed upon us for the past year and to praise Him for it all.

An hour will never be enough to praise the Blesser for the blessings.

A day will never be enough to adore the Giver for the gifts.

A lifetime will never be enough to exalt the Benefactor for all the benefits.

A thousand lifetimes will never be enough to thank the Helper for all the help.

Time is so limited to express our heartfelt gratitude and overflowing praise to our heavenly Father, Christ our Savior King, and the Holy Spirit our Helper. That is why eternal life is promised to all those who would turn away from their sins and trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior because eternity is the only period that transcends the limited restraints of time that could logically make proper sense of the fulfillment and satisfaction of the eternal weight of our heartfelt gratitude towards God. The ache in our hearts regarding the limitation of our time to praise Him for all the things He has done for us points to something deeper and greater – the reality that we are made to praise God for all eternity.

Praise God that eternity is promised for those who believe! Praise God that it is not just eternity that we are yearning for but the God who holds eternity in the palm of His hands in whose presence is fullness of joy and at His right hand is pleasures forevermore. (Ps. 16:11) The majestic Beauty makes eternity unfadingly beautiful. The greatest Treasure makes eternity highly valuable. The supreme Satisfaction makes eternity very pleasurable. The ultimate Joy makes eternity deeply delightful.

And with one heart, we continue to exalt God with king David and say, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Ps. 73:25-26)

As the year 2023 came to a close, we were just awestruck of God’s multifaceted grace that comes to us in all shapes and forms.

Praise God for His saving grace which assures us of eternal life with Christ, sanctifying grace which assures us of progressive holiness through the help of the Holy Spirit, sustaining grace which assures us that He who began a good work in us will faithfully finish what He started, strengthening grace which assures us that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength, solidifying grace which assures us that we would be more deeply rooted in God as years pass by, satisfying grace which assures us of unending refreshing of our souls by our sole Satisfier, and sufficient grace which assures us that we have everything we need from God.

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36)

Devo (22): Hunger and Thirst

Scripture reading: ³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)

Observation: Jesus claimed that He is the bread of life. He claimed that whoever comes to Him shall not hunger and whoever believes in Him shall never thirst. Bread and water are basic commodities we could not live without. Bread here symbolizes food at the time of Jesus. Jesus claims that we could not live without Him. True life is only found in Him. Apart from Him, we remain dead in our sins and trespasses. (Eph. 2:1)

Whenever we eat bread, it is inevitable that we would hunger after it is digested in our stomach and after a considerable amount of time. But Jesus is different, when we come to Him and receive Him as Lord and Savior of our lives, He fulfills our spiritual hunger. Our spirit won’t hunger anymore because it has now been united to the true source of spiritual nourishment. Our spirits are made to be fed and quenched by Jesus. Our souls are made to run in Jesus. Jesus is the fuel that propels us towards worship to God.

Whenever we drink water, it is also inevitable after a considerable amount of time that we would get thirsty and would want to drink water again to quench our physical thirst. But Jesus is different, when we come to Him and receive Him as Lord and Savior of our lives, He quenches our spiritual thirst. All of us hunger and thirst for something. Since we are sinners by nature and by choice, we try to satisfy our hunger and thirst for things aside from God: relationships, money, career, achievements, sex, pleasure, validation, power, beauty, and so forth. These things always leave us more hungry and more thirsty than ever before. These things could never satisfy the void in our hearts. The One who could only satisfy our hunger and quench our thirst is the One who made our souls. And we would never be full, complete, and satisfied until our souls find their satisfaction in Jesus.

Application: Let us stop looking at the things in this world to fulfill our hunger and thirst. Temporary satisfaction is all that this world could ever offer. And we would keep wanting for more and sadly, these things will always fail to give the satisfaction, hunger, and thirst that we are looking for. Only Jesus can forever fill our hunger and forever quench our thirst. He will satisfy our hunger and thirst and it would seem like we have found what we have been looking for in Jesus because He is truly the Answer that we are looking for. Let us come to Jesus and forsake worldly and sinful satisfaction. He is the Maker of our Souls and our Souls won’t be satisfied until we receive Him as our supreme Satisfaction.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we are sorry for searching and looking for other things aside from You. We are guilty of filling the hunger and thirst in our souls with money, power, fame, sex, pleasure, achievements, education, and all the idols that take Your place in our hearts. Holy Spirit, empower us to turn away from these temporary things and help our souls to turn towards You. You are our true and lasting Satisfaction. Our souls are meant to be united in You. Jesus, we come to You alone knowing that You alone can fully feed our hunger and truly quench our thirst forever. May we never ever ever lose sight of You. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.

Devo (21): Rejoice. Pray. Give Thanks.

Scripture reading: ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Observation: We can see in this verse what’s God’s will for us. This is one of the verses that expresses the will of God in our lives. We are commanded to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances. Since, these phrases are not separated by a period then it should be interpreted having one thought. We rejoice in all circumstances – good or bad because we have prayed to God all our circumstances and on that basis we give thanks in all circumstances. Rejoicing always is an act of faith to our God who is in control even over the bad, hopeless, discouraging, dark, and trying times. Praying without ceasing acknowledges that God works through our prayers. As our Father, He wants His children to ask things from Him. And as good children, we should trust our heavenly Father because He doesn’t withhold good things to His children and He knows what is best for Him. He is infinitely wise and perfectly loving towards us and He is in control to bring about what He has meant for us. That’s why we could give thanks in all things – not just the good things.

Application: Let us be joyful in all circumstances even in hopeless, dark, discouraging, tiring, and trying times because God is our hope, light, strength, and shield. Let us pray and share to God all the struggles that we have, the needs that we want, our plans for the future, our worries, and our concerns. Always remember that our heavenly Father wants to listen to His children but we must also remember that our heavenly Father is perfect and His plans and His ways are higher than ours. So whatever He wills in our lives, we should thank Him for it because that’s what’s best for us.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, give us more joy in You. May we rely on You more and express our trust through prayer. Whatever Your response to our prayers, may we give thanks to all circumstances because You know what’s best for us and You work all things together for our good and Your glory. Help us to be in line with Your will in our lives by being joyful, prayerful, and thankful in all things. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.