Father, sometimes we want You to raise Your hand against the enemy of Your people, now, right now! We know You will, but we see evil conquering good, too often. Give us patience as You allow or cause events to happen on Your timetable.
You are the light, Jesus. As we come to You we are directed and taught, as friends. In seeking You and Your Holy word, fervently, we are voluntarily coming to the light that our lives might be clearly seen as a loving witness of Your presence in us.
Father, Your word has a lot to say about our mouths and how they tend to get us in trouble with others and with You. Here we are reminded by You, Jesus, that there are no secrets concerning what we have thought and what we have said. Every thought, word and deed will be revealed.
Help us O’ God to fulfill Your expectations and to use each day to Your glory. Life is truly finite; we see the end approaching quickly for ourselves or for others and we realize that our opportunities to serve You and others, on this earth, will be gone.
It is Your yoke we seek to wear, not ours. Help us to unburden ourselves and to place our cares upon You. When we do so, You say our load will lighten immediately. We will, at that moment, move from the burden of trying to understand our difficult situations (why me?!!) to grasping the reality that You do understand and that You will see us through the transitional problems of life.
Jesus, for this wonderful set of facts, we are so grateful. You tell us, in the first person, that the Holy Spirit, having been sent, will convict the world of sin. Your crucifixion and resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to strengthen and teach us, is also a turning point in Your relationship with every person. You have planted the truth in our hearts, You have turned on a Light that either accuses us or excuses us.
Keep us from anxieties and depression we pray which can only be overcome, ultimately, by drawing near to You. When we tend to drift away from You, allowing the world around us to establish our agenda, forgive us. Teach us to seek Your will in every circumstance.
Father, this pivotal event makes us able to come to You in the righteousness of Christ. Your word teaches us that our righteousness is as filthy rags. We are able to approach you as a friend of Jesus, our Advocate, as disciples seeking to serve. Oh that our eyes would fail because we spent so much time in Your word.
Help us this day to put on the armor of Light, to yield to the illumination You are offering. What a precarious thing it is to walk in total darkness. We can visualize how difficult it would be to extend our hands and “feel” our way through each day. That is how You portray one who chooses to walk in sin, as one agreeing to walk in darkness.