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
Heavenly Father, you are so over-the-top good to us—so irrepressibly kind and incessantly faithful. Thank you for the eternal encouragement and good hope you’ve already given us in the gospel. There is zero doubt about where history is going, and what we’ll enjoy forever and ever. No eye has seen, ear heard, or mind imagined the things you guarantee us through the finished work of Jesus. Thank you.
You love us in this very moment as much as you’ll love us. The saints in heaven are more joyful than us but not one bit more known and secure. Hallelujah… we are legally justified as much as we’ll ever be. O such marvelous, inexhaustible, God-praising grace!
Father, it’s precisely because we have eternal encouragement that we unabashedly look to you for fresh encouragement. Some of us are in the middle of stories, messes, and challenges that weigh on us, threatening our joy and peace. Thank you for being a care-catching, burden-bearing God.
So with palms us, we make ourselves subjects of Paul’s prayer in this text. Indeed, encourage our hearts as you alone can. By your Holy Spirit, assure us that you are aware and in control, engaged and at work. Forgive us when we think otherwise.
And strengthen us to move forward, Father. It’s not like life’s other responsibilities stop when we are in crisis or semi-crisis mode. Give us power to do the next right Gospel-thing, and fill our hearts and mouths with your grace.
Help us to worship more than we worry, bless more than we curse, and rest more than we resent. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ wonderful and merciful name.
