Heavenly Father, I praise You in the storm. I praise You that You have protected me, my wife and son while many we work around have come down with Covid. I praise You that You know how much I can bear and still serve You. I praise You for having my grandchildren this weekend. I praise You for still having a job.
Holy Spirit Paul wrote, “each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.” And then the author of Hebrews wrote, “Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” [Romans 14:12; Hebrews 12:1-3]
Holy Spirit I realize that life is to be lived as a marathon with a pace, a rhythm, and a focus that I do not lose sight of the end goal—being with Jesus eternally. I appreciate the way the Hebrew writer explains that we are not running alone. I like the idea that those who have went before are watching and cheering for me as I run my race. This also gives me a purpose not to disappoint them. I want to make my grandparents, son, babies we have lost, my sister and many uncles and aunts proud of who I am and how I have ran my race. This helps me steer clear of the shame of sin for I do not want to feel their disappointment. But, most of all, I want to see Jesus and be able to stand with the confidence that I served Him well and that I did all I could with the talents, wisdom, and knowledge He provided me while hear on the earth.
I pray and ask that I may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that I may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified me to be one of the partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered me from the power of darkness and conveyed me into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom I have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. By Him all things were created, that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:9-18) In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.