Heavenly Father I praise You for creating the family structure. I praise You for the responsibility of allowing us to rear children who will become adults someday. I praise You for all the lessons I have learned as a husband, a father and now as a grandfather. I praise You for teaching me that relationships require work, honesty, and a desire to love even when I or others are not loveable. I praise You for how much You are willing to put up with us to be Your children and for the church to be Your bride.
Holy Spirit help me to understand what Paul wrote under the inspiration of Your Spirit when he wrote these two points: 1st. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. [1 Corinthians 6:19&20] 2nd. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—no matter our nationality, economic status, what church we attend, or if we are free or a slave—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. [1 Corinthians 12:12-14] Help me to remember that I personally house the Holy Spirit just as the temple in Jerusalem a long time ago had the Holy of Holies in it. Holy Spirit continue to remind me that I am not an only child adopted into Your kingdom, but one of many, and when I share my talents and abilities I help make all of work better together.
Holy Spirit teach me to demonstrate patience with others and to always remember to take all my frustrations, worries, and cares to You in prayer and leave them at the alter so that I may have peace, and live peacefully with all people as much as it is possible. Thank You for making me part of the family and a small member in the larger body of Your church. In Jesus’ name, amen.