A Full Understanding And Expression

May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.

—2 Thessalonians 3:5 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Lead my heart, Lord, to come to fully understand Your love, so that my heart would become fashioned after Yours and I would be able to express that same love to others—by my every word and action—while I await, with patient endurance, for the return of Christ.

Help me each day to come to understand Your love more—by granting me insights into its mysteries and ever deeper revelations of its wondrous and healing power.

Let my deepening understanding of Your unfailing love cause my heart to change toward others—so that I am able to fully express Your love to them, as my own.

Let Your love’s patient endurance live in me—a manifestation of Christ in me—so that all will see You in me, and give You the glory and honor that You are due.

Lead my heart, Lord, to come to fully understand Your love, so that my heart would become fashioned after Yours and I would be able to express that same love to others—by my every word and action—while I await, with patient endurance, for the return of Christ.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

By Wisdom, Understanding, And Knowledge

By wisdom the Lord founded the earth;
    by understanding he created the heavens.
By his knowledge the deep fountains of the earth burst forth,
    and the dew settles beneath the night sky.

—Proverbs 3:19-20 (NLT)

All Wise LORD,

Your wisdom, Your understanding, and Your knowledge are without bounds—for in that wisdom, understanding and knowledge You created everything that there is according to the Word that You spoke in faith.

Grant to me this day that I would walk in Your wisdom—trusting in You to give me great discernment, as I seek out Your Truth.

Give me understanding that reaches far beyond my own human understanding—as by Your Holy Spirit You reveal to me mysteries that I cannot know within my own power.

Increase my knowledge of who You are and who I am to You, as you unfold before me Your plans and purposes for my life—that I might move forward without fear and courageously embrace all that this day may hold for me.

For I know that You are good and that You use everything that happens to me for good—as You work to conform me to the image of Christ and bring glory to Yourself.

Your wisdom, Your understanding, and Your knowledge are without bounds—for in that wisdom, understanding and knowledge You created everything that there is according to the Word that You spoke in faith.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

An Adventure Worth Living

Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant.
    If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.

Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.

—Ecclesiastes 11:4-5 (NLT)

Heavenly Father,

Help me not to wait for what I perceive to be “perfect conditions” to begin serving You, and in doing so miss out on being used by You in the ways that I can be now—but rather help me trust You to take my every offering and accomplish what You will with it.

Let me be eager to plant my seeds of faith and service—regardless of the prevailing circumstances—knowing that it is You who brings every good thing to pass according to Your mysterious ways.

Help me not to get so caught up in trying to understand those things that are beyond my understanding that I don’t move at all, but rather by faith let me place all of my trust in Your love and goodness, and in obedience, respond to Your every prompting of my heart—no matter how seemingly small.

Help me to truly live the adventure of not necessarily knowing how things will work out—but knowing with perfect assurance that You will bring it all to pass according to Your plan.

Help me not to wait for what I perceive to be “perfect conditions” to begin serving You, and in doing so miss out on being used by You in the ways that I can be now—but rather help me trust You to take my every offering and accomplish what You will with it.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.