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A Prayer for Remembering God Will Finish the Work He Began

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Phil. 1:6

     Dear heavenly Father, today is a great day for remembering, “salvation is of the Lord.” You’re the one who began the “good work” of redemption in our lives; the one who’s carrying it on—even when you’re not working according to our timetable and agenda; and the one who will complete our salvation, the Day Jesus returns to finish making all things new.

     This is incredibly peace-giving, heart-freeing, joy-fueling news. I can’t be my own savior, and neither can I be anyone else’s savior. The pressure is off. What a great relief, but also what a critical truth to remember. This good news, this best of all news, leads me to offer these earnest prayers . . .

     Father, give me the same confidence for my family and friends you gave Paul for the Philippians. Sometimes irritation, worry, and fear loom larger in my life than patience, trust, and hope. When this happens, I don’t love well, and my body language begins to speak broken grace.

     Father, teach me how to wrestle in confident prayer for others, like Epaphras, wrestled in prayer for the believers in Colossae (Col. 4:12). My tendency is to wrangle emotionally rather than rest believingly. This leaves me worn out, and it frustrates others. Father, I don’t want anyone to feel pressure from me to change.

     Keep me tender enough to engage in broken stories but tough enough not to give in to various “pulls”. Help me not to get entangled in things that have nothing to do with me, but give me the tenacity to stay present. Teach me how to wait on you without falling into self-protective passivity, or self-validating activity.

     Only the gospel is sufficient for the demands of loving well, so I abandon myself to you and your resources. Help me see others as you see them, Father, and help me to love them as Jesus loves me. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ compassionate and faithful name.

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