A Prayer

Father,

We are people of joy. And we are that not because of our personalities. We are that because of what Your Spirit has done. Our joy is His gift to us, a gift of grace. It is because of this gift that we have every reason to be optimistic.

To be sure, our lives are filled with issues to deal with, decisions to make, obstacles to overcome, and the need, sometimes, just to endure. And yet, we can rejoice in all of these situations. You are God over all. Jesus is Lord and ruling from Your right hand. The Spirit is here among us as well as within us, busy doing His work. And we know how the story of this life ends. We have good reason to rejoice in You.

And even when life is really hard and painful, we can still rejoice. And that's because we know that You are going to use our sorrow and pain and suffering for good. Knowing that allows us to grieve in hope.

There are times, though Father, when it is hard to rejoice. There are times when our ancient foe, Satan, and those with him, get the upper hand. And that's when life seems just way too much. That's when any thought of optimism seems impossible. That's when we just want it to stop.

So, we look to You, our great and kind Father. We ask the You would protect us. Teach us the signs of Satan's coming attacks so that we can spot his lies before he makes much progress.

The key to this, Father, is You building up our faith so that even when everything is telling us that rejoicing is out of the question we will still trust You so that, even then, and even through tears, we will rejoice in You and in what You are doing in our lives and through our lives.

We thank You, Father, that because of Your grace we can be people of joy. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.