Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your prayer for lightness and well being and for a heart that is excited each day has been heard, and we bring it before the Lord with thankfulness that you have asked.
We pray for you, but we also want to share what the Scriptures teach about joy and blessing, so that your hope may be placed on what is firm. It is not possible in this life, being human, to be always in ease or always in sorrow. Our nature cannot bear unbroken ease, and God in His wisdom does not promise it. Because we often forget the blessings we have already received and remember only our troubles, we can feel that we are always in sorrow. Yet God comforts us in our tribulation, and even when dangers and hardships press upon us, joy can become greater, not because circumstances are always light, but because His grace sustains us.
The greatest blessings are not merely an easy path today, but the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ alone, who was named Jesus because He saves His people from their sins. All good comes from the goodness of God toward us, not from our own strength, and it is given by grace. He has not punished us as our sins deserve, but has given the medicine of repentance and the hope of forgiveness, and He calls us to continue in faith. The present life was not given only for present comfort, but to prepare us for the life to come, that we may stand before Him and share in never ending blessings.
So we pray for you in this way. We ask the Lord to grant you true well being, first in your soul, through peace with Him in Christ, and then in your body and daily life as He sees best. We ask Him to lift heaviness from your heart and to give you a steady joy that does not depend on everything going smoothly, but that rejoices in His daily mercies. We ask Him to open your eyes each morning to see His benefits, which are countless, and to give you a sincere excitement for what is good and profitable, to hear His word, to do what is pleasing to Him, and to love others. We ask Him to teach you to receive both ease and hardship with thankfulness, trusting that He is the benefactor who works for your good in all things.
May the Lord grant you lightness not as the world gives, but as a heart made pure and hopeful in Christ, and may He fill your days with His presence, so that whether the day brings ease or trial, you may find reason to give thanks and to walk faithfully. Continue in faith, remember His blessings, and seek not only what makes today feel amazing, but what prepares you for the joy that remains.
We pray for you, but we also want to share what the Scriptures teach about joy and blessing, so that your hope may be placed on what is firm. It is not possible in this life, being human, to be always in ease or always in sorrow. Our nature cannot bear unbroken ease, and God in His wisdom does not promise it. Because we often forget the blessings we have already received and remember only our troubles, we can feel that we are always in sorrow. Yet God comforts us in our tribulation, and even when dangers and hardships press upon us, joy can become greater, not because circumstances are always light, but because His grace sustains us.
The greatest blessings are not merely an easy path today, but the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ alone, who was named Jesus because He saves His people from their sins. All good comes from the goodness of God toward us, not from our own strength, and it is given by grace. He has not punished us as our sins deserve, but has given the medicine of repentance and the hope of forgiveness, and He calls us to continue in faith. The present life was not given only for present comfort, but to prepare us for the life to come, that we may stand before Him and share in never ending blessings.
So we pray for you in this way. We ask the Lord to grant you true well being, first in your soul, through peace with Him in Christ, and then in your body and daily life as He sees best. We ask Him to lift heaviness from your heart and to give you a steady joy that does not depend on everything going smoothly, but that rejoices in His daily mercies. We ask Him to open your eyes each morning to see His benefits, which are countless, and to give you a sincere excitement for what is good and profitable, to hear His word, to do what is pleasing to Him, and to love others. We ask Him to teach you to receive both ease and hardship with thankfulness, trusting that He is the benefactor who works for your good in all things.
May the Lord grant you lightness not as the world gives, but as a heart made pure and hopeful in Christ, and may He fill your days with His presence, so that whether the day brings ease or trial, you may find reason to give thanks and to walk faithfully. Continue in faith, remember His blessings, and seek not only what makes today feel amazing, but what prepares you for the joy that remains.
