Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing this prayer so fully from Scripture. Your desire is right at the heart of what God wants, love that comes from a purified heart, a faith that is sincere without hypocrisy, and a good conscience before Him. That is the goal of sound teaching, and it is the fruit God is looking for from His people.
You are right to come with confidence to the throne of grace. Apart from the law of Moses we have free mercy and abundant grace right now because Jesus Christ is our merciful and sympathetic High Priest, the one mediator between God and man, a priest forever. God does not prove His love to us in any other way so clearly as in the cross, where while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the payment for our sins. In Christ, when God looks at you He sees you holy and without blame, and that is the foundation for everything else. Because you have been so loved and so blessed, you are now called to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us as an offering to God.
That walk happens not by striving in your own strength but by abiding. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. The branches do not produce grapes by effort alone, they receive the life giving sap from the vine and then fruit comes naturally. In the same way, only the fruit that comes from relationship with Jesus will last. All that is wood, hay and stubble will not remain when tested, but what is produced by abiding in Him remains and pleases the Father. Every branch that abides in Him will bring forth much fruit, and the first and chief fruit the Father seeks is love, love for one another as He has loved us, even a love that is willing to lay down its life for its friends. The fruit of the Spirit is love, and that love is how we know that God dwells in us and we in Him. It shows itself in deeds of charity, in lowliness and meekness, in longsuffering and bearing with one another, in endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
For that you need wisdom, and Scripture is clear there are two kinds of wisdom. The wisdom of this world brings envy and strife and confusion and every evil work. The wisdom that is from above is pure, then peaceable, without partiality and without hypocrisy. It leads to a life of purity and holiness and peace. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God, and those who sow peace reap a harvest of righteousness. So your prayer to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding is exactly what Paul prayed for the church, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, understand what the will of the Lord is, and have the strength to accomplish what is needed and to bear fruit that remains.
God has already provided everything you need for life and godliness, and He will make His will known to you progressively as you walk with Him. Part of that walk is giving yourself to study His Word accurately from beginning to end, so that you rightly handle the word of truth and do not misrepresent Him, and part is asking the Holy Spirit to help you grasp the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled to overflowing.
I join you in praying that the Lord will renew your first love, draw you near as you draw near to Him, grant clarity and order instead of confusion, and give you grace and discipline for the daily work of tending what He has entrusted to you, whether in your home, your church, or your team. May He keep your devotion to Christ simple and pure, guard you from temptation, from sin, from stumbling blocks for others, and from deception and the schemes of the evil one, and may He give you joy in proclaiming repentance and forgiveness in Jesus name so that others may come to faith and assurance. May your fellowship with the Father and the Son and with His people be deepened, and may the love of Christ constrain you in all you do.
Father, in the name of Jesus our only mediator, pour out Your grace upon this one who seeks You. Fill them with knowledge of Your will, strengthen them to walk worthy of You, cause love to abound, and cause lasting fruit to remain for Your glory. Amen.
You are right to come with confidence to the throne of grace. Apart from the law of Moses we have free mercy and abundant grace right now because Jesus Christ is our merciful and sympathetic High Priest, the one mediator between God and man, a priest forever. God does not prove His love to us in any other way so clearly as in the cross, where while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the payment for our sins. In Christ, when God looks at you He sees you holy and without blame, and that is the foundation for everything else. Because you have been so loved and so blessed, you are now called to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us as an offering to God.
That walk happens not by striving in your own strength but by abiding. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. The branches do not produce grapes by effort alone, they receive the life giving sap from the vine and then fruit comes naturally. In the same way, only the fruit that comes from relationship with Jesus will last. All that is wood, hay and stubble will not remain when tested, but what is produced by abiding in Him remains and pleases the Father. Every branch that abides in Him will bring forth much fruit, and the first and chief fruit the Father seeks is love, love for one another as He has loved us, even a love that is willing to lay down its life for its friends. The fruit of the Spirit is love, and that love is how we know that God dwells in us and we in Him. It shows itself in deeds of charity, in lowliness and meekness, in longsuffering and bearing with one another, in endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
For that you need wisdom, and Scripture is clear there are two kinds of wisdom. The wisdom of this world brings envy and strife and confusion and every evil work. The wisdom that is from above is pure, then peaceable, without partiality and without hypocrisy. It leads to a life of purity and holiness and peace. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God, and those who sow peace reap a harvest of righteousness. So your prayer to be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding is exactly what Paul prayed for the church, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, understand what the will of the Lord is, and have the strength to accomplish what is needed and to bear fruit that remains.
God has already provided everything you need for life and godliness, and He will make His will known to you progressively as you walk with Him. Part of that walk is giving yourself to study His Word accurately from beginning to end, so that you rightly handle the word of truth and do not misrepresent Him, and part is asking the Holy Spirit to help you grasp the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled to overflowing.
I join you in praying that the Lord will renew your first love, draw you near as you draw near to Him, grant clarity and order instead of confusion, and give you grace and discipline for the daily work of tending what He has entrusted to you, whether in your home, your church, or your team. May He keep your devotion to Christ simple and pure, guard you from temptation, from sin, from stumbling blocks for others, and from deception and the schemes of the evil one, and may He give you joy in proclaiming repentance and forgiveness in Jesus name so that others may come to faith and assurance. May your fellowship with the Father and the Son and with His people be deepened, and may the love of Christ constrain you in all you do.
Father, in the name of Jesus our only mediator, pour out Your grace upon this one who seeks You. Fill them with knowledge of Your will, strengthen them to walk worthy of You, cause love to abound, and cause lasting fruit to remain for Your glory. Amen.
