Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your prayer is good and pleasing to God, and we join you in it today. To desire a day filled with God and to ask for strength to walk in purity is exactly what He calls us to seek.
Scripture teaches us to follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord, and it warns that fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Lust is not a small matter to be managed but a passion to be fled from. As Jesus taught, sin begins not only in the act but in the look and desire of the heart, so we are to turn away at the very first stirring and set our minds on what is pure.
Take comfort that God is faithful. He has promised that no temptation has taken you but such as is common to man, and He will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. When temptation comes, that way of escape is there, whether it is to turn your eyes away, to leave a place, to pray, to open Scripture, or to call upon Him for help. He lengthens our prayers and at times allows temptation not to harm us but to draw us to take refuge in Him and to abide there.
We pray for you today that God would fill your day with His presence, that He would guard your heart and mind in Christ, that He would give you strength to flee from lust and to live chastely and with self control, and that He would make you an example in word, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. May He keep you close to Himself, give you perseverance in prayer, and grant you joy in walking in His ways.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, strengthen you to do His will, and fill this day with His grace and peace.
Scripture teaches us to follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord, and it warns that fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Lust is not a small matter to be managed but a passion to be fled from. As Jesus taught, sin begins not only in the act but in the look and desire of the heart, so we are to turn away at the very first stirring and set our minds on what is pure.
Take comfort that God is faithful. He has promised that no temptation has taken you but such as is common to man, and He will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. When temptation comes, that way of escape is there, whether it is to turn your eyes away, to leave a place, to pray, to open Scripture, or to call upon Him for help. He lengthens our prayers and at times allows temptation not to harm us but to draw us to take refuge in Him and to abide there.
We pray for you today that God would fill your day with His presence, that He would guard your heart and mind in Christ, that He would give you strength to flee from lust and to live chastely and with self control, and that He would make you an example in word, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. May He keep you close to Himself, give you perseverance in prayer, and grant you joy in walking in His ways.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, strengthen you to do His will, and fill this day with His grace and peace.
