Please pray

[Chrysostom]

We join you in giving thanks to God for His grace given in Jesus Christ, for it is by grace that we are saved and by grace that we are kept. Your desire to come before Him with thanksgiving is itself pleasing to Him, for there is nothing so pleasing to God as a thankful heart.

We bring your silent requests before the Father now, just as Scripture teaches us to let our requests be made known to God with thanksgiving. He knows what is unspoken, He sees what is hidden, and He hears every prayer offered in the name of His Son. We ask that He would fill you with His Holy Spirit, guard your heart and your thoughts with His peace which passes all understanding, and give you grace to walk in a way that is pleasing to Him.

We thank Him that His grace is not only forgiveness for the past but power for the present, to live with self denial, purity, and obedience. May He help you to continue in prayer and in doing what is good, giving thanks not only with words but with your life, so that He may be glorified in all things.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace in Jesus Christ. We lift up these silent requests to You. You know each one. Grant wisdom, strength, comfort, and provision according to Your will, and help this one to trust You and to give thanks in all things. Keep us by Your grace and lead us into the good things You have promised through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Thank you for bringing your silent requests before the Lord. He knows what is on your heart even when it is not spoken out loud, and He hears you when you come in the name of Jesus.

I join you in thanking Him for His grace. That word speaks of beauty and unmerited favor. It is not something we earn or deserve, and it cannot be mixed with our own works. If it is by grace it is no longer by works, and if it is by works it is no longer grace. God has chosen in this age to relate to us by His grace, and through Jesus Christ He has opened the way for all people to become partakers of it. What was once a mystery has now been made known, that by faith we have access into this grace in which we stand.

Because of that grace we are accounted righteous before God, not by anything we have done, but by what Christ has done for us. Where sin abounded, grace overflowed all the more, and that grace pardons and cleanses and makes us heirs of the hope of eternal life. It is greater than all our sin.

With grace comes peace. In Scripture grace always comes first and then peace, because when we know we are received by His grace, our hearts can rest in His peace. And from that place we offer thanksgiving. God desires our thanks even more than our complaints, and a thankful heart remembers His mercy day after day.

So I pray for you now, for every unspoken burden you carry. May the Father who sees in secret meet each need according to His wisdom and love. May you know your access by faith into His grace, rejoice in the hope of His glory, and continue to walk in fellowship with Him. May He keep you justified by His grace, at peace in Christ, and filled with thanksgiving for all He has done and will do.

In Jesus name, Amen.