O Lord, You have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place Your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! I can never escape from Your Spirit! I can never get away from Your presence! If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I go down to the grave, You are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there Your hand will guide me, and Your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—but even in darkness, I cannot hide from You. To You, the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to You. You brought my inner parts into being; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for You made me with fear and wonder; marvelous are Your works, and You know me completely. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret and intricately put together in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw me unformed, yet in Your book, all my days were written before any of them came into being. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. [Psalm 139:1-12; Psalms 139:13-18; Psalm 139:23&24; Psalms 143:8]
Holy Spirit You inspired Paul to write: “But You, brothers and sisters are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. So then let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are doing.” [1 Thessalonians 5:4-11] Help me to be awake and aware of my surroundings both physical and spiritual. Let me be alert to danger and those who could attack me. Help me to protect myself through my faith and love. Let me lean on the foundation of hope to still and calm my soul. Help me to not let depression, discouragement, complacency, disillusionment, or fear ever get a grasp, foothold, or penetrate the core of who I am in You and who You are in me. Let me always rest on the fact that Your love is true and everlasting and that I am Your child.
Because we know that this extraordinary day is just ahead, we pray for you all the time—pray that our God will make you fit for what he’s called you to be, pray that he’ll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his energy so that it all amounts to something. If your life honors the name of Jesus, he will honor you. Grace is behind and through all of this, our God giving himself freely, the Master, Jesus Christ, giving himself freely. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good deed and word. But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you. Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and the patience of Christ. Amen! [2 Thessalonians 1:11&12(the Message), 2Thessalonians 2:16,17, 2 Thess. 3:3-5]