Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. [1 John 3:1&2; 1 John 3:7-10]
Since I have been justified by faith, I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom I also have access by faith into this grace in which I stand, and so I rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but I also boast in tribulation, knowing the tribulation produces patience, patience produces character, and character produces hope. Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God is shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit who has been given to me. [Romans 5:1-5]
Holy Spirit I have faced tribulation often and I have not always handled it the best, yet Your Spirit has been there with me through all of it. I come before You to request that my faith stands any and all fires I must walk through so that I demonstrate my trust in You. Give me strength and remind me of the hope that is within me so that I can withstand any and all temptations and tribulations I face in life. For my heart is set on serving You and seeing You one day as a faithful servant who has demonstrated Your love, grace, and mercy while standing true to my salvation which I work out daily in fear and trembling. I realize that this is only my temporary home and I am homesick for my eternal home.
For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen me with power through his Spirit in my inner being, so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith. And I pray that I, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that I may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all I ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within me, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. [Ephesians 3:14-21]