Heavenly Father I praise You for today. I praise You for the ability to listen to Godly authors who dispense wisdom so that I can learn and grow. I praise You for helping me lose a pound a week since I started my class. I praise You for teaching me how to control my A1C and for all the help my wife gives me in staying on track.
Holy Spirit, Paul wrote: “But in all things we commend ourselves as servants of God: in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distress, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, and hunger, by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and look we live; as punished, but not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; and as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” [2 Corinthians 6:4-13] I have learned many of the things Paul describes here. I have faced death on a few occasions, I have lost dearly and I have faced evil reports, hate, deceivers, and injustice, and yet I have been empowered by the word, and have learned to rejoice and face trials with faith. I am not perfect, and I still fail often when tested, yet I continue to persevere and grow in wisdom. I am learning patience and how to put on the armor of God. I have learned to stand and allow the fire to refine me into the person God wants me to be. For all that is around me is temporary and will eventually fade away, but the character God grows in me will stand me through eternity.
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, Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21