“We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.” (1 Thessalonians 1: 2-5 NIV)
“A Prayer of Devotion for You and Me” by Todd White, Watauga, TX
“Holy Spirit, have Your way today and every day. I thank You, Jesus, for massive freedom. Lord, we love You. We need You—not just a little. We want to know what it looks like to be swallowed up by You, to be so hidden in You that the enemy can’t see us. We want to know what it’s like to have the prayer life that Jesus did. We want to know what it’s like to have no disconnection—only connection.
“We want to hear Your voice every day, everywhere we go. We want to know what it’s like to go and to be with You when You call us—in the middle of our conversations, in the middle of dinner, in the middle of an activity; to be able to hear that still, small Voice: “I want to spend time with you.” We want that.
“We want You to speak louder than any storm outside, and we want You to calm the storm inside. We want to know what it means to love You, but more than that, what it means to be loved by You. We want to know what it’s like to know You, yet we want to know what it’s like to be known by You. We want to know what it’s like to have You sit in the theater room of our soul and watch everything that comes across our screens. We want to know what it’s like to live in the fear of the Lord, yet be the delight of the Lord.
“We want to know what it’s like to live in such union with You that everything that comes out of our mouths has been filtered by You before it’s presented. We want to know what it’s like to look in a mirror and never see yesterday.
“We want to know what it’s like to be a disciple. We want to know what it’s like for You to be Savior, but we need to know what it’s like for You to be Lord. We want to know what it’s like for You to come inside this temple and turn over every table that needs to go.
“We want to know what it’s like to be forgiven, but we also want to know what it’s like to forgive. We want to know what it’s like to have a Judas, yet still love. We want to know what it’s like to hear the thoughts of people in front of us without them speaking, yet not be offended by them.
“We want to know what it’s like to walk into a room full of sick people and they all leave healed, but also to never let it get to our heads.
“We want to have laser-like accuracy in the prophetic; to have the crispest, sharpest words of knowledge; to have the greatest of miracles happen; to have healings happen everywhere we go. We want to know what it’s like to be the ones who walk and live with signs and miracles following us all the days of our lives.
“We want to know what it’s like to burn and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, yet we want to be ones who fervently desire righteousness and Kingdom. We don’t want to be lop-sided people who walk in the miraculous but are no earthly good.
“We want to be a people who walk in the miraculous and yet are so heavenly minded that we’re earthly incredible, and our boss needs more of us on the job. We want to be a people who produce so well at our jobs that our boss is totally freaked out by us, but all they can say is that there’s something supernatural about us, and they don’t understand why. We want to be a people on the job who never complain, never gossip, never criticize, and never freak out in the face of adversity with all Hell coming against us. We want to be a people of peace in the middle of any storm.
“We want to be known as ones who share the hope of the Gospel. We want to be that one in 1 Peter 3:15 (NASB) who is always ready “to give an account for the hope that is in you.” We want to be ambassadors of hope and ministers of reconciliation. We want to be ministers—not imputing the world’s trespasses against them, but reconciling people back to God; yet we first need to be reconciled and know there are no trespasses against us.
“We need to reach a lost and dying world, yet we cannot afford to be lost and dying inside. We want to be a people who have testimonies that are so profuse that it blows people’s minds, yet we don’t want our minds to be elevated because of the testimonies. We want to be a people who are known for turning the world upside down, but we want to be known as a people whom the Lord has turned right side up.
“We want to be a people who are a help in time of need. When we come upon the scene of an accident, we want to show up, and God is on the scene. Yet when they ask you, “What’s your name? How did you do this?” You say, “I’m just a servant of God, and I love Jesus. It’s Jesus who did this.” We want to never take glory for what God has done; we want to give glory to Him alone who is God.
“We want to live and walk in such power and such fire, but also such character and such calmness. We want to walk in such a furious love that everywhere we go we are known because of the love of God that is on our lives. Yet, we want to walk in such a place of security that we don’t need people to say they love us for us to feel secure. We want to be able to walk in such a level of character that we remind people of Jesus; that it’s so amazing how much we’re like Jesus that people know there is no way any man can walk that way unless God is with him.
“We want to be a people who, in the face of adversity—with all Hell coming against us, and angry mobs of people with picket signs screaming, “I hate you!”— respond in such delight; because we know that just as the world persecuted the prophets, so they’ll persecute us. We don’t need the love of people or the praises of man; we need the love of the Father towards an angry man. We don’t want to live by the honor of people, yet we want to honor people. Holy Spirit, help us to be more and more like Jesus.”
We ask in his name, AMEN.
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:1-5 NIV)
“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:13-16 NIV)
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