Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s Prayers for the Week post! Today we continue our look at the fruits of the Spirit. Last week we explored Love, this week, we are turning our attention to Joy. This is the second of the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22. Here is the verse again for you to remember:
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ~ Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)
But, as you will soon see in our prayer requests, this week has been about anything but joy for so many of our Brothers and Sisters! How are we supposed to find joy amongst so much sorrow, so much grief, so many broken hearts? Well, my friends, that is not easy for certain, but it is possible. To this poor man’s thinking, the joy is not with regards to the joy that the world can provide — no, the world is fallen, and death, sadness, and destruction are by-products of all of that because of our sin and the fallen state of the world. To me, the joy comes in knowing and living for God. We may not know why we suffer, or why our loved ones suffer, but we do know that we have in our corner a loving God. Remember today the words from the Prophet Jeremiah as found in the book bearing his name:
11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ~ Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)
The Lord made that promise to the people of Israel while they were in exile in Babylon. They didn’t know that it would take 70 years of captivity before they would be released, but it did — and still they called on God to hear their prayer. Now, we can call of God directly through His Son Jesus Christ, and He will hear our prayers, and He will respond accordingly. My brothers, in my opinion there is no greater joy to be found than that!
To those that are hurting right now, though, we lift up our prayers to God for you and your families. Please continue reading and pray with us our prayer requests and praises below.
Prayer Requests & Praises
- Jodi starts us off with a prayer request: Please keep my friend Caria and her family in prayer. Her father passed away this morning. Just last week, he fell while walking the dog and sustained a head injury. Not sure if something else was cause (anuerism, stroke?). Thankfully, he was a firm believer, as is Caria and her family, but it is still a difficult loss. Thank you!
- Amanda has a prayer request for her husband Daniel: My husband goes in for his PET Scan on Thursday morning. Please pray that the scan is better than the last (which was great!), that it shows no new tumors or cancer, no spread of cancer, that the tumors that were resolved last scan are still resolved or gone and the other tumors are smaller and less active, resolved or gone. Please also pray that the FoundationOne test comes back that he is an candidate for immunotherapy and pray for us to have peace and give it to God between now and when we get the results next week some time. Thanks!
- Kipp has a prayer request: Please pray for Alan’s mom Phyllis who is in the hospital dealing with her Chrones disease this morning. This is a very chronic, debilitating sickness that takes its toll on the body. It is in the IBS family. (irritable bowel syndrome).
- Please pray for my cousins Janet and Susan and all of their families today. We lost my Great Aunt Genette today. She was a wonderful woman and I will remember her fondly from all the times she welcomed me into her home. Please pray for God’s Peace, Comfort, Strength, and Love to surround all of them in the days and weeks to come.
- Please pray for my sister-in-Christ Genevieve and her family. Her week started with her younger brother Mark being in a bike accident with a car, and being in ICU. They saw improvement, evidence of God’s miracles in his brain activity, and they prepared for him to be transported to a different hospital for further care. Then, the last thing any of them expected happened. Her brother’s heart failed, and they had to say their goodbyes to their brother, son, grandson, and friend. Please pray for Genevieve and her family; pray for their grief, pray for their broken hearts, pray for their shock at losing Mark when no one was expecting it. Pray that God would surround that family with His Peace, His Comfort, His Strength, and most of all, His Love, and that He would take care of them all each and every moment of every day. Pray that they would know the joy in knowing that Mark is with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
- Lastly, please pray for my friend Candice. Her mom passed away peacefully in the care of Hospice. Please pray for Candice and Martha and all of their family and friends that knew her.
Remember that the Lord has plans for us, plans for our welfare, not for evil towards us, plans for our future, plans for us to have a hope. Remember to look for the joy even in the midst of all of the sorrow, anger, and hurt in our lives. Look for the joy.
Now, please close out by praying the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray:
Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done
On Earth as it is in Heaven.Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those that trespass against us.Lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.For Thine is the Kingdom, and Power, and Glory
Forever and ever. Amen.
