In Christ
Gracious Father, we cry out to you for Christ empowered love, wisdom, and strength yielding righteous lives. We, like the world we live in, are encircled and embattled with fleshly temptation. Father, through the redemptive work of Christ and the incredible investment of your Spirit in our life, may we live lives that bring glory to you and point others to Christ. This world is the perfect playground for narcissists who are lovers of self. And this is what we are outside of Christ. May Christ be our first love.
When we struggle with materialism and the love of money, may Christ’s love for others dominate our lives.
When puffed up and full of pride, may Christ’s humility dominate our lives.
When arrogant and postured with a pompous spirit, may we experience absolute humility and exude Christ’s servant’s heart.
When we are apt to take advantage of others, give us Christ’s heart to tenderly love and edify while pointing them to Christ.
When we are tempted to disregard authority, give us teachable and obedient hearts.
When sensing entitlements demonstrated through ungratefulness, may we never forget our once hopeless condition and our only hope, the work of Christ, and demonstrate grateful hearts and patience towards others as His redeemed.
When determined to define our own relative moral code, turn our hearts to hunger and seekers of your empowering truth and experience faith even when we lack understanding.
When we find ourselves selfishly heartless, bless us with your heart of empathy and care.
When we refuse to forgive and are driven by bitterness, overflow in and through us a heart of reconciliation accompanied with the spirit of forgiveness that Christ demonstrated toward us.
When tempted to defame and slander, may we always hold the crown of Christ’s hope and encouragement over others’ lives.
When struggling with a lack of self-control selfishly aiming at self-gratification, bless us with true gratification only found in Christ’s love and agenda.
When leaning toward undermining someone’s character, turn our attention to seeking ways to build them up.
When caught in the tragic vice of mocking goodness, fill us with your Spirit’s overflowing with Holy character.
When demonstrating a heart of betrayal, give us hearts to stand alongside of others as a pillar of Christ’s consistency, loyalty, and strength.
When reckless, bless us with wisdom and self-control.
When swollen with conceit and exaggerated self-importance, with Christ empowered humility, flow through us. Demonstrate strength through weakness and point others to a hope in Christ.
When we are dominated by one pleasure after the next, turn our hearts to your supernatural contentment. May we have abiding joy in the rich reward of experientially knowing and serving Christ.
When having an appearance of godliness, but denying His power demonstrated through chasing satisfaction within this world, turn us to a hope found in you alone.
Gracious Father, in every aspect of life, may we find our satisfaction in the only true source—our hope found in Christ Jesus our Lord, the only true source of godliness!
In Christ,
Blessings!
II Timothy 3:1-5
1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power.