“May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” – Colossians 1:11-12
Father, we thank You that this prayer has been answered for all of us who are in Christ. No portion of wisdom, no endowment of power, no opportunity for thanksgiving has been sealed off from us today. Through Your only Son, You have heaped upon us every resource needed for us to truly be strong, to endure, to walk in patience and joy as we live out our lives as those who are grateful for this great gift of salvation. Our completed inheritance is not yet in our hands, but it is surely in our forecast. We do not see all things as they will be – not yet! The day is certainly coming when our glorified eyes will receive the visual majesty of Paradise, and only then will we be fashioned with the ability to soak it all in. By faith today we rejoice. By faith this morning we endure. By faith on this Lord’s Day we will be patient and abide in the promises of our Great God as You move us toward the perfect fullness of all that You promise your children. Our faith is not in vain, our hope is not in vain, our labor is not in vain. You, Father, are working untold goodness and glory, and we are like small children who delight in anticipation of what is to come. Receive our songs this day as we pre-soak them with hungry prayers. You are our chief aim this Sunday – nothing less will satisfy us. We would have You alone before we would have a single thing from You. It is not primarily Your gifts that we hunger for mostly today, but Your face, Your presence – the reality of Emmanuel. So thank You for any afflictions that keep us from straying. Thank You for all resistance which brings us back repeatedly to our dependence upon You. Thank You for not-yet fulfillment of iron-clad promises in Your word which continue to raise up expectancy in our hearts. We will see You. We will be in Your very presence. We will know what it means to fully overcome, and we cannot suppress our unfolding joy at this prospect. You are worthy of all our waiting, and we tell You today that we have nothing else which better suits us here. We wait upon You, Great God.