Episode 117: 1 Thessalonians 1:6
Dear friends, welcome to Peace Prayers. My name is Juli, the creator and host of the podcast, and I would love to be able to spend some time with you today. Our goal is to take a few moments and dive deep into God’s word before meditating on it ourselves. I’ll read a scripture from the Bible, and then we’ll pray it together over our lives. Invite a friend to listen in and let’s start our day with God’s peace. I am so excited to get started; thank you for joining me today.
You’re listening to Episode 117 and today’s verse is 1 Thessalonians 1:6
You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
Let’s pray together.
Oh, Jesus, I am so grateful today for all my brothers and sisters in Christ. It is beyond wonderful to know that I am not alone in my faith. There are fellow believers all around me who love You and worship You and live for You and help me to do the same. Please help them, be with them in the midst of their suffering and trials, and with whatever You know is needed in their hearts.
Because I know we are all journeying on the Way. We are all looking to become more Christ-like. And we have far to go, obstacles to face, and things we must do. You are our guide and helper and You have provided fellow pilgrims to be a blessing and for those farther down the Way to reach back and help us. We long to imitate their faith and help it to become our own.
And we all need faith, Father. I need it so badly because everything in life seems designed to keep me sad and alone and frustrated and fearful. It can be hard to be glad and know that I am Your child. It can be hard to keep going. It can be hard to give or listen. What my head acknowledges as truth, my heart sometimes has a difficult time bearing it out in witness. Please help me, dear LORD.
I want to be like the Thessalonians, God. I want to welcome the message of the gospel, even if it’s painful, even if others mock me for it, even if I don’t always understand it, even if it means hard, stretching change. You are worth it and You enable it, by the joy of Your Holy Spirit.
This verse gives me joy, God, because it says that even in the midst of severe suffering we can have joy. But the joy doesn’t come from ourselves. We don’t have to manufacture it and squeeze drops of it from the scared stiff, hard stone, anxious pride of our own hearts. It comes from You. And so we are given a gift of grace during trials. I am so grateful. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Be joy in me. Laughter that overwhelms and overflows and sets an entire country with mirth. True, unfettered joy that reigns supreme no matter what is happening.
I am doubly grateful because this isn’t about the outside circumstances and it’s not strictly emotion. Joy from the Spirit doesn’t mean that I am happy all the time or I always have to put on a good face or that I should be glad that bad things are happening to me. It just means that in spite of any outward situations, my inner self is glowing with a deep, abiding calm happiness because it knows that I can trust Jesus and that He is in control and that He has already saved me. What blessed assurance.
Please reign supreme in me, Holy Spirit, and bring all your fullness of joy.
I pray this in the joyful and abiding name of Jesus. Amen.
That is the end of our collective prayer, but don’t forget that you can keep praying and meditating on this on your own. Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you have a peaceful rest of your day. I’d love to ask you a favor before we go and that is to please subscribe and leave a review for the podcast if you haven’t already. That is the best way to invite other people to join us in our prayers and it helps me more than you can know.
And let’s get to know each other better. Follow me over on Instagram at thejulihernandez where you can DM me prayer requests or suggestions on verses you’d like me to pray on the podcast or just let me know what’s going on in your life. Another way to get in touch with what I’m up to is on my website at www.thejulihernandez.com. My website hosts a transcription of each prayer so that you can pray them whenever you like. You’ll also see monthly blog posts that detail my next writing project and I can’t wait to engage with you on that as well. Let’s connect, but for now, Shalom.
