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A Prayer for the Renewal of Joy

Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, LORD, and grant us your salvation. Ps. 85:6-7 
You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. Ps 4:7
Restore to me the joy of your salvation Ps. 51:12
    Gracious Father, I begin my day thankful for the honesty and candor of your Word, for when you diagnosis a problem, you always resource your children with more grace. Today I’m thinking about my need for gospel renewal and restored joy. Thankfully, I’m not dry or parched, just incredibly thirsty for the fresh cascading rivers of grace and gospel gladness. I join the chorus of many who cry, “Revive us again.”
     When I hear the apostle Paul ask believers in Galatia, “What has happened to all your joy?” (Gal. 4:15), I’m not sure how I’d answer. Is performance-based spirituality knocking on my door again, like a seductive vixen?  Am I struggling with unbelief—the temporary insanity of thinking the gospel isn’t enough? Am I looking for joy somewhere else?
     Have I hoarded my hurts and wounds to keep them from you? Am I angry at you and don’t want to admit it? I’m not always sure how or where my heart begins to leak joy, but I don’t want to get used to this condition. Show me, Lord.
     Since your joy is my strength, Father (Neh. 8:10), cause my heart muscle to beat afresh with your joy, the joy which fills the courts of heaven; the joy which fills the hearts of angels as they see your plan unfolding in the world; the joy of life within the Godhead—quintessential, irrepressible, life-generating joy. Holy Spirit, since joy is one of the fruit you grow in the lives of the children of God, please weed, prune, and fertilize my heart for a fresh crop.
     Jesus, since you are praying for the fullness of your joy to be in us (John 17:13), I will live with anticipation and hope, for your prayers never fail. Though I’ve never seen you, I do love you, and I love you because you first loved me and gave yourself for me on the cross. Fill me afresh with the inexpressible and glorious joy of the salvation you have won for us (1 Pet. 1:8-9). So very Amen I pray, in your trustworthy and triumphant name.

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