Praying to be Worthy of the Gospel
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel (Phil 1:27).
FATHER, by Your grace and for Your glory, You called me to Yourself through the gospel. It is now Your will that I be conformed in heart, mind, and life to the image of Your Son.
LORD JESUS, by Your humility, steadfast love, and submission to the Father, You purchased me from the kingdom of darkness and the slave-market of my sin. It is now Your desire to present me back to the Father as a member of Your pure, blameless, and fully-sanctified bride—the church.
HOLY SPIRIT, by Your regenerating power you made me alive in Christ and by Your indwelling power are in the process of transforming me into the likeness of Jesus, from glory to glory, as I behold Him in the mirror of the Word that You breathed out and discipline myself for godliness. It is now Your task to enable me to live a life worthy of the gospel, which is the power of God unto my salvation, and to enjoy the benefits of the gospel in unity with other believers.
- May my life reflect the holiness of the gospel – It is the death and resurrection of the Sinless One in the place of sinners like me that has saved me. Cause me, therefore, to submit to Your power to make me holy in life as You, the Father, and the Son are each holy.
- May my life reflect the grace of the gospel – It is not showers of blessing, but a flood of grace, that You, the Father, and Son have bestowed upon me. Cause me, therefore, to submit to Your power to dispense this same grace upon others.
- May my life reflect the love of the gospel – It was the sovereign choice of the Father to love me in Christ before the foundation of the world and to demonstrate that love in the course of human history by giving forth His only-begotten Son. Cause me, therefore, to submit to Your power to love others as You, the Father, and the Son have each loved me, the unlovely one.
- May my life reflect the forgiveness of the gospel – It is the Father’s constant choice to not remember my sins, which have grieved You because they have insulted the glory of the Triune God and assaulted fellow image-bearers, since He has already cast them into the deepest ocean, Jesus having paid for them by His death. Cause me, therefore, to submit to Your power to release the sin debts of others, choosing not to hold them against them any longer, but instead to extend the reconciling embrace to fellow sinners as You have extended it to me.
- May my life reflect the mercy of the gospel – It is the willing and obedient Son of God who fully absorbed the Father’s righteous wrath, meant for me, while He hung in indescribable agony during those three infamous hours of thick darkness outside Jerusalem. Cause me, therefore, to submit to Your power to withhold final judgment, entrusting myself and others to the righteous Judge.
- May my life reflect the unity of the gospel – It is the great mystery that sinners—as the result of being reconciled to the Father—are made one in Christ who is our peace. Cause me, therefore, to submit to Your power with all humility, as the Son humbly submitted to the Father and as You, Holy Spirit, submit to both the Father and the Son, so that I may stand in one spirit with all those who love the one, true, saving gospel of Jesus Christ.
By Your power, make my life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. AMEN.
