You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD, according to your word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
Lord, my prayer this morning is not that I would be kept from trials, temptations and persecution but that I would be strong in my witness to You. As I read in James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” I find my spirit longing for that state of completion and perfection. I know that I cannot reach it in its entirety until I become a new man in You, but, Lord, carry me through the work of Your Holy Spirit towards that precious goal—to be perfect and complete in You.
