1 Corinthians 1:4-9

1 Corinthians 1:4-9
4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way —in all your speaking and in all your knowledge — 6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

This morning, I think I will pray this prayer for my dear friend Amy, whom I have never met but who upholds me with her prayers also.

Thank You God for Amy. Thank You for saving her. Thank You for the precious gift to her of the life of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who paid with His life the penalty for her sin, as well as mine. LORD, I thank You for saving her from the eternal punishment, where Jesus said "there is weeping and gnashing of teeth".

Thank You for also the enormous richness of blessings You have poured into her life since You called her to be one of Your own dear children. Thank You for the opportunity for her to grow up as a member of a Christian family. Thank You for the blessing of a good, godly, Bible-believing church in which she could grow up. Thank You for her being able to attend BSF classes all the way across the world from me, just as I go to BSF classes here in Perth. Thank You that her mother is a godly woman who sees the need to teach even young children from the Scriptures and that she is an example and support to Amy. Thank You for Amy's husband as well and for the many ways her ministers Your love in her life. LORD, I thank You for all those instances where You have continued to extend Your grace into Amy's life through the ministry of fellow believers, instances which I know nothing about but which have been formative in shaping her into the godly woman I know today, whose friendship I value.

I thank You for the way you have confirmed in her life the call that You have made to her, which Your Holy Spirit has enabled her to respond to with faith and thanksgiving. I thank You for the way she has been able to write her blog and through it, that we might meet online, even though we may never meet in person. I thank You that You have given her the confidence to confidently proclaim her faith in You and that she is so determined to work with her husband to bring their children up in the training and instruction of the LORD. I thank You for the way she has been able to talk with R about the way her life has enfolded and that through this, she has both encouraged R to a deeper faith in You and also edified me as a reader of their manuscript. LORD God, I ask that You will continue to provide Amy with opportunities to use her gifts in writing to build up the kingdom of God through sharing stories of how You have shown Yourself mighty in the lives of her family and others, that people might come to know that You can be relied upon in all things because You hold this world in the palm of Your hand, cherishing and nurturing all Creation.

LORD, I pray that Amy may lack no spiritual gift as she waits for the Lord Jesus Christ to return in His full and magnificent glory. I pray that You may deepen her faith in You in all Truth, that she may grow closer to You as she reads her Bible this morning because she is continually learning more of who You are as You show her the Truth through the Bible which You breathed out. LORD, I pray that she may be driven to seek Your face in prayer and that she might worship You and praise You in all the moments of her daily life as well as in the moments specifically set aside to pray and speak with You. LORD, I pray that she might grow in wisdom as she daily seeks to live a life that pleases You and brings You glory and joy. I pray that You might be given glory at the end time when Your Son is revealed and that Amy may be able to look forward to this day with eagerness, anticipating the time when she will no longer struggle with sin but be glorified in Christ Jesus, entering into the fullness of her relationship with You, the relationship which You determined was to be hers even in eternity past.

LORD, I pray that You will keep Amy strong to this end. I pray that You may enable her to persevere in her faith through the presence within her of Your Holy Spirit. LORD, I pray that on the Day of Judgement she will be proclaimed blameless in Your sight because of the work that Jesus Christ has done on her behalf - and mine - two thousand years ago as he hung on the cross and died, then conquered death forever when he rose from the dead and ascended to heaven to intercede for her and me and each and every one of Your saints.

LORD God, You are faithful and Your will will surely be done. There is no shadow of turning in You. You are a rock which cannot be moved, no matter how we may struggle against You. LORD, I thank You and give You praise for calling Amy into fellowship with Jesus Christ, Your Son. I thank You for this with all my heart and I am deeply grateful for Your also calling me into fellowship with her, as my fellow sister in Christ, because we are now both Your heirs. LORD God, thank You for choosing people of all nations and languages to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.