Day 84: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, 

Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge].

                                                                          Galatians 5:22 AMP

We are continuing to focus on certain biblical virtues in our prayer time, and today we are focusing on gentleness. I love looking at the Amplified version of the fruit of the spirit here. We see that the word translated gentleness is much deeper than our definition of gentleness. To be gentle in this context means to be slow to anger, reacting calmly. It means to remain humble and teachable, not to be harsh and abrupt with people, and today we pray that the Spirit would grow the fruit of gentleness in Ember's life.

Dear Lord, You have been so gentle with us, gradually working out Your will and Your way in our life, making us a new creation. Help us to follow Your example and treat our daughter and those around us with gentleness. Give us the strength to hold back harsh comments and attitudes when faced with difficult people. Teach us to walk in meekness of spirit. Lord, may our daughter learn from us to exhibit the controlled strength that is the essence of gentleness and meekness. Help her to react calmly, to be slow to anger. May Ember be known for her gentleness and meekness of heart and action. This we pray as we await the arrival of our precious little gift.

Day 85: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

It's hard to believe that in 85 days (give or take a week or so) we will have a tiny baby girl to love and care for. There are so many things we want for our baby girl and so many things that we want her to be. We are continuing to pray that she would develop a life full of virtue, and today we pray that Ember would live faithfully.

Dear Lord, Your Word tells us that You are faithful, and throughout our lives You have proved that You are faithful to Your promises. We have learned that we can trust You with our future, our dreams and our finances. You were faithful in fulfilling Your promise to give us the desires of heart when You sent us this child, and we are trusting You today with our daughter's life. We pray that she would develop faithfulness in her life, faithfulness to You and others. Help her to always keep her word and to be a loyal friend. Give her assurance of Your faithfulness, and help her to trust You with her whole life. We ask that our daughter would be full of faith, and that she would be trustworthy and reliable. Help us, as her parents, to keep our faith in You and Your promises and to be faithful and trustworthy in all that we do, so that we may set a good example for our daughter. This we pray as we as we faithfully wait for You to allows us to hold our sweet Ember Faith in our arms. Thank you Lord, for doing all these things! We believe that you will do it!

Day 86: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

One of the most foundational truths of the Christian faith is that God is good. We must believe that God is good in order to put our faith in Him and trust Him with our lives. God's goodness is the culmination of His mercy, His grace, His care, and His love and compassion towards us. It is the essence of His character, and since we were originally created in His image and as Christians are instructed to be like Him, goodness should be the essence of our character as well.

There is only one problem...since the fall, we are imperfect and incapable of good. Goodness no longer comes natural to us, as Paul expresses in Romans 7.

 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

                                                                                                Romans 7:18-19 NIV

We are only able to be good because of Christ living in our hearts bestowing His goodness upon us. That is why goodness is a fruit of the spirit. Goodness is akin to love and kindness, but it goes deeper than that. Goodness is more of a condition of the heart out of which we operate with kindness and compassion towards others. It is a combination of honesty, integrity, and compassion, and today, we pray that goodness would become the essence of Ember's character.

Dear Father, goodness seems so unattainable to us sometimes. We try to be good and do good on our own, but we fail terribly. We need Your Holy Spirit to fill us with goodness, to make us like You. Give us pure motives in all that we do. Help us to raise our daughter in the knowledge of Your goodness, and to set an example for her by living a good life. Lord, we pray that you would place deep within Ember, the desire to be good and do good. We pray that she would understand that goodness comes only from You and that she would rely on Your strength to be the good person she was created to be. Lord, You have given us all the tools we need to lead a good life, and we pray that You would remind us of that. May our lives and our daughter's life be reflections of Your ultimate goodness. This we pray as we await the precious gift of a child that You are sending to us!

We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.

Do your best to improve your faith. You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, self-control, patience, devotion to God, concern for others, and love. If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful.

                                                                                              2 Peter 1:3-8 CEV
                                                                                   

Day 87: Ember Faith Prayer Countdown

 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

                                                                                        Ephesians 4:32 NKJV

We could always use more kind-hearted people in this world. Kindness for our fellow man is certainly a dying art in this day, but our Lord instructed us to be kind to one another...and what better way to show God's love to the world than to act with kindness.

Today, we pray that Ember would be full of kindness.

Lord, it is Your kindness that leads us to repentance. We are grateful for Your kind actions towards us, and we seek to reflect Your kindness. We admit that kindness is not always easy for us. Some people are just very hard to be kind to. However, we desire to set an example for our daughter. We want to show her how to treat others, so help us to be kind to one another and all those we come in contact with. God, we pray that Ember will learn to act with kindness at an early age, and that people would recognize her kindness and in turn see You in her. May her life be marked by intentional acts of thoughtfulness,  proving that she has within her a selfless heart like Yours. This we pray as we wait for our sweet child to enter into this world.