The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Luke 10:17-20

Dear God, I’ll admit that I spend too much time celebrating the wrong things. I will accidentally celebrate the good that you’ve done instead of celebrating the fact that you are there, you care, and you did it through me. I think it’s okay for us to enjoy, celebrate and be thankful for good things, but if we stop there we miss the bigger picture. The world we cannot see, the world that you see, is the one I must remember. In that world, you are everything. Your love is everything. Your presence is everything. And if you choose to work through me or in my life in some way then the good thing that was done is important to recognize, but I must also remember that the fact that my life is in you is the more important.

There is so much going on in the world right now. And it’s interesting how the presidential race and the pandemic unexpectedly intersected yesterday. Of course, I ask for your mercy be on President and Mrs. Trump as well as every other person on this planet who had contracted COVID-19. Use this pandemic to accomplish your purposes on the earth. Make the pain and anguish so many have experienced count for your glory. Please don’t waste it. And help us to celebrate you even in the midst of our distress because, again, the world we can see is such a small part of the world that you see. We cannot see what you are doing. You might be doing something now that will bring about your outcome 200 or 300 years from now. So we don’t celebrate our economy, health, bank accounts, marriages, children, government, or even our church. We celebrate that we are your children, you love us, and everything you do–whether it looks like a good thing to our eyes or not–is about accomplishing your purposes on the earth and you love us.

Father, make me an instrument of your peace. It is in giving that I receive. It is in pardoning that I am pardoned. It is in dying that I am born to eternal life. I want to know more and more what it’s like to follow you. When people look at me I want them to see the light of the world (you) inside.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen