A prayer to "keep what has been entrusted to you" Your daily prayer of December 1, 2020
"Keep the good deposit entrusted to you." - 1 Timothy 6:20
Last summer, I spent a lot of time in the letters Paul wrote to the men he had formed. Something very special about these letters kept piercing my heart. The Lord has continued to point out to me the command over our life to guard the deposits that have been entrusted to us. Protect, but be actively courageous in Christ for the things He has given us.
Whenever Paul mentions custody of what has been given to Timothy, he is attached to the call to live his faith, stand firm in the truth he knows, and serve where God has it. In Hebrew, the word entrust means: to deposit, to name, to remember. So for us as Christ's followers, we must first seek to know what God has entrusted to us.
This means praying to God to open our eyes to see our world from the perspective of the Kingdom. For me personally, it revealed something that I knew, but hadn't completely let it sink in.
1 Timoteo 6: 20
Having given our life to Christ, we now have our testimony. This is the second most important story that has been entrusted to us, besides the Gospel. God calls us to share the story he wrote for us. God has entrusted you and me to share the parts of our stories that He allows. Scripture confirms this many times, but my favorite example is in Revelation 12:11, "We overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony." How surprising is this? The enemy is conquered thanks to Jesus' sacrifice and our testimony (God's work within us).
Another example of testimonies the Lord used to encourage my heart is from Luke 2: 15-16. This is where the angels appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus. It says the shepherds looked at each other and said, "let's go." They did not hesitate to move in favor of the truth that God had just entrusted to them.
Likewise, we are called to trust with confidence in the Lord. God was faithful then and is still faithful now. Guiding us, directing us and pushing us to move on behalf of the truth that it shares with us.
Living with the perspective that everything given to us is something "entrusted" to us by God will change the way we live. It will remove pride and right from our hearts. It will remind us that we serve a God who wants us to know each other more and to make Him known. This is a beautiful thing.
Since you and I live with hearts that guard God's truth, courageously pursuing our faith and courageously sharing His truth, let us remember: just like the shepherds, Paul and Timothy, we can trust where the Lord has us and we need to lean on. to him as he reveals the good things he has entrusted to us.
Pray with me ...
Lord, today as I try to live by your word, open my eyes to see the people in my life as you do. Remind me that these people are the ones you have entrusted to me, even if only for a moment. I pray for a heart that lives courageously for you. Help me see my testimony as a gift to share with others who need your hope. Help me guard what has been entrusted to me: the good news of Christ Jesus and how he has personally delivered and renewed me.
In the name of Jesus, Amen