Proverbs 17:22 – “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

Lord, free us from an anxious, discouraged spirit that would weigh us down today.
Keep a brooding spirit of despondency far from us that always looks at the dark side.
Deliver us from a discontented, unbelieving sadness that would make us unfit us for the service of such a generous, gracious God like you.
May the joy of your forgiveness flood our hearts today
and may our faces reflect this beautiful reality.
May we know for certain that the guilt and shame of our sin
has been removed by the blood of Jesus.
What earthly trouble can sink us if we are pardoned sinners and your accepted children.
Give us today the ability that you gave to Paul and Silas long ago in that Philippian jail to sing through their troubles (Acts 16:25).

For we pray in the name of the One who entered the sadness so that we might have the joy – the one who suffered so that we might experience glory – the place where there is fullness of joy! AMEN.