February 21, 2022 - 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

“Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other.” 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 NLT

Lord, we thank you for the leaders that you put in our lives to give us insight and guidance, challenging us to grow and to live in alignment with your ways. What a blessing. Lord, if we ever find ourselves in a season where we don’t have a spiritually mature person, who has a place to speak into our lives and we can get advice from, we ask that you help us seek that person out. We want to mature in you and realize that having this accountability and guidance is a huge help. Don’t allow us to be deceived by the enemy into being isolated. We recognize that if he can get us off on our own, he can easily manipulate us. Open our eye to his tactics and guard us from them.

Lord, show us how to honor the leadership in our lives. We want to show them the respect that they deserve. Give us insight on how we can pray for them. Show us ways that we can bless them and lift their burdens. In those moments that we don’t agree with everything they say or do, help us to still honor and respect them. In those times when they must speak hard things into our lives, help us receive them humbly with grace and extend gratefulness back to them. Even if the correction we receive is painful, and we think it should have been handled differently, help us respond in love and if necessary, forgiveness. We welcome correction when needed. We don’t want a leader who allows us to live however we want. We thank you for the leaders who will speak the hard things into our lives and push us forward in our walk with you. Put leaders in our life who will lead us into a more mature and closer walk with you.

In Jesus name, amen.