Prayer of Assurance:

2 Corinthians 4:6 - For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 

Heavenly Father: 

We are deeply grateful for the testimony of the Gospel that we have heard in Shantel’s testimony today. We praise you for your sovereign work in salvation, and for your providences at every point of our lives which have directed us to this moment. 

We glorify you, Father, that salvation is not of our own creation. Everything that we touch and every purpose that we entertain is frail, failing, and passes away—as we do. If we are to save ourselves and embrace a salvation of our own making, we could have no assurance. Our own salvation has no saving power, and we must plunge ourself into self-deceiving moralism and self-serving altruism in order to escape the reality that our own standards ultimately have no eternal value. 

But you, Father, have brought your light into our hearts. You have not offered your light to our hearts, or suggested your light to our hearts, or asked entrance for your light into our hearts, or encouraged the recreation of your light in our hearts. But with the same power as at the creation of the world by which you spoke, and there was light, you have split through the darkness of our sin and the arresting blindness of our ignorance and inability, and you have brought the radiant, unstoppable glory of your saving power in Christ to us. 

In the light of your salvation, we come before you, praising you, marveling at your wisdom and power, and resting in the assurance that your salvation brings us. We trust in you: in our darkness, you have brought light. In prison and persecution, you are our deliverance. In our doubt, you are our certainty. In affliction and sorrow, you are our comfort. When our cries in this world fall upon uncaring ears, you hear our prayers. If we are put to death, you will raise us up. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow death, I fear no evil, for You are with me. (Psalm 23:4a).   

We rejoice in the assurance that we have in you and in none other. In our gathering today, in our private meditations and public conversations, and as we sing, pray, and hear your Word, dispel the storm clouds of fear and the temptation to doubt. Exalt the salvation of Christ before us, refresh our hearts in you as we rehearse your faithfulness in bringing light to every corner of our needy souls, and bring us to love you more as we cling to your promise that what you have done can never be undone. May our worship this day be in faith and praise of the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 

Amen