Day 21 | The Weary, Discouraged, and Drifting

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 1 Thessalonians 5:14

The Christian life is not an easy one. This should not surprise us—Jesus’s call was not to take up a life of comfort and ease, but to deny ourselves (that is, give up our intrinsic desire for comfort and ease), to take up our cross, and follow him (Matt. 16:24).

It’s understandable, then, that there will be times in our Christian journey when we slow down or stop altogether. There will be times when we even consider turning around and going back the other direction. Some of us can look back at seasons of our life when we did turn around and start walking in the wrong direction (looking at you, college years). Maybe you’re in that season of life right now.

This is where the church does some of its best work—we come alongside each other and encourage one another to keep following Jesus, even when it’s hard. 

Today, we pray for those in our church family who are in a difficult season. Maybe it’s a hard season of marriage or parenting. Maybe it’s a season of physical or emotional exhaustion. Maybe the temptations of a former way of life seem alluring. We may not know their names or the details of their situations, but the Lord does—let’s intercede for them today.

Prayer prompt: Pray for weary, discouraged, and drifting members of our church.