Lord, sadness, struggle, pain, and fear are all part of living. We confess it, and we rest our souls in the fact that we are not an aberration. Sickness enters into our lives. Money becomes tight. Our dreams don't always come true. Our jobs become toilsome with little reward. Relationships with friends and family, and even with our Christian brothers, become strained.

Christian men suffer. Christians drink from the well of grief and melancholy. Promises are broken. Our feelings wane. Our faith wavers. The faithfulness of the faithful becomes unfaithfulness. Sometimes our friends don't understand us. Lord, we are not always happy. We are not always overcome with joy. Sometimes, we just want to be alone, and sometimes we just want to be left alone.

We forget that it is through much tribulation that we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. We should not be surprised when some fiery trial comes upon us, as if some strange thing were happening to us.

Lord, teach us as Christians to be honest with ourselves and with others. Teach us, most of all, to be honest with Thee. We cannot be deceivers. We cannot put on a happy face when our hearts our burdened with heaviness. Sometimes we just need to cry. Sometimes we just need to tell You that we don't understand why.

We cannot always detect Your purposes. Sometimes we are baffled. Sometimes we are confused. Sometimes we are perplexed. Lord, remind us that it is alright to be honest with our feelings. Lord, You cherish honesty. You treasure us when we open our hearts so that You can see everything; the good and the evil, the clean and the polluted, the holy and the vile, the contentment and the regrets. Effective prayer is a struggle much like Jacob wresting with the angel of God. Effective prayer is an altercation with the living God. We strain, we push, and we strive to lay before You, the living God, our burdens. We humbly petition You, the Creator of the world, for mercy. We cry out for justice. We call for deliverance from the evil one.

We pray because we know that Christ is our Mediator. Christ is a worthy Mediator. How can the Father refuse the Son? And when the Son asks the Father on our behalf, how can the Father turn away the Son? How can God fail to grant all of our requests through Jesus Christ our Savior? He lived for us and He died for us. He rose again from the dead and sits at the Your right hand. How then can the Father deny the Son?

Our Father in Heaven, we are here today because we need a Savior. We need a Savior to save us from our sins. We need a Savior to save us from our discouragement, our fears, our frustration, our disappointments, and all the things that we will all face sometime in life.

Lord, bless those who not only bear their own burdens, but who also have been called to bear the burdens of others. Lord, for some, unless others help them carry their load, they will be crushed. Give us grace that we might bear one another's burdens, and in so doing, fulfill the law of Christ.

Lord, so often others see us as stalwarts of courage. We only see timidity. Others see us as towers of strength. We see ourselves like a tree hit by lightning, and ready to fall with the slightest blowing of the wind. Others see strength, and we see weakness. Others see zeal, and we may only see duty.

Lord, we have poured our hearts out to Thee this day. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot find happiness in a world of sin. Yet we can find joy. We can know that all things work together for good for those who love God and who have been called according to Your purpose. We can know that You love us as a father loves his children.

Our present happiness as a child in no way compares with the joys of maturity that we shall some day know. Our pain today will be our glory tomorrow. The test of the moment shall soon be over. We shall gain all the more because we have traveled the road of trial and temptation. Our hope will be more in Thee and Your grace than it has ever before been.