Welcome to the Prayers of Rest podcast.

I'm your host, Ashrida Chuchu, and this season we're praying for joy together.

So take a deep breath and quiet your heart as we become aware of God's loving presence around us and within us.

Today's passage comes from Zefaniah chapter 3, verse 17.

For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will take great delight in you with gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.

Let's begin by reciting God's goodness. Oh God, what a delightful portrait this is of your

love and your kindness and your joy over your people. It seems almost too good to be true.

And yet, here it is in your word, your heart of delight in your people.

God, we praise you that you are the one who saves, that you are the one who delivers us,

that you are the one who calls us to yourself, that you're the one who rescues and redeems us in Jesus.

Thank you that you are the one who created for yourself a people of your very own

so that you might indeed take great joy and pleasure in us.

God, we just don't even have the words to say thank you. Thank you for

including us. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your people, the bride of Christ,

the one for whom he laid down his life, for the joy set before

him, for the joy of that wedding feast to come. God, we believe. So take a moment now and in your own words, praise God for being the mighty one who saves

you, the one who delights in you, the one who rejoices over you.

Praise him for his loving kindness and His goodness. So let's continue now by expressing our neediness.

God, we confess that this passage rubs up against some of the preconceptions and notions that we have about you.

So many of us have grown up with this picture of an angry God who is ready to judge and

and treat harshly. So many of us have experienced fathers, our mothers, or parental

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