Set ApartSample

Day Five: Hearts at Home

There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for my children if they were in need. That’s the heart our heavenly Father has for us too. So when Jesus says to his stressed-out daughter, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about” (Luke 10:41–42 NLT), I don’t think we should hear only scolding in his voice.

Jesus loved Martha. The Bible makes that absolutely clear in John 11:5: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” In Luke 10, he was simply inviting her to work from a place of peace and surrender as his beloved daughter rather than striving and struggling as a woman who had to prove herself. 

I don’t know about you, but when I’m in the midst of anxiety and frustration, I often struggle to submit to the Lord in prayer. Sometimes prayer becomes my last option when emotions and feelings overtake me. But running to my heavenly Father as his beloved daughter is always best. When prayer is our first response to any given situation, our perspective shifts off our problems and back onto God’s promises. 

A beloved earthly daughter feels at home in her father’s house. When we trust our heavenly Father, we pray from a place of “at home-ness.” The Bible has a special word for this: abiding. We work and serve best when we prayerfully make our hearts at home in Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to make his home in us. When I pray as a daughter, I know that I’m secure and safe; my life is hidden in Christ, just like Colossians 3:3 promises. 

Serving from abiding prayer reminds us how God’s grace is constantly shaping and molding us into the women he calls us to be.

Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me with an everlasting love. Thank you for making me your daughter through the death and resurrection of your Son, Jesus. Holy Spirit, thank you for helping me, comforting me, convicting me of sin, and leading me in your truth. Please release me from the chains of self-doubt, worry, and insecurity. May I learn to work and serve from a place of prayer, Lord. And may I grow in joy and love as I do this, empowered by you. In Jesus’s name, amen.