A Morning Prayer for the Fruit of Joy

God of my salvation,
I'm not asking for an easy day.
I'm asking for joy that doesn't depend on one.

Happiness comes and goes like the weather.
It rises with good news and sinks with bad.
But the joy Your Spirit grows has deeper roots.
It can sit beside sorrow without leaving.

Habakkuk looked at bare fig trees and empty fields
and still found a reason to rejoice in You.
Paul and Silas sang hymns in prison at midnight.
They weren't pretending; they knew whose they were.

Grow that kind of joy in me.
Let it be quiet, steady, and real,
and let it show on my face today.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

When to Pray This

Pray this on a heavy morning, when you can't expect an easy day. It fits a good morning too, as a way to ask for a gladness that lasts past lunchtime.

A Verse to Hold On To

"Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation." — Habakkuk 3:18 (KJV)