“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.”
– Jude 1:20–21
What a great couple of verses Jude 1:20–21 is. Think about all these different pictures, these phrases. Building yourselves up in your most holy faith. This holy faith that God by his grace has given us that we would build ourselves up and that we want to grow in our faith. As I was praying this morning for my life, for my wife, for my kids, for the people around me. Just praying, God help us to grow in our faith. I pray for my kids that you would help them to grow in their faith.
In these verses, Jude gives a prescription for how we are to endure and pray as we anticipate Christ’s return.
And then this phrase praying in the Holy Spirit. What a great phrase, like that’s how I want to pray. I want to pray in a way that’s led by the Spirit of God, that the Spirit of God is directing my praying. And then the command in verse 21, keep yourselves in the love of God. Oh, I don’t want to be anywhere else but there. Keep yourselves in God’s love. Just to pray, I want to stay in your love, oh, God. And then the last part, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Knowing that yes, mercy is ours now. We have so much mercy now but more mercy is coming, ultimate mercy is coming in the return of Christ and victory over death and eternal life with him in his perfect presence.
Jude 1:20–21 Prays For Us To Grow In Holy Faith
So let’s just pray then according to Jude 1:20–21. God, we pray that you would help us to grow in our most holy faith. Help us to be built up today. I pray for that for my own life. I pray for that for people who are listening right now. And I pray they would be built up more and more today in their faith. Help them to grow in their faith. Help us to pray in your Spirit. God, we pray that when we are talking like this that your Spirit would lead and guide our words, that you would prompt us to pray all day long, according to what we need to be praying for, according to people around us, according to your will and your word to us.
This Verse Prays To Stay In God’s Love
Help us to pray in the Spirit. Help us to keep ourselves in your love. Oh, God, we want to abide in your love. We want to know your love more and more and more every day. More at the end of today than we do right now. We want to know and enjoy your love. We know that comes in obeying your commands so help us to obey you and keep ourselves in your love as we wait for your mercy. God, we are waiting. We’re waiting for your mercy. Waiting for the return of Jesus. We’re waiting for the fulfillment of all your promises to bring your kingdom and show your justice and righteousness and love as it reigns, as you reign in a new heaven and new earth. God, we pray all of these things, we pray Jude 1:20-21 in Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
