New Favorite Prayer

Today I received an e-mail from my dad with this prayer as an attachment. This is my new favorite prayer. It's taken from the book, "The Valley of Vision." If you don't have it, you should get it. The prayers are rich and extremely encouraging.

The title of this prayer is "Spiritual Helps."

Eternal Father,
It is amazing love,
that thou hast sent thy Son
to suffer in my stead,
that thou hast added the Spirit
to teach, comfort, guide,
that thou hast allowed the ministry of angels
to wall me round;
All heaven subserves the welfare of a poor worm.
Permit thy unseen servants to be ever active
on my behalf,
and to rejoice when grace expands in me.
Suffer them never to rest until my conflict is over,
and I stand victorious on salvation's shore.
Grant that my proneness to evil, deadness to good,
resistance to thy Spirit's motions,
may never provoke thee to abandon me.
May my hard heart awake thy pity, not thy wrath,
And if the enemy gets an advantage
through my corruption,
let it be seen that heaven is mightier than hell,
that those for me are greater than those
against me.
Arise to my help in richness of covenant blessings,
Keep me feeding in the pastures of thy strengthening Word,
searching Scripture to find thee there.
If my waywardness is visited with a scourge,
enable me to receive correction meekly,
to bless the reproving hand,m
to discern the motive of rebuke,
to respond promptly, and do the first work.
Let all thy fatherly dealings make me a partaker
of thy holiness.
Grant that in every fall I may sink lower
on my knees,
and that when I rise it may be to loftier heights
of devotion.
May my every cross be sanctified,
every loss be gain,
every denial a spiritual advantage,
every dark day a light of the Holy Spirit,
every night of trial a song.

Prayer and Praising

In order to continue to let you in on my personal, spiritual growth, I'm making yet another post.
The past few months have been interesting in my relationship with Christ - times of dryness and laziness and fighting and struggling. Yet, the Lord continues to be faithful. I can be completely confident that "he who began a good work in [me] will bring it to completion" (Phil. 1:6).

This morning was a pretty usual morning. I entered my prayer time realizing my sin and how I needed God to help me. I sought forgiveness first and then went on. You know how it is sometimes. You just start praying - saying words but you don't really know what you're saying because you're mind isn't behind it. Thankfully, by God's grace, I caught myself and re-focused. In the course of my prayers (I can say this now) the Lord gave me a phrase to begin every request. The phrase was "Praise Your Name in...." It's interesting how that phrase totally oriented my attention on the right things. At that moment, I began to see my prayer life not as just a list of things to pray for - as so many people view prayer to be. Instead, when I prayed that phrase, I was helped to realize that I'm praying for God's glory to be known by all in all circumstances of life. I was praying for Him to be exalted in all my prayer requests. Through this phrase, my prayers took a turn for the better. I went from having my mind disengaged to realizing the utter importance and vital nature of my prayers at that time. I went from viewing prayers as something that focuses around me and others to something that focuses on the beauty and majesty of the great God that I get to serve. I went from being lethargic in my prayers to being enthusiastic. And, all this happened because God reminded me that I must be praying for His glory to be known by all in all things.

In reality, isn't that just how we're commanded to pray (not that we are required to say the phrase "praise your name in...', but that we must be seeking His glory first)? When we read in Scripture that we are to pray in Jesus' name, doesn't that actually mean that we are to pray in the power and for the glory of Jesus? Yes, it does.

So, I encourage all of you with my personal experience today - move forward in your prayer life. If you're struggling, fighting or lazy in your relationship with Christ, pray! Pray that God would be praised in and through your life. Pray that He would help you to see that His glory is the ultimate aim of life. And know that even in your prayers He wants to fill you with His fullness as you delight in all that He is and all that He promises to do!

Praise His Name!

Prayer/Desperation

(a repost from early this year)

The Scriptures say that we must pray without ceasing. God tells us that prayer is our communication to Him, our communion with Him, and that He always listens. I don't know about you, but my tendency is to become despondent - looking at myself more than Christ. There's a certain aspect of that tendency that's good in that I'm constantly reminded of my need of a Savior. With that tendency and other circumstances in my life, I've seen more of a need to pray.

Faith's most primary outworking is prayer. If you have strong faith, you'll have a strong prayer life. If your prayer life is weak, your faith is the same. Calvin once said, "...learn that true faith is only that which brings forth prayer to God; for it cannot be but that he who has tasted the goodness of God will ever by prayer seek the enjoyment of it" (Calvin's Commentaries, Romans 10:14).

We must be driven to our knees before God - not to try to prove to Him that we love Him. Instead, we must go to Him because He loves us and He delights in communion with His children. Hence we delight in communing with Him.

Do you believe He'll answer your prayers?
Do you believe He'll do exceeding abundantly above all that you could ask or think?
Do you believe He cares for you?
Do you believe He'll change you as you seek His face?

Seek the Lord. Be bold. Cast your cares on Him. When you fail, trust Christ and run to God.

Praise the Lord for His everlasting mercy and grace. While we're children of the King, and our prayers probably sound more like the googoo gaga's of children, God still calls us to draw near to Him. He'll change you through your relationship with Him. Run to the basics. Run to the Truth. Glorify God.

Prayer/Desperation

The Scriptures say that we must pray without ceasing. God tells us that prayer is our communication to Him, our communion with Him, and that He always listens. I don't know about you, but my tendency is to become despondent - looking at myself more than Christ. There's a certain aspect of that tendency that's good in that I'm constantly reminded of my need of a Savior. With that tendency and other circumstances in my life, I've seen more of a need to pray.

Faith's most primary outworking is prayer. If you have strong faith, you'll have a strong prayer life. If your prayer life is weak, your faith is the same. Calvin once said, "...learn that true faith is only that which brings forth prayer to God; for it cannot be but that he who has tasted the goodness of God will ever by prayer seek the enjoyment of it" (Calvin's Commentaries, Romans 10:14).

We must be driven to our knees before God - not to try to prove to Him that we love Him. Instead, we must go to Him because He loves us and He delights in communion with His children. Hence we delight in communing with Him.

Do you believe He'll answer your prayers?
Do you believe He'll do exceeding abundantly above all that you could ask or think?
Do you believe He cares for you?
Do you believe He'll change you as you seek His face?

Seek the Lord. Be bold. Cast your cares on Him. When you fail, trust Christ and run to God.

Praise the Lord for His everlasting mercy and grace. While we're children of the King, and our prayers probably sound more like the googoo gaga's of children, God still calls us to draw near to Him. He'll change you through your relationship with Him. Run to the basics. Run to the Truth. Glorify God.