On Friday night I'd been brought back to a place of shame and conviction. Fresh wounds of not abiding in His word, as I wish and know I should. Conviction over writing things in this blog that week, again. I wanted to put my hand over my mouth before my God and only let Him speak now. That night I only wanted to read the Scriptures, not listen to myself speak in prayer. So I grabbed my bible and saw my copy of Valley of Vision and thought, that will be a good way to pray tonight. I randomly opened it, and yes it was one of those times where it's exactly what you need, exactly how you feel. . .
A Christian's Prayer
Blessed God,
Ten thousand snares are mine without and within,
defend thou me;
When sloth and indolence seize me,
give me views of heaven;
When sinners entice me,
give me disrelish of their ways;
When sensual pleasures tempt me,
purify and refine me;
When I desire worldly possessions,
help me to be rich toward thee;
When the vanities of the world ensnare me,
let me not plunge into new guilt and ruin.
May I remember the dignity of my spiritual release,
never be too busy to attend my soul,
never be so engrossed with time
that I neglect the things of eternity;
thus may I not only live, but grow towards thee.
Form my mind to right notions of religion,
that I may not judge of grace by wrong conceptions,
nor measure my spiritual advances by the efforts of my natural being.
May I seek after an increase of divine love to thee,
after unreserved resignation to thy will,
after extensive benevolence to my fellow creatures,
after patience and fortitude of soul,
after a heavenly disposition
after a concern that I may please thee in public and private.
Draw on my soul the lineaments of Christ,
in every trace and feature of which thou wilt take delight,
for I am
thy workmanship, created in Christ Jesus,
thy letter written with the Holy Spirit's pen,
thy tilled soil ready for the sowing, then harvest.
_________________________________________________________________
The revelation of my sins, deep and loud continued Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Tears filled each day along with brokenness, but not to the absence of His using me. I got to serve my brother and sister in Christ Saturday night, shared the gospel twice, encouraged a new believer, encouraged a sister in Christ on Sunday, and through my sin was drawn closer to my unsaved co-workers (the very same ones that were calling us hypocites, rightly so, I proved) on Monday and He gave me a brand new compassion I'd never felt for my aunt who I ran into at the gym and was able to share more truth than she receives in her church. Amazing Grace, Amazing God!
if we are faithless, he remains faithful-- for he cannot deny himself. - 2 Timothy 2:13
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. - Isaiah 55:8
As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!
-Psalms 40:11
It's so exciting to see Him at work, but the fear of falling is always near, I must rebuke this thought too for He says:
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
- 1 John 4:18
This I will continue to seek to understand.
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
-Ephesians 3:17-19
I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
-John 17:23
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-Romans 8:38-39
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
-Romans 5:8
God is truly faithful, knows what we need before we ask, does not give us what we want, but what we need and is able to do abundantly more than we could ever ask or think.
This faith is not my own, it is God in me, therefore it will never fail.
Amazing Grace, Amazing God!
Little lamb, do not forget.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Dear Jennifer,
The Lord has so many times given me just the verse or song or poem that I needed, just the one that would encourage me in Him and show me His love. Those times are so special for me to remember; one time, late at night, my mind was so confused, so convicted, that I grabbed my Bible from next to my bed in desperation and opened it with a prayer for help; and I read, "Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee." (Psalm 116:7) Oh, the joy and the peace that brought to me! To know that He cares that much for me, to provide me with the perfect answers to whatever I am struggling with and to give me more blessings than I can count, simply because He loves me and because I am His in my Savior.
Thank you for sharing His faithfulness to you! May we never forget His love and His goodness, but always walk in a manner pleasing to Him, bringing Him glory as we show His work in us to the world.
Love you!
In His service,
Emily Potter
Post a Comment