Category Archives: Lord’s Day

Praying the Psalms -Psalm 11-

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©Shiloh Photography

 

Psalm 11
To the choirmaster. Of David.
In the Lord I take refuge;
how can you say to my soul,
“Flee like a bird to your mountain,
for behold, the wicked bend the bow;
they have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;
if the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?”
The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord’s throne is in heaven;
his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.
The Lord tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
Let him rain coals on the wicked;
fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
For the Lord is righteous;
he loves righteous deeds;
the upright shall behold his face.

Father of all Comforts, I come to you with a most grateful heart because you have opened a way for your children to approach you. You have invited us to come and lay our hearts open before you. Thank you for opening a way to your Throne of Mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Father, so many times when the trials come, and I cannot see clearly what is it that you are doing, and the hand of my enemies, those sins that hunt me, rise with fury against me, my heart wishes to flee.

And I see this same things happens to my fellow brothers and sisters; when the devil attacks, many times we just want to flee away. How fool of us! Instead of running to you, instead of praying more and reading the bible more, and meditate on it even more. Instead of running to our Strong Tower, we long to flee! And then we found ourselves in a desolate place where all is cold and quiet; and there in the hiding place we have made ourselves, we cry to You and ask why You are not close, why You feel so distant. We are full of fears, full of doubts and the longer we stay there, the farther you seem to be, and yet we don’t open our Bibles, we don’t pray, we just grumble and despair. Our foundations seem to fall apart, our faith is weary. What can we do now? Father, we are yours, we cannot remain in the dark of own hiding place much longer, we belong to you, O Father of Light, help us see that every time we flee from our enemies, if we don’t flee towards You, the pain will only grow deeper and become unbearable, and our faith will start to shatter into a thousand little pieces. O Holy Spirit draw us to the Father!

Wonderful Father, you have shown us where to find You, you have opened the way for us, You have bid us to come to you. Many situations may swirl around us, and yet You remain the same. Sovereign God, always sited in your throne, in your holy temple. Nothing moves You, nothing can hinder your plans. You are above all of us reigning sovereignly. Your eyes are watching us, even there when we are alone in that secret hiding place that we have foolishly made “far away” from You. You see us and test us. How long until we come to our senses and understand that is in You, only in You that we will find rest? It is only when we abide in your presence that we can fight and conquer sin. It is not in running away from You with shame and guilt that we will be safe; but it is only when we come to you in prayer, asking forgiveness for our sins, that we will be safe, that we will be strengthen, that our foundation will not be destroyed but made even stronger.O Father, draw us near to the cross, draw us to Jesus, draw us to see to empty tomb and our Savior risen! Strengthen our faith, O Lord!

We pray, destroy our enemies, O Lord, and help us fight the good fight of faith. Help us hate all wickedness and love righteousness. Help us run to you in times of need.

O Lord, that we may behold your face.

Amen

Becky

A Prayer on the The Resurrection Day

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The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection by Eugène Burnard
O LORD,
I marvel that thou shouldst become incarnate,
be crucified, dead, and buried.
The sepulchre calls forth my adoring wonder,
for it is empty and thou art risen;
the four-fold gospel attests it,
the living witnesses prove it,
my heart’s experience knows it.
Give me to die with thee that I may rise to new life,
for I wish to be as dead and buried
to sin, to selfishness, to the world;
that I might not hear the voice of the charmer,
and might be delivered from his lusts.
O Lord, there is so much ill about me -crucify it,
much flesh within me -mortify it.
Purge me from selfishness, the fear of man, the love of approbation,
the shame of being thought old-fashioned,
the desire to be cultivated or modern.
Let me reckon my old life dead because of crucifixion,
and never feed it as a living thing.
Grant me to stand with my dying Savior,
to be content to be rejected,
to be willing to take up unpopular truths,
and to hold fast despised teachings until death.
Help me to be resolute and Christ-contained.
Never let me wander from the path of obedience to thy will.
Strengthen me for the battles ahead.
Give me courage for all the trials, and grace for all the joys.
Help me to be a holy, happy person,
free from every wrong desire,
from everything contrary to thy mind.
Grant me more and more of the resurrection life:
may it rule me.
may I walk in its power, and be strengthen through its influence.
Give me the assurance that in Christ I died, in Him I rose,
in His life I live, in His victory I triumph,
in His ascension I shall be glorified.
Adorable Redeemer,
Thous who wast lifted up upon a cross
art ascended to highest heaven.
Thou, who as a man of sorrows wast crowned with thorns,
art now as Lord of life wreathed with glory.
What more could be done that thou hast done!
Thy death is my life,
thy resurrection my peace,
thy ascension my hope,
thy prayers my comfort.
Amen

Because in Him we live,

Becky

*From the Valley of Vision’s prayers: Resurrection and, Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Praying the Psalms -Psalm 8-

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Psalm 8

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of David.

 

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

O my Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Among your people, your name is exalted,
among the nations, all of them, Your name is great.
Your name is above all those who love you,
and above all those who hate you.
Your name, Your character,
is majestic because it is who You are.
Your name is majestic;
Rock of Ages,
Great I Am,
Conqueror,
Victorious,
King of Kings,
Strong Tower,
O Lord, You have established strength,
over your enemies.
We pray for our babies and infants,
for our sons and daughters,
let your praise be in their lips,
let them sing of the glories of your Name!

Lord, seeing your creation,
the perfection of it;
seeing the order with which you have created all of it,
draws me to your feet.
Father, why did it please you to look at me?
Why did you turn your eyes toward me to save me?
I am one. So little. A sinful one. Guilty.
And yet, You are mindful of me?
You care for me?
Lord, that is amazing!
Your name is majestic:
Savior,
Merciful Father,
Messiah,
Intercessor,
Mediator,
The Amen.

O LORD,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Amen

Becky

Related Series: Celebrating the Excellencies of His Name

 

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A Family Prayer for the Lord’s Day Morning

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Matthew Henry wrote a family prayer for the Lord’s Day Morning   a beautiful and rich prayer that will sure bless your heart today. O what a blessing it is to prepare our hearts in prayer before we go come to the Lord’s house to worship Him among the saints!

Moms, let us wake up earlier,  with a happy heart and set, with our readiness, a peaceful tune in our home before we come Church. Let no bitterness or resentment, or selfishness take hold of us. Let us serve gladly our Lord this day by serving those we love the most.

 

@Katie Lloyd Photography

Because this is a lengthy prayer, I am only sharing here some excerpts* from it:

Most gracious God, and our Father in our Lord Jesus Christ; it is good for us to draw near to Thee; the nearer the better; and it will be best of all, when come to be nearest of all in the kingdom of glory.

 

We bless Thee for the return of the morning light, and that thou causest the day-spring to know its place and time. O let the day-spring from on high visit our dark souls, and the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing under his wings.

 

We bless thee that the light we see is the Lord’s: That this is the day which the Lord hath made, hath made for man, hath made for himself, we will rejoice and be glad in it. That thou hast revealed unto us thy holy sabbaths, and that we were betimes taught to put a difference between this day and other days, and that we live in a land in all parts of which God is publicly and solemnly worshiped on this day.

 

Now we bid this sabbath welcome: Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest. O that we may be in the Spirit on this Lord’s Day; that this may be the sabbath of the Lord in our dwelling; in our hearts, a sabbath of rest from sin, and a sabbath of rest in God. Enable us, we pray thee, so to sanctify this sabbath, as that it may be sanctified to us and be a means of our sanctification; that by resting today from our worldly employments, our hearts may be more and more taken off from present things and prepared to leave them; and that by our employing our time today in the worship of God, we may be led into a more experimental acquaintance with the work of heaven, and be made more meet for that blessed world.

We confess we are utterly unworthy of the honour and unable for the work of communion with thee, but we come to thee in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is worthy, and depend upon the assistance of thy blessed Spirit to work all our works in us, and so ordain peace for us.

 

O Lord, we bless thee for thy holy word, which is a light to our feet and a lamp to our paths, and which was written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope; that the scriptures are preserved pure and entire to us, and that we have them in a language that we understand. We beg that we may not receive the grace of God herein in vain. We bless thee that our eyes see the joyful light, and our ears hear the joyful sound of a Redeemer and a Saviour, and of redemption and salvation by him; that life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel. Glory be to God in the highest, for in and through Jesus Christ there is on earth peace and good-will towards men.

 

O that our hearts may be filled this day with pleasing thoughts of Christ and his love to us, that great love wherewith he loved us. O the admirable dimensions of that love; the height, the depth, and length, and breadth of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge! Let this love constrain us to love him and to live to him, who died for us and rose again. O that it may be a pleasure and mighty satisfaction to us to think that while we are here praying at the footstool of the throne of grace, our blessed Saviour is sitting at the right hand of the throne of glory, interceding for us. We earnestly beg that through him we may find favour with thee our God, and may be taken into covenant and communion with thee.

 

We humbly pray thee, for his sake, forgive all our sins, known and unknown, in thought, word, and deed: Through him let us be acquitted of guilt and accepted as righteous in thy sight; let us not come into condemnation, as we have deserved; let our iniquity be taken away and our sin covered; and let us be clothed with the spotless robe of Christ’s righteousness, that the shame of our nakedness may not appear. O let there be no cloud of guilt to interpose between us and our God this day, and to intercept our comfortable communion with him; and let our lusts be mortified and subdued, that our corruptions may not be as a clog to us, to hinder the ascent of our souls heavenwards.

 

Let thy presence be in all assemblies of good Christians this day. Grace be with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity; let grace be upon them all. In the chariot of the everlasting gospel, let the great Redeemer ride forth triumphantly, conquering and to conquer, and let every thought be brought into obedience to him. Let many be brought to believe the report of the gospel, and to many let the arm of the Lord be revealed. Let sinners be converted unto thee, and thy saints edified and built up in faith, holiness, and comfort, unto salvation. Complete the number of thine elect, and hasten thy kingdom.

 

Now the Lord of peace himself give us peace always by all means. The God of hope fill us with joy and peace in believing, for Christ Jesus’ sake, our blessed Saviour and Redeemer, who hath taught us to pray, Our Father which art in heaven, etc.

Grace upon Grace,

Becky

*You can read Matthew Henry’s: A family Prayer for the Lord’s Day Morning in full here

Praying the Psalms -Psalm 19-

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©Katie Lloyd Photography

Psalm 19

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Lord, I love to watch the sky you have created; the vastness of it compared with my smallness. You above all and yet so close to me. Your glory revealed in the firmament, in the formation of clouds, in the sun and the colors we see. Lift my eyes, O Lord, to the  heavens above and remind me of your magnificence, your power, your greatness. That I may never forget how small I am and how much of a need I have of you.

 

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

And even though contemplating the beauty of the heavens fascinates me, nothing compares with the perfection of your law.

Lord, the truth is that many times when we feel weary and fool, we draw away from your law. Oh, how foolish we are! It is only your law that can revive our heart. It is only your law, your perfect law, that can make us wise. Lord, many times when we are sad, we go looking for a friend, but Oh God, who can really turn our tears into laughter? Only you. Your precepts bring true joy to our heart. We seek advice from many and yet, we barely come to You in prayer, seeking you with all diligence, longing to hear from You in your Word. Lord, you alone can enlighten our path because You are the Light, and your Word is a lamp into our feet. Father, that I may fear your Holy Name, that I may walk upright before You all the days of my life; that I may seek your Word and your precepts above all.

It makes my soul good to examine the things that I value the most. Do I really desire your law more than gold? More than all the comforts I enjoy? More than any material things I have, because of your grace towards me? Do I really find it sweeter than honey? Is it my greatest delight?  Lord, you know my answer: No. Not always. Transform this heart of mine, that I may grow in love for you. Deliver me from the lie that knowing in my mind is enough. I want to love you, and your law, and your precepts, and your Word. I want to LOVE YOU more and more. Lord, that I may take heed of your warnings and abide in your Word; that I may rejoice greatly in the rewards you have promised to those who keep your Law and love it.

Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.

Father, I am so feeble, so simple at times, and so arrogant in my heart at other times that I don’t even see my sin. Other times come when I love my sin so much that I just don’t want to see it. Who can discern his own errors? Certainly not me. Thank you for the Holy Spirit that whispers me through the Word pointing to my sin and granting me repentance. Thanks for the conscience that is not easily put to silence. Deliver me, deliver me, Oh God, from all presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Cleanse me with the blood of Jesus, my Savior, and remember my sin no more.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

These three lines sum it all up…Yes, and amen to every word in them:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

In Jesus’ name, my Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer,

Amen.

Becky

Praying the Psalms -Psalm 119: 25-32-

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Shiloh Photography

 

Psalm 119:25-32
(ESV)
Daleth
25 My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word!
26 When I told of my ways, you answered me;
teach me your statutes!
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
28 My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word!
29 Put false ways far from me
and graciously teach me your law!
30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I set your rules before me.
31 I cling to your testimonies, O LORD;
let me not be put to shame!
32 I will run in the way of your commandments
when you enlarge my heart!

Lord, I come to you, to your Word, still clinging to the dust, to my humanity, to my weakness. My sin is in front of me, and I want to be pure of heart. God, I need your Word. I need your Word to change my life, to turn my thoughts, the way I see life, all of it turn it upside down. O LORD, give me life according to your Word. Set your eyes on me and give me life as I read the Word, as I memorize and meditate on them. Give me life as I consider one by one your words.

Answer my prayer, Lord. Teach me, please, teach me your statutes, help me to live by them, to treasure them, to make them mine. To be able to see all through the lens of Your Word.

Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. That is the only way my soul will find rest when sorrow comes. O Lord, strengthen me according to your Word. Strengthen my inner being, so that I can fight effectively with the Sword in my hand and in my mouth, against my flesh, against the assaults of the devil, against this world and all the pleasures it offers me.

Have mercy on me, LORD, and put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! Give me grace to learn obedience and deliver me from evil.  Oh Father, I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I want to set your rules, Your Word before me. I do not want to depart. I want to abide in you, in your Word. Help me, Lord.

Lord, I cling now to your testimonies, let me not be put to shame. Help me live what I memorize, help me be a doer and not a fool that disobeys.

Enlarge my heart, Father, and I will run in the way of your commandments.

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh,

Amen

Becky