Category Archives: Pray

Christian Charity is our Duty. But….

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WTSBooks

I love this quote from the book I am using to teach in our Ladies’ Book Club, and thought that maybe you will find it useful too.

“The exercise of Christian charity is an essential duty, yet it is not to override everything else- God has not exercised love at the expense of righteousness. The exercising of love does not mean that the Christian himself is to become a nonentity; a mere straw blown hither and tither by every current of wind he encounters. He is never to please his brethren at the expense of displeasing God. Love is not to oust liberty. The exercise of love does not require the Christian to yield principle, to wound his own conscience, or to become the slave of every fanatic he meets. Love does enjoin curbing of his own desires and seeking the good, the profit, the edification of his brethren; but it does not call for subscribing to their errors and depriving himself of the right of personal judgment. There is a balance to be preserved here: a happy medium between cultivating unselfishness and becoming the victim of the selfishness of others.”  A.W. Pink, The Prayers of the Apostle (p.26) (emphasis mine).

My Pastor says it well, “Grace has a backbone.”

Under His sun and by His grace,

Becky

Importunate Prayers

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Sometimes we are importunate with our words because we speak (or write) too fast. Without giving our thoughts, our words a second thought. With God, in prayer, we will never be importunate. What if instead of letting the words come out of our mouth (or fingertips) unedited before our friends (or in social media), we first pray about that particular worry, situation or person?

Let’s remember that there is never an importunate time to meet with God with our needs, concerns, with our petitions.

“Importunity is made up of the ability to hold on, to press on, to wait with unrelaxed and unrelaxable grasp, restless desire and restful patience. Importunate prayer is not an incident, but the main thing, not a performance  but a passion, not a need but a necessity… Few things give such quickened and permanent vigour to the soul as a long exhaustive season of importunate prayer.

Our seasons of importunate prayer cut themselves, like the print of a diamond, into our hardest places, and mark with inefaceable traces of our characters. They are the salient periods of our lives, the memorial stones which endure and to which we turn.”

E.M. Bounds

Under His sun and by His grace,

Becky

A Prayer and a Reflection for the Week -Based on Psalm 143:8-11

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“Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul. Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for I hide myself in You. Teach me to do Your will, for you are my God; may your gracious Spirit lead me on level ground. For Your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life; in Your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.”    Psalm 143:8-11

J.R. Miller wrote a wonderful reflection on this Psalm which I would like to encourage you to read today, the Lord’s Day, and mediate on it through out all the week (you can find it here).

“He who lives without prayer—lives without God. He who lives a life of prayer—walks with God by day and by night. The more we have to do, and the more care we have—the more do we need to begin our days with prayer! No day starts well without its morning prayer. We need to get the touch of Christ’s hand upon us, to give us calmness and strength as we go forth” J.R. Miller

Praying that the Lord will help us to abide in Him today, tomorrow, and the days to come.

Becky

Praying the Sermon on the Mount -On Giving-

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©Katie Lloyd Photography -used with permission-

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6: 1-4 

Father, thank you for your Word that enlightens our path and teaches us how to live the Christian life. Thank you, because you give to us, you fill our cup so that we can give to others. Thank you, because if we give it is because you have put in our hearts the desire and the will to do so. Thank you because through giving is that we can understand the joy of living an abundant life in the Kingdom of God.

Lord, thank you for the opportunities that you give us to bless others. Thank you, because when we give, we love like you love: Giving, and giving deliberately.

Forgive us, Oh Lord, for the many times that we have chosen not to give. Forgive us when we try to find ways not to be generous. Forgive us, when we have not given to the one who begs from us and when we have refused to the one who would borrow from us. Help us to give, and give and give with open hands. Not withholding anything, but remembering that You are the owner of all that we have been entrusted with.

Forgive us also when we give to be seen by others to find their favor or their praise. Work in us so that we may learn to give quietly, secretly; not even expecting a “thank you.”  Remind us that when we do a good deed we are doing it unto you and not unto men.

Thank you, Father, for the joy that accompanies giving. Thank you because that is a beautiful thing that we can treasure in the quiet of our soul.

Fill us, we pray,  with more of the joy of the Kingdom by giving us wide open eyes to see all the opportunities you put before us so that we stretch our hands to give to others.

Father, it is my prayer also that you will teach us to receive with a grateful heart, understanding that all good things come from you. Help us receive from the hands of others knowing that those gifts, those blessings come directly from your heart to us. Give us a grateful heart, a humble heart. Lord,  a heart that is always willing to give, and a heart that is always ready to embrace your gifts with gratitude.

Amen

Becky

Praying the Psalms -Psalm 138-

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Psalm 138
Of David
 
I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
    before the gods I sing your praise;
I bow down toward your holy temple
    and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
    for you have exalted above all things
    your name and your word.
On the day I called, you answered me;
    my strength of soul you increased.

 All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O Lord,
    for they have heard the words of your mouth,
and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
    for great is the glory of the Lord.
For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly,
    but the haughty he knows from afar.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
    you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
    and your right hand delivers me.
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
    your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
    Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Abba Father, I give you thanks with my whole heart. I give you thanks because out of love, you have given me so many wonderful things and have brought me through different situations in which I have learned how faithful you are and how much I need you.

Father, I give thanks not generally; I am not trying to be a grateful woman for the sake of being grateful. As your child I want to give thanks to you. Not to the gods of this world, not to fate, but you, Lord.

As I come to offer you a prayer of thanksgiving, remind me that bowing down is good for my soul. It reminds me that I am low, that I do not deserve anything and yet you bless me in so many ways. I am crowned with new mercies each morning and that is because it pleases you to do so.

Thank you for your steadfast love, your faithfulness. Thank you because you have exalted your Name and your Word above all things. Thank you because Your Name is powerful and your Word is a conquering sword. Thank you, Lord, because you promised that anything we ask so that the Father may be glorified in the Son, if we ask in your Name you will give it to us. Thank you, Lord.

Thank you for your Word, Father. It is there that we learn how to ask according to your will and not according to our selfish desires. Thank you for giving us your Word to show us the way, to live, to fight, to conquer over our enemies. Thank you, Father. Please, Oh please, may your Holy Spirit teach us to understand it and draw us to it every day.

Father, how many times I have called on you, and you have always answered me. How many times when I am weary or someone else in the body of Christ is weary and we pray you always answer us by giving us grace to endure the trials. You delight in increasing the strength of the soul of the weary ones. You always show strong when we are weak. You renew the strength of your people as the eagle’s.

Lord, thank you for the hope we have in the days that are yet to come. Thank you because we will see one day all the kings of the earth giving you thanks and bowing down before you. They will all know that the words of your mouth are all true and wise. They will all sing of your ways for great is your glory.

Father, give me this day, this week, a humble and meek heart; give me a quiet heart that knows that you are Sovereign and merciful, and that in such a grand truth my heart may learn to rest and hold its peace. Deliver me from all haughtiness, from all pride, from all self-righteousness, and forgive me, O Lord, for the many times I have sinned in this. Renew me, cleanse me. Give me a humble heart, which is always a grateful heart.

Lord, I don’t know what lies ahead of me this week, but I know that even if your will for me is that I may walk in the midst of trouble, you will most certainly preserve my life. You will stretch your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your hand will deliver me.

I know that you are faithful and you will fulfill your purpose for me, for my family, for my church because your steadfast love endures forever. Oh Father, do not forsake the work of your hands.

I pray this in the name that is above all names, the name of Jesus.

Amen

Becky

Quiet Times in the Morning

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Still Life with Bible, Van Gogh

Reading books, listening to sermons, and having conversations that encourage us to grow in godliness is essential, and it is essential because sometimes the easiest thing is not getting up early to pray and read the Word of God. Many times our bodies win the battle, we stay in bed and then the rest of the day we feel like we are dragging our soul through the various circumstances and duties ahead of us.

I am now reading True Community: The Biblical Practice of Koinonia by Jerry Bridges and in it I found great encouragement to keep on waking up early to have quiet times (praying and reading the Scriptures) with God.

Let me share a few quotes with you so that you may also be encouraged:

“Our communion should be more than just having a quiet time in the morning; it should be an all-day affair. In fact, Isaiah and David take us one step further. They talk about having communion with the Lord even in the night. Isaiah said, “My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you” (Isaiah 26:9). David said, “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night” (Psalm 63:6).”

 

“The morning quiet time lays the foundation for our all-day communion with God because it tunes our hearts to commune with Him for the rest of the day. It is a time when we can concentrate all our faculties on worshiping Him in reverent adoration. It is a time when we can give undivided attention to His Word and talk to Him in prayer.”

“We may have communion with God throughout the entire day, but seeking His face connotes an intensity of mind and heart that is usually possible only during our time alone with God.”

 

“Intense, organized prayer alone with God in the morning prepares us to breathe those quick, silent prayers that are needed so often throughout the day.”

 

“Matthew Henry says that to walk with God is “to set God always before us, and to act as those that are always under his eye. It is to live a life of communion with God both in ordinances and providences. It is to make God’s word our rule and his glory our end in all our actions.”

  

“How do we, then, practice communion with God throughout the day? If the morning quiet time is the foundation of that communion, Scripture meditation and prayer are the framework of it.”

 

“We can meditate on Scripture — think about it and reflect on it — throughout the day only if we have it in our minds. And we have Scripture in our minds only if we have made the effort to just plain memorize it. There is no shortcut to meditation that bypasses Scripture memorization.”

 

“Our emphasis today is on doing things for God, or on believing the right doctrines about Him. But few believers take time to commune with God simply for the sake of enjoying Him and adoring Him. In the church today, there seems to be very little of that thirst for God described in Psalm 42:1: “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”

Under His sun and by His grace,
 

Becky