prayers

  • seek meekness ~ Zephaniah 2:3 | “Lord, give me humility, or I perish”

     
    Zephaniah 2:3  Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.

    From Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary:

    “They must seek meekness. This is a grace they were so eminent for that they were denominated the meek of the land, and yet this they must seek. Note, Those that are ever so good must still strive to be better, those that have ever so much grace must be still praying and labouring for more. Nay, those that excel in any particular grace must still seek to excel yet more in that, because in that most assaults will be made upon them by their enemies, in that most is expected from them by their friends, and in that they are most apt to be themselves secure. Si dixisti, Sufficit, periisti–Say but, I am all that I ought to be, and you are undone. In the difficult trying times approaching, the meek will find exercise for all the meekness they have, and all little enough, and therefore should seek it earnestly, and pray that when God in his providence gives them occasion for it he would by his grace enable them to exercise it, to show all meekness to all men, in all instances, that, as the day is, so may the strength be.”

    O, for grace to continue to seek meekness, which is found only in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. My flesh continues to be puffed up and proud, lusting against the Spirit, and seeking to take the best and first place. As my days are, so shall my strength be through Jesus Christ. Apart from Him, I am nothing, and I can do nothing. May God’s Holy Spirit continue and complete His sanctifying work He has begun in me so I might be transformed into Christ’s image, becoming a weaned child (Psalm 131) who is meek and humble in heart like the Lord Jesus (Matthew 11:25-30), offering myself to follow and to dwell wherever the Lamb goes, so I might be a willing and obedient servant of the LORD who takes up the basin and towel and gladly takes the lowest place. There is neither peace, nor rest, nor life, nor joy nor blessing anywhere except as I take up the easy yoke and light burden of Christ.

    Philippians 2:4  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.


    Matthew 11:25  At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 26  Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. 27  All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

    28  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

    “Lord, give me humility, or I perish.”
    (George Whitefield in “George Whitefield’s Journals,” Tuesday, July 17, 1739, 305)

    Forth in Thy Name
    (Charles Wesley, 1749)

    Forth in thy Name, O Lord, I go,
    my daily labor to pursue;
    thee, only thee, resolved to know
    in all I think or speak or do.

    The task thy wisdom hath assigned,
    O let me cheerfully fulfill;
    in all my works thy presence find,
    and prove thy good and perfect will.

    Thee may I set at my right hand,
    whose eyes mine inmost substance see,
    and labor on at thy command,
    and offer all my works to thee.

    Give me to bear thy easy yoke,
    and every moment watch and pray,
    and still to things eternal look,
    and hasten to thy glorious day.

    For thee delightfully employ
    whate’er thy bounteous grace hath given;
    and run my course with even joy,
    and closely walk with thee to heav’n.

    Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jacopo_Tintoretto_-_Christ_Washing_the_Feet_of_His_Disciples_(detail)_-_WGA22428.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0 / {PD-Art|PD-old-100}

    Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

  • In my contemplation | update 4/29/11

     
    O, my God
    In my contemplation
    O, my soul takes flight
    Ascends to Zion’s height

    O, how to show Your loveliness
    O, how to show Your life
    To all who took the fatal bite
    Enslaved by sin’s plight

    O, my God
    In my contemplation
    O, my soul takes flight
    Ascends to Zion’s height

    O how to show Your brightness
    O how to show Your delight
    To all who are joyless
    Downcast by sin’s plight

    O, my God,
    In my contemplation
    O, my soul takes flight
    Ascends to Zion’s height

    O, how to show Your splendor
    O, how to show Your light
    To all who are darkened
    Blinded by sin’s plight

    O, my God,
    In my contemplation
    O, my soul takes flight
    Ascends to Zion’s height

    O, Lord God
    In my contemplation
    O, my soul is weeping
    Behold! the city sleeping

    O, Lord God
    In my contemplation
    Souls are hungry
    Souls are thirsty

    O, Lord God
    In my contemplation
    Ears are stopped
    Eyes are blinded

    O, Lord God
    In my contemplation
    Sent to the wilderness
    I speak but am voiceless

    O, Lord God
    In my contemplation
    See the bones lying
    Aroma of souls dying

    O, my God
    In my contemplation
    Groaning, yearning
    Christ in my heart burning

    O, my God
    In my contemplation
    O, my tongue is silent
    Heavens above be rent

    O, my God
    In my contemplation
    Not one seed have I
    Hasten to the sower supply

    O, my God
    In my contemplation
    Loaves will you not lend
    To the sowers You send

    O, my God
    In my contemplation
    Pleading here below
    Celestial wine flow

    O, Lord God
    In my contemplation
    Be merciful to the holy nation
    For Your glory and celebration

    “The Lord furnish us all with spiritual food wherewith to feed so great multitudes.”
    George Whitefield’s Journals, Saturday, May 26, 1739



    Isaiah 55:10 …giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater…

    II Corinthians 9:10  He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

    Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragements. As of late I have found increasing challenges and powerful temptations, including many fears and doubts rising up in my mind in a hellish fashion. I don’t use the word “hellish” flippantly here or in an exaggerated manner. There is a battle going on for my own soul and the souls of men. But God has been faithful to meet me and strengthen me throughout. And so, once again today I am asking Him to supply what I cannot. Without Him we can do nothing. That is just not a nice Bible verse to memorize and regurgitate. It is not a trite cliché. It is the true reality of the Christian life. We have no life apart from Jesus Christ and His all-sufficient supplies.

    In God’s wonderful providence, as I’ve been led to focus in on Psalm 84 as a start to our women’s study (please see here for a little more on that), I’ve become even more keenly aware of the struggles we (I!) face on our Christian pilgrimage, as we (I) strive to make our (my) calling and election sure, to press onto the prize of the high calling.

    I love the whole Psalm, but here are some of my favorite verses (from the NKJV):

    5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
             Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
     6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
             They make it a spring;
             The rain also covers it with pools.
     7 They go from strength to strength;
             Each one appears before God in Zion.

    We need to continue to go back to our God – time and again – there is never a time we can stop doing so. That is our blessed privilege and calling as children of God who have been redeemed with the blood of the Lamb. We are wholly dependent on Christ for each and every step of our pilgrimage. After all, this is a spiritual pilgrimage and we are in need of spiritual supplies; earthly supplies simply will not do! They will not get us to the Celestial City! God alone is our strength and our life. He is everlasting strength and everlasting life. Apart from Him, we have no true strength and no true life. We will never be joyful or overflow with living water in the weeping and thirsty Valley of Baca unless we continue to go back to eat and drink of Christ. And if we are not eating and drinking as we ought, if we as Christians are not going from strength to strength, if we are not abiding in Christ, how will the joyless and thirsty souls in the world ever be drawn to Christ? We are sent into the dry and parched world so Christ’s living waters might bubble up from within us and flow out through us.

    John 7:37  On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39  Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

    If we aren’t drinking, how will the rivers flow?

    I wrote most of the above post about a week ago, but then put it aside. I “rediscovered” it this morning and noticed how it wonderfully expressed my heart’s cry today. Plus, I was especially excited to see how it flowed from the thoughts I’d posted yesterday on my other site in my post this earthly manna ~ the Christian hedonist’s plea. (I’ll probably repost it there sometime, but I know I’ve been remiss in giving you an update here and wanted to do so…even though I know there’s a pretty big overlap in my readers.) This morning I’d opened Whitefield’s Journals to read a bit and then came across his wonderful words which helped to tie it all together.

    May our God keep us hungry and thirsty for Him!

    I Samuel 2:5  Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
    but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.

    Luke 1:53  …he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and the rich he has sent empty away.

    Accepted in and fed and filled by the Beloved,
    Karen

    Related:

    our insufficiency for ministry
    “Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.” (Ezekiel 37:11)
    a famine of hearing the words of the LORD
    Where do you go when the world is unlovely? (Psalm 84 & the theology of Biblical counseling)
    the pilgrim’s Assurance ~ His Sovereign pouring | letter 110 on assurance & fighting for joy

  • Ministry’s temptations ~ Take heed . . . do not be solicitous what place should be prepared for you

    Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. – Acts 20:28

    From Richard Baxter’s “The Reformed Pastor,” Chapter 1, “The Oversight of Ourselves,” Section 2, The Motives to This Oversight (emphasis, mine):

    3. Take heed to yourselves, because the tempter will more ply you with his temptations than other men. If you will be the leaders against the prince of darkness, he will spare you no further than God restraineth him. He beareth the greatest malice to those that are engaged to do him the greatest mischief. As he hateth Christ more than any of us, because he is the General of the field, the Captain of our salvation, and doth more than all the world besides against his kingdom; so doth he hate the leaders under him, more than the common soldiers: he knows what a rout he may make among them, if the leaders fall before their eyes. He hath long tried that way of fighting, neither against great nor small comparatively, but of smiting the shepherds, that he may scatter the flock: and so great hath been his success this way, that he will continue to follow it as far as he is able. Take heed, therefore, brethren, for the enemy hath a special eye upon you. You shall have his most subtle insinuations, and incessant solicitations, and violent assaults…

    8. Lastly, Take heed to yourselves, for the success of all your labors doth very much depend upon this. God useth to fit men for great works, BEFORE he employs them as his instruments in accomplishing them.


    From “George Whitefield’s Journals,” Section IV “On My Preparation for Holy Orders,” p. 65 (emphasis, mine):

    From the time I first entered at the University, especially from the time I knew what was true and undefiled Christianity, I entertained high thoughts of the importance of the ministerial office, and was not solicitous what place should be prepared for ME, but how I SHOULD BE PREPARED for a place.

    O Lord my God,

    You have searched me and shown me how I have been solicitous that a place be prepared for me for my glory rather than my being prepared for a place for Your glory! I confess I have been more concerned about the work I might do for You rather than Your work in me. Forgive my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness for Jesus’ sake. Turn my gaze from self to You. Turn my heart away from vainglory so I might seek Your glory. Purify my heart so I might not be solicitous a place be prepared for me, but rather that Your preparations be done in my heart for You. Send Your Holy Spirit to fill me, fit me and prepare me so I might be sent to prepare Your way and in doing so bring glory to Christ alone for He alone is worthy. I am but an unprofitable servant. May I take heed and not shrink back from Your vital work of fitting and preparation that must be done in me before You might employ me as Your instrument. To You alone be all the praise, honor and glory. Amen.

    Psalm 116 (KJV)
    16  O LORD, I am your servant;
    I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
    You have loosed my bonds.
    17  I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
    and call on the name of the LORD.
    18  I will pay my vows to the LORD
    in the presence of all his people,
    19  in the courts of the house of the LORD,
    in your midst, O Jerusalem.
    Praise the LORD!
    From “May the Mind of Christ, My Savior”
    by Kate B. Wilkinson

    May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
    Live in me from day to day,
    By His love and power controlling
    All I do and say.

    May the love of Jesus fill me
    As the waters fill the sea;
    Him exalting, self abasing,
    This is victory.

    May His beauty rest upon me,
    As I seek the lost to win,
    And may they forget the channel,
    Seeing only Him.

    Oh that we may be in any way instrumental to His glory! That He would make us vessels pure and holy, meet for our Master’s use!

    – George Whitefield’s Journals, Friday, January 5, 1739, p. 196

    Related: “your heart is not right in the sight of God” – May I not waste God’s loving discipline