“O Lord, how I long for Thee to bring me face to face with Thyself! My soul thirsteth for Thee, for the touch of Thy grace, the breathing of Thy Spirit” (ref#27, p38).

Whatever Reason I May Call Upon Him

I cannot find out the deep things of You, GOD,

nor You limit, Almighty.
I cannot explore Your depths,
or ascend to Your heights,

I cannot extend to Your breadths,
or comprehend Your infinite perfection.

No, I cannot explain the mystery of You,

nor diagram my GOD (Job 11:7).

The secret things belong to You, LORD,

but the revealed things are my business
and my children’s forever
that we may follow Your laws (Deut 29:29).

For who has a GOD so near,
as the LORD is to me.
For whatever reason I may call upon Him;

He is always ready to listen (Deut 4:7).

You are great in counsel and mighty in deed;

to my ways Your eyes are open,
rewarding me according to my work,

according to the fruit of my deeds (Jer 32:19).

Powerful is Your Arm

“I…submit to Your unfathomable judgments, Lord;

You alone are truly great.
Immeasurable greatness!
Uncrossable sea” (ref#147, p149)!

Powerful is Your arm! Strong is Your hand! Your right hand is lifted high in glorious strength (Ps 89:13). Not only is Your arm and hand mighty and strong to save Your people, but also to destroy Your enemies. None can resist the force of Your mighty hand. Not one of Your enemies shall flee away. Even if they climb up to heaven You will bring them down (Amos 9:2). Your lifted right hand is a signal of Your power. Your right hand does valiantly (Ps 118:15).

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Unfailing love and truth walk before you as attendants (Ps 89:14). Righteousness and judgment inhabit Your throne. Your rules of equity and wisdom never vary. Mercy and truth go before You. These are all Yours in perfection (ref#18, [Ps 89:14]).

Powerful is Your arm to save. 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. (Ps 138:7 ESV) I will meditate on Your strength.

Prayer Facts:

“It is more than asking, it is communion, fellowship, co-operation, identification, with God the Father and the Son by the Holy Spirit” (ref#4, p61).

Reasons for Waiting for GOD:

Because You work out everything in agreement with the counsel and design of Your own will (Eph 1:11), I will wait for You.
Because every good and perfect gift comes from You with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17), I will wait for You.

Because You satisfy the longing soul and fill the hungry soul with good (Ps 107:9), I will wait for You.
Because You know how to rescue the godly out of temptations and trials (2 Pet 2:9), I will wait for You.

Heirs of GOD’s Promises and GOD Himself

FATHER, my irrepressible joy comes from the consciousness of Your favor and protection (Ps 97:11). I thank You not only for everything Your covenant promises but for You. You are my portion and inheritance (Num 18:20). You adopt me into Your family. You are my share (Lam 3:24). Therefore I have an infinite interest in every perfection of Your divine nature (ref#61, Sept 12th).

In You, FATHER, there is “an all-sufficiency of love to comfort us; an all-sufficiency of strength to uphold us; an all-sufficiency of power to protect us; an all- sufficiency of good to satisfy us; an all-sufficiency of wisdom to guide us; an all-sufficiency of glory to reward us; and an all-sufficiency of bliss to make us happy here, and happy to all eternity” (ref#61, Sept 12th).

Difficult Circumstances

FATHER, You are not only the Maker of the world, but the Maker of difficult and frightening circumstances. My goal is not to succeed or conquer in such circumstances. Nor should it simply be to “get through it.” You have a purpose, and it is to strengthen my faith. When CHRIST comes may He find faith on the earth in me (Luke 18:8).

It’s true that I need to stand firm and see Your salvation (2 Chron 20:17), but I need to be prepared that You may make me a failure in situations; You create circumstances for Your glory, not mine. So, help me be as clay in Your hands (Isa 64:8) and content with how You present the situation and its outcome.

My human efforts always want success. Realizing my spiritual weakness and consequently submitting to You gives more glory to You than my efforts that succeed. It’s my attitude in going through the situation that glorifies You, not being successful in its challenge.

For the sake of CHRIST I resolve to be content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak , then I am strong in divine strength (2 Cor 12:10). LORD, I ask for more faith to defer to You in difficult and frightening circumstances.

A True Picture of Myself

“O MY LORD, Forgive me for serving thee in sinful ways – by glorying in my own strength, by forcing myself to minister through necessity, by accepting the applause of others, by trusting in assumed grace and spiritual affection, by a faith that rests upon my hold on Christ, not on him alone, by having another foundation to stand upon beside thee; for thus I make flesh my arm” (ref#76, p182).

FATHER, there is no soundness in my flesh (Ps 38:3,7)—that part of me that is under the control of ordinary impulses. I have no health or rest when I pamper my flawed, damaged, evil nature. Loathsome and corrupt wounds sprout because of my foolishness in looking for comfort within my HOLY SPIRIT-less nature (Ps 38:5). I become feeble and crushed, faint and quite worn out from such effort; I groan be reason of the disquiet and moaning of my heart (Ps 38:8).

When I allow my depraved nature to rule me, my iniquities go over my head—like waves of a flood—they become a heavy burden weighing too much for me (Ps 38:4). My heart throbs, my strength fails me and the sparkle in my eyes disappear (Ps 38:10). My pain and sorrow are ever before me (Ps 38:17).

When I sin by making my own carnal-minded, prudent-seeming, decisions I ignite Your indignation, triggering Your discipline (Ps 38:3). Your arrows stick into me, and Your hand comes down on me (Ps 38:2).

FATHER, when, with rebukes, You correct and chasten me for sin, the beauty, vigor, and strength of my “first Adam” nature is marred and destroyed. Anything that is the object of my desire or delight (“strength, beauty, possessions, life itself”) disappears with Your expression of displeasure (ref#16, [Ps 39:11]). Your discipline causes me to see my natural nature as it is—not beautiful or strong. Drive me to my knees; showcase my wretchedness; make me see how prudent it is to repent and stop relying on my old nature.

“Only in the Lord shall one say, I have righteousness (salvation and victory) and strength [to achieve]…. (Isa 45:24 AMP).

“Each method we devise to stir, seek, and acquire a sense of devotion is worship in the flesh….” (ref#33, p126). My heart, on its own, must fly to You. It doesn’t work for me to prod my heart to go (ref#88, p271).

CHRIST Is

CHRIST is the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in Him, though he die, shall live (John 11:25).

CHRIST is the door.
If anyone enters by Him, he will be saved (John 10:9).

CHRIST is the light of the world.
Whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness (John 8:12).

CHRIST is the bread of life;
whoever comes to Him shall not hunger (John 6:35).

CHRIST is the good shepherd.
He lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11).

CHRIST is the vine;
Whoever abides in Him bears much fruit (John 15:5).

CHRIST is gentle and lowly in heart,
and I will find rest for my soul (Matt 11:29).

CHRIST is with me always,
to the end of the age (Matt 28:20).

If my mind is moved by these words;
I grow more proud I am a Christian.
If my heart is moved by these words—

I grow more in love with CHRIST.

CHRIST’s Humility

Among us, CHRIST, You were gentle and humble in heart (Matt 11:29)—as the One who serves (Luke 22:27). You made Yourself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men (Phil 2:7). And being found in human form, You humbled Yourself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil 2:8). For my sake You became poor, that through Your poverty I might become rich (2 Cor 8:9).

In the days of Your flesh, You offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Your FATHER. Only He was able to save You from death (Heb 5:7).

You gave Your back to those who struck You, and Your cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; You did not hide Your face from shame and spitting (Isa 50:6). You were a reproach to men and despised by the people (Ps 22:6). Zeal for Your FATHER’s house consumed You; all who reproached Your FATHER, fell on You (Ps 69:9).

FATHER, keep reminding me that my life’s goal is to be Your bondservant as CHRIST was. If You allow me to serve You in a specific way, keep me from focusing on that service. Rivet my focus on being Your bondservant. Refine me into salt (Matt 5:13)— too much salt to the unregenerate but a perfect portion for the regenerate so that my life mirrors CHRIST.

Prayer Facts:

“Our petitions urge wants that are immediate, obvious, and urgent. We cannot see deep enough or far enough to know what is our real need. Most people would like good health, home comfort, congenial conditions, happy friendships, a little more money, and better success;…” (ref#4, p60).

Reasons for Waiting for GOD:

Because You are alive and true and genuine (1 Thes 1:9), I will wait for You.
Because wisdom and might are Yours; because You change the times and the seasons, because You remove kings and set up kings (Dan 2:20-21), I will wait for You.

Because You reveal the deep and secret things and know what is in the darkness and the light dwells with You (Dan 2:22), I will wait for You.

You Are Satisfied With Me; I Am Astonished

FATHER, love is “an affection of union and nearness…” (ref#35, p113). The result of our union raises my level of love to You—it increases my faith. Because of our union I observe Your kindness, tenderness, unchangeableness, etc, which brings rest to my soul, and rest is my most prized possession (ref#35, p114).

O LORD, I desire to search out continually Your beauty for I am always seeking rest for my soul. This rest is a quiet joy that fills me completely so I find no need to roam unsatisfied. To be a doorkeeper in Your house, to get as close as I can to You is my desire, for a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere (Ps 84:10) (ref#35, p113).

“The union…of likeness, is the cause of the love of another” (ref#35, p113). You rejoice over me with joy and rest in silent satisfaction. You are held still by the very depth of Your love for me—resting with contentment. You are delighted when You think of me—with deep and tender yearning love You hold me to Yourself. Your love for me so engulfs You, You leap for joy; every inward and outward expression or token of love is heaped together to express Yourself. You sing—Your contentment is expressed in singing—I cause the jubilee in Your heart (Zeph 3:17).

Thus, Your love animates me; it makes me fully satisfied with You so I will not seek further for another to love. Your love is a joy past belief, past utterance, past thought. I am motionless as I experience Your love but then must exult in an outward demonstration of my delight. Singing and praise is the result of my great enjoyment and pleasure in You. Your love is so surprising I must leap for joy or cry or do something that would embarrass even Michal, King David’s wife (2 Sam 6:16). Michal would think, “This is not normal.” It may not be normal but how thankful I am it is real.