Free Will

You are sovereign but at the same time You require man to be responsible for his actions. FATHER, train ____’s mouth to explain this oxymoron to others.

You, FATHER, most definitely interfere with man’s liberty (Gen 20:6) doing as You please. Direct ____ to unpack Numbers 22 – 24. “…Balaam was willing, yea, anxious, to accept Balak’s offer and thus sin against God and His people. But Divine power ‘withheld’ him… (Num 22:38)…(23:12,20)” (ref#152, p118). Note: more Scripture to allude to: 2 Chron 17:10, Gen 35:5. It is “possible for God to ‘withhold’ men from sinning and yet not interfere with their liberty and responsibility” (ref#152, p119).

Speed ____, FATHER, to put forth a correct definition of “free will.” The problem is with man’s own wisdom; He thinks from his own vantage point. Being “free” means to him being able to live as he pleases. (ref#152, p120). But, in reality, real freedom is “being delivered from the bondage of sin” (ref#152, p119). “True liberty is not the power to live as we please, but to live as we ought” (ref#152, p120)!

Prevail upon ____, FATHER, to teach the great truth that man has no moral and spiritual abilities, but he does have natural ability (ref#152, p124). Biblical examples of man’s spiritual and moral inability can be found in: Gen 37:4; 2 Pet 2:14; Rom 8:8; Eph 4:18; Matt 12:34. But, if a man can think rationally and has a conscience that is able to influence him he is responsible for his decisions.

“Here then is the ground of human accountability—the possession of rationality plus the gift of conscience. It is because the sinner is endowed with these natural faculties that he is a responsible creature; because he does not use his natural powers for God’s glory, constitutes his guilt” (ref#152, p124-125).

“The heathen will not perish because they have not believed in Christ, but because they failed to live up to the light which they did have—the testimony of God in nature and conscience” (ref#152, p130).

“…since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful,…” (Rom 1:20-21 NKJV).

Reasons for Affliction – Discipline

“If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments, Then I will punish their transgression with the rod,
And their iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail” (Ps 89:31-33 NKJV).

FATHER, thank You for Your grace that has chosen ____ to be now in the furnace of affliction (Isa 48:10). But, like the burning bush that Moses saw, convince (him/her) that (he/she) is never consumed (ref#134, p53).

Favor ____ with the realization that this fiery trial (he/she) faces does not have even one spark of hell in it. It will not be pleasurable for (him/her) but there will be none of Your wrath in it. It may feel like fire but it will not be like the fire of the bottomless pit. Possibly it is to discipline but there is no condemnation in it (ref#134, p55). Confirm to ____, FATHER, that You have lovingly crafted this situation and it will cause (him/her) not harm but good.

My Responsibility in Sanctification

FATHER, I praise You for giving to me the weapons that can triumph over satan— precisely Your Son and the SPIRIT. Though they overcome, it is necessary that I be responsible.

You, FATHER, make me “holy in the sense of innocence.” My responsibility is to participate in making my character into a holy character by a series of moral choices (ref#7, Sept 8th). I am inclined to cater to my undisciplined nature and many times attribute my failures to satan’s influence when the problem is my unwillingness to restrain myself.

I must strengthen myself to not submit to actions that stem from my physical condition. Prejudices and moods are two such things that I must destroy by neglect (ref#7, May 20th, Sept 8th).

“Many of us prefer to stay at the threshold of the Christian life instead of going on to construct a soul in accordance with the new life God has put within” (ref#7, May 20th).

FATHER, I want to be responsible. With my will and the SPIRIT’s power I desire to refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against Your true knowledge (2 Cor 10:5). For You know, FATHER, I’m in a fight all day long. Rouse me to reject comfort with its unwillingness to exercise the holy qualities You have placed in me.

Fellowship, Not Knowledge

FATHER, sin is idolatrous when my heart desires something other than You (ref#5, p66). “This is what sin is—dishonoring God by preferring other things over him, and acting on those preferences” (ref#93, p12). It is too easy for my life to be “shaped by the satisfaction of cravings, rather than heartfelt commitment and faithfulness” (ref#5, p67).

“Let me not strive to understand the infinite, but rather spend my strength in love. What I cannot gain by intellect, I can possess by affection…put far from me any love for the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that would keep me from the Tree of Life” (ref#34, Sept 5th PM).

Without the influence of the SPIRIT, I am satisfied with something other than a close relationship with You. Simply collecting facts about You can suffice conscience. FATHER, don’t permit me to know You only on the level of being amazed with Your attributes. Let it be no more amazing myself with You but You amazing me.

“The main design of all singing is for God’s ear and to attract His attention and to please Him. It is ‘to the Lord,’ for His glory, and to His honour” (ref#64, p44).

GOD’s Care For Me

COMPASSIONATE FATHER, You have made me in the womb (Job 31:15).

You know the way that I take; You have concern for it,
You pay attention to my way (Job 23:10).
You care about my going out and coming in (Ps 139:2).

You hear my supplication, receiving my prayer (Ps 6:9).
You see my way and count all my steps (Job 31:4).
You perform that which You have planned for me (Job 23:14).

You daily bear me up (Ps 68:19).

You turn my mourning into dancing (Ps 30:11).
You bring me near to dwell in Your courts (Ps 65:4).

You make Your face to shine upon me (Ps 67:1).

You put a new song in my mouth (Ps 40:3).

You cover all my sin (Ps 85:2).
You deliver me from death (Ps 68:20).
You redeem my life from the pit (Ps 103:4).

You withdraw all Your wrath (Ps 85:3).

You satisfy me with good (Ps 103:5).
You heal all my diseases (Ps 103:3).
You hear my voice and pleas (Ps 116:1).
You crown me with love and with mercy (Ps 103:4).

What shall I render to You, O LORD
for all Your benefits to me?
I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving

and forever call on Your name (Ps 116:12,17).

Adoration

Adore – to worship, honor highly, love greatly, revere, idolize, respect, prize, treasure, esteem, love to distraction, cherish, admire—these words I read and store in my mind, they all reflect my attitude toward You, FATHER. Morph my thoughts of Your divine perfection into experience that I may actually fellowship with You.

“O LORD,
Help me to approach thee…
Thou inhabitest eternity,
and my life is nothing before thee;

Thou dwellest in the highest heaven
and this cannot contain thee;…
Thy power is almighty;…
Thy understanding is infinite;…” (ref#76, p84).

FATHER, “interpret Thyself to me…” (ref#27, p66). I want to experience You, not concentrate on finding a method to meet You (ref#103, p34). “Adoration is not seeking the divine presence, but is conscious of it to an unutterable degree, and therefore full of awe and peace…” (ref#104, Day 10). The stars lose themselves in Your glory not making a sound (Ps 19:3). “Be silent, for that is the Absolute” Soren Kierkegaard (ref#137, page xi).

“It [adoration] is the eloquent silence of a soul that is too full for language. To prostrate yourself in the dust in humility, and yet to soar aloft in sublime thought; to sink into nothing, and yet to be so enlarged as to be filled with all the fullness of God; to have no thought and yet to be all thought; to lose yourself in God; this is adoration” (ref#104, Day 10) (brackets mine).

FATHER, manifest Yourself to me (John 14:21). I want the experience of You “happening” to me instead of me just reflecting good thoughts of You and calling it adoration (ref#103, p34).

Prayer Facts:

“In intercession you bring the person, or the circumstance that impinges on you before God until you are moved by His attitude towards that person or circumstance…Try to put yourself in God’s place….” (ref#7, Dec 13th).

Reasons for Waiting for GOD:

Because You love the Son and have given everything into His hand (John 3:35), I will wait for You.
Because JESUS, Himself is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for my sins, and not for mine alone but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2), I will wait for You.

Psalm 8

“O LORD,…how wondrous great
Is thine exalted name!
The glories of thy heav’nly state
Let men and babes proclaim” (ref#102, p14 [Ps 8:1]).

“Yea, in the smallest works of Thy creation
A mighty voice for who can hear is put.
So shall Thy foes who hate Thy revelation
Be stilled, their mouths be shut” (ref#38, p265 [Ps 8:2]).

You, the Babe of Bethlehem and the Mighty GOD,

Still the enemy and the avenger
Not by Your almighty power,
But by the weakness of infants (ref#17, [Ps 8:2]).

“O Lord…Thy name is writ in glory
O’er all Thy works for who have eyes to see.

Stars unto stars rehearse Creation’s story,
Their Maker’s majesty” (ref#38, p265 [Ps 8:1]).

“O LORD,…heav’nly King,
Thy name is all divine;
Thy glories round the earth are spread,
And o’er the heav’ns they shine” (ref#102, p13 [Ps 8:1]).

I Want to be the Means

“God requires that His gifts should be sought for. He designs to be honored by our asking, just as He is to be thanked by us after He has bestowed His blessing” (ref#152, p137).

FATHER, because fallen mankind is “as impotent as a lump of lifeless clay” (ref#152, p40), I come to You knowing my desperate need for You to keep me and my loved ones.

I am responsible to not only acknowledge my inabilities but also to cry to You for grace (ref#152, p129). It is my duty to pray for ____. If ____ and I were walking together in the winter time and (he/she) slipped on the ice and broke (his/her) hip, it would be my place to get help—help that I, myself, could not provide. FATHER, I cannot provide salvation for ____, but I cry to You for it.

FATHER, I want this prayer to be some part of the means by which You present ____ with saving grace. And, know that if this be the day You overshadow ____ it will be my joy to offer up thanks and praise to You.

It’s Not Our Party

“The average evangelical pulpit conveys the impression that it lies wholly in the power of the sinner whether or not he shall be saved. It is said that ‘God has done His part, now man must do his’” (ref#152, p112).

FATHER, You are very jealous of Your glory (Isa 42:8). Prevail upon ____ that (he/she) may represent You correctly in (his/her) witness of You.

Don’t let ____’s common sense notion of presenting the Gospel be because man is capable of making his own decision to accept or reject CHRIST. Man is not capable; we are all dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). Dead people can’t make decisions. Favor ____ to share the Gospel simply because You, FATHER, have commanded (him/her) to share it (Mark 16:15) (ref#152, p112).

____’s mission is to teach, admonish, and encourage (1 Thes 5:14) not with (his/her) own ideas but in Your sovereignty (ref#5, p35). ____ does not know Your mind, or understand Your thoughts. Your ways and methods are untraceable, mysterious, and undiscoverable (Rom 11:33-34). All things originate and come from You—all things live through You—all things center in and tend to consummate and to end with You (Rom 11:36 AMP).

Hasten ____ to go forth preaching the Gospel not because (he/she) believes people have the power to decide they believe in JESUS but “because the Gospel itself is the power of God unto salvation…” (ref#152, p113).

“…everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory….” (Rom 11:36 NLT).