Prayer Facts:

“As prayer brings things to us which beget gratitude and thanksgiving, so praise and gratitude promote prayer, and induce more praying and better praying” (ref#64, p40).

Reasons for Waiting on GOD:

Because You existed before history began and are an ever-present, unchanging GOD (Isa 41:4), I will wait for You.
Because You call forth and guide the destinies of generations of nations (Isa 41:4), I will wait for You.

Because You give water without price from the fountain of Life (Rev 21:6), I will wait for You.
Because You put Your words in my mouth and have covered me with the shadow of Your hand (Isa 51:16), I will wait for You.

Because it is You who comforts me (Isa 51:12), I will wait for You.
Because You are in my midst and I am called by Your name (Jer 14:9), I will wait for Y ou.

“Your…holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore” (Ps 93:5 ESV). FATHER, You are “holy.” You are perfect—sinless (ref#110, p644).
You are “divine”—supremely great (ref#110, p401).
You are “pure.” You are undefiled, and faultless (ref#110, p1091).
You are “sacred.” You are set apart—hallowed (ref#110, p1180).
You are “immaculate.” You are unsoiled—perfectly correct (ref#110, p674).
You are “flawless.” You are errorless—free from defects (ref#110, p515).
You are “spotless.” You are perfectly clean—irreproachable (ref#110, p1297).
You are “peerless.” You are unrivaled (ref#110, p996).
You are “matchless.” You are without equal (ref#110, p834).

…”Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;…” (Isa 6:3 ESV). Unrivaled

FATHER, Your holiness befits Your house (Ps 93:5). You are divine—irreproachable (ref#110, p401, 1297)— supremely great (ref#110, p401)—the hallowed GOD (ref#110, p1180).

Forevermore You are matchless; You are without equal (ref#110, p834).
You are unrivaled—yes, peerless and spotless (ref#110, p996, 1297).

FATHER, You are undefiled and faultless (ref#110, p1091)— pure and errorless (ref#110, p1091, 515).
You are free from defects—(ref#110, p515). perfectly correct—flawless (ref#110, p674, 515).

Holy, holy, holy are You, LORD (Isa 6:3). You are perfect—sinless (ref#110, p644).
You are set apart and sacred (ref#110, p1180)— immaculate and unspoiled (ref#110, p674).

Turning Everything to Good

FATHER, no matter how bad the day I can always go back to my foundation of joy— You. You have chosen me—chosen me since the foundations of the world—and, since it’s since the foundations of the world, it’s not as a result of what I have done or not done.

The enemy has no ground to condemn—accusing me of being a bad Christian because of the bad day. CHRIST died for me so He not only saves me but loves and helps me. He knows just how I feel on bad days.

He experiences the bad day with me. How great it is not to have to experience it alone. Recognizing His presence I can talk with Him and we can even come to the point of laughing about the situation. His presence makes the bad day endurable but also joyful as I pay attention to Him and not the bad day.

All that happens to me “is divinely planned, and each event comes as a new summons to trust, obey and rejoice, knowing that all is for one’s spiritual and eternal good” (ref#56, p900, “Providence”). With gratitude my heart pours forth thanksgiving that all my providences, especially those days I deem “bad,” You turn to good (Rom 8:28).

The Price JESUS Paid

“God is not unfaithful to forget the price which His Son has paid. He will not suffer His substitution to be in any case an ineffectual, dead thing.
Tens of thousands of redeemed ones are not regenerated yet, but regenerated they must be;…” (ref#34, Dec 4th AM).

CHRIST, Himself prays for the now ungodly who will someday believe. “Their names are on His breastplate, and ere long they must bow their stubborn knee, breathing the penitential sigh before the throne of grace” (ref#34, Dec 4th AM).

FATHER, ____ is in rebellion against You. (He/She) does not stay in Your path and is not acquainted with Your ways (Job 24:13). (He/She) is not mindful of the wonders that You perform—not realizing that You are ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and therefore, will not forsake (him/her) (Neh 9:17).

____ is deceived by the arrogance of (his/her) own heart (Jer 49:16). Thus is defiant and rebellious, revolting and departing from You (Jer 5:23), spurning Your counsel (Ps 107:11).

But You, FATHER, will break that stubborn heart and lay low that lofty spirit. Make conscious (his/her) wound so it brings (him/her) into contact with You, the Healer (ref#61, Oct 26th). I pray (he/she) be “broken down with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent” (Ps 51:17 AMP).

“Who would refuse to drink the wormwood and the gall, if along this path only he could reach the sunlit spot where the smiles of a sin-pardoning God fill the heart with joy and gladness” (ref#61, Oct 26th)?

Waiting for Him

FATHER, just over ____’s head are unseen creatures fighting for souls—(his/her) soul and (his/her) friend’s souls. Ground (him/her) in the true facts about Who controls everything.

Because You, FATHER, put all things under CHRIST’s feet and He is the supreme LORD over all things (Eph 1:22), I pray ____ will wait
for Him in prayer. CHRIST rules above all heavenly
rulers, authorities, powers, and lords (Eph 1:21). He

also has a title superior to all titles of authority in this world and in the next (Eph 1:21).

Because every power and authority in the universe is subject to CHRIST (Col 2:10), I pray ____ will wait for Him in prayer. For CHRIST disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public display of them (Col 2:15).

CHRIST destroys the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), and gives ____ power to overcome by His blood (Rev 12:11), therefore, I pray ____ will wait for Him in prayer.

Permitting Ourselves to be Demoted

FATHER, You have placed ____ in a difficult situation. Compel (him/her) to nurture faith so it does not decrease. Whatever would (he/she) do if (he/she) lost the grip (he/she) has on Your hand? Attend to (him/her) for (he/she) must seek to build (himself/herself) up in my most holy faith as (he/she) attempts to keep (himself/herself) in Your love (Jude 20,21).

FATHER, look down now on ____. Even though (his/her) heart is prone to be in a state of upheaval, possibly not able to understand (his/her) present providence, nevertheless aid (him/her) to grasp the fact that (he/she) is continually with You. You do hold (his/her) right hand. Persist in Your guidance (Ps 73:21-24). (His/Her) flesh and (his/her) heart may fail, but You are (his/her) Rock and firm Strength and (his/her) Portion forever (Ps 73:26,27).

CHRIST has set (him/her) free from the power of sin and (he/she) has become a bondslave to You. Even as (he/she) suffers, (he/she) is reaping (his/her) own harvest and “its ingathering shall be holiness” (ref#38, p124, [Rom 6:22]). Because (he/she) has been born of You, You maintain a watchful guardianship over (him/her) and the pernicious one is unable to cause lasting damage. CHRIST’s divine presence within preserves (him/her) against the evil one (1 John 5:18).

Empower ____ to be cautious at all times, for (his/her) enemy continues to constantly seek to devour (him/her) (1 Pet 5:8). Strengthen (him/her) to withstand satan’s onslaught by being immovable in (his/her) faith (1 Pet 5:9). This (he/she) will be by permitting (himself/herself) to be demoted—by believing (himself/herself) of a lower state than in (his/her) own estimation. So move (him/her) to become contrite. Faith will be strong when (he/she) exhibits (his/her) weakness by putting (himself/herself) under Your mighty hand (1 Pet 5:6).

The Notion of Divine Control

FATHER. “The Bible declares that an infinitely good God is in the middle of our most painful experiences…” (ref#5, p143).

“…how astonished we would be to find that in the bitterest draught that ever touched our lips, the principal ingredient was love! That love saw the discipline needful, love selected the chastisement sent, love appointed the instrument by which it should come, love arranged the circumstances by which it should take place, love fixed the time when it should transpire, and love heard the sigh, and saw the tear, and marked the anguish, and never for one moment withdrew its beaming eye from the sufferer” (ref#61, Oct 7th).

FATHER, I long to stay in Your presence. How easy it is when the tribulations come to lean on my own resources. At the sign of tribulation my notion is to take action using my strength to remove myself from its grip as speedily as possible. I derive help from myself and from

others forgetting You, FATHER; I not only forget Your strength to provide for me but also I never consider Your good purposes for the trial.

Aid me quickly so I gain a notion of Your divine control. When perplexities press make the realization come naturally: “God is my Father, He loves me, I shall never think of anything He will forget, why should I worry” (ref#7, July 16th)? Allow me, FATHER, to rest in perfect confidence in You (ref#7, July 16th).

Confession Only the Beginning of Confession

FATHER, without Your SPIRIT I have no sense of what sin is. My natural conscience tells me that such things as murder and theft are wrong actions (ref#18, [John 16:7-15]). If I only confess my wrong action, repent of it, believing with a hoping-its-true faith that CHRIST makes me righteous again, I will remain unchanged.

And, being unchanged I will automatically use my own efforts to try to not sin in that way again. But that will only produce a merry-go-round scenario since my own efforts will fail and I’ll have to confess again, and again, and again. This circling process showcases my unbelief in JESUS. I believe my job is to stop sinning without the help of CHRIST. When I, in my own strength, attempt to change my actions my heart remains unchanged.

But, the supernatural work of the SPIRIT convinces me that the true reason why sin continues to reign in me is because I am not by faith united to CHRIST (ref#18, [John 16:7-15]). FATHER, I want to be filled with a sense of my weakness not of my own strength to overcome. Lead me away from this “repenting and resolving to do better.”

Prevail upon me to rest in the presence of CHRIST. Delay me until the SPIRIT can instruct me as to what to do during my confession time.

Without the SPIRIT, I only “act” as if I love my neighbor (Gal 3:3). Without the help of the SPIRIT, ordinary impulses control me and in that unrighteousness I attempt to demonstrate outwardly what I don’t possess inwardly. Waiting in the presence of CHRIST the SPIRIT has the ability to illuminate my heart and reveal its attitude. He may prove to me I am jealous or have a critical spirit toward my neighbor (ref#100, p94).

“As we rest as sinners in that low place, Jesus pours into our hearts His own love for that other person, a love that will sometimes send us to that person to put things right with him, and He gives us a forbearance toward him that was never there before” (ref#100, p94).

FATHER, reinforce all Your will for me in confession. It is not only a time to confess but a time to be humbled and a time to rest until, in the presence of CHRIST, I comprehend the entire scope of my sin. Guide me to hold out for Your “love, patience, and victory” that will change my heart (ref#100, p94).

“In Thy Presence silence best becomes us, but love inflames our hearts and constrains us to speak”(ref#117, p6).
Hymn of the Incarnation

“He, even when he subsisted in the form of God,
Did not…cling to His prerogative of equality with God: Nay, tenantless of all that glory,
He assumed the form of a bondslave,

“And appeared in the likeness of man.
So was He found on earth as a man in outward seeming,
And abased Himself in rendering submission, even to the death—A death upon the Cross!

“Because He stooped so low, God uplifted Him very high,
And hath freely given Him The Name—
The Name that is above every name, decreeing ‘In the name of Jesus shall every knee bend in prayer,

“Alike of dwellers in heaven, on earth, in the underworld,
And every tongue shall utter this confession, ‘Jesus the Messiah is Lord!’

So rendering glory to God the Father’” (ref#38, p155-156 [Phil 2:6-11]).

CREATOR, SUSTAINER, and FATHER

SOVEREIGN CREATOR, You do great things past finding out, yes, marvelous things without number (Job 9:10). You form the mountains and create the wind; You make the dawn out of darkness, and tread on the heights of the earth (Amos 4:13). You make lightning for the rain, and bring forth the wind from Your storehouses (Jer 10:13). You determine and count the number of the stars; You call them all by their names (Ps 147:4). And You declare to me what is my thought (Amos 4:13)!

You are known for the “marvelous order and beauty” of Your works (ref#56, p868, “God the Creator”), yet Your purpose is not just to create. You are SUSTAINER, “whose eternal plan covers all events and destinies without exception” (ref#56, p868, “God the Creator”), yet Your purpose is not just to create and

maintain what You create. Even though You are CREATOR and SUSTAINER, which reflects Your magnificence, You are also FATHER—ABBA FATHER, One who has created me for fellowship (1 John 1:3)!

CARING FATHER, You give up Your most precious possession—Your Son, sending Him to earth as the Savior (1 John 4:14). By my trust in CHRIST’s actions alone You adopt me into Your family. You make me no longer a slave of sin but Your child (Gal 4:7). Therefore You are CREATOR and SUSTAINER of the universe and also my DADDY.