Bonnie’s Prayer Affair Prayers

CONFESSION

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I SIN KNOWINGLY BUT NOT WILLFULLY

Screen Shot 2015-09-26 at 10.25.35 AMFATHER, I grieve especially over the sins I commit knowing full well I’m disobeying You. Can You forgive me for such in-Your-face, blatant, rebellion?

 The book of Leviticus describes sacrifices for sins. But the sacrifices are only for unintentional sins (Lev 4:2). The writer of Hebrews says:

“…if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,” (Heb 10:26 NKJV).

Yet, I, as well as other Christians, knowingly sin—even King David prayed that You keep him back from “…presumptuous sins…” (Ps 19:13 NASB). FATHER, help me understand that I may sin knowingly, as King David did but that does not mean I sin willfully. Sinning willfully means sinning willingly. Sinning willingly means I sin out of my own glad choice with no intention of repenting. Adam Clarke’s Commentary brings meaning to Hebrews 10:26:

“A man may be overtaken in a fault, or he may deliberately go into sin, and yet neither renounce the Gospel, nor deny the Lord that bought him.” Adam Clarke (ref#15, [Heb 10:26]).

But, “if we sin willfully] If we deliberately…renounce the profession of the Gospel and the Author of that Gospel,…the…case must be utterly without remedy.” (ref#15, [Heb 10:26]).

When I do sin deliberately, my “case is dreary and dangerous but it is not hopeless; no case is hopeless but that of the deliberate apostate who rejects the whole Gospel system,…” (ref#15, [Heb 10:26]). And, all thanks to You, FATHER, that You have cemented in my heart never to reject the Gospel.

How I thank You, FATHER, that You give me the grace of confession. Yes, You have put in my heart the desire to repent. You have closed the gate behind me. Because You have made me Yours, I will never again sin willfully.

Though FATHER, drive me to fear sinning against You deliberately. Such actions remove me from Your presence. My iniquities always make a separation between You and me. My sins hide Your face so that You do not hear me (Isa 59:2).

LORD, I take hold of Your grace of repentance and use it to bring myself back into Your presence. And, FATHER, during this activity of repentance, sober me into remembering that even though I will never sin willfully, sinning knowingly is dreary and dangerous.

ADORATION

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INCONTESTABLE

Screen Shot 2015-09-26 at 10.13.38 AMYou are GOD of gods and LORD of lords (Ps 8:1).

Incontestable—not to be contested,

unquestionable—not to be questioned,

You are sovereign (ref#110, p676).

 

You are in the heavens (Isa 29:14)—above others,

excelling and surpassing, having authority and power (ref#110, p1062).

You are effective in action (ref#110, p1056)—

potent and preeminent (ref#110, p1056, 1062).

 

You do as You please (Isa 29:14),

subsisting by and of Yourself,

without external agency.

You are self-existent (ref#110, p1218).

 

You are great and mighty—the awesome GOD (Ps 8:1).

You are imperial—

having supreme authority (ref#110, p676).

You cannot be compelled and are unconstrained (ref#110, p1453).

 

GOD of gods—

LORD of lords—

the great, the mighty—

the awesome GOD (Ps 8:1)!

SUPPLICATION

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NON-SAVING FAITH

“All people are naturally inclined to some form of religion, yet they fail to worship their Creator…” R.C. Sproul (ref#56, p1613, “Mankind’s Guilty Knowledge of God”).

Screen Shot 2015-09-24 at 1.38.05 PMFATHER, I fear ____ has decided on (his/her) own to follow You because (he/she) finds it convenient. It’s quite possible (he/she) has a belief like the crowd described in John 2:23 NASU: “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name…” 

 The crowd’s belief in JESUS was not a life-changing belief. They were quick only to acknowledge Him as a teacher, or a great prophet, or someone who could make their life better. The Amplified version sums it up, they …[identified themselves with His party]…. Surely they figured being close in proximity met He would save them from…whatever they wanted saved from.

FATHER, I fear ____ has found comfort in a faith that does not save. (He/She) may be content to know about JESUS, like Him, and conclude (he/she) identifies enough with Him that (he’ll/she’ll) go to heaven when (he/she) dies.

“To believe, for Paul, involves knowledge of the gospel’s content, mental assent to its testimony about Christ (Rom 10:14), and obedient trust and reliance on Him as Savior and Lord (Rom 1:5)” R.C. Sproul (ref#56, p1617, [Rom 3:22]).

I pray You give ____ ears to hear the Gospel. Convince (him/her) that (he/she) has no righteousness of (his/her) own and needs CHRIST’s righteousness. Be graphic about revealing (his/her) danger of perishing. LORD, give (him/her) a need to look for someone to save (him/her) from Your wrath. And then motivate (him/her) to make the effort to understand that CHRIST cannot save unless He becomes LORD of (his/her) life.

FATHER, give ____ opportunity to understand and grab hold of the faith that saves. By exercising (his/her) faith and by obeying, You will cause (him/her) to joyfully worship You. (He/She) does not need to be punished with everlasting destruction being forever away from Your presence and from the glory of Your power either in the rest of this life or in the life to come (2 Thes 1:9).

THANKSGIVING

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THE INERRANCY OF THE BIBLE

“…the word of the Lord remains forever…’” (1 Pet 1:25 ESV).

Screen Shot 2015-09-24 at 1.25.56 PMFATHER, Your Bible does not and cannot have errors: the sinless CHRIST cannot error. He says the Bible is Your Word, therefore the Bible cannot error (ref#95).

CHRIST, GOD INCARNATE, in Your earthly ministry You advocated what had been written of the FATHER previous to Your coming. Time after time You preface Your subject with the words, “it is written” (Matt 4:4,7,10). You did not come to abolish what had been written, but to fulfill what had been written (Matt 5:17-18).

You say Yourself that the Scriptures cannot be set aside or annulled (John 10:35). Even the hard-to-believe Scriptures You confessed as true. Jonah was indeed three days in the belly of a great fish (Matt 12:40). Your FATHER’s word is truth and without error (John 17:17).

“My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right” (Ps 119:172 ESV).

The Bible does not and cannot have errors: OMNIPOTENT, HOLY, PERFECT FATHER, You cannot error. You say the Bible is Your Word, therefore the Bible cannot error (ref#95).

The sum of Your Word is truth and every one of Your righteous rules endures forever (Ps 119:160). You never lie (Titus 1:2); it is impossible for You to lie (Heb 6:18).

You are true even if we are all liars (Rom 3:4)—even if we are faithless, You remain faithful for You cannot deny Yourself (2 Tim 2:13). Your Word is Truth (John 17:17). The audacity of Your creatures to accuse You of allowing an errant book to represent You!!

You revealed Yourself in words and resided over them as they were written in an earthly Book for all generations to read. The Bible is the prime testimony of Your compassion and caring.

CONFESSION

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…REFORMING MY FLESH OR KEEPING IT DEAD

Screen Shot 2015-09-24 at 1.13.23 PM…FATHER, I know that my natural disposition must be crucified with CHRIST (that is, my flesh must die). The word, “flesh” means my human nature which is “under the control of animal appetites” and is sensuous (ref#150, NT:4559). “Flesh” is defined as my earthly nature apart from divine influence (ref#150, NT:4561).

Flesh is the part of me I must inactivate—kill by neglect. But I am anchored so in it I naturally choose to reform it instead of kill it.

It is intuitive to me to want flesh tamed. Therefore I strive to educate my flesh—teach it to be righteous. I happily give myself over to rules and methods (ref#33, p92). Intensive church activity is a way of attempting to reform flesh. It is frightening to realize that my own flesh can produce acts that appear Christian (Matt 7:22-23) yet they are without the help or consent of You, FATHER (ref#63, p706).

While teaching my flesh to be righteous I concentrate on one sin or a file-folder of sins. I fall into using my flawed self to try to become more like CHRIST. By doing this, I am in the business of trying to conquer and refine my old-nature flesh. I try to get flesh and SPIRIT to cooperate!

But, I cannot, and You, FATHER, will not reform my flesh—even the priceless blood of JESUS can’t cleanse the flesh. The HOLY SPIRIT does nothing to improve flesh; in fact, He will not even dwell in the midst of sinful flesh. The SPIRIT will abide in me for only one reason and that is for warring against my flesh (ref#33, p94).

O LORD, continually bring me to understand the difference between operating by my flesh and working with the SPIRIT—the difference between reforming my flesh and killing it by neglect. It is only by faith and dependence on the SPIRIT that I can put to death the deeds of my flesh (Rom 8:13).

ADORATION

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…“…we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment;…Therefore, the reason God seeks our praise is not because He won’t be complete until He gets it. He is seeking our praise because we won’t be complete until we give it. This is not arrogance. It is love” John Piper (ref#124, p161-162).

DRAWING WATER FROM THE WELLS OF SALVATION

Screen Shot 2015-09-24 at 1.02.11 PMYou are the MOST HIGH over all the earth;

Your name alone is the LORD (Ps 83:18).

You forever remain the same—

Your years have no end (Ps 102:27).

 

You, LORD, are the everlasting GOD—

Creator of the ends of the earth.

You do not faint or grow weary;

You’re never fatigued or exhausted (Isa 40:28).

 

There is no searching Your understanding;

You must be infinitely wise.

Your boundless skill is proved

by the works of Your hands (ref#16, [Isa 40:28]).

 

You are righteous in all Your ways,

Everything You do is true.

Kind, You are, in all Your works,

Yes, Your trademark is love (Ps 145:17).

 

With joy I will draw water

from the wells of Your salvation—

from those ever-flowing fountains

from You, the great Giver (Isa 12:3).

SUPPLICATION

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TO OVERCOME

Screen Shot 2015-09-23 at 9.13.44 PM“But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me” (Mic 7:7-8 NRSV).

 FATHER, our natural inclination is to be spared from trouble. But, in Your wisdom, You give us troubling situations to deliver us in trouble. No evil can harm us when we’re at one with You no matter what situation You have us in (ref#7, Aug 2nd).

“God does not give us overcoming life: He gives us life as we overcome. The strain is the strength. If there is no strain, there is no strength” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, Aug 2nd).

FATHER, empower ____ to accept the hard situations; compel (him/her), by faith, to defer to Your strength. Even anticipating hard situations wears ____ out physically, but if (he/she) spends (himself/herself) spiritually (he/she) will get more strength. You give strength minute by minute (ref#7, Aug 2nd).

“To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard…” Dietrich Bonhoeffer (ref#10, p88).

____ will find You, FATHER, when (he/she) overcomes suffering by suffering. JESUS prayed for the cup to pass from Him (Matt 26:39). It did pass—when He drank it. His suffering passed as he accepted it. “The cross is his triumph over suffering” Dietrich Bonhoeffer (ref#10, p92).

FATHER, how vital for ____ to keep communion with You—to draw near You in hard times for if (he/she) removes (his/her) eye from You even for a moment, (he/she) will succumb to “every dark suggestion of the adversary” Octavius Winslow (ref#61, May 30th). Linked with You, (he/she) overcomes—we overcome—You, LORD, overcome for ____.

THANKSGIVING

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JESUS THE CONQUEROR

“…thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory]…” (2 Cor 2:14 AMP).

Screen Shot 2015-09-23 at 8.50.21 PMFATHER, I am on earth for one purpose—to be a captive. “We are here to exhibit one thing—the absolute captivity of our lives to Jesus Christ” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, Oct 24th).

I thank You, FATHER, for triumphing over me through CHRIST. He defeats my fallen, evil nature. Contrary to earthly living where to be in the train of a finite man would be the most miserable, but being conquered and being made to walk behind CHRIST is my most glorious lot (ref#17, [2 Cor 2:14]).

“Paul regarded himself as a trophy of God’s victorious power in Christ. His Almighty conqueror was leading him about, through all the world, a sample of His   triumphant power…to subdue and to save” Oswald Chambers (ref#17, [2 Cor 2:14]).

It is my joy that You took me, a rebel and changed me to a captive. Being CHRIST’s captive is my position now in life (ref#7, Oct 24th). I have no joy that is not connected with CHRIST—no success which I can not trace to Him (ref#16, [2 Cor 2:14]).

“…I am in the train of a conqueror, and it does not matter what the difficulties are, I am always led in triumph” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, Oct 24th).

FATHER, I thank You that I have been captured making me able to display the victory of CHRIST.

 

CONFESSION

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CONVICTING SPIRIT

Screen Shot 2015-09-23 at 8.40.19 PM…FATHER, the discovery of my sin is a part of the wisdom that is hid in CHRIST and made known to me through the SPIRIT (Col 2:2,3). If I am not attentive to the SPIRIT I only have a sense and knowledge of sin that is revealed by my conscience; it is the general knowledge of good and evil. But, it’s obscure so I notice my own faults only if they are very obvious or I sin in such a way that they are particularly embarrassing to me (ref#35, p200).

Familiarizing myself with the laws set down in the Old Testament helps me recognize more of my corruptions. But even laws do nothing to make me see my deep personal sin (ref#35, p202).

The work of conviction, from Your SPIRIT, gives me the best knowledge of sin. This knowledge is so useful that it reveals sins that I, on my own, do not have the ability to detect; these sins must be made real to me by Your SPIRIT—a source not connected with my native nature (ref#35, p202).

I thank You FATHER, for Your SPIRIT’s conviction. I am not offended when I recognize His voice, instead, I’m humbled. He has the ability to convince me of sin in such a way that I’m unable to deny His words and am ready to repent. I thank You, FATHER, that Your SPIRIT not only is able to point out my sins but has the ability to accomplish in me the sorrow for sin which leads me to the obedience You require. So, search me, O GOD, and see if there is any grievous way in me and then lead me in the right way (Ps 139:23-24).

ADORATION

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PRELUDE TO PRAISE

…Prayer Facts:

Screen Shot 2015-10-06 at 7.26.38 AM“If no answer comes, we are not to…suppose that it is not God’s will to give an answer. No; there must be something in the prayer that is not as God would have it…It is far easier to the flesh to submit without the answer than to yield itself to be searched and purified by the Spirit, until it has learnt to pray the prayer of faith” Andrew Murray (ref#19, FIFTH LESSON).

Reasons for Waiting for GOD:

Because You send the SPIRIT to represent CHRIST and act on His behalf (John 14:26), I will wait for You.

Because the SPIRIT will show me what is true (John 14:17), I will wait for You.

Because the SPIRIT will teach me everything (John 14:26), I will wait for You.

Because the SPIRIT will always be with me and help me (John 14:16), I will wait for