CONFESSION

JUST MUNDANE CIRCUMSTANCES

Screen Shot 2015-09-11 at 1.03.49 PM…FATHER, a blade of grass fulfills its created purpose—it is a praise to Your glory. You intend Your “grace and power and other perfections should…become conspicuous and illustrious” Matthew Henry (ref#18, [Eph 1:3-14]). And Your intention is that I magnify You (ref#18, [Eph 1:3-14]).

Praise is ascribed to You for the salvation You have granted to me (ref#16, [Eph 1:12]). When I let You work through me, You get the praise. All I have to do is follow You where You place me. FATHER, prevent me from placing myself  Oswald Chambers (ref#83, p51).

I am tempted to ask You to help me be like CHRIST thinking others will see the goodness of You in me and praise You. But this is just a prideful request from my self-exalting nature. Another prideful request is for You to help me become more passionate for souls, but concentrating on saving souls is just religious commercialism (ref#83, p51).

Again, all I have to do is to follow You where You place me. When I am following You it will be a matter of indifference whether You put me in the spotlight or back stage. As long as I’m following You I can be unfairly accused or even be proven a failure without any irritation on my part (ref#83, p51).

CHRIST was a praise to Your glory. But, He was not obedient to His needs or the needs of men but obedient to Your will. Because of it, He was a ‘stone of stumbling’ to many people and I will be a ‘stone of stumbling’ by following Him (ref#83, p50-51).

Move me to realize that You have to be followed, I cannot clutch visions of grandeur that I become a beautiful specimen in Your showcase. I will reflect honor to You when I follow You in the mundane circumstances of life. (ref#83, p53).

How difficult is following? FATHER, help me keep it simple. When I begin to question which way to go, sin has complicated my walk. Sin urges me to involve myself in activities that go beyond Your wishes and my abilities. The sin in me desires to do great spiritual things—things that will wear me out and make me frustrated and sad. Urge me to keep it simple and just walk behind You for the praise of Your glory.

ADORATION

“…worship focuses us totally on a majestic, triumphant Creator-Redeemer, lifting us out of ourselves—our sins, inadequacies,…Worship is our response to his extreme grace” Will Metzger (ref#79, p152).

MORNING PRAYER

Screen Shot 2015-09-11 at 12.46.04 PM“O send out Thine angel of truth

and the light of Thy grace!

Let them lead me to…the hallowed hill,

Thy glory’s dwelling-place.

 

“I will go to Thine altar, my God,

I will joy in Thy sight:

I will praise Thee upon the harp,

my Lord, my Light” Arthur S. Way (ref#38, p322, [Ps 43:3-4])!

 

“Lord, pledged am I,

and I will pay my vows with thankful breath,

For Thou hast plucked my soul this day

out of the clutch of death.

 

“And hast Thou not my feet set free

from falling by the way

That I may walk, my God,

with Thee in living light of day” Arthur S. Way (ref#38, p340, [Ps 56:12-13])?

 

“…I will sing Thy protecting power,

Thy mercy will I sing at morning-tide; 

For Thou hast been my lofty refuge-tower; 

In my distress I sheltered by Thy side” Arthur S. Way (ref#38, p344, [Ps 59:16]).

 

 

SUPPLICATION

This Anguish Was Good For Me

Screen Shot 2015-09-05 at 4.43.46 PM…“Yes, this anguish was good for me, for you have rescued me from death and forgiven all my sins” (Isa 38:17 NLT).

FATHER, suffering comes in two forms: within—“the apparent desertion of the Bridegroom which is the most agonizing of the soul’s sufferings, and without, the persecuting malice of men and devils” Madame Guyon (ref#128, p442).

 ____ knows, O LORD, that Your rules are righteous (Ps 119:75) and (he/she) is not. Can You treat (him/her) more cruelly than (he/she) deserves? Never, (he/she) is never smitten as harshly as (his/her) sins deserve (ref#34, April 30, AM).

You, FATHER, have afflicted ____ in faithfulness. (Ps 119:75). But, LORD, see to (his/her) suffering within for it is most debilitating.

In ____’s despondency remove (his/her) anxious thoughts and forebodings, grant (him/her) a glad heart that has a continual feast regardless of circumstances (Prov 15:15). Make (him/her) delight in Your law so (he/she) will not perish in this affliction (Ps 119:92). You who make ____ see many troubles and calamities will revive (him/her) again (Ps 71:20).

Now that (he/she) lives among bitterness and crosses and is prostrate under a load of trouble and affliction, instill within (him/her) that (he/she) comes closest to being “all fair” in the Bridegroom’s eyes. In suffering (he/she) is “all fair” and there is no spot or deformity in (him/her) (ref#128, p 439-440, [Song 4:7])

Suffering scours out ____’s harsh, unyielding, bounded and limited nature that stands in the way of (his/her) happiness. This present suffering is not (his/her) fault nor is it offensive in Your sight; “it is simply a natural defect, derived from Adam, which (his/her) Bridegroom will insensibly take away” Madame Guyon (ref#128, p440, [Song 4:7]).

This circumstance may destroy (his/her) beauty in the eyes of people around (him/her), but (his/her) Bridegroom is most pleased for ____ has no longer any comeliness of (his/her) own. In CHRIST’s eyes through this suffering (he/she) has become possessed of true beauty (ref#128, p440, [Song 4:7]). In His time, CHRIST will “reanimate this annihilated soul” Madame Guyon (ref#128, p446, [Song 4:16]) and ____ will become His perfect bride.

 

THANKSGIVING

Mutual Interchange of Kind Services

Screen Shot 2015-09-05 at 4.24.56 PM…FATHER, I thank You that I can see Your greatness and love in every flower I look at. But, by that relationship I only comprehend the distance between us—Your power and my inabilities.

But, with the riches of Your grace You have recovered me from a state of enmity to a state of mutual communion and fellowship. You have done this by uniting me together in a covenant of peace ratified by the blood of JESUS. By Your giving and my receiving we can fellowship with each other. Your covenant-giving and my affections toward You binds our wills together (ref#35, p94).

Out of Your vast ocean of love You continually pour out extravagant gifts. You offer such things as a wilderness with entire fields of flowers that bloom without any eye seeing. And You give extravagant gifts to me personally. These gifts make me long to continue to taste Your sweetness and excellencies looking to experience the fullness of Your provided salvation (ref #35, p94). Your kind service to me is Your gifts, my kind service to You is my offerings of praise.

“How precious…are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;…” (Ps 139:17-18 NKJV). “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” (Ps 139:14 ESV). “…I will celebrate your kindness…” (Ps 101:1 CEV). “…Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well” (Ps 139:14 ESV). “I have seen your power and your glory…” (Ps 63:2 CEV).

CONFESSION

Trying to Sin Less

Screen Shot 2015-09-04 at 1.45.04 PMMY FATHER, “When thou art angry towards me for my wrongs I try to pacify thee by abstaining from future sin; But teach me…that only Christ’s righteousness, ready made, already finished, is fit for that purpose; that thy chastising me for my sin is not that I should try to reform, but only that I may be more humbled, afflicted, and separated from sin, by being reconciled, and made righteous in Christ by faith;…” The Valley of Vision (ref#76, p96).

FATHER, my logic says, “Eliminate sin and I won’t need forgiveness—be good and I won’t have to suffer Your discipline.” But my striving to do better next time does not neutralize my sin.

“Sin is…deliberate and emphatic independence of God” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, Oct. 7th). All attempts I use to stop sinning and live right are attempts to usurp Your authority and put myself under my control.

“…the wicked…flatters and deceives himself…that his iniquity will not…be hated” (Ps 36:1-2 AMP).

“Sin is a fundamental relationship; it is not wrong doing, it is wrong being…” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, Oct 7th). In me is the heredity of sin. JESUS did not take my sins on Himself; he took on Himself my heredity of sin (ref#7, Oct 7th). I am not a sinner because I sin, but I sin because I am a sinner (ref#56, p781).

FATHER, I humbly accept Your Son’s finished work on the cross to cover my sinful nature. Keep reminding me that constantly I need CHRIST to take care of my sin. I don’t need Him just when I think have I sinned. King David said, “My sin is ever before me” (Ps 51:3). Keep alive in me, LORD, the sense of sin’s evil constantly so I might think upon CHRIST constantly (ref#35, p317).

ADORATION

Screen Shot 2015-09-04 at 1.26.05 PM

Prayer Facts:

“It is not enough to remember [who God is and what His promises are]; we must hear it again. Prayer is the act in which we hear it again. It is not enough to carry memory verses around with us; we need daily encounter with the resonant voice of God. Prayer is that encounter. Situations change. Does God change? We pray. We listen. God speaks his word again—the same word!—and we are restored and renewed in our commitment….Resolve is essential but not enough. In prayer God provides renewal. Prayer is not so much the place where we learn something new, but where God confirms anew the faith to which we are committed” Eugene Peterson (ref#144, loc 1298-1311).

Reasons for Waiting for GOD:

Because You plant eternity in my heart—a sense of purpose which nothing under the sun but You can satisfy (Eccl 3:11), I will wait for You.

Because my blood is costly in CHRIST’s sight and because He has pity on me (Ps 72:13-14), I will wait for You.

Because You confirm and make me steadfast and established and endue me with the gifts of the HOLY SPIRIT (2 Cor 1:21), I will wait for You.

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life (Ps 63:3), I will wait for You.