Missionaries at Heart

FATHER, You will make the nations Your Son’s heritage, and the ends of the earth will be His possession as He prays to You, asking for them (Ps 2:8). And, the means to answer CHRIST’s prayer is missions.

Grant ____ the way to declare Your excellencies (1 Pet 2:9)— spreading Your glory among the nations and Your marvelous works among all the peoples (1 Chron 16:24), be gracious to (him/her) and bless (him/her) and make Your face to shine upon (him/her), that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power
among all nations (Ps 67:1-2).

“May he (CHRIST) have dominion from sea to sea, and…to the ends of the earth! May desert tribes bow down before him and…all nations serve him! May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun! …may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen” (Ps 72:8,9,11,17,19 ESV)!

More Affliction, More Praise

“The Lord has done great things…Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy” (Ps 126:3,5 ESV)!

FATHER, I pray for ____ that the deeper (his/her) troubles, the louder (he/she) gives thanks to You. Direct (him/her) toward focusing on Your mercy and help that You have granted. Don’t let (him/her) settle into thinking only of (his/her) conflicts and sad adversities as if (he/she) owned them. Don’t let (him/her) camp on what (he/she) is going through more than what You are doing for (him/her) (ref#34, June 9th AM).

JESUS left an example for ____. When He faced the anger of others and apparent failure of His message—“when no one responded to His teaching and things didn’t work out at all…At that time, [precisely at that failing time] Jesus said, ‘I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth…’” (Matt 11:25) (ref#130, p36,37).

FATHER, call to ____’s remembrance the salvation You give, that even when (he/she) is, for a little while, grieved with various trials You deliver (him/her) out of them all . The big picture is that You are the All-sufficient Savior and will deliver (him/her) every time from corruptions dominion (ref#34, June 9th AM).

There is much benefit in continual praise. FATHER, help ____ fight any negative feelings with positive feelings. “Feel thanks and it’s absolutely impossible to feel angry” (ref#130 p136).

“I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul” (Ps 31:7 NLT).

A Measure of Diligence is Placed Upon Me

FATHER, I live in unbroken fellowship with You in CHRIST JESUS (Rom 6:11). Your divine power has granted me life and godliness and I am a sharer of Your divine nature (2 Pet 1:3-4).

With such bestowment a measure of diligence is placed upon me to keep myself from falling away. I am not to willfully run into temptation, or expose myself to the power of the enemy (ref#61, Oct 4th). I must put my energies into keeping myself holy by letting CHRIST keep me holy.

You have chosen me for salvation. That is the end. But the means to that end is sanctification. Sanctification is accomplished by the operation of the Holy Spirit and by faith on my part; “faith and holiness must be joined together” (ref#18, [2 Thes 2:13]).

So You, FATHER, throw a measure of responsibility upon me. You charge me to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live a self-controlled, upright, and godly life (Titus 2:12).

Since I was bought with a price, it becomes my desire to glorify You in my body (1 Cor 6:19-20). You, FATHER, through CHRIST has caused me to be born again to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven (1 Pet 1:3-4).

Let that cheering prospect keep me from slothfulness, unwatchful-ness, and prayerlessness. Encourage me FATHER, to work out my own salvation cheerfully by leaning entirely on You (Phil 2:12).

Pardon Is Not To Make Me More Acceptable to GOD

LORD, as I approach Your throne, my natural reaction is to cry out like Isaiah, “I have unclean lips” (Isa 6:5), and so desire to spill out my confessions of sin before I come close to You.

In the prayer JESUS taught His disciples, the first half of it is words of worship and honor to You. Confession of sin is toward the end of the prayer and then takes up only 1⁄2 a sentence.

Remind me FATHER, You do not throw the robe of CHRIST upon me so You can tolerate looking at me. You do not demand I confess my sin before You let me approach You. You know my frame (Ps 103:14) and my sinfulness does not give You pause.

A woman may forget she is nursing a child, but You will never forget me. You engraved me on the palm of Your hands (Isa 49:15,16) before I did anything right or wrong (Rom 9:11).

You seek and solicit my love constantly. You love me at the expense of Your Son’s blood—at the expense of condescending to beseech me (ref#18, [1 John 4:18]). Have You not rend the heavens and come down to be constantly beside me (Isa 64:1)? You are willing to call me Your bride even when I am unfaithful to You (Hosea 3:1).

I have mistaken thoughts about confession! My natural thought is to dwell on Your assurance of pardon to convince myself that I am now good enough to come into Your presence. FATHER, remind me once again that I am good only because CHRIST has made me His own, not because I have confessed my sins and received Your pardon.

Isn’t this what Job was so upset about—justifying himself before You? Job wanted You to speak to him about his sin—or lack thereof. Did You do that? No, You instead overwhelmed Job with Your majesty
(Job 38:1-41:34).

Astonish me like You did Job. I want to spend the majority of my time with You losing myself in Your love.

“…if the heart be…much taken up with…the eminency of the Father’s love, it cannot choose but be overpowered, conquered, and endeared unto him” (ref#35, p128).

“As praise in the mouth of thy saints is comely, so teach me to exercise this divine gift, when I pray, read, hear, see, do, in the presence of people and of my enemies, as I hope to praise thee eternally hereafter” (ref#76, p204).

You Alone Are GOD

Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O Lord my GOD,
You are very mighty!
You are clothed with honor and majesty (Ps 104:1).

For You are great
and do wondrous things;
You alone are GOD (Ps 86:10)—

the only true GOD (John 17:3).

I bow down toward Your holy temple
and give thanks to Your name
for Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness,

for You are exalted (Ps 138:2).

Above all things
You have magnified Your name and Your word.
So, I will worship toward Your holy temple
and praise Your name for Your loving-kindness (Ps 138:2).

Relationship

“The Mystery of Christ is to realize that it is indeed just that, a mystery. To represent faith in Jesus merely as something we come to understand and accept is to rob it of the mystery of being in relationship with something that is infinitely bigger and wiser than we are” (ref#137, p32).

FATHER, CHRIST says to me, “’Come, my beloved, let us go out into the country, Let us spend the night in the villages” (Song 7:11 NASU). He does not say, “Go into the country without me”—but, He says, “let us go.”

Re-impress Your image upon my soul that I might never more think it is okay to do anything without You (ref#76, p158). Without You I am an outcast, but with You I can touch Your kingly scepter. Without You “darkness spreads its horrors in front” but, with You “an eternity of glory is my boundless horizon” (ref#76, p158).

Without You “all within me is terror and dismay,” but with You “every accusation is charmed into joy and peace” (ref#76, p158). Without You “I hide my lips in trembling shame;” but, with You “I open my mouth in petition and praise” (ref#76, p158).

“If we don’t want to experience God’s closeness here on earth, why would we want to go to heaven anyway” (ref#78, p58)?

Prayer Facts:

“Satan dreads nothing but prayer—The church that lost its Christ was full of good works….Souls may be lost in good works, as surely as in evil ways. The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from prayer….He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray” (ref#54, p186).

Reasons for Waiting for GOD:

Because Your mercy and lovingkindness endure forever (Ps 118:29), I will wait for You. Because You will be gracious to the sound of my cry (Isa 30:19), I will wait for You. Because You pardon my guilt (Ps 25:11), I will wait for You.
Because You are my hiding place (Ps 32:7), I will wait for You.

Thy Lovingkindness Is Better Than Life

Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, I will bless Thee (Ps 63:3,4) even when I’m a prisoner in the valley and have to backtrack to the elementary principles of CHRIST (Heb 6:1). Thy lovingkindness is better than anything, LORD—even when I’m feeling dejected and alone.

Certainly I would be hypocritical praising You with only the words: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God;…” (Isa 61:10 ESV) when I am so downcast. But, if I read on in this Isaiah prayer I discover a way to burst open the prison door.

“…for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isa 61:10 AMP).

LORD, You have given me a mantel of righteousness—glorious and beautiful (Ex 28:40)! Just by reading these words I find myself standing before You with no rationale to remain in the valley any longer.

FATHER, Your words break the snare of the negative cycle; the door is open and I can escape (Ps 124:7). You give me the strength to believe, “You have clothed me with the garments of salvation; You have covered me with the robe of righteousness.” I do not have to stay a prisoner.

All praise to You, FATHER, for if You are not on my side the enemy swallows me alive (Ps 124:2-3). My help is in You, LORD (Ps 124:8). You give me the faith I need, so with joy my lips bless Thee (Ps 63:3). Thy lovingkindness IS better than life.

Felix-Like

“As Paul continued to insist on right relations with God and his people, about a life of moral discipline and the coming Judgment, Felix felt things getting a little too close for comfort and dismissed him….” (Acts 24:25 MSG).

FATHER, I watch ____ divert (his/her) attention from You whenever Your names comes up in conversation. I have to say affliction and prosperity have alike failed to turn ____ toward CHRIST. Tears and prayers and sermons have, so far, been wasted on (his/her) barren heart (ref#34, Dec 31st AM).

There must be something of You that ____ disapproves of otherwise (he/she) would not be hindered from acknowledging Your authority (Matt 13:57). (He/She) goes on hardening (his/her) heart when (he/she) puts CHRIST to the test for the purpose of approving Him (Heb 3:7-9). CHRIST does not meet (his/her) specifications as Messiah (Luke 9:22) because (he/she) does not yet have an experiential knowledge of Him (Heb 3:10).

Pride makes ____ critical of Your activities, FATHER. I hear (him/her) criticizing, disagreeing and correcting things of You (ref#124, p118). Thus, I long to see (him/her) approach You with teachable humility (ref#124, p119). I long to see ____ great in Your kingdom.

“Unless you reverse your present trend of thought and become as the little children, in no case shall you enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, he who is of such a nature as to humble himself like this little child, esteeming himself small inasmuch as he is so, thus thinking truly, and because truly, therefore humbly of himself, this person is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (ref#37, p45-46, [Matt 18:3-4]).

Christianity Is Foolishness Until…

FATHER, we are spiritually dead until we receive the HOLY SPIRIT. “…the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God…” (1 Cor 2:14 ASV). Self-initiated faith is lifeless, boring and unsatisfying.

Move ____ to speak to that problem with others. INITIATING FATHER, discharge ____ to tear down myths and tell the Truth. “The majority of people have their morality well within their own grasp, they have no sense of need of the Gospel” (ref#7, Dec 17th). Lead ____ to paint a picture of understanding about the fallacy of bringing one’s self to Christianity.

The golden rule of preaching is “preach CHRIST, not the experience.” “It is never personal testimony that save men” (ref#7, Dec 17th). Propel ____ to not go to the right or left of focusing on CHRIST and His life. Cause (him/her) to remember that “once Jesus Christ is lifted up, the Spirit of God will create a conscious need of Him” (ref#7, Dec 17th). “The Gospel of God creates a sense of need of the Gospel” (ref#7, Dec
17th).

“The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness….” (1 Cor 2:14 MSG).

In conversation with others and even in talking to (himself/herself) keep ____ thinking about the reasons CHRIST is “needed” in life.