Wanting to Conquer Sin

PATIENT FATHER, instill in me again that it is my old nature still residing in the members of my body that wants to conquer sin. But when, under my own strength, I succeed in not sinning, I become prideful—I hug myself like Micah when he got a real Levite and made him his own personal priest (Jud 17:12-13) (ref#35, p311).

However, as I move closer to Your CHRIST, communing with Him, I comprehend my utter unprofitableness regarding my ability to not sin. In communion I am face to face with the Infinitely Righteous who knows very well my vanity.

Let me quickly assign honor and glory to JESUS CHRIST for all that He has done for me. This brings fame to You, FATHER. Let me speak this truth to myself: You are credited each time CHRIST pardons me.

FATHER, You are attentive to CHRIST’s work, not mine. I am justified and accepted into Your kingdom only by the activity of JESUS CHRIST. He bears my iniquities (Isa 53:11) laying down His life as a ransom for my sins (Mark 10:45).

My sins will ever be before me (Ps 51:3), so let me rack my brain to think of them, not so I can attempt to stop doing them but so I can realize the extent of them and celebrate in praise that JESUS CHRIST answered Your justice for me. He has undergone the punishment that was and is due me.

CHRIST takes my sins and bears them away—disposes of them so You, FATHER, can be pleased with me and I can cling to CHRIST as He provides love, life, righteousness, and peace for me. Yes, He provides. Continue to remind me, FATHER, that as soon as I look upon my sin believing I can remove it (by overcoming it), I lose sight of CHRIST.

CHRIST, You call me to You even with my presently known load of sins. You say, “Come with your guilt of sin—come unto me (Matt 11:28) and honor the FATHER by laying yourself before Me so I can remove your sins as far as the east is from the west” (Ps 103:12).

Let me call on CHRIST to remove my sin and not petition You, FATHER, to help me remove the sin myself.

“Praise is preoccupied with who God is and what he has done…Praise begins with a mind set upon God, but then those thoughts must be put into action in order to qualify as praise” (ref#153, p2).

Everything I’ve Done, GOD Has Done For Me

INCORRUPTIBLE GOD, (Rom 1:23)
Your greatness is unsearchable—
so vast and so deep—
there are no boundaries to Your greatness (Ps 145:3).

Who is like You— majestic in holiness, awesome in deeds,
doing wonders (Ex 15:11).

You do great things too marvelous to understand, excellent, unexpected acts
You perform countless miracles,
spectacular things without number (Job 5:9).

Wonderful You are in counsel,
excellent in guidance,
great are You in wisdom,
LORD of hosts is Your name (Isa 28:29).

You will ordain peace for me,
All I’ve accomplished is really from You,
Your name alone I will bring to remembrance,
You alone are the One I will worship (Isa 26:12-13).

GOD’s Image

“BENIGN LORD,
I praise thee continually for permission to approach thy throne of grace,…” (ref#76, p145).

FATHER, Your Son, THE CHRIST, is GOD, inseparable from deity, the second person of the Trinity (John 1:14,18). He is not merely an image or reflection of You, but absolutely the authentic representation of Your being (ref#96, p1813 [Col 1:15]). He comes out of You, the FATHER, as a Son (ref#21, p809, [Heb 1:2]).

CHRIST is “the Founder and Builder” of Your family (ref#21, p809 [Heb 1:2]). The seeds CHRIST propagates are ever being renewed and remolded into fuller and more perfect knowledge after the likeness of Yourself (Col 3:10).

Natural man can rule the animal and plant kingdoms (Gen 1:28-29), but he cannot rule the heavenly powers, especially Satan (Eph 6:10-12). He is unable to use his powers to reflect Your holiness (ref#56, p9, “The Image of God”).

Only CHRIST, being the very image of Your Person (Heb 1:3), rules all powers on both earth and heaven. He triumphs, and the community united with Him triumphs over the forces of sin, death, and the devil (ref#56, p14 [Gen 3:15]). Thank You, FATHER, for sending CHRIST to live in me to reflect Your holiness (Gal 2:20).

Prayer Facts

“Understanding is more taxing than doing, and meditation is a severer tax than service….The cost is not so much in the sweat of agonizing supplication as in the daily fidelity to the life of prayer” (ref#4, p27).

Reasons for Waiting for GOD:

Because You are full of pity and compassion and tenderness and mercy (James 5:11), I will wait for You.
Because You give strength and fullness of might to Your people (Ps 68:35), I will wait for You.

Psalm 138

FATHER, in the day I cried out,
You answered me.
You made me bold—
Mighty and resistant to temptation (Ps 138:3).

For though You are on high,
Yet You have respect for the lowly.
You bring me into fellowship with You.
But the proud you only recognize from a distance (Ps 138:6).

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
You will revive me;
You will stretch forth Your hand against my enemies,

and Your right hand will save me (Ps 138:7).

You will perfect that which concerns me;
Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever —
forsake not the works of Your own hands.
Don’t abandon me, for You have made me (Ps 138:8).

I will praise You with my whole heart;
Before armies of angels I will sing.
I will worship You and praise Your name;
For Your lovingkindness, truth, and faithfulness (Ps 138:1-2).

The Self-Indulgent

FATHER, because JESUS, in His priestly role makes continual intercession I bow before Him. Compel ____ to draw close to You through CHRIST, for it is CHRIST who is able to save completely (Heb 7:25). May Your SPIRIT perform His sanctifying work in (him/her) (1 Pet 1:2).

____ satisfies (himself/herself) with adulterous pleasure. Like Israel, (he/she) loves raison cakes—delicacies that appeal “to the senses, and gratifies the carnal impulses and desires” (ref#68, [Hos 3:1]).

(He/She) appears to be living a self-gravitating, dissolute life rejecting what (he/she) knows of You and choosing the way of self-discovery—deciding (himself/herself) what is right and wrong (ref#123, p31,33).

“God…never designed that the…immoral creature should sip its bliss at a lower fountain than Himself….Love to God…forms the grand requirement… of the divine law….no opposition of rival interest can lessen the obligation of every creature…to love…God with all his heart…” (ref#61, May 18th).

Even if ____ would turn and decide on (his/her) own to do good and make an effort to follow You, it would do nothing for (his/her) salvation. ____’s good deeds will not move You to accept (him/her) into Your kingdom. My prayer is not for ____ to amend (his/her) rebellious ways, but for You to call (him/her) to Yourself (Rom 9:16). Call to (him/her) in such a way that (he/she) will answer.

Asking for the SPIRIT

“Keep on asking for something to be given, and it shall be given you. Keep on seeking and you shall find. Keep on reverently knocking, and it shall be opened to you….how much…will Your Father …in heaven give the Holy Sprit to those who ask Him for Him to be given”
(ref#37, p163, [Luke 11:9,10,13]).

FATHER, I pray for ____, that (he/she) continue pleading for the HOLY SPIRIT—that (he/she) become sensitive to the requirement of constant asking. Incite (him/her) to grasp the concept of how vital He is in (his/her) life.

“As God’s children, we have already received the Spirit. But, we still need to ask and pray for His special gifts and operations as we require them. And not only this, but for Himself to take complete and entire possession; for His unceasing momentary guidance” (ref#19, SEVENTH LESSON).

FATHER, Your SPIRIT is not general or bland with His words of instruction. He will inspire ____ immediately. Favor (him/her), O LORD, to instantly know it is the SPIRIT’s words that has entered (his/her) mind.

I read of the SPIRIT in Acts and marvel at His clearness and specifics. His comfort sets the ones He dwells in apart (Acts 9:31). Set ____ apart today with the blessing of Your SPIRIT.

Reasons For Affliction – Eliminate Slothfulness

“…I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Isa 45:7 ESV).

FATHER, I admit ____, like all of us, needs calamity otherwise (he/she) will fall asleep and let all the spiritual knowledge in (him/her) drain out without seeing the need for constant replenishment. Your difficult providences keep ____ from laziness.

You, WATCHER OF ISRAEL, condemned the prophets because they avoided the difficult situations which accompanied their occupation:

“You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the Lord” (Ezek 13:5 ESV).

“While the wheat sleeps comfortably in the husk, it is useless to man.
It must be threshed out of its resting place before its value can be known. Thus it is good that Jehovah “trieth the righteous,” for their trials cause them to grow rich toward God” (ref#34, Sept 3rd PM).

FATHER, balance ____’s mind in all varying circumstances. And help (him/her) to “cultivate a disposition that renders every duty a spiritual privilege” (ref#76, p139).

It is possible that You call (him/her) to elective affliction. If so equip (him/her) with power to “defend the breaches and build up the wall.” Do not allow ____ to run away from affliction.

“Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness…” (Jer 48:10 ESV).

Compatabilism

FATHER, theologians have coined the word, “compatabilism” to address the doctrines of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. These are two doctrines that are difficult to be reconciled together in the human mind. However, the “writers of the Bible are not embarrassed to put side by side teachings that do not fit our logic. For example, Peter charges his hears on the day of Pentecost with wickedness in killing Christ yet admits it was all in God’s plan (Acts 2:23). Jesus says, ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.’ And He also says, ‘Whoever comes to me I will never drive away’(John 6:37,44)” (ref#79, p108).

“God has, from the beginning, chosen a people unto salvation; but that does not mean there is no need for evangelists to preach the Gospel, or for sinners to believe it; it is by such means that His eternal counsels are effectuated” (ref#152, p131).

FATHER, Your sovereignty does not release me from being responsible for my actions. And my human responsibility does not permit me to do anything without Your help. FATHER, I don’t want to be slothful. I want to do what I know I should.

Internal Righteousness

“If you would climb to heaven, stoop. Do we not say of Jesus, ‘He descended so that He might ascend’? So must you. You must grow downward so that you may grow upward, for the sweetest fellowship with heaven is to be had by humble souls, and by them alone” (ref#34, April 5th PM).

FATHER, I want to become conformed to the image of Your Son (Rom 8:29)—His compassionate acts—His authoritative words—His unrivaled righteousness.

This way of thinking brings me close to the thin line where, on one side, activities are produced by my own energies, and, on the other side, activities are prompted by the SPIRIT. It is an unsafe place to be for the continual lure is to fall on the side of self-effort, which, at its best, can only “act” like CHRIST.

FATHER, direct me toward an internal righteousness—my striving to subject my mind, will, affections, and desires to JESUS. This is the place where the HOLY SPIRIT definitely works. “In every corruption subdued, in every…besetting sin laid aside, in every holy desire begotten, Christ is glorified…” (ref#61, August 24th). In repentance— with a broken heart—by being contrite I can bring You more glory than appearing impressively righteous to people around me.