Octavius Winslow

SUPPLICATION

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GENERAL SICKNESS

[The majority of our prayers concern physical health. We all know someone who is dealing with the pain of sickness. Here is an opportunity to pray for them. Fill their name in the blanks.]

DECISIONS ABOUT HEALTH ISSUES

Screen Shot 2016-03-14 at 3.56.16 PM…FATHER, ____ is searching for the best course to take regarding (his/her) health. Health care now days parallels shopping here and there for the best product. It consists of gathering information—listening to different opinions—then making a decision.

More doctors are expressing their difference of opinion with their own comrades making patients leery of them all. And, the more knowledge ____ gathers, the more tempting it is to use (his/her) carnal mind [that draws logical conclusions] to make (his/her) decision. But FATHER, Your thoughts are higher. They are not like human thoughts. You see the end as well as the beginning. Your opinion is the one ____ should take.

Before ____ makes a decision (he/she) should make You (his/her) decision—not this or that treatment. For You are the one who controls sickness and wellness.

“The God of providence has limited the time, manner, intensity, repetition, and effects of all our sicknesses…the limitation on sickness is wisely adapted to our strength, to the intended purpose of the sickness, and to the grace apportioned. Affliction does not come haphazardly” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, August 17th, PM).

I pray that ____ fix (his/her) mind upon You, FATHER—that eternal, affection You bestow on (him/her). Your tender, unwearied, inextinguishable love will renew ____’s “inward man while the outward is decaying day by day…” Octavius Winslow (ref#61, Oct 18th).

FATHER, You have set ____ apart for Your work, but more exclusively and entirely not only for Your work but for Yourself. ____’s great desire is to glorify You. I pray (he/she) let You select the means which (he/she) may best advance Your glory (ref#61, August 16th).

Show Yourself to ____ as GOD of all grace, love, and power. You have a “balm for every wound, a solace for all anguish, a remedy for every pain, a peace for all disquietude” The Valley of Vision (ref#76, p165). Permit (him/her) to commit (himself/herself) to You awake or asleep (ref#76, p165).

“It is very comforting to know that He who has set the boundaries of our habitation has also set the boundaries of our tribulation” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, August 17th, PM).

Motivate ____ to turn (his/her) heart to You—to cast (himself/herself) upon Your bosom by faith and draw from You Your life (ref#33, p20). Then in such closeness, (he/she) will hear plainly Your instruction about (his/her) health.

CONFESSION

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DISCIPLINE

Screen Shot 2016-03-14 at 3.37.53 PM…FATHER, lead me to the correct understanding of discipline so I may not only appreciate it but joy in it. My first thought when You present me with a painful, difficult, situation is that You are punishing me because You think I should know better.

I am quite aware that I commit many and varied sins, but I don’t need discipline because I’m a sinner, I need to be disciplined because I’m human (ref#5, p40). It is my prideful humanity You are attempting to root out of me; You are not attempting to discourage me from a particular sin.

Keep reminding me Your reproof is an indication that You care enough to teach me (Job 5:17). Certainly at the moment all discipline is painful rather than pleasant but it yields the fruit of righteousness (Heb 12:11).

FATHER, I will praise You because You discipline me in just measure (Jer 30:11). You promise I can always endure whatever circumstances You put me in (1 Cor 10:13). You are with me to save me (Jer 30:11). You give me power to keep myself calm in the days of adversity (Ps 94:13). Enduring the disciplinary trial proves my faith and produces perseverance and steadfastness and patience (James 1:3).

FATHER, commit to my understanding the fact that You issue discipline because You love me (Heb 12:6). When I go astray You call me back to You with discipline. Your steadfast love will not depart from me (2 Sam 7:14-15). You will not be false to Your faithfulness, nor violate Your covenant or alter the word that goes forth from Your lips (Ps 89:33-34). You chasten and scourge me because You cherish me (Heb 12:6).

“Divine love chastens because it sees the necessity for the correction. The Lord’s love is not blind affection…. It is our mercy to know that love marks our iniquity, and that love and not justice, grace and not vengeance, holds the rod and administers the correction….those stripes of His rod are as much…the expression of His love as are the ‘kisses of His mouth’…” Octavius Winslow (ref#61, Jan 16th).

Submitting to Your discipline is good for me so I may share in Your holiness (Heb 12:10). I desire to be trained by it because it yields peaceful righteousness for me (Heb 12:11). Thank You for Your discipline.

THANKSGIVING

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THE HOLY SPIRIT BEARS WITNESS TO MY SPIRIT

Screen Shot 2016-02-25 at 12.07.25 PM…FATHER, may these words be like the pile of stones the people of Israel assembled on the other side of the Jordon River to forever remind them that Your hand is mighty (Josh 4:20,24).

The enemy is constantly waiting for opportunities to insinuate that I am not Your heir. Therefore, I offer up this thanksgiving because of the witness Your SPIRIT provides that I really am Yours and will be eternally.

FATHER, I thank You that Your SPIRIT puts in me the divine nature. According to Your mercy Your SPIRIT washes me clean by regeneration (Titus 3:5) and makes His home in me. He, Himself then is the foretaste of the complete possession of my inheritance (Eph 1:14). I am fully and comfortably assured of Your divine adoption because Your SPIRIT bears witness to my spirit that I am Your child (Rom 8:16).

And, LORD, I praise You that Your SPIRIT then makes my inheritance more sure by culturing and planting spiritual seeds in me so I produce the fruit of righteousness (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control) (Gal 5:22-23). How marvelous it is FATHER, that when I look at myself, I do discover some of these good effects of the SPIRIT’s activity. I look forward to producing more of His fruit.

I thank You, too, LORD that the SPIRIT speaks to me regarding my salvation by drawing me toward the desire to be holy. “The panting after divine conformity is the Spirit’s inspiration” Octavius Winslow (ref#61, Sept 14th), isn’t it? O FATHER, it’s true, I no longer have as my goal to serve myself.

“By…begetting in us the divine nature, by producing in us spiritual fruits, and by breathing in our souls a desire for holiness, the Spirit conducts us to the rational conclusion that we are born of God” Octavius Winslow (ref#61, Sept 14th).

 

SUPPLICATION

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NON CHRISTIAN, RESISTERS

[We all have friends and family that do not want anything to do with Christianity so it is up to us to pray for their salvation. Here’s an opportunity to pray for them. Fill their name in the blanks.]

BACKSLIDERS CAN BE RESTORED

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 12.31.23 PM…FATHER, You restore souls (Ps 23:3). You convert a “soul from sin that it may not eternally perish” Adam Clarke (ref#15, [Ps 23:3]). You bring back life from destruction, heal backsliders, and restore them to Your favor (ref#15, [Ps 23:3]).

“He breaks down the hard heart, arrests the soul in its onward progress of departure, places upon it some powerful check, lays it low….” Octavius Winslow (ref#61, Sept 1st).

FATHER, I plead to You for the same power You used to initially draw ____ to take up again Your work in ____’s heart (ref#61, Sept 1st). Even though (he/she) presently plows a wicked way, reaps a crop of evil, and eats a salad of lies (Hos 10:13), You will kindly give (him/her) another chance to turn (himself/herself) around again.

It is encouraging to know that since ____ is not in the pit of hell, (he/she) is on the ground of mercy and that You, FATHER, see a way for (him/her) to escape when I see none. I will depend on You and call on You for You only give a promise of deliverance (ref#124, p89-90).

VALLEYS TO MOUNTAINTOPS

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THE SABBATH

1/3/2016

Screen Shot 2016-01-13 at 2.52.07 PM“There is never a moment, even the holiest, when we are not exposed to the fiery darts of the adversary. The onset is often at a moment when we least suspect its approach; seasons of peculiar nearness to God…” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Sept 7th).

I started tearing up—surprising myself. “What’s that about?” I’m walking through this day with GOD beside me. I have made a mental note of that since I sat down at the computer to operate the slides to the worship songs.

True, the slides are not correct and I’m trying to make them right with no success, but that’s not disturbing me. What’s disturbing me is how I can sit beside GOD and feel awful. It appears no one else is struggling as I look out over the room—the dark cloud hangs over my head. Yet, GOD sits beside me and gives me the day He has ordained for me—a day I should be rejoicing in because He has given it to me in love. What’s happening seems like an oxymoron.

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After the drive home and lunch consumed, I settled into reading. Again, like a previous Sabbath, I re-read a portion where I left off in a devotional:

“…just as the night of woe sets in, filling you with trembling, anxiety, and fear, a scene of overpowering glory suddenly burst before the astonished eye of faith. The glory of God as your Father has appeared; the character of Jesus as a loving, tender Brother has unfolded; the Spirit as a Comforter has whispered; your interest in the great redemption has been revealed; and a new earth scented with a thousand sweet smells, and a new heaven resplendent with countless suns, has floated before your view” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Sept 4th).

NOT! Excuse me but I’m still in the “night of woe.” But wait…

I’m smiling now. Bonnie, stop trying to find a way to feel better. GOD is GOD; He does as He pleases. Today and always He walks beside me even though He chooses to move me into frustrating circumstances where the enemy has his way with me. What He did this morning and what He is doing now is providing me the strong faith to not be shaken by circumstances. So, I’m having a bad day, so what? I am standing on a foundation that does not move. Nothing is able to separate me from the love of GOD (Rom 8:39).

NOTE: I have reread this entry and looking over the Octavius Winslow quote again makes me inclined now to say, YES!

“Let us trust this love. Trust it when veiled, trust it when it threatens to slay, trust it when it seems to frown, trust it even when we cannot trace it” Octavius Winslow (ref#135, Sept 6th).

SUPPLICATION

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THE PRICE JESUS PAID

[We all have friends and family that do not want anything to do with Christianity so it is up to us to pray for their salvation.  Here’s an opportunity to pray for them.  Fill their name in the blanks.]

Screen Shot 2015-12-31 at 12.33.46 PM“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;…” Charles Spurgeon (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” Charles Spurgeon (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” Octavius Winslow (ref#61, Oct 26th)?

VALLEYS TO MOUNTAINTIOPS

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ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED????

2/6/11

Screen Shot 2015-11-07 at 11.48.39 AMLast night I read a devotional by Otavious Winslow pointing out all the ways we can know for sure we are saved (ref#61, Sept 13th). In the present moment I know I am saved, but how can I know I will make it to the end?

I revisited the time I felt I needed to plead with GOD daily lest He would let go of my hand and I would not make it to the end. I remember the fear…

This revisit hurt. It rushed upon me and I was quickly captured by it.

But, after I turned out the light and got comfortable in bed the answer I desperately needed came. Because He has set His affection on me, I will endure to the end! He has chosen to love me! This has nothing to do with me loving Him. He takes the initiative (John 10:28).

Up until last night my thinking was along the line of me, myself, and I enduring until the end—as if I had the power to keep myself out of hell! Now that He has provided an understanding to me, I wonder why I didn’t get the concept long ago? He has His reasons. Indeed, how the enemy deceives and I am soundly deceived until GOD chooses the time to turn on His light and I see clearly.

Winslow talked about spiritual fruit as an indication of GOD’s regeneration. As I lay in bed how pointedly my FATHER revealed the growth He has given me. Can I count on once saved, always saved? Absolutely!—because it’s not up to me!

“There is nothing for which we can take credit.  All praise, honor, worship, and service go to God and God alone,  He sought us.  He birthed us.  He sustains us.  He matures us.  He protects us.  And he will finally deliver us.  To him be the glory. Amen.”  Paul David Tripp

SUPPLICATION

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REASONS FOR AFFLICTION – SO GOD MAY GLORIFY HMSELF BY DELIVERANCE

Screen Shot 2015-11-06 at 4.29.54 PM…“O LOVE BEYOND COMPARE, Thou art good when thou givest, when thou takest away, when the sun shines upon me, when night gathers over me” (ref#76, p111).

FATHER, as ____ loses hope and is paralyzed with fear, guide (him/her) to a place where (he/she) can remember the past where You greatly worked for (him/her). Overwhelm (him/her), grant (him/her) enough quietness within to recall what You have done that (he/she) might find strength to go on (Ps 143:4-6).

Remind (him/her) that You will either deliver (him/her) speedily or definitely support (him/her) in this trouble as long as You are pleased to keep (him/her) in it (ref#34, March 4th AM).

“Be submissive, meek, and quiet under God’s chastening and afflicting hand, and receive all His dispensations as only tending to prepare you more perfectly for ‘the inheritance of the saints in light’ (Col 1:12)” (ref#61, Oct 9th).

FATHER, You allowed Your Son to suffer so now He knows how _____ feels. JESUS, come and help ____ (Heb 2:18).

“Against me earth and hell combine,

But on my side is power divine;

Jesus is all, and He is mine”  Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Oct 9th AM)!

FATHER, when You come to deliver ____, the circumstances which seem to go against (his/her) deliverance will only set forth more of Your glory. The more awful You make (his/her) circumstances, and then turn and get (him/her) out of them, the more reverence from others and (him/her) You will receive. I cannot wish less misery for (him/her) than what You gave Your Son.

Keep (him/her), O GOD, send Your angel to strengthen (him/her) (Luke 22:43). Provide for (him/her) as You provided for Your Son. By faith I know it will be enough.

“Thy calmness bends serene above,

My restlessness to still;

Around me flows thy quickening life,

To nerve my faltering will:

Thy presence fills my solitude;

Thy providence turns all to good” S. Longfellow (1819-1892) (ref#59, p550).

SUPPLICATION

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SO AFFLICTED PRAYING IMPOSSIBLE

Screen Shot 2015-11-05 at 3.20.13 PM“The God of providence has limited the time, manner, intensity, repetition, and effects of all our sicknesses…the limitation on sickness is wisely adapted to our strength, to the intended purpose of the sickness, and to the grace apportioned. Affliction does not come haphazardly” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, August 17th, PM).

FATHER, ____ may be too deeply absorbed in sorrow, or too weakened by disease and racked with pain to muster prayers to You. Many situations make ____ unfit for concentrated spiritual thought. But, sweet JESUS intercedes in (his/her) stead (ref#61, Feb 10th).

“…when human sympathy and power are exhausted, Jesus has ‘entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God’ (Heb 9:24)” Octavius Winslow (ref#61, Feb 10th).

Pray for ____, JESUS. When ____ in (his/her) affliction cannot think of You, aid (him/her) to know You are thinking of (him/her). You live to make intercession (Heb 7:25).

CONFESSION

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THE BLOOD

Screen Shot 2015-10-28 at 3.58.38 PMThe blood of the Lamb cleanses me from sin—not just the first time I come to Him. It is not a once-and-for-all cleansing but the blood of CHRIST continues to flow—continues to cleanse. It saves me all the days of my life.

It is satan’s ploy to draw me to CHRIST for initial repentance and then drive me out in the wilderness so that I use my natural resources to fight sin going forward. Surely the Galatians thought as I, “CHRIST has saved me, now I have to get my act together.” The Apostle Paul accuses them: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh” (Gal 3:3 ESV)?

“You may struggle against evil as long as you please, but…you will never be delivered from it in any way but by the blood of Jesus.…Your prayers, your repentance, and your tears—the whole of them put together—are worth nothing apart from Him”  Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, April 23rd AM).

“In all failures in duty…remembering the innumerable tracers of imperfection and sin found upon all you do, deal frequently, closely, with the atoning blood. ‘Wash and be clean’ (2 Kings 5:13)” Octavius Winslow (ref#61, July 18th).

FATHER, remind me to always come.

“If you have ever come to the blood…you will feel your need of coming to it every day. He who does not desire to wash in it every day has never washed in it at all….there is still a fountain opened….Christ alone can give us joy and comfort….let us sprinkle our doorposts fresh with blood, and then, feast on the Lamb, assured that the destroying angel must pass us by” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, April 17th AM).