“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain”.
~ Philippians 1:21
Prayer Life Pause: Dear Savior, to live is to live for You. Help me, if I am to live, to make each moment count for Your glory, and when You do call me home, that I might rejoice in gaining everlasting presence with You. In Jesus; name, amen.
“Our peace and confidence are to be found not in our empirical holiness, not in our progress toward perfection, but in the alien righteousness of Jesus Christ that covers our sinfulness and alone makes us acceptable before a holy God.”
~ Donald Bloesch
Prayer Life Pause: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for covering me with the perfect righteousness of Your Son, Jesus Christ. For His perfection alone is what makes sinners acceptable before a holy God. In Jesus’ name, amen.
“My soul, if thou wouldst be enlarged into human sympathy, thou must be narrowed into limits of human suffering. Joseph’s dungeon is the road to Joseph’s throne. Thou canst not lift the iron load of thy brother if the iron hath not entered into thee. It is thy limit that is thine enlargement. It is the shadows of thy life that are the real fulfillment of thy dreams of glory. Murmur not at the shadows; they are better revelations than thy dreams. Say not that the shades of the prison-house have fettered thee; thy fetters are wings– wings of flight into the bosom of humanity. The door of thy prison-house is a door into the heart of the universe. God has enlarged thee by the binding of sorrow’s chain.”
– George Matheson
“But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ; and most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear”.
~ Philippians 1:12-14
Prayer Life Pause: Heavenly Father, embolden me each day to speak Your truth in love, that like Your servant Paul, others will be endowed with the confidence and assurance to share in the chains that are in Christ Jesus. In Jesus’ name, amen.
“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God”.
~ Philippians 1:9-11
Prayer Life Pause: Heavenly Father, may my love for You and my fellow man deepen everyday, may I seek those things which You deem most excellent, and may my faith be sincere and without offense so that the fruits of Thy righteousness would be manifest in me to the glory and praise of God. In Jesus’ name, amen.
“[B]eing confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”
~ Philippians 1:6
Prayer Life Pause: Heavenly Father, my eternal hope and everlasting confidence lies solely in You and Your Beloved Son that You will finish the gracious work of salvation You have begun in me. Thank you for Your tender mercy. In Jesus’ name, amen.
“We are trying not so much to make God listen to us as to make ourselves listen to Him; we are trying not to persuade God to do what we want, but to find out what he wants us to do. It so often happens that in prayer we are really saying, “Thy will be changed,” when we ought to be saying, “Thy will be done.” The first object of prayer is not so much to speak to God as to listen to Him.”
~ William Barclay
Prayer Life Pause: Dear Lord, give me ears to hear and heed Thy will in my life. May my prayers be more about listening to You than they are about You hearing me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
A Prayer Life 