Pleasing The Lord
Tag: Prayer
Don’t Be A Stranger
In The Morning
“Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up”.
~ Psalm 5:2-3
Prayer Life Pause: Heavenly Father, may the prayers of Your people reach You early in the morning that we might start all of our days in Your presence and with Your power. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Take Time
Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
And run not before Him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.
~ William D. Longstaff
Prayer Life Pause: Heavenly Father, please continue to shower me in Your holiness that I may reflect it in my thoughts, words and deeds. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Only Sin To Give
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
~ 2 Corinthians 5:21
When I was a young boy, I loved trading baseball cards. My friends and I couldn’t wait to ride our bicycles down to the local convenient store, head over to the candy and snack isle, find just the right pack of cards, buy them, only to rip them open, toss the rectangle piece of gum in our mouth, and start swapping those magical cardboard treasures. I can recall the happiness and satisfaction many of my childhood days brought trading simple baseball cards.
This passage in 2 Corinthians 5 speaks to another kind of trade, a swapping of sorts; to what theologians call double imputation. In the drama of redemption, Jesus doesn’t merely take upon Himself our sin, He gives us His righteousness. In other words, our sins are imputed (meaning they are accounted towards) to Christ, while His goodness, His righteous is imputed, or accounted, to us. We trade our sin for His goodness. This is the gracious trade-off in salvation.
Now when I traded those baseball cards as a youngster, I was always trying to get a good deal. I wanted to trade up. Each one of us, as we sat in those circles of intense negotiations, desired to trade our cards for better ones. But when Jesus Christ traded His righteousness for our sin, He certainly got a raw deal. While we get His goodness, He inherited, through imputation, our sin. Because of His great love, Jesus willingly traded with those who only have our sin to give.
And this alone should give all those who are trusting in Christ for our salvation pause. Here is the foundation of our reconciliation to God! Here is the sum and substance of Christ’s redeeming work on our behalf! He took our sin and traded that for His own righteousness. This should stir our hearts as nothing else. It should move the sinner to love, worship, and praise Him who traded everything glorious with those who had only sin to give Him in return.
~ apl
Prayer Life Pause: Dear Jesus, thank you for trading Your righteousness for my sin. Nothing but divine love and heavenly grace would allow You do such a wonderful thing for me. May I live faithfully in Your righteousness all my days. In Jesus name, amen.
Teach My Heart
“Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore.”
~ Psalm 86:11-12
There are many spiritual benefits to growing in grace. Here the Psalmist petitions Jehovah in this prayer to teach him in the way of the Lord. The Psalm’s author desires to learn, to grow, and be fed from the bounty of his Master’s table in the ways of God. The benefits and blessings of learning the Lord’s ways are manifold in these verses.
In this passage, the word “teach” in the original literally means “to point or shoot” in a particular direction. The Psalmist aspires to be nudged or even pushed in the direction of the ways of the Lord that he might walk, or live, in God’s truth. He is seeking the blessings of the narrow path of God’s righteous ways that his words and deeds might align with that of his Lord’s will.
More in particular, David longs for a uniting or joining of his heart with the Lord that he might revere God’s name; that his heart would be inclined to worship, honor and obey the Lord. Through the Lord’s teaching of David, springs forth praise for God and ultimately the glorifying of the name of David’s covenant-keeping God.
Believers should not see their Christian education as merely a way to gain head-knowledge. God’s instruction to us is always moral in nature. It is intended to “push” the believer towards holy living, in being more Christ-like. David understood his prayer for God to teach him His ways as a means to an end. The end being to glorify God’s name forevermore.
~ apl
Prayer Life Pause: Heavenly Father, may my growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ cause me to forever break out in worship and praise of His glorious name. In Jesus’ name, amen.
There Is Need
“My chief desire should be . . . to be a man of prayer, for there is no want of speaking and writing and preaching and teaching and warning, but there is need of the Holy Spirit to make all this effectual.”
~ Andrew Bonar
Prayer Life Pause: Dear Lord, may I bathe all my ministry in prayer that You would be pleased to add Your blessed effectual grace to all that I do. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Self-Control
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
~ Galatians 5:22-23
Last, but certainly not least, is the fruit of the Spirit known as self-control. The word used here “ἐγκράτεια” (enkráteia) properly means “the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, esp. his sensual appetites”. It is derived from “ἐν” (en) meaning “in” and “κράτος” (kratos) meaning “strength,” and has reference to the power or command which believers are to exercise over all manner of sinful and ungodly practices. This kind of discipline over ourselves is not something we muster up. In the flesh, we are weak (Rom. 7:14). It is the indwelling presence of God’s Holy Spirit which bestows what is necessary to put to death the old man and causes Christians to live in newness of life. It is then the fruit of self-control which enables the true follower of Christ to cultivate, nurture and grow all the fruits of the Spirit in their life. Against such blessed things, there is no law.
~ apl
Prayer Life Pause: Heavenly Father, may You help me to be like a tree planted by living waters that brings forth fruit in my season of life, and that the power and presence of the Divine Spirit in my life, my leaf will not whither and whatsoever I do for Your own glory, shall prosper. In Jesus, name, amen.
Beauty Full Sight
The beauty of God,
it can’t all be seen.
His majesty high,
our sin between.
Thus came the Son,
arrayed as our Light.
That all may view,
God’s beauty full sight.
~ apl
Prayer Life Pause: Lord Jesus, You are the Light of mankind. Help me to reflect Your light to others that, through me, they may see Your loving hope and salvation. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Gentleness
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
~ Galatians 5:22-23
There is probably no more winsome fruit of the Spirit than gentleness. Gentleness carries with it the connotation of a mild and loving disposition. Christian’s ought not to be known for a harsh and grumpy temperance. We shouldn’t be unapproachable people. Rather, followers of Christ should show forth a mildness of temper and calmness of spirit which draws others to us that we might share in our faith with them. The Lord Jesus beckoned folks in His day much the same way. In Matthew 11:29, He would say, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls”. May you find rest for your soul too, by cultivating gentleness in your life.
~ apl
Prayer Life Pause: Lord Jesus, grant me a tenderness of heart and gentleness of spirit such as Yours that I might better reflect Your person in my life towards others. In Jesus’ name, amen.
A Prayer Life 