My Father and My God!
You have revealed Yourself in Scripture as the Sovereign God! One God in essence and yet three in person: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! You created all things by the Word of Your power, and You alone uphold all things that You created, both in Heaven and on earth! “For in You we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). There is nothing outside of Your sovereign rule! You alone rule the kingdoms of men as You easily demonstrated with the powerful Egyptian Pharaoh (Ex. 9) and the mighty Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4). What a comfort to know that our Savior is the sovereign Ruler of heaven and earth, and that nothing happens by chance but all things come by Your sovereign hand. As the psalmist declared, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it” (Psalm 139:6).
Thank You, Father, for salvation! Thank You for the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation, righteousness, adoption, and sonship! I have absolutely no hope of salvation unless I am rescued by Jesus Christ alone! My only hope is Jesus’ righteousness, His atoning death on the cross, His rising from the dead, His being seated in Heaven as the sovereign Ruler of the nations, and His coming again to consummate all things in His kingdom! And I know, as You have revealed in Your Word, that Jesus did all this on behalf of and in the place of His sheep, His church, His bride! As the hymn writer wrote, “Man of Sorrows,” what a name, For the Son of God who came, Ruined sinners to reclaim! Hallelujah! What a Savior! Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned He stood; Sealed my pardon with His blood; Hallelujah! What a Savior!” (stanzas 1-2)
Thank You for working all things together for every believer’s good and our conformity to Christ (Rom. 8:28-29). Thank You for the promise to never leave nor forsake Your people, Your sheep, Your church, even me! (Heb. 13:5). Father, we are living in a fearful, discouraging, and confusing world. Thank You for the promise that nothing can separate us from Your love (Rom. 8:38-39). Thank You, Lord Jesus, that all power and authority is in Your hand, the very hand of the One who purchased the church!
Please, Lord Jesus, strengthen the heart of all Your redeemed! Strengthen my heart! You have not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and of a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7). Yet, as believers, we are, at best, partially sanctified in this life and therefore we must fight against fear that at times floods our hearts! We must continually fight against the world, the flesh, and devil in this life as they assail us without ceasing. We realize daily that the Christian life is labor. We must be diligent, self-controlled, and hard working even as soldiers, farmers, and athletes (2 Tim. 2). The battle is exhausting, courage wanes, and many times we become discouraged! Forgive my sins! Help me, O Lord! Help every believer to “gird up the lions of our mind and be sober, and rest our hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). Help us to put on the full armor of God so we can make a firm stand against the world, the flesh, and the devil (Eph. 6). Help us, sovereign, gracious, and merciful Lord, to be faithful, diligent, persistent soldiers of the cross of Christ! O Lord, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)
O Lord, I love You! You are my Sovereign Lord, My God, My Savior, My King, My Redeemer! I bow to no man! I bow only to my Sovereign God and Savior, Jesus Christ! And yet I know I am inconsistent, sinful, weak, frail, fragile, and broken! I do know that I love You because You first loved me and shed Your love abroad in my heart (Rom. 5). But I also know that my love for You is not what it ought to be! I know my love is growing, but is less than perfect. I know that I have not loved You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength! I know there is still rebellion in my heart, which is being subdued daily by the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word. This rebellion doesn’t rule over me, but I can feel the pull, the war against sin, even as the Apostle Paul described in Romans 7.
But even though my love is imperfect, incomplete, weak, and at times vacillating, Jesus’ love for You, O Father, never vacillated, was never imperfect, never incomplete, and never weak! He loved You perfectly, completely, with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength! And He did so in my place and on my behalf and that of all the redeemed! And this is the righteousness I/we wear! Jesus imputed it to me when the Holy Spirit created faith in my heart in exchange for all my sins, past, present, and future, which Jesus dealt with once for all time on the cross! As Horatio G. Spafford declared, “My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!— My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!” Wow! Hallelujah! What a Savior! I have no hope apart from Jesus! “Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress, Helpless, look to Thee for grace: Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior, or I die.” I am complete in Him! In Christ, I have all that is necessary unto my salvation! In Christ I am accounted as righteous because of Jesus’ righteousness in spite of my sins and failures!
O Holy Spirit, bless me to walk in Your ways, and with greater courage to live unto Christ in this fallen, sin-cursed world! Cause me to love You in a greater measure. Make me more like Jesus! Uphold me, and never let me go my own way because I am “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here’s my heart; O take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above.” Keep me on the straight and narrow path that leads to life and uphold me with Your strong hand. Fill me with Your presence and power! Keep me focused on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith! Discipline me when I disobey, correct me when I go astray, and keep me humble and thankful when I obey.
In Jesus’ name I pray!
Amen!
