My Father and My God,
You are awesome in majesty, glorious in power, amazing in Grace, ineffable in mercy, and beautiful in love! You, O God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit, are the awesome God of Heaven and earth. Thank You for saving a wretch like me! When I was spiritually dead, You made me alive. When I was filled with hatred and enmity towards You and my fellow man, You filled my soul with Your love! When I was lost, You found me. When I was homeless, You brought me to Your heavenly home. When I was naked, You clothed me in Christ’s righteous robes! When I was an orphan, You adopted me. When I was blind, You made me see.
I praise You for Your mercy towards a wretch like me. You didn’t give me what my sins deserve – everlasting damnation. You punished my sins in Christ. And I have broken all Your commandments in thought, word, and deed. And even as a believer, “The seed of every sin known to man — is in my heart!” Yet You gave me what I didn’t deserve – grace! You gave me Jesus, You gave me redemption in Him!
I praise You that when I am faithless, You remain faithful since You cannot deny Yourself. I praise You, O Father, that even though I sin every day in thought, word, and deed, You have not nor will You ever cast me out of Your Kingdom. I know this because of Your Word, which teaches me that Christ was condemned and cast out in my place, on my behalf, as my substitute! By imputation, He was reckoned as the covenant breaker and was treated as if He had sinned all my personal sins, and those of all His people. Therefore, all the blessings in the heavenly places are mine (and all His sheep) in Christ. By the imputation of His righteousness I am treated as the covenant keeper.
Because of Your person and work, Lord Jesus, I have passed from spiritual death to spiritual life, and will never more come under condemnation since there is no condemnation for those in Christ. All this is NOT because of who I am or what I have done, but all the blessings are mine because of who You are, Lord Jesus, and what You have done! You have fulfilled the Laws demands! You have absorbed all the punishment of my sins on the cross. You arose from the dead; You ascended into Heaven; And now I am righteous in Christ!
O Father, Jesus the Christ has pleased You, as a sweet smelling aroma, by His law-abiding life and sin-atoning death, and since sin could not hold Him down, You raised Him from the dead, which declares, once for all time, that Your justice has been satisfied by Christ for His people! As John Newton once wrote, “He has hushed the law’s loud thunder, He has quenched Mt. Sinai’s flame … When through grace in Christ our trust is, Justice smiles and asks no more!” O my Father, keep me from sinning against You, for I feel the pull of sin in my soul. Keep me from wandering from You, from drifting from Christ, from resisting the work of the Holy Spirit in me. Keep me in Your Word and in prayer, and faithful to worship You corporately on the Lord’s Day! Do not leave me to myself else I would, without a doubt, fall away from the God I love. I would return to wallow in the mud like a pig previously washed, or a dog to lick up its vomit. Lord Jesus, You are the Good Shepherd, please shepherd my wandering heart. I need You as my Shepherd; I need you every moment of every day! I depend upon You to keep me from wandering into sin.
As the hymn writer, Robert Robinson, once wrote, “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.” Lead me, guide me, direct me, uphold me, strengthen me, fill me, keep me, protect me, teach me, chasten me, feed me, rebuke me, encourage me, instruct me, O Holy Spirit. Make me more and more like Jesus, and use me for His glory. “Bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee.” O Lord, I love You! Stoke the fire of my love. Keep me on the straight and narrow path: serving, loving, living for Your glory!
In the name of Jesus!
Amen!
