A CHRISTIAN'S SUNDAY MORNING PRAYER
My Father and My God!
Bless Your church this morning as we gather for corporate worship. Protect Your church from the world, the flesh, and the Devil. O Father, confuse the council of the ungodly who may be planning to attack Your people this morning around this world. Keep Your hedge of protection over Your redeemed as we desire to gather for corporate worship to hear Your Word, praise and confess Your name, offer ourselves as living sacrifices to You, and exalt the name of Jesus.
You have revealed in Scripture that You are 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 uphold all things that exist, both in Heaven and on earth! There is nothing outside of Your sovereign governance! You alone rule in the kingdoms of men as You so easily demonstrated with the powerful worldly rulers such as the Pharaoh, King Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, and Pontius Pilate. Your sovereign rule is the soft pillow that every believer can lay his head on at night!
Thank You, dear Lord, 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, and His being seated in Heaven as the sovereign Ruler of the nations, and His coming again to gather up His people from the four corners of this earth! 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! Thank you, Lord Jesus!
Thank You that You are working all things together for every believer's good and our conformity to Christ (Rom. 8:28-29). Thank You that You have promised to never leave nor forsake Your people, Your sheep, Your church, even me (Heb. 13:5). Lord, we are living in a fearful, discouraging, and confusing time in human history. 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 and sustains and keeps every sheep of Your pasture!
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 continually. 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 can wane, and many times we become discouraged! Help us, help us, dear Lord, 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 God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit: I love You! You are my Sovereign Lord, My God, My Savior, My King, My Redeemer, My Shepherd! 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 You shed Your love abroad in my heart by Your Holy Spirit (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!
But even though my love is imperfect, incomplete, weak, and at times vacillating, Jesus' love for You, 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 wear! Jesus imputed it to me in exchange for all my sins, past, present, and future! Wow! Hallelujah! What a Savior! I have no hope apart from Jesus! Yet, in Christ I am complete! In Christ, I have all that is necessary unto my salvation! In Christ, I stand righteous, holy, and just in Your sight because of Christ's righteous robes! O Lord, bless me to walk in Your ways, and with greater courage to live unto Christ in this fallen, sin-cursed world!
Heavenly Father, hear my prayer for the sake of Your Son, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in whose name and authority I pray. Amen!
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THE SPIRIT-FILLED CHURCH
“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
—Acts 2:42
OUR TEXT teaches that the Spirit-filled church faithfully gathers to experience fellowship at the Lord's Table to remember the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. This was something they did together as part of their worship –to break bread in remembrance of Christ’s atoning work on the cross –this was their hope. They were saved by God’s grace, and they couldn’t wait to come together for worship to hear with their ears the preaching of the Word and see with their eyes the body of Christ broken for them as symbolized by the bread, and His blood poured out for them as symbolized by the wine.
THE PENTECOST church was also a proclaiming church. It would proclaim salvation by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and then they went out into the world with this Good News for sinners. These believers spoke to whoever would listen about the great things God had done in Christ for the salvation of sinners. When was the last time you can honestly say you explained the Gospel of Christ to a lost sinner? Are you afraid to witness because you might be ridiculed or persecuted? In Acts 8, we read about a great persecution coming against the church in Jerusalem after the martyr of Stephen. The believers were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, but those scattered proclaimed the Word wherever they went.
THE SPIRIT-FILLED church was a Christ-proclaiming church. Everywhere in the NT we read about the church proclaiming the Gospel. The Apostle Paul commends the church in Thessalonica for how they welcomed and spread the Good News. “And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything” (1 Thessalonians 1:6-8). This is our calling as the redeemed of Christ. As the Apostle Peter wrote in his first letter, we are to declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light wherever we might be in this world.
IS YOUR CHURCH a proclaiming church? Do you faithfully proclaim the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and salvation in His name alone or do you keep your mouth closed and never mention Jesus Christ to those with whom you come in contact? A Spirit-filled church is one that is known by its devotion to the Apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, and proclaiming Christ. How well does your church reflect the Spirit-filled church we see in Acts 2:42?
Friday Devotional: May 23, 2025
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry
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THE TONGUE IS A FIRE
“Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.”
—Proverbs 21:23
THE EASIEST way for a person to sin is with the tongue. The restraining laws in our society prevent us from doing just anything we want, but it sure seems as if we can say just about anything we want in the name of “freedom of speech.” Because of his fallen, depraved heart, man is prone to spew forth all manner of blasphemy and putrid language from his mouth, which produces a myriad of troubles for his soul. And how we use our tongue is simply an expression of our heart. The tongue truly is the dipstick of the heart. Our heart is a storehouse and our words reveal what is stored in our heart.
THE APOSTLE Paul described man’s tongue in Romans 3:13-14 with these words, “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” Even those redeemed by Christ struggle to reign in their vicious tongue. How many wars have started because of a prideful, arrogant tongue? How many couples have divorced because of a lying tongue? How many friends have been separated because of a gossiping tongue? How many times a day is God’s name, or the name of the glorious Redeemer, Jesus Christ, used in vain, in jest, or blasphemed?
BEFORE YOU speak, remember the words of Christ, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment” (Matt. 12:36). As those who are redeemed by Christ, let us daily practice restraining our tongue, the “little member of our body that boasts great things” (James 3:5). We do this by constantly and conscientiously speaking true, kind, edifying, and loving words, which honor God, and by keeping our mouth shut when it is not necessary to repeat a matter. “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19).
TOO MANY matters are repeated that would better be left untold since they bring no edification to the hearer. “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt…” (Col. 4:6). Only by guarding our tongue will we keep our soul from unnecessary troubles. “Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit” (Psalm 34:11-12).
Tuesday Encouragement: May 20, 2025
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry
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