My Father and My God!
Lord, as You have revealed in Scripture, 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 easily demonstrated with the powerful King Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4). And Your sovereign rule is the soft pillow that every believer can lay his head on at night.
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, and His being seated in Heaven as the sovereign Ruler of the nations. 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 that You are working all things together for every believer’s good and our conformity to Christ (Rom. 8:28). 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.
Please, Lord, strengthen the heart of Your 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 dwell on a battlefield and not a playground. 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!
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! But even though my love is imperfect, incomplete, weak, and at times vacillating, Jesus’ love for You 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 in exchange for all my sins, past, present, and future! Wow! Hallelujah! What a Savior! I have no hope apart from Jesus! But I am complete in Him! In Christ, I have all that is necessary unto my salvation!
O Lord, bless me to walk in Your ways, and with greater courage to live unto Christ in this fallen, sin-cursed world!
Thank You for hearing my prayer for Jesus’ sake!
In His Name I Pray!
Amen!
