My Father and my God!
You have revealed in Scripture that You are the Sovereign, Triune God!
Eternally 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 in Heaven and on earth!
Nothing is outside of Your sovereign hand of Providence! All things are so in Your hand that without Your will they cannot even move!
You alone rule in the kingdoms of men as You demonstrated with Pharaoh king of Egypt, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and Sennacherib king of Assyria. Mighty rulers of this world that You put down in a moment by the Word of Your power.
Thank You, Father, for redemption: the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation, righteousness, adoption, and sonship!
I have absolutely no hope of redemption unless I am rescued by Jesus Christ alone! Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Christ’s cross I cling! 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 consummate 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, even me!
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). Father, we are living in a fearful, discouraging, and confusing time in human history. Thank You for the promise that nothing can separate Your people 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! Thank You for Your unchanging Word that gives stability to every believer in this turbulent world of lies and false philosophies. Your Word is the Rock on which we boldly stand against the tides of all human philosophy, which is a device of Satan.
Please, Father, strengthen the heart 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! Yet, as believers, we are, at best, partially sanctified in this life and therefore we must fight against fear that so often floods our hearts! As the song writer wrote, “All who sail the sea of faith, find out before too long; How quickly blue skies can grow dark, and gentle winds grow strong. Suddenly fear is like white water, Pounding on the soul, Still we sail on knowing, that our Lord is in control.”
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 spiritual labor, a battleground 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 waxes and wanes, and many times we become discouraged and fall flat on our face in frustration, fear, discouragement, and discontentment! O my Father, I feel that discouragement and discontent in my soul! Help me, 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 Father, to be faithful, diligent, persistent soldiers of the cross of Christ! Help me, Heavenly Father, to serve You well all the days of this earthly pilgrimage! Hold me close to You. Don’t let me wander. Keep me on the path of righteousness. Do not allow me to sin against You. As the hymn writer, Robert Robinson, wrote long ago, “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.”
O Lord Jesus, 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 You, my Sovereign God and Savior, Jesus Christ! And yet I know I am still sinful and because of sin I am inconsistent, weak, frail, fragile, broken, and at times compromising! But 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, O Father, 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 wear! Jesus imputed it to me in exchange for all my sins, past, present, and future! Hallelujah! What a Savior! I have no hope apart from Jesus! But I am complete in Him! Positionally perfect though practically imperfect! In Christ, I have all that is necessary unto my salvation! I need none other than Jesus’ blood and righteousness!
O Lord, bless me to walk in Your ways, and with greater courage to live unto Christ in this fallen, sin-cursed world!
Chasten me when I wander and disobey. Keep me humble when I walk in Your ways!
Thank You for hearing my prayer for Jesus’ sake!
In Jesus’ Name I Pray!
Amen!