::*~God All-Sufficient~*::

King of Glory, Divine Majesty,
Every perfection adorns Thy nature
and sustains Thy throne;
The heavens and earth are Thine,
The world is Thine and its fullness.
Thy power created the universe from nothing;
Thy wisdom has managed all its multiple concerns,
presiding over nations, families, individuals.
Thy goodness is boundless;
all creatures wait on Thee
are supplied by Thee
are satisfied in Thee.
How precious are the thoughts of Thy mercy and grace!
How excellent Thy lovingkindness that draws men to Thee!
Teach us to place our happiness in Thee,
the blessed God,
never seeking life among the dead things of earth,
or asking for that which satisfies the deluded;
But may we prize the light of Thy smile,
implore the joy of Thy salvation,
find our heaven in Thee.
Thou has attended to our happiness more than we can do;
Though we are fallen creatures Thou has not neglected us.
In love and pity Thou hast provided us a Saviour;
Apply His redemption to our hearts,
by justifying our persons,
and sanctifying our natures.
We confess our transgressions, have mercy on us.
We are weary, give us rest,
ignorant, make us wise unto salvation,
helpless, let Thy strength be made perfect in our weakness,
poor and needy, bless us with Christ's unsearchable riches,
perplexed and tempted, let us travel on unchecked, undismayed,
knowing that Thou has said,
'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'
Blessed be Thy name!

Found in

"The Valley of Vision ~

A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions"

~Contentment~

Heavenly Father~

If I should suffer need, and go unclothed,

and be in poverty,

make my heart prize thy love,

know it, be constrained by it,

though I be denied all blessings.

It is thy mercy to afflict and try me with wants,

for by these trials I see my sins,

and desire severance from them.

Let me willingly accept misery, sorrows, temptations,

if I can thereby feel sin as the greatest evil,

and be delivered from it with gratitude to thee,

acknowledging this as the highest testimony of thy love.

When thy Son, Jesus, came into my soul,

instead of sin, he became more dear to me

than sin had formerly been;

his kindly rule replaced sin's tyranny.

Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued

I must not only labour to overcome it,

but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it,

and he must become to me more than vile lust had been;

that his sweetness, power, life may be there.

Thus I must seek a grace from him contrary to sin,

but must not claim it apart from himself.

When I am afraid of evils to come,

comfort me by showing me

that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch,

but in Christ I am reconciled and live;

that in myself I find insufficiency and no rest,

but in Christ there is satisfaction and peace;

that in myself I am feeble and unable to do good,

but in Christ I have ability to do all things.

Though now I have his graces in part,

I shall shortly have them perfectly

in that state where thou wilt show thyself fully reconciled,

and alone sufficient, efficient,

loving me completely,

with sin abolished.

O Lord, hasten that day.

Found in

"The Valley of Vision ~

A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions"

Do you take the time?

How many of us pray for safety while driving, healing from sickness, guidance while shopping, for the right words to say at the right time, for salvation for an unsaved acquaintance? The list goes on and on, some "major" some "mundane". Prayer is, or should be, a normal part of a Christian's life. It should be as easy as breathing. Maybe we could say it should be done as often as breathing.

But how many times do we stop and truly thank the Lord for answered prayers? Oh, we give glory and praise to God when a soul is saved and give their life to Christ. We thank Him and praise Him when He does "great and mighty" things (because it seems easier to spot how He works in the "big" things), but do we thank the Lord when we step out of our car after a drive (long or short) for the safety He gave us on the road? Do we thank the Lord for giving us the wisdom to buy the things we needed (and sometimes the things we wanted) while out shopping? Do we take the time to thank Him, and truly mean it, for the "small and insignificant" things?

God loves to hear our prayers, our praise ... our thankfulness! No matter how small the request seemed when prayed did you take the time to thank Him for how He answered it? And not just if He answered the prayer the way we thought it should be answered. Do we thank Him when things don't work out the way we thought they should? Are we giving thanks for everything at all times?

What about those times when He does things that we never prayed for? What about when He lovingly grants those desires that we never dared to pray? What about when He does something that we never would have even thought of? Do we thank Him for those things, too?

A little assignment ... I don't expect reports back ... just for yourself ... how often do you find yourself thanking God throughout the day? Do you thank Him when things turn out "right"? Do you thank Him when things don't go as planned? Do you thank Him for the "little" things as well as the "big" things? Do you thank Him for those things you never thought of, or prayed for? Just a little something to think on.

Moment by Moment

As of late the phrase 'moment by moment' has been running through my head. I don't know what started it, but most likely failing to resist a temptation.

I was so excited when I learned what I'm about so tell you that I just had to share it, maybe you've already discovered this, and this is old school. :) But just the same, I'm excited.

Resiting temptation isn't a year by year thing, nor a month by month thing, nor week by week, nor day by day, nor hour by hour, nor even minute by minute ... it's a moment by moment (second by second) thing.

It's more than just getting up in the morning and praying, "Lord helping me to resist temptation today," and then not think about it (or praying about it) again. It is moment by moment, begging, pleading, praying that the Lord would grant the strength to endure the temptations He brings to change and mold us ... to refine us. To make us like Him.

So often, after failing a temptation, I think, "Why did I fail again?" and the answer is; first because I didn't want to, if I had really and truly wanted to, I would have said no, but I gave into the desires of the flesh, and secondly because I didn't ask for help. I didn't ask moment by moment for grace and strength. I may have asked at one point in the day, but I need to ask moment by moment and even more than that when I'm actually in the temptation.

But also, we need to remember that resisting isn't our doing, it's God working through us because apart from God we can do nothing ... not even resist temptation. Yet at the same time we can do all through Christ Who strengthens us! But it has to be through Christ! So when we have victory over sin, over temptation, do we thank Christ for His strength? Or do we just think we're doing great and hope we can make it next time too?

These are just thoughts that have been on my mind, as I said, and have been making me stop and pray for grace and strength, (not as often as I should, but trying to) or to stop and thank Him that He is working in my life.

Limiting the Limitless

As I was lying in my bed, praying last night I came to a request that has been heavy on my heart, and frankly I don't know how to pray the best way for it. But my thoughts/prayers went something like this ... "Lord, I don't know how to pray. Please make ____, give me _____ or take this ____ away." Just as I finished those words a couple thoughts came to me. "Are those His only options? Because I gave Him these three options He can't do anything else? Am I somehow telling God what He can and can't do? Am I somehow limiting Him, who is limitless?"

Perhaps it's just a slip of the tongue, or something deeper. The word "or" is so little, slips in so unnoticed sometimes, it's easy to say, it rolls off our tongue so easily. If it is a slip of the tongue maybe we should be more careful to make sure that it is simply a slip of the tongue and perhaps change how we say what we say in our prayers.

But maybe it's something deeper. When we insert the word "or" into our prayers, do we truly believe that those are the only ways to solve our problems and that God must work according to the options we have laid before Him? Do we believe that nothing else could possibly do to make the situations (which, if you remember, are God's doings to begin with) work out to some kind of good, or at least in a way that we might end up liking?

Shouldn't we, instead, take a different road. "casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7 ESV). "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6 ESV).

Maybe it's just me, but those verses don't say anything about listing your options to Christ, "Casting all our anxieties [worries] on Him," implies that we cast them and leave them on Him, that we tell Him our worries, our requests and leave it in His hands, "because He cares for you."

So here's what I'm getting at: pray, pray, pray, and then pray some more, we are called and commanded to pray, letting our requests and worries, anxieties, be made known to God, but that we watch ourselves, don't slip in the "or" word and then think God has to work according to our standards or options that we cast on Him with our requests and worries. Let your requests and worries be made known, then let go, trust, surrender, submit and know that God works by His standards, His options, His power (with which He does things we never even thought to pray about) and in His time! God is limitless, don't limit Him with our petty options on how we think things should go.

Quote on prayer

"Oh, how dissatisfied I am with myself. How I long to be like unto Him into whose image I shall one day be changed when I see Him as He is! I believe nobody understands me on religious points, for I can not and, it seems to me, need not parade my private feelings before the world ... I do dislike the present style of talking on religious subjects. Let people pray - earnestly, fervently, not simply morning and night, but the whole day long, making lives one continued prayer; but, oh, don't let them tell of, or let others know half how much the communion with Heaven is known to their own hearts. Is it not true that those who talk most, go most to meetings, run hither and thither to all sorts of societies and all sorts of readings - is it not true that such people would not find peace and contentment - yes, blessedness of blessedness - in solitary hours when to the Searcher of hearts alone are known their aspirations and their love? ... there is not enough of real, true communion with God, not enough nearness to Him, not enough heart-searching before Him; and too much parade and bustle and noise in doing His work on earth.

~From Elizabeth Prentiss' diary on January 1, 1841

Elizabeth Prentiss quote

"Bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Take what I cannot give - my heart, body, thoughts, time, abilities, money, health, strength, nights, days, youth, age - and spend them in Thy service, O my crucified Master, Redeemer, God. Oh, let not these be mere words! Whom have I in the heaven but Thee? And there is no one upon earth that I desire in comparison to Thee. My heart is athirst for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?"

~Elizabeth Prentiss, "Stepping Heavenward."

Prayer

In our question/answer time after the meal at church today, we got on the subject of prayer. And this quote came to mind.

"As to the nature of prayer, it is the offering up of the sincere desires and devout emotions of the heart to God. It consists of several parts of adoration, confession, supplication, intercession, and thanksgiving. The first of these is an expression of a sense of the infinite majesty and glory of God. Confession is an humble acknowledgment of our sins and unworthiness. Supplication is pleading for blessings upon ourselves. Intercession is prayer for others. Thanksgiving is an expression of gratitude to God for His goodness and mercy towards us and our fellow-creatures."

~Harvey Newcomb, "Young Lady's Guide..."

My prayer discovery

Lately a few verses concerning prayer have been on my mind and I thought I would share them with you! :)

Philippians 4:6~
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."

Romans 14:23b~
"... for whatever is not from faith is sin."

Now thinking about those verses, let's start with the first one. "Be anxious for nothing." What are we to be worried about? Nothing! But in prayer, with thanksgiving (thanking God for Who He is and what He does and what He is going to do) we are to let our requests be made known to Him. We are to tell Him what we want. We are to be open with Him because He knows what our prayer and request is going to be even before we pray it (Matthew 6:8), so why try to hide something? :) But then we take a look at our second verse and we realize that, yes, we are to make our requests known to God, but if we can't pray for something in total faith, we shouldn't be praying for it! If we cannot go boldly before Christ and ask Him for something in complete faith, knowing that it isn't something God wants, we have no reason to pray for it, for then it becomes sin! So let us ask ourselves before we pray, "Can I ask God for this in total, complete faith?" And if the answer is yes, "Let your request be made known to God." If there is any doubt, even the slightest hint of a doubt that you can't pray for it in faith, then don't! Let us remember if we can pray for something in faith, with no doubting, with thanksgiving, then God will be pleased.