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Word
of Encouragement
Vol. IV: Issue 1
A Prayer Concerning the Enjoyment of God by An Anonymous Puritan
(ca. 17th century)
"Thou incomprehensible but prayer-hearing God,
Known, but beyond knowledge,
revealed, but unrevealed,
my wants and welfare draw me to thee,
for thou hast never said, 'Seek ye me in vain'.
To Thee I come in my difficulties, necessities, distresses;
possess me with thyself,
with a spirit of grace and supplication,
with a prayerful attitude of mind,
with access into warmth of fellowship,
so that in the ordinary concerns of life
my thoughts and desires may rise to thee,
and in habitual devotion I may find a resource that will
soothe my sorrows, sanctify my successes,
and qualify me in all ways for dealings with my fellow men.
I bless thee that thou hast made me capable.
of knowing thee, the author of all being,
of resembling thee, the perfection of all excellency,
of enjoying thee, the source of all happiness.
O God, attend me in every part of my arduous and trying pilgrimage;
I need the same counsel, defense, comfort I found at my beginning.
Let my religion be more obvious to my conscience,
more perceptible to those around.
While Jesus is representing me in heaven, may I reflect him on earth,
While he pleads my cause, may I show forth his praise.
Continue the gentleness of thy goodness towards me,
And whether I wake or sleep, let thy presence go with me,
thy blessing attend me.
Thou hast led me on and I have found thy promises true,
I have been sorrowful, but thou hast been my help,
fearful, but thou hast delivered me,
despairing, but thou hast lifted me up.
Thy vows are ever upon me,
And I praise thee, O God."
Word
of Encouragement
Vol. IV, 2
Yet Another Prayer from an Anonymous Puritan (ca. 17th century)
"Lord Jesus,
I sin- -
Grant that I may never cease grieving because of it,
never be content with myself,
never think I can reach a point of perfection.
Kill my envy, command my tongue, trample down
self.
Give me grace to be holy, kind, gentle, pure, peaceable,
to live for thee and not for self,
to copy thy words, acts, spirit,
to be transformed into thy likeness,
to be consecrated wholly to thee,
to live entirely to thy glory.
Deliver me from attachment to things unclean,
from wrong associations,
from the predominance of evil passions,
from the sugar of sin as well as its gall,
that with self-loathing, deep contrition,
earnest heart searching
I may come to thee, cast myself on thee,
trust in thee, cry to thee,
be delivered by thee.
O God, the Eternal All, help me to know
that all things are shadows, but thou art substance,
all things are quicksands, but thou are mountain,
all things are shifting, but thou art anchor,
all things are ignorance, but thou art wisdom.
If I sin willfully, grievously, tormentedly, in
grace
take away my mourning and give me music;
remove my sackcloth and clothe me with beauty;
still my sighs and fill my mouth with song,
then give me summer weather as a Christian."
Word
of Encouragement
Vol. IV, 3
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Love and Fear
The context of this quotation is a reflection on 2 Timothy 1:7: 'For God
hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a
sound mind'. This quotation is extremely wise Biblical counsel!
Dr. Lloyd-Jones: "Here is a superb bit of psychology, for what after
all, is the main cause of this spirit of fear? The answer is 'self' -
-self-love, self-concern, self protection. Had you realized that the
essence of this trouble is that these fearful people are really too
absorbed in self- - how can I do this, what if I fail? 'I'- - they are
constantly turning in on themselves, looking at themselves and concerned
about themselves. And it is just here that the spirit of love comes in, for
there is only one way to get rid of yourself.
There is only one cure for self. You will never deal with self yourself.
That was the fatal fallacy of those poor men who became monks and monastery
mystics. They could get away from the world and from other people, but they
could not get away from themselves. Your self is inside you and you cannot
get rid of him, the more you mortify yourself the more your self will
torment you.
There is only one way to get rid of self, and that is that you should
become so absorbed in someone or something else that you have no time to
think about yourself. Thank God, the Spirit of God makes that possible. He
is not only the 'Spirit of power', but He is also the 'Spirit of love'.
What does it mean? It means love to God, love to the great God who made us,
love to the great God who has made the way of redemption for us miserable
creatures- - for us who deserve nothing but hell. He has 'loved us with an
everlasting love'....
'The Spirit of Love!' It will deliver you from self-interest, self-concern,
and from depression about self, because depression results from self and
self-concern. It gets rid of self at all points. So talk to yourself about this eternal, amazing love of God- - the
God Who ever looked upon us in spite of sin and planned the way of
redemption and spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all!"
-D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Word
of Encouragement
Vol. IV, 4
It has been one year tomorrow since we saw the devastating attack on America. We
all thought, "This is not possible!" "This cannot be
happening to us!" We all pondered the question "Why?" Yet despite
the pain and confusion, we still remember that God is gracious to us all.
Let us remember to pray for the families of those who lost their lives and
remember as James 4 reminds us that we do not always know what today or
tomorrow may bring. Every time we leave our loved ones, plan our days, or
set an appointment in our schedule books, let us always remember to thank
God for guiding and ruling our lives according to his will. Let us thank
God for allowing us to see one more day and to have one more opportunity to
serve him wholeheartedly. Let us thank God for his Divine and Sweet Mercies
in Christ. Below is a prayer to pray and share with others as you thank God
for his mercy and faithfulness!
"Eternal God,
You are surpassingly great, unspeakably good,
super-abundant in your grace to us;
Your favors toward us are as the number of sands of the sea;
We know but a part of your plan, but that small part exceeds all praise.
We thank you for personal mercies,
health, preservation of our bodies,
comforts of house and home, sufficiency of food and clothing,
continuance of our mental powers,
our family, and their mutual help and support,
the delights of family harmony and peace
the seats in our home and school that might have been vacant,
but are filled.
We thank you for our country, church, the Bible, and our faith.
But, O Lord, how we mourn our sin, our ingratitude, our vileness before
your holiness,
the days we are given that only add to our guilt,
the many times that we have witnessed our offending tongues revealing our
true hearts.
All things in heaven, earth, around, within, without condemn us - -
the sun sees our misdeeds,
the darkness which is light to you,
the cruel accuser who justly charges us,
Your righteous Law, Your Holy Word,
our sin-soiled conscience, our private and public life,
our neighbors, and even ourselves - -
All these write dark things about us!
O Lord, we deny them not, present no excuses, but confess, 'Father, We have
sinned'.
Yet still we live, and run repenting to your outstretched arms;
you will not cast us off, for Jesus brings us near,
you will not condemn us, for he died in our stead,
you will not mark our mountains of sin and ungratefulness against us, for
Jesus levelled all,
and his beauty covers our deformities.
O our God, We bid farewell to sin by clinging ever so tightly to HIS cross,
hiding in his wounds, and sheltering in his side.
By your grace and mercies that are new every morning,
may we never forget to be grateful each moment of every day that you have
given to us!
In Christ's Name,
Amen."
Word of Encouragement
Vol. IV, Issue 5
Some Thoughts on the Law of God in Paul's
Epistles by Herman Ridderbos
"Zeal for the law can altogether alienate man from
God, and has precisely the effect of making him a sinner. This occurs
when faith is no longer the point of departure for the fulfilling of the
law, but man addresses himself to what he takes for the work of the
law. For the law then becomes detached from God, in the sense that
man no longer trusts in God for his righteousness but in his works.
And man in this way no longer arrives at the law, that is
to say, no longer at the righteousness and at the life to which the law
points him.
The apostle is therefore able to demonstrate the
impossibility of acquiring righteousness and life in the way of works at
one time to those who praise the law with their mouth but in reality
grossly transgress it (Rom. 2:17ff), at another to those who with all their
zeal and irreproachableness likewise do not find what they are seeking (Rom.
9; Phil. 3). In both cases man with the law in hand is faced with his
bankruptcy. And surely the second is less evident and easy to
accept. But it is not on that account any less real, indeed it is in
a certain sense still more drastic because it strikes man in his moral
earnestness and exertion; because it not only confronts him with his
deficiency, but also casts his 'gain' into the balance and compels him not
only to acknowledge his sin, but also to renounce his very virtues before
God." -Herman Ridderbos, 'Paul: An Outline
of His Theology', Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975.
Galatians 3:10-15- "For as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written,
"Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which
are written in the book of the law, to do them." But that no one is
justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the
just shall live by faith." Yet the law is not of faith, but "the
man who does them shall live by them." Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written,
"Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), that the
blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
Word of Encouragement
Vol. IV, issue 6
God is everywhere present, all
powerful, and all knowing, yet he ultimately chose to reveal himself
in a small child named Jesus, from an insignificant place called “Nazareth”. In this child, the hidden God who we
cannot approach because of his great holiness,
came near and made himself visible in flesh- - human flesh (let that grip
you). This everywhere-present God, a
God who is in all places at one time was present in a crying infant. This all-powerful God showed forth all of
his power in a small, weak and helpless little baby. This all-knowing God became flesh and
dwelt among us as a baby, learning to understand the world around him, and
teaching men that the true path to peace and the true way to God was through humility.
This small infant was the
Savior of the world, and yet the world was caught unaware of his
presence. He was just another baby,
born by just another mother, in just another town, in just another
cave/manger. Yet this was the
greatest event of history; the greatest birth! This small infant was the one who would
save his people from their sins, who would defeat the devil, and who would
be raised to God’s right hand as the ever-conquering and Sovereign
King of Creation!
Perhaps you
feel like God is hidden sometimes in your life. Maybe you feel like God is not
“there” when you need him.
Perhaps you feel as if God does not care for his world. Maybe you sometimes wish God would just
appear to you and make himself known so that you
might truly believe and obey his word.
Well, clear the unbelief from your eyes, repent of your deafness and
cold heart, and look to the Living God, the Great and Mighty God of the
Universe, who cloaked himself in human flesh. For those who are blind, he is still but
a child; for those who can see, he is Jesus, the God who saves his
people from their sins!
Word
of Encouragement
Vol.
IV, Issues 7-15 are ‘Justification
of Christmas’
Word
of Encouragement
Vol.
IV, Issues 16-24 are ‘A
Lasting Lasting Faith for the Last Days’
Word
of Encouragement
Vol.
IV, Issues 25-35 are ‘God’s Covenant
House: A Sketch of God’s Construction Project’
End
Volume IV
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