God’s Mercies

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I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever;
With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. – Psalm 89:1

 

As we travel through this journey of life, it is easy to become so busy and so stressed out that we might fail so see God’s mercies and faithfulness being demonstrated on our behalf every day. Especially in these days with so much fear and uncertainty due to COVID, CRT, schools trampling on parental rights, threat of losing your job due to vaccine mandate, government overeach, etc.

I want to encourage all my sisters in the Lord out there to take some time and pause to reflect on how merciful God has been to you and your family. Lamentations 3:22-23 are such wonderful verses, in them learn that:

It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Think about that! It is because of God’s mercies and His faithful nature that we have not been run over and under by life. God is a faithful God and His mercies are new every morning. That means, every morning, He puts things, people and circumstances in place to help bear our burden and draw us closer to Him. There are times when it does not seem that way, but that is the truth.

Take time like the Psalmist to reflect on God’s mercies today and all the ways He has been faithful to you even when you did not deserve it and it will definitely surprise you what the Lord has done.

Have a blessed day!

The Deeps

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Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action,
and let me not seek moral virtue apart from thee.

In the last decade, there has been a resurgence in the writings of the puritans and for good reason.  Christianity is not a new religion. Many faithful saints have trod these old paths before us and we will do well to learn from them.

The puritans read the same Bible we read, prayed to the same God and served the same Christ, so their theology is not a different one. What is different about the puritans is their deep knowledge of God through the scriptures.

The puritans understood the glory of God. Everything they did including their prayers was focused on the glory of God. They were focused on walking with God in holiness and righteousness.

Their prayers showed a deep knowledge and understanding of the scriptures, a knowledge of the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God. They never made light of sin and were quick to confess their sins.

We will look at one of their prayers today, titled “The Deeps” it can be found on page 134-135 of “The Valley of Vision: A collection of puritan prayers and devotion”.

It is my prayer that you will make this your prayer today and this week. That you will not only pray this prayer this week, before and/or after every personal study of the scriptures, but meditate on its truth as well.

 

LORD JESUS,

Give me a deeper repentance,
a horror of sin,
a dread of its approach;
Help me chastely to flee it,
and jealously to resolve that my heart
shall be thine alone.

Give me a deeper trust,
that I may lose myself to find myself in thee,
the ground of my rest,
the spring of my being.

Give me a deeper knowledge of thyself
as Saviour, Master, Lord, and King.
Give me deeper power in private prayer,
more sweetness in thy Word,
more steadfast grip on its truth.

Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action,
and let me not seek moral virtue apart from thee.

Plough deep in me, great Lord,
heavenly Husbandman,
that my being may be a tilled field,
the roots of grace spreading far and wide,
until thou alone art seen in me,
thy beauty golden like summer harvest,
thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.

I have no Master but thee,
no law but thy will,
no delight but thyself,
no wealth but that thou givest,
no good but that thou blessest,
no peace but that thou bestowest.

I am nothing but that thou makest me,
I have nothing but that I receive from thee,
I can be nothing but that grace adorns me.

Quarry me deep, dear Lord,
and then fill me to overflowing
with living water.

Amen.

Can They Handle The Truth?

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I believe it is wrong for any pastor and church leader to conclude that most new believers are unable to handle the teaching of Biblical doctrines straight out of the Bible.  To think this way is to have a low view of the word of God and of the Holy Spirit who inspired the Bible. When you consider that most of the New Testament letters which were full of deep theology were written to new believers under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

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