The Week of June 7, 2009

MONDAY—EVANGELISTIC PRAYER

Chronological Reading: 2Chronicles 34-36 + John 16
Monday, June 8, 2009

Ecclesiastes 9:4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

Precious Lord My Savior:
Life in its simplest form is superior to death. That is as certain in the spiritual realm as the physical. It is better for me to be the least in the kingdom of God than the greatest one standing outside of it. That means the lowest degree of grace is superior to the noblest development of unregenerate human nature.
Holy Ghost, wherever you conceive eternal life into a soul there is a generous deposit. Not even the refinement of education and academics can equal its potential. The thief on the cross excelled Caesar on his throne! Lazarus lying among the dogs was better than Cicero among his Senators. The most ignorant Christian is, in your sight, superior to Einstein.
Spiritual life is the only true badge of nobility. Help me to today take the message of life to __________ and __________. Because without it, all people are only smoother or rougher specimens of the same lifeless clay, needing to be quickened because they are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:2).
Living, illuminating, lucid gospel preaching—however uneducated in technique or unrefined in style—is better than the most eloquent sermon delivered devoid of your anointing. A living dog keeps watch better than a dead lion, so the worst spiritual preacher is much to be preferred to the elegant orator who has words but no wisdom, and sound with no spiritual power.
Give me that anointing today to witness to others! Quicken my prayers by your Spirit in them! Make me truly alive to all spiritual life. Let my earnestness answer to your urgency! Do not let me die in a grand performance in which your presence was absent. Make me not a dead lion in the sight of a living God. Amen.

TUESDAY— CORPORATE PRAYER MINISTRY

Chronological Reading: Ezra 1-3 + John 17
Tuesday, June 9, 2009

2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Able Lord and Redeemer:
In certain times of holy boldness and sacred access we have asked great things from you, our God. Yet we have never reached the bottom of your ability. Even at its best and boldest, our prayers have many boundaries that your heart does not.
We are limited by our sense of need. We barely know what we want. Oh, teach us what to pray for, or else we will never ask correctly!
We mistake our spiritual condition. Our soul’s hunger is not keen enough, our thirst not sharp enough. Sin has taken the edge off our spiritual appetite. So we crimp and cramp our prayers.
Thank you Father, that the Holy Spirit prays for us (Rom 8:26-27) and our magnificent Jesus prays with us (Rom 8:34). That way we are not limited by our limited sense of need and make no mistakes because of our mistaken condition. We only ask for bread and water—you prepare a table in the wilderness in the midst of our enemies.
Is there a single promise of yours that we perfectly understand? There is a breadth, length, height and depth we have not yet comprehended. Yet you condescend to use our language. To us the words mean silver, but you use them in a golden sense.
Thank you Lord, that you never mean less than you say, and always far more than we think. For this we magnify your name—that your power to bless is not bounded by our ability to understand the blessing. Amen.

WEDNESDAY—REVIVAL PRAYING

Chronological Reading: Ezra 4-6 + John 18
Wednesday, June 10, 2009

John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Gracious God and Father:
Your gifts of grace are not enjoyed all at once. Like a baby who is growing into an adult, my ability to apprehend, appropriate and apply increases with my appetite and experience. I thank you today that I am saved by a true union with Christ. But it is only by abiding in that union that I receive the further purity that changes my personality, and adjustments that change my joy, and power that changes my weakness. This is the way to revival and the full blessedness stored up in Christ for his people. How do I know this viewpoint is correct? Because here is what you said:
John 8:31-32 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
I do not know all truth at once. And even if I read it, I do not learn it without abiding in Jesus. I must continue in the word to be abiding. Persevering in grace is always an educational process. Steadfastness in faith always results in growth. The emancipating power of truth is a blessing that takes daily abiding, because it is gradually received and enjoyed.
You who are beginning in seeking revival take heart! There is something better for us still. No one has yet received the full reward of their faith, otherwise the warning of 2 John 8 means nothing.
Help me climb the hill of spiritual experience today. As I abide in Christ give me firmer confidence, richer joy, greater stability, closer communion, and greater delight in God. Make me an abider so I can see revival. Amen.

A DAILY PATTERN FOR PRAYER & BIBLE READING

Chronological Reading: Ezra 7-10 + John 19:1-21
Thursday, June 11, 2009

Titus 2:15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority.

STAND up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory His army shall He lead,
Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the trumpet call obey;
Forth to the mighty conflict, in this His glorious day.
Ye that are brave now serve Him against unnumbered foes;
Let courage rise with danger, and strength to strength oppose.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in His strength alone;
The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.
Put on the Gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer;
Where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not be long;
This day the noise of battle, the next the victor’s song.
To those who vanquish evil a crown of life shall be;
They with the King of Glory shall reign eternally.

—George Duffield, Jr., 1858

FRIDAY—FOCUS ON CHRIST’S CROSS

Chronological Reading: Nehemiah 1-3 + John 19:22-42
Friday, June 12, 2009

Luke 23:48 And all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned.

Crowned and Crucified Christ:
Some passing by taunted you in words, others with signs. But every one, after they beheld the passion of your death, were struck with sudden awe and hit themselves on their chest. Jesus was dying for sinners.
I despair of no one’s possibility to get saved now that you have died, because even those who mocked you immediately changed as they observed the cross. With such a hammer as the cross, the hardest heart can be broken! Break hearts by the power of your Spirit and the availability of my witness this week.
Take heed you scoffers! Be changed this day by God’s grace or you will be changed later by God’s wrath. The heart that will not be bent by the love of Christ will be broken by the terror of his name. If Jesus dying on the cross does not save you, Christ reigning on the throne will condemn you. If Christ dying does not become your life, then Christ living will seal your eternal death. Make Christ on earth your heaven, or else Christ coming from heaven will be your hell!
By faith, help me put myself at the grassy knoll of Calvary. He who was worshipped by angels is now dying for the sons of men. All of Adam’s fallen race should smite their breasts as I see in him my own sins! They must be an infinite offense to God, seeing how they require an infinite person to lay down his life to remove them.
Suspended between earth and heaven—as though you were rejected by both. They mocked your prayers. They turned your dying cries into an occasion for cruel jesting. I see now how aggravated was my assault against the holiness of God. Father forgive me, and help me bring others by the gospel to the cross.

SATURDAY—IN THE PSALMS

Chronological Reading: Nehemiah 4-6 + John 20
Saturday, June 13, 2009

Psalm 118:24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

God on High:
Psalm 118 was likely a song for David’s enthronement. That was the beginning of the best times for Israel, but nothing like the way that Christ’s resurrection is a new day of fresh blessing for all who are part of the kingdom of God. Thank you for bringing me into the dawn of a new era. It is the day of redemption, starting with my soul and spirit now, and proceeding to creation and all things at your second coming.
Having obtained so great salvation, having tasted of the eternal mercy of God, it is not fitting to mourn and murmur. Help me exhibit a double hand extension of joy! Let me rejoice in heart and be glad in face. Make me rejoice in secret so I can be happy in public, because I have more than double the reason to rejoice in the Lord!
In looking back on my past I can remember many happy occasions. With a full heart and unspeakable joy I bless you, my Savior and King, because all those memorable times are just foretastes and pledges of the time to come when we will all sing,
Revelation 5:12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
Bring into my darkness the light that springs from the redeeming work of my Champion and Lord. I have received light. You have led me to enlist under the banner of the cross. The once despised Nazarene is now my Prince and King. Help me do better to magnify your mercy, because it is from you that my blessings come down. Amen.