The Week of July 5, 2009

MONDAY—EVANGELISTIC PRAYER

Chronological Reading: Job 34-36 + Acts 18
Monday, July 6, 2009

1 Kings 18:43 And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.

My Lord and My Father::
Success is assured if I am acting on your promise. I have pled month after month for the souls of __________ and __________, and it seems like you have not answered. But it is not possible that you are deaf, because I am insistent, this is for your glory and according to your will.
Elijah on Mt. Carmel continued to wrestle for the souls of his people. He never gave in to the fear that his prayer was not suited for your ear. Six times the servant returned. Six times the answer was the same: Go again.
I cannot consider being distrustful. I will hold onto faith even to seventy times seven. Faith sends hope on an errand of expectancy to look from Carmel’s cliff. If nothing is yet seen, she sends again and again. Far from being crushed by repeated disappointment, faith is animated to plead more earnestly with you. She is humbled, but not crushed. Her groans are deeper and her sighs more frequent, but she never relaxes her hold on the promise.
It is more agreeable to my flesh to have a speedy answer, but my belief has learned to be submissive, and to find good in waiting for as well as waiting upon the Lord. Delayed answers set my heart to searching itself. It leads me to contrition and spiritual reformation. Deadly blows are struck against sin’s corruption and the chambers of my imagination are cleansed.
The great danger is for me to faint and miss the blessing. I will not fall into that sin, but continue praying and watching. Elijah was a person of like passions, so his power did not lie in his own merits. And if his believing prayer availed, why should not mine? I plead the precious blood today in Jesus’ name. Amen.

TUESDAY— CORPORATE PRAYER MINISTRY

Chronological Reading: Job 37-39 + Acts 19
Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Psalm 22:2-3 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

O, Our Holy God:
We will never succumb to the temptation to give up our hold on our only strength and our solitary hope—prayer! Under no conceivable circumstance will we give place to the dark thought that you are not true and faithful to your promises. We did not in the days after 9-11, and we do not now.
Even if our prayer is unanswered for seven years we will say, Lord you are still enthroned as the Holy One. That is settled in our minds. The faintest breath of suspicion will not be allowed to condense on the fame of our Most Holy God. You are true. You are faithful. Psalm 22 was the worst of all cases. And since it is a Messianic Psalm, it shows us how you did not deliver your Son from death, but delivered him up for our sins. Yet in due time, you did finally raise him from the dead. We do not know why you sometimes deal with us so strangely, but we should never think you unfaithful. We will not be distrustful. Not for an instant.
We will never stop praying. The glare of daylight will not make us cease. The gloom of midnight will not make us quit our cries to our God. Why? Because we recognize that one of the Devil’s main goals is to get us to lay aside the weapon of all-prayer. As long as we continue to cry, Satan knows he cannot devour even the weakest member of our flock. Prayer always prevails in time.
Our faith is even more resolved not to put our dependence anywhere but God. It is not every knock at mercy’s door that will open it, but one eventually will! Cold prayers beg for denial; red-hot prayer prevails. We bring them as a bettering-ram, our army of souls engaged in the conflict, besieging the mercy seat to win the day. With that confidence we pray, Amen.

WEDNESDAY—REVIVAL PRAYING

Chronological Reading: Job 40-42 + Acts 20
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Job 23:4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

My Father and My God:
WHAT ORDER SHOULD I OBSERVE IN PRAYING FOR REVIVAL?
First, I have to feel I am doing something that is real, humbly petitioning for mercy through the Savior’s blood. When I feel like I am in the presence of God, then I can take my rightful place in that presence.
Second, I have to recognize I have no right to what I am seeking. I can never expect to get it except as a gift of your grace. My only hope of mercy is grace, because that is what brings you glory.
Help me remember that you have narrowed the options through which you will give me mercy—it comes only through your dear Son. I put myself right now, by prayer, under the patronage of the great Redeemer. Let me feel that it is no longer I that speak, but Christ who speaks with me. While I plead, I plead his five wounds pouring out blood for me. I plead his spotless life, his sacrificial death, and his infinite self. This is truly ordering my cause.
Third, I must consider what I will ask for. I want to aim at clarity and be definite, direct and distinct in my heart-cry for revival. If I ordered my cause, it would focus my mind.
This is my prayer closet. It is not necessary for me to ask for every imaginable good thing, or catalogue every want that I have and need that I feel. But what I need right now—my present need—is revival. That is my daily bread. Eloquence and oratory mean nothing to you. My words are few, but my heart is fervent.
Fourth, I ask for it through Jesus Christ. Some prayers would never be offered if I just thought. This one I offer because I do think, and love you. Amen.

A DAILY PATTERN FOR PRAYER & BIBLE READING

Chronological Reading: Psalm 1-3 + Acts 21
Thursday, July 9, 2009

1 Chronicles 16:29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

YOU are God and we praise you; you are the Lord and we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father; all creation worships you.
To you all angels, all of the powers of heaven,
Cherubim and seraphim sing in endless praise,
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of power and might;
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of apostles praise you;
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you;
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Throughout the whole world the holy church acclaims you,
Your true and only Son worthy of all worship,
And the Holy Spirit, Advocate and Guide,
You Christ are the King of glory, the eternal Son of the Father.
When you became man to set us free You did not abhor the virgin’s womb.
You overcame the sting of death and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You are seated at God’s right hand in glory;
We believe that you will come and be our judge.
Come then Lord and help your people, bought with the price of your own blood;
And bring us with your saints to glory everlasting.

—Te Deum (Fourth Century Prayer, Latin for “You Are God”)

FRIDAY—FOCUS ON CHRIST’S LIFE

Chronological Reading: Psalm 4-6 + Acts 22
Friday, July 10, 2009

John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

Faithful Savior:
HELP ME ABIDE IN YOU AS TO MY FRUITFULNESS. The branch has to bear fruit, but I cannot produce even one grape by myself. The fruit of this branch comes through my stem. My work for you has to be your work in me, or else it is not good for anything. I am wary of slick plans, programs and productions. Help me simply do for you what you bid me to do.
HELP ME ABIDE IN YOU AS TO MY LIFE. If I were old as Methuselah, I still could not do without you, Lord. As a Christian, my very being depends on my clinging. Even this you must give me, because it all comes from you and you alone. I am still trusting, still desperately dependent, O Lord.
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.
That is the key qualification. How important is your word! Verse 4: Abide in me, and I in you. The parallel: If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you. Are you and your words identical? In practical terms, indeed.
I know some who talk so spiritually about Christ being their master, but they do not submit to sound doctrine as declared in your word. If I separate Christ from the word, I have done something despicable.
You are the word (John 1:1,14)! How dare I call you Master and Lord, and do not the things that you say? If I do not obey your precepts you do not accept me as a disciple. Christ, his cross, and his commands are one. Help me, Holy Spirit to live in communion with Christ through his commands, so I can powerfully preach the cross. Oh, for grace to do more, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

SATURDAY—IN THE PSALMS

Chronological Reading: Psalm 7-9 + Acts 23
Saturday, July 11, 2009

Psalm 119:28 My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

Heavenly Father and Redeemer:
Like the troubled psalmist, I complain about my bondage to earthly things. Sometimes my soul cleaves to the dust from which I was made. I feel like it melts for heaviness. I cry for freedom from this invisible prison. I could dissolve away in tears. The solid strength of my confidence is in danger of turning to liquid in the heat of my afflictions. Heaviness of heart seems like a killing thing. It threatens to turn the life that I have into nothing more than an extended death. It seems like I experience nothing but perpetual grief.
Job 3:24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
Tears are the distillation of the heart. When I weep, my soul wants to waste-away in the erosion. I am nearly water spilt on the ground, never to be gathered up. What shall I do?
Lamentations 2:19 Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him
I must remember, it is better to be melted by depression than to be hardened by defiance. You strengthen me by pouring me out, and then pouring your grace in. You pour grace in through your word, and then your Spirit can certainly sustain me (I verbally confess it so the enemy can hear it!).
Grace is what enables me to bear the constant stress of lasting sorrow. It repairs the decay caused by the perpetual tear-drip. It gives me the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. When depression comes I will pray, because that is the shortest distance out of discouragement. And in that prayer I plead nothing but the word of God. Amen.