October Surprise, October Ninth, 2023 - Fred's Call of Weakness.

I have been meditation on the advice from Pastor Ryle for the last couple of days on using as he said:

"As to praying out of a book in our private devotions, it is a habit I cannot praise."

And I am glad he prefaced the comments with this:

"I desire to touch this point with caution and delicacy."

Jesus told us, actually in the context of prayer,  

"Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 27:41

My call to the weak among us. 

I am weak, and when it comes to prayer and reading every lengthy prayer in the Bible, I desire in my weakness to seek the standards of the Bible. My daily goal is to worship, confess, intercede, pray for myself, and always remember to give thanks. 

To that end, I use the Bible, "The Prayer Warrior's Journal," and "The Foundational Prayer Primer" to give substance to all my closet prayers.

The weakness of my flesh (a help) makes my prayer times more tactile. 

In the weakness of my flesh and self-centeredness, I would not:

Worship as fully, without my reminders, of:

The Names of God

El Roi: The Strong on who sees. - Genesis 16:13 Hagar.

Good Shepherd: our Savior - John 10, Ezekiel 34:11

"For thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out."

His attributes:

Sovereign

Job 42:2

"I know that Thou canst do all things, And that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted."

Psalm 115:3

"But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases."

What He has done.

Creator 

"Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created."

Revelation 5:11

Redeemer Galatians 3:13 Christ. 

Power - Acts 1:8

Confession: I cannot count the times David gave voice to my broken, confessing soul. 

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Thy compassion, blot out my transgressions.

Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

Psalm 51:1, 7, 17

Intercession - My beloved employment would make my labor less effective left to my own devices:

"Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God." 

Colossians 4:12

Thanksgiving - Yes, I would even forget all He has done for my soul if not for:

"Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

That passage was the key out of the deepest despair I've ever experienced and gave me hope.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

God, by any means possible, lead Thy people to a daily, intimate, open conversation with Thee.

"What a man is on his knees before God, that he is and nothing more."

Robert Murray M'Cheyne

Assistant Editor: Seven Jefferson Gossard

www.frponprayer.com

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All our Scripture quotes are drawn from the NASB 1977 edition.

For access to the Voice Over services of Richard Durrington, please visit RichardDurrington.com or email him at Durringtonr@gmail.com

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Season 005

Episode 103