Saturday, February 28, 2009

Though the Nations Rage

Nations have raged against you, O God. Kingdoms have risen. But the God who is in the heavens laughs. You hold them in derision. You throw them into confusion and cast them down like castles of sand. Their pitiful ploys fall to pieces and you make them to fall into the very snares they have laid.

O God, for you there shall be praise. For your kingdom cannot be broken. Though myriads upon myriads may assail her, your strong arm protects her. And we have dwelt secure in you. We praise you for being our help. We thank you that you have been our shield and buckler.

And God we wish to quite ourselves before you. To be still and know that you are God; the one who will be exalted above all nations. So Father we pray that your presence might be known among us. We ask that nothing would disturb our meditation, but that our minds might be saturated with holy thoughts; thoughts of you and your greatness.

Teach us today. Be our Counselor and Friend. Speak to our hearts and let us know that the Lord of Hosts is on our side.

A Famine of Hearing the Word

Lord,

What a terrible punishment that would be—to have your word taken from us. To see the wells of wisdom dried up and to have a famine of truth. Surely our bones would wither and our souls would waste away. For your word is the word of life.

Yet are we not ever in danger of facing this curse of curses? Have we not so often acted like the Israelites? Haven’t we treated the Sabbath in much the same way? Here is a day when we could drink deeply from the cisterns of your Word and be instructed in the way of godliness. But we have wasted these days away and longed for it to be over so that we could go about our worldly pursuits.

Here too we have Bibles in our laps, and the freedom to study their contents. But O how we have failed to tend to them as we ought and find the fear of the Lord. Yes, we have too often neglected this sweet fountain of knowledge and chosen instead a diet of frivolous entertainments.

Father, you have been gracious to give us the Scriptures and many godly teachers. But we fear that these good gifts might be lifted from us. We pray that you would not let this devastation come to pass. We pray that we would find mercy with you. That you would enlighten our eyes and make your word to dwell in us richly. Revive us again, O Lord. And renew us in the fear of you.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Safety in God

Almighty God,

Sweet have been our days because of you. Though legions of demons have surrounded us and blackness encompassed us all around, we have feared no ill. Your hand has protected us. Your angels have been our guardians. Your name has been our strong salvation and sure deliverance.

We praise you for the works that you have done and for the victories you have wrought. And we thank you for gathering us together now. And we pray that we might be reminded here of your sovereign care. How we are as chicks, nestled under your wing, safely hid from all our enemies.

We pray also that we might be strengthened for the battle ahead. That in this time of worship you would minister to us, and refresh us with your grace and renewed us in our commitment to live for Christ.

God, your servants have gathered before you, be not absent from our midst or silently lurking among us. But encourage us with your mighty presence and the testimony of your Word.

Denial of God

Our Lord and our God,

Lord as we come to you this morning we confess that we have not been as faithful to you as we ought. And we are sorry for those times when we have denied you, be it by our explicit speech or our cowering silence. Forgive us Lord, for not having the boldness to stand up and to stand out. Forgive us for having feared man more you, and for fearing those whose are set on evil rather than good.

Father, we know that what we have done is evil, and that you have every right to deny us your pardon. But we pray that you would not deny yourself. For you have given the blood of your Son for sinners such as us and you have promised salvation to all who turn to you in faith.

And we pray that your Spirit would not be denied us either. But that you would cause Him to fill our hearts and strengthen us against any form of apostasy. Lord, you know how weak we are. And we pray that you might strengthen us in our testimony and give us the courage of the martyrs.

For this we ask in Jesus’ name.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Thus Says the Lord: A Study of the OT Prophets

Covenant Reformed Fellowship will be diving into a new study in our evening services. The class will be entitled "Thus Says the Lord," and will consist of an overview of the prophetic books of the Bible.

Though these books make up a significant portion of the Bible, they are often neglected and rarely understood. Most of those who are designated "mature Christians" cannot even name a half of the 12 minor prophets. Yet their message of judgment and promise is just as contemporary today as it was over 2500 years ago. To be sure, we have much to benefit from as these servants of God bring the word of the Lord.
O Lord our God,

You are high above all gods. You are very great. You perform what you decree in heaven and on earth. The wind and the seas obey you. Therefore you are to be exalted. Your praise is to be proclaimed.

And this is what we wish to do this day. You have called us to be your servants, to be a holy nation and a kingdom of priests. And we cannot help but bless your glorious name.

We thank you that you have chosen us to be your dwelling place. We praise you that you would so condescend to abide in such humble vessels. And we pray that our hearts would be made fit for you. O Father, We ask that through this service of worship would be endowed with greater knowledge and drawn into deeper holiness. We pray that this hour would be used to make us more suitable places to abide.

O Father, turn us away from the things of this earth and lift our eyes toward your holy face in heaven. For we ask this in Jesus Name.
O Father,

We know that this word (Amos 5:16-22) accuses us. How often have our sacrifices been brought with our hands, but not with our hearts. We have come into the house of God to present our praises, but it has only been to mount up greater iniquity.

Lord, we know that you do not delight in Sunday Christians. We know that you do not accept the worship of those who pervert justice and do not uphold righteousness. But such only provoke you and bring upon themselves great wrath in the day of the Lord.

We know that we are not free from such guilt. For we have not listened to the voice of the needy, and we have shut our ears to the commandments of love. We have loved our beds of ease and have allowed the weak to be trampled so that we could partake of our pleasure.
Forgive us, O God, for not letting justice roll down like water and letting righteous flow like stream. And pardon us for so perverting your worship with such guilt upon our hands.

We ask O Father, that you would give us the grace too, to refrain from iniquity and combat the evils of our day. We pray that you would give us the zeal so that the day of the Lord would not be darkness and gloom. We pray that we would heed the call to stand, and be strengthened for the fight. We desire that that the day of the Lord would be for us a day of light and a day of joy, a day of happiness and glee as we see our Lord and Savior appear.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Confidence of Children

With confidence we do draw nigh, O God. For you are the God who saves to the uttermost. You have spared not your Son on our behalf. But you delivered him over to the grave so that we might be pardoned of our sins.

Moreover you have poured out your Spirit, into our hearts, so that by it we might cry out Abba, Father. And we do now approach you with the firm confidence that we will not be rejected. We come knowing that will be pitied, protected and provided for, for we are sons of the living God.

How sweet it is to have access to you, O God. What a privilege it is to be able to draw near as a child would to his father.

And we pray O Father, that you would hear the lisping of your children this morning. Hear us as we exalt you. Though our utterances are crude and though our mouths fail to attain to a level of honor which is appropriate for you, would you be pleased to accept the praises we bring.

And would that you so fill our minds this morning. May it be that there would be no room for any other thoughts or cares. But may all that which would distract us from your sweet presence be pushed out because you have come upon us.

Flirting with Sin

How your Law does condemn us, O God. For we have not only transgressed each of these commands, but we have transgressed each one many times and in many ways.

Indeed we are professionals when it comes to sin. We embrace virtually every occasion for it and we wickedly devise ways to provoke others to do the same. For this we know that we deserve to be cruelly treated. We and our children and our children’s children are liable to all of the curses that are recorded in your holy Word.

But we come to you and ask for your pardoning grace. Forgive us for dabbling in the brooks of iniquity. Lord, too many times we have flirted with evil and entertained thoughts of wickedness. We should have cast the unworthy thing far from our minds. But we have too often given the devil that foothold by welcoming the notion, despite knowing how foul it was. And this has only lead to further misdeeds. We have only let ourselves become hardened in sin and furthered our hell bent progression.

But we cry out to you because we know that you can break this downward spiral. We look to you for mercy and pray that the cords of this degeneration would be broken.

We do thank you for the cross of your dear Son. We praise you that you did send him forth to break the power of sin that does reign within us. And we pray that you would give us the strength to live as becomes a Christian. Help us to fight against temptation and to flee even the appearance of sin. Let us despise not just the sin itself, but would that we abhor even the path that leads to it.

God we know that only you possess the remedy for our sin. And we pray that you would indeed apply the balm of Christ to us now.