O Lord,
I hang on you; I see, believe, live,
when your will, not mine, is done;
I can plead nothing in myself
in regard of any worthiness and grace,
in regard of your providence and promises,
but only your good pleasure.
If your mercy make me poor and vile, blessed be you!
Prayers arising from my needs are preparations for future mercies;
Help me to honor you by believing before I feel, for great is the sin if I make feeling a cause of faith.
Show me what sins hide you from me and eclipse your love;
Help me to humble myself for past evils,
to be resolved to walk with more care,
For if I do not walk holily before you,
how can I be assured of my salvation?
It is the meek and humble who are shown your covenant,
know your will, are pardoned and healed,
who by faith depend and rest upon grace,
who are sanctified and quickened,
who evidence your love.
Help me to pray in faith and so find your will,
by leaning hard on your rich free mercy,
by believing you will give what you have promised;
Strengthen me to pray with the conviction that whatever I receive is your gift,
so that I may pray until prayer be granted;
Teach me to believe that all degrees of mercy arise from several degrees of prayer,
that when faith is begun it is imperfect and must grow,
as chapped ground opens wider and wider until rain comes.
So shall I wait your will, pray for it to be done, and by your grace become fully obedient.
5 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, 7 so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;
We are to teach the Scriptures to our children so they can pass them down to theirs. I remember learning Bible verses as a child. I remember sitting around the breakfast table (something that rarely happens at our house these days), with my father reading the Bible before breakfast. What is the reason for all of this? So that we will not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments!
We must not rebel, lest he crush us as he did Ephraim. We must remember his works, and teach them to our children.
Lord, I do believe that you will give what you have promised, and I lean hard on your rich free mercy. I pray that my feelings will never affect my faith. Let my faith be based on you alone.
I pray that we have a safe trip this week, and that it will be full of rest and relaxation for us.
I pray for our pastor and his family on their trip. I pray that they are getting some good rest, and I pray for their safe trip home.
TERRORISM
Masked gunmen in the Gaza Strip have set fire to a United Nations-run summer camp for Palestinian children, viewing
the camp as a symbol of the West where boys and girls could mix freely � an allegation denied by the United Nations.
A leading Mexican gubernatorial candidate was assassinated by presumed drug hit-men just days before the state
elections, in an attack that marks a worrisome new development in Mexico�s war on drugs.
Pray against the evil of terrorism in its many guises, wherever it exists around the globe.
Grace and peace, friends.