I sought the Lord, and he answered me...

I sought the Lord, and he answered me

   and delivered me from all my fears. 

Those who look to him are radiant, 

   and their faces shall never be ashamed. 

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him 

   and saved him out of all his troubles. 

The angel of the Lord encamps 

   around those who fear him, and delivers them. 

    -Psalm 34:4-7 Image

 O Lord our God, grant us grace to desire Thee with our whole heart; that, so desiring, we may seek, and seeking find Thee; and so finding Thee may love Thee; and loving Thee, may hate those sins from which Thou hast redeemed us. -St. Anselm

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous...

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;

    our God is merciful.

The Lord preserves the simple;

    when I was brought low, he saved me.

Return, O my soul, to your rest;

    for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

For you have delivered my soul from death,

    my eyes from tears,

    my feet from stumbling;

I will walk before the Lord

    in the land of the living.

      -Psalm 116:5-9

Keep yourselves in the love of God...

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.  -Jude 20-21

Prayer has everything to do with moulding the soul into the image of God, and has everything to do with enhancing and enlarging the measure of Divine grace. It has everything to do with enriching, broadening and maturing the soul’s experience of God. That man cannot possibly be called a Christian, who does not pray.  -E.M. Bounds

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom 

and knowledge of God! 

How unsearchable are his judgments 

and how inscrutable his ways!

 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,

    or who has been his counselor?”

 “Or who has given a gift to him

    that he might be repaid?”

 For from him and through him and to him are all things. 

To him be glory forever. Amen.

 -Romans 11:33-36

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness...

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. -Romans 8:26-27

It is not necessary to maintain a conversation when we are in the presence of God. We can come into His presence and rest our weary souls in quiet contemplation of Him. Our groanings, which cannot be uttered, rise to Him and tell Him better than words how dependent we are upon Him. -O. Hallesby

Jesus, Your Mercy

 

Jesus, Your Mercy 

Sovereign Grace Music

Verse 1

Jesus, Your mercy is all my plea

I have no defense, my guilt runs too deep

The best of my works pierced Your hands and Your feet

Jesus, Your mercy is all my plea

Verse 2

Jesus, Your mercy is all my boast

The goodness I claim, the grounds of my hope

Whatever I lack it’s still what I need most

Jesus, Your mercy is all my boast

Chorus

Praise the King who bore my sin

Took my place when I stood condemned

Oh how good You’ve always been to me

I will sing of Your mercy

Verse 3

Jesus, Your mercy is all my rest

When fears weigh me down and enemies press

A comfort I cling to in life and in death

Jesus Your mercy is all my rest

Verse 4

Jesus, your mercy is all my joy

Forever I’ll lift my heart and my voice

To sing of a treasure no pow’r can destroy

Jesus, your mercy is all my joy

O Lord, God of my salvation...

O Lord, God of my salvation,

 I cry out day and night before you.

Let my prayer come before you;

    incline your ear to my cry!

   -Psalm 88:1-2

Begin to realize more and more that prayer is the most important thing you do; and that you can use your time to no better advantage than to pray whenever you have an opportunity to do so, either alone or with others, while at work, while at rest, or while walking down the street. Anywhere!  

-O. Hallesby

When you walk through fire...

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

 and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

-Isaiah 43:2

As sure as ever God puts his children in the furnace, He will be in the furnace with them.  -CH Spurgeon 

Humility and love...

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,

    who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

“I dwell in the high and holy place,

    and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,

to revive the spirit of the lowly,

    and to revive the heart of the contrite.

 -Isaiah 57:15

Humility and love are precisely the graces which the men of the world can understand, if they do not comprehend doctrines. They are the graces about which there is no mystery, and they are within reach of all classes. The poorest... Christian can every day find occasion for practicing love and humility.  

-J.C. Ryle 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation...

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. -2 Corinthians 5:17

Christianity does not consist in any partial amendment of our lives, any particular moral virtues, but in an entire change of our natural temper, a life wholly devoted to God. -William Law Image

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits...

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

    and in his word I hope;

 my soul waits for the Lord

    more than watchmen for the morning...

-Psalm 130:5-6

Faith is that which, knowing the Lord’s will, goes and does it; or, not knowing it, stands and waits, content in ignorance as in knowledge, because God wills; neither pressing into the hidden future, nor careless of the knowledge which opens the path of action.  -George MacDonald Image

Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land...

Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,

    who do his just commands;

seek righteousness; seek humility;

    perhaps you may be hidden

    on the day of the anger of the Lord.

  -Zephaniah 2:3

To be prayerless is to be without God, without Christ, without grace, without hope, and without heaven.  -J.C. Ryle