July 2, 2009

  • what keeps us from walking with our first Love?

    To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 2 I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

    –Revelation 2:1-4

    Walking with God - Genesis v.25
    (William Cowper)

    OH! for a closer walk with God,
    A calm and heavenly frame;
    A light to shine upon the road
    That leads me to the Lamb!

    Where is the blessedness I knew
    When first I saw the Lord?
    Where is the soul-refreshing view
    Of Jesus and his word?

    What peaceful hours I once enjoy’d!
    How sweet their memory still!
    But they have left an aching void,
    The world can never fill.

    Return, O holy Dove, return!
    Sweet messenger of rest:
    I hate the sins that made thee mourn,
    And drove thee from my breast.

    The dearest idol I have known,
    Whate’er that idol be,
    Help me to tear it from thy throne,
    And worship only thee.

    So shall my walk be close with God,
    Calm and serene my frame:
    So purer light shall mark the road
    That leads me to the Lamb.

    Which commandment is the most important of all? 29 Jesus answered, The most important is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

    –Mark 12:29-30

    Father, Son and Spirit,

    Search our hearts. You are to be our first Love. What keeps from You? What keeps us from our first Love? What keeps us from walking with You? What keeps us from being united to You? How can we walk with You unless we are agreed with you? How can we walk with You if we continue to worship idols and entertain sin?

    Show us, O God, where we have abandoned You. Show us where we have left our first Love. Be gracious to us and lead us into Your light. We are children of light, yet we confess that when we worship idols and when we entertain sin, we are no longer walking in the light and our fellowship with You is broken. It is then we most need Your light, but yet we shrink back from Your light. Yet unless we come into Your light, we cannot see our idols and our sins. Unless we are in Your light, we cannot confess our idols and our sins and receive Your forgiveness and cleansing. Unless we are in Your light we cannot purify ourselves as Your are pure. Unless we are in Your light we cannot walk in the light. Unless we are in Your light we cannot love You as we ought and walk with You. Unless we are in Your light we will continue to love other things besides You.

    We can only see ourselves clearly as we come into Your light. We confess we hide our idols and our sins in the deepest and darkest recesses of our hearts and minds, so deep that sometimes we can neither see them nor acknowledge them. We need You to bring us into Your holy light. Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked.

    Be gracious to us and lead us into Your light. Search us O God with Your light. Yes, it will be bright and blinding but we must come. Your mercy, grace and kindness will meet us there are show us our idols and our sins for Jesus' sake. It is Your desire to sanctify us. Bring us into Your light.

    We can only put off our idols as we see them.
    Show Your mercy to us,
    Bring us into Your light.

    We can only put off our sin as we see it.
    Show Your mercy to us,
    Bring us into Your light.

    Show us what keeps us from walking with You, our first Love.
    Show Your mercy to us,
    Bring us into Your light.

    Show us what keeps us from loving You with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength.
    Show Your mercy to us,
    Bring us into Your light.

    Search us, O God.
    Shine Your light in those deep, dark places of our souls.
    Show us the idols we bow down to, the idols that keep us from loving You as we ought.
    Show us the idols that keep us from loving You with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength.
    Show us how we have left You, our first love.
    Show us the idols which have become our first love.
    Show us the idols which keep us from walking with You, our first Love.
    Restore us to You, our first Love.

    Search us, O God.
    Shine Your light in those deep, dark places of our souls.
    Show us the sin that so easily entangles us, the sin that keeps us from loving You as we ought.
    Show us the sin that keeps us from loving You with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength.
    Show us how we have left You, our first Love.
    Show us how our sin has become our first love.
    Show us how our sin keeps us from walking with You, our first Love.
    Restore us to You, our first Love.

    Give us a holy hatred for the idols that keep us from bowing down to You.
    Give us a holy hatred for the idols that keep us from loving You as we ought.
    May we no longer love our idols.
    May we have no other gods but You alone.
    Strengthen us to us forsake our idols and to tear down all our idols
    You alone are worthy of all our love.
    Give us a heart of love for You alone.
    Restore us to You, our first Love.

    Give us a holy hatred for the sins that keep us from being holy as You are holy.
    Give us a holy hatred for the sins that keep us from loving You as we ought.
    May we no longer love our sin.
    May we have no other gods but You alone.
    Strengthen us to forsake our sin and repent of all our sin.
    You alone are worthy of all our love.
    Give us a heart of love for You alone.
    Restore us to You, our first Love.

    By Your mercy and grace, O God, May we have a closer walk with You once more, so You might be truly be our first Love, so we might love You with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength. Strengthen us to put off our idols and forsake our sin. Restore us to You, our first Love. Amen.

    Spend some time in reading the Scripture and prayer and quiet reflection. Do not rush. Ask the Lord to shine His light into your heart and search you and show you your idols and your sins, to show you where you are not walking with your first Love. As His Spirit leads you, please add your prayers here of confession and repentance as well as your prayers for strength to love Him with all Your heart, soul, mind and strength. (Please keep in mind this is a public forum, so please use discretion.)


Comments (6)

  • Father, help all discouraged Christians to start walking in the Spirit and not fulfilling the lust of the flesh. amen

  • Lord, I ask for your will, not mine. let my desires be your desires. let me go where you want me to go, or remain here if that is what you will. I only want what you want Lord. whatever your best is for me and for others, help us to see that and obey that wholeheartedly. i ask for our priorities to be yours, for our faith to be in you alone, our satisfaction and comfort in you alone. Lord, I admit I am confused. I do not want to be a fool and take a leap of faith that will lead me out of your will. i do not want to remain either if this would be disobedience and lack of faith on my part. Lord, i have learned patience; to do the opposite of what i feel like doing; the opposite of what i typically want to do; to trust in you alone even when others think i'm a complete fool for it. i just ask for vindication if that is your will, for your favor and provision for the task you want me to do, for deliverance that you may be glorified, and for direction as to where to go and what to do and how to do it. i cast my bread upon the waters here and there is little return -- but i remember the years where there was return even when i did not ask for it..you provided supernaturally and beyond my expectations -- you knew exactly what i needed and what i did not.  i admit i'm afraid to cast my bread upon the waters far away for fear that i will be stuck and you will not come to my aid. please help me in my unbelief if you want me to move far away -- help me to believe and trust in you more IF that is your will. Lord, I just want to do your will..please help me to do it -- whatever it is. in Jesus name, amen.

  • Lord Jesus, there is nothing i really want right now Lord. i ask you to help me what to want..b/c i no longer know of any earthly thing. thank you for helping me to let go of everything -- to need only you. All i know is i want to be close to you and have you guide me wherever and with whatever you want -- b/c i know your ways are always best.  Lord, i know my heart will miss my daughter. i know i will not easily want to leave the comfort of the familiar, despite everything. i know i am afraid of depending completely on you in a foreign land with no one to rescue me if i should fail. i know i fear homelessness and joblessness -- h elp me not to fear those things and accept any situation you bring me into. i have known miraculous failures for a long time here and am afraid of the same far away..please take away those fears Lord and take care of me. Lord, remove all fears if this is really what you want from me. give me the knowledge and wisdom and direction i need, the encouragement, support, the provisions. give me peace with the right decision -- whatever that may be. if i am to remain here, provide a way Lord for me to find peace with it, please provide a safe haven or acceptance if i must continue to endure. amen.

  • Lord, give Your people the discernment to know which issues are worth "sweating" about, and which are not.

    In Jesus' Name

    Amen

  • Loving and merciful Father, I confess a while ago I was having a hard time walking with you. I did not have a calm and serene frame. I keep looking at the work You have for me rather than fixing my eyes on You. I keep looking ahead to the future rather than allowing You to take my hand today so I might walk with you in quiet confidence, in calmness and serenity. Certainly You are my heavenly Father. You love me. And You are also the sovereign God who knows what tomorrow holds even while You hold me today in Your everlasting arms, which never tire. I want to finish well for You but I fear I will not be able to endure. I don't know how long I have yet to run this race but I know I have been tired and weary lately. My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak. There is so much left undone. There are sheep to be brought in. There are sheep to be fed. I think of the prophets who persevered for years and yet no one heard them. Will I have the endurance to be faithful to complete all the work You have for me regardless of the results? Will I continue to speak for You even if revival never comes in my lifetime? You alone must carry me. I have no strength. If you have called me, You must do it. Help me to keep my mind fixed on You so I might have Your perfect peace. Help me to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus and to see how He endured and to see how He is right now interceding for me at Your right hand, so I might be saved to the uttermost. Thank You for making provision for our weakness. For without You we can do nothing. I keep looking to myself and to the task and I begin to despair. Help me to look to You alone. You alone must do it all in me and do it all through me! Help me to learn what it means to walk with You and to take up Your easy yoke. Help me to know what it means to be buried with in your death, so I might know the power of Your resurrection. Help me to die to self so I might live to You for that is the only way I can carry on. Help me to trust You and not myself. Amen.

  • Father, please lead more Christians to read the Bible today and grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
    amen

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tent_of_meeting

"he called it the tent of meeting..."

I am burdened to pray to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the reformation and reviving of Christ's church.

The phrase tent of meeting comes from Exodus 33:7: Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

This site is devoted to God first and foremost. In all that is done here, my prayer is that God is glorified and His Name magnified and Christ and Him crucified is lifted up so He might be preeminent and God might receive all the praise, honor and glory due His Holy Name. All who have come to a saving knowledge of our Father by grace through faith in the all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are welcome to enter this tent of meeting to seek the Lord.

This blog is a place for all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to come and seek God's face for revival. My intention is for this tent of meeting to be a holy place where we can enter into PRAYER together to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit leads you, please enter into prayer either here (think of "comments" as prayers) or on your own.

Habakkuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

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