July 16, 2009

  • May Your mercies melt us down so we might know the love of Christ

    But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.

    –Revelation 2:4-5

    O, God, Lover of our souls, the One who loved us first,

    We confess our love for You has grown cold.

    We confess we have taken Your love for granted.
    We confess we do not understand Your love as we ought.

    We confess our love for You has grown faint.

    We confess we have taken Your love for granted.
    We confess we do not understand Your love as we ought.

    We confess we have abandoned You, our first Love.

    We confess we have taken Your love for granted.
    We confess we do not understand Your love as we ought.

    We confess we think we deserve Your love.

    We confess we have taken Your love for granted.
    We confess we do not understand Your love as we ought.

    We confess we forget how vile and sinful we are.

    We confess we have taken Your love for granted.
    We confess we do not understand Your love as we ought.

    We confess we forget that in us dwells no good thing.

    We confess we have taken Your love for granted.
    We confess we do not understand Your love as we ought.

    We confess that apart from Your love we deserve eternal condemnation.

    We confess we have taken Your love for granted.
    We confess we do not understand Your love as we ought.
    .
    We confess we forget how amazing Your grace is.

    We confess we have taken Your love for granted.
    We confess we do not understand Your love as we ought.

    We confess we forget how wonderful the cross truly was.

    We confess we have taken Your love for granted.
    We confess we do not understand Your love as we ought.

    George Whitefield wrote in his Journals (Sunday, Sept. 14, 1740):

    His distinguishing mercies quite melted me down, and I called upon all that was within me to praise His Holy Name. O Lord, in the night season, let me arise and give thanks unto Thee, and let my talking be of Thy loving kindness and tender mercies all day long.

    Father, may we know Your mercies and Your love in that way. We confess we have taken Your love for granted. We confess we do not understand Your love as we ought. We confess our understanding is so small. We confess our experiential knowledge of You and Your love is so limited. But we come to You and ask that Your mercies and love come and sweep us up and sweep into us and fill us with all Your fullness. Only as we are filled with Your mercies and love in this way, will our whole being overflow with love and praise to You. How can we praise and worship You as we ought? How can we love You as You deserve? How can the world know Your love if we take Your love for granted? How can the world know Your love if we do not know You and know Your mercies and love for us as we ought?

    May Your mercies melt us down so we might know the love of Christ.

    Would You open our eyes so we might see once more how great Your love is for us? A King who became a Servant. A God who suffered in our place. A Shepherd who willingly became our Passover Lamb and shed His precious blood. A love that sent Jesus to die for us while we were yet sinners. A love that died for the ungodly. A Savior who bore all our sins in His Body and bore the punishment for them all. An atoning sacrifice so we might be declared righteous and just. A perfect Lamb who was without sin hung on the cross condemned for our sin. A God who poured out His soul to death for those who we dead in sins and transgressions. A continuing Mediator to allow us to find grace and mercy in time of need. A continuing Advocate to save us from Your wrath. An ever-present Spirit, who abides with us forever. A love that continues to reach Your arms out to us when we turn our backs on You. O, how great Your love for us! May Your love for us never grow old to us. May we continue to celebrate and bask in Your love each day. May we return to You, O God, and love You with a deeper love than we have ever known before.

    May Your mercies melt us down so we might know the love of Christ.

    May Your love sweep over us and into us and fill us in a way we have not known before. This is what the apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians; these brothers and sisters had already known Your love, but here Paul is telling them they can have a deeper understanding of Your love and a deeper experiential knowledge of Your love. O, how we need that today, dear Father! So we come to Your throne of grace with boldness and confidence and pray these same things for ourselves:

    For this reason we bow our knees before You, our Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory You may grant Your Church to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in our inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith—that we, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to You who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to You be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

    –Ephesians 3:15-21, adapted

    May your distinguishing mercies quite melt us down, so we might call upon all that is in us to praise Your holy Name. O Lord, in the night season, let us arise and give thanks to You and let our talking be of Your lovingkindness and mercies all day long.

    May Your mercies melt us down so we might know the love of Christ.

    Make us Your lovers once more!

    As His Holy Spirit leads you,
    please pray for God to return us to our first Love.

Comments (2)

  • Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV) "Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compasssions never fail. They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness."

  • @WLCALUM - Amen.

    We praise You, O God, this morning that even when our love for You is faint and flickering, Your love for us in Jesus Christ continues to burns strong and bright and endures forever. We praise You that absolutely nothing can separate us from Your love for us which is in Christ Jesus! Rekindle the flame of our love for You, O God.

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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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