September 14, 2009

• may we keep Your command to persevere: a prayer for holiness

  
  7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,
  
  ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.  10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.  12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.
   
  13 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’
  

  –Revelation 3:7-13

  Please read Judges 19:22-20:48. In this passage of Scripture we read how Israel went to war against Benjamin because some Benjamites had sexually abused a Levite's concubine who later died as a result of their abuse.

  I would like us to consider and reflect upon the perseverance of the Israelites in battle and what we can learn from their example, and then turn those things into prayers for perseverance for ourselves, so we might keep God's command to us to persevere. Because there are three things I would like to draw your attention to in the Judges passage, Lord willing, I would eventually like to post three separate prayers based on this passage of Scripture; today's post is focused on holiness. (I will add links below as I am able to post the prayers.)

  I. A prayer for holiness. First, the children of Israel were clear about what sin was. So too ought to be praying for a clear vision of God's holiness and an increasing desire to be holy and to live holy lives. (This post.)

  II. A prayer for unity. Second, the children of Israel were united in their efforts. So too we ought to be praying for God to protect the unity we have in Him and that we would endeavor to uphold the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

  III. A prayer for continuing obedience. Third, despite defeat, the children of Israel continued to seek and prepare themselves to do God's will and followed through in obedience. So too we ought to be praying God would keep us seeking His face, that we might be diligent and vigilant and follow through in obedience to His revealed will for us.

  * * *

  I know this is a lengthy prayer, but I believe these are words God's people must hear and heed today. Would you please read them slowly and prayerfully?

  Father, I bring these words to You and to Your people. I pray Your Spirit would sanctify them and work through them in the minds and hearts all of who read them. Have mercy on us. We confess we have sinned against You. We have not been holy in thought, word and deed. Forgive us and cleanse us with the blood of Jesus. Sanctify us and make us holy by Your Holy Spirit. You are our Holy Redeemer; may Your Holy Spirit strengthen us to live lives that are holy and pleasing to You, O Lord, all to Your praise, honor and glory.

  A PRAYER FOR HOLINESS

  Holy and righteous Father, spotless Lamb of God, and Holy Spirit,

  Restore to us a vision of Your holiness and perfection. Like Isaiah, help us to see You as high and lifted up and on the throne. Take us to Your feet once more, humble us once more, so we might heart the angels calling out, "Holy, Holy, Holy." Help us to see we are vile and sinful from the top of our heads to the tips of our toes. Help us to have Your view of sin. You are holy and will not abide sin in Your presence. We have no right to even speak Your Name or come to You except through the blood of Jesus Christ. We are wholly unworthy. You alone make us holy.

  Help us not to compromise on what sin is. We do not define what sin is; You do. Sin is not defined by our culture but by Your Holy Word. May we never call evil good and good evil. Help us be discerning and wise. Give us Your mind in these things for our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. Even though You have known us and called us by Your holy name, even though You have delivered us from the power of sin, yet sin still dwells within us, our flesh continues to battle Your Spirit.

  May we continue to call sin wicked and vile just as the Israelites did here in the account in Judges 20:

  v. 3b: Then the children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?
  
  v. 10: repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel

  Anytime Your people fall into sin, You lament that, but since You are a merciful and gracious God as well as a just God, for Jesus' sake, You give us warnings. You were grieved that Israel, Your vineyard, did not yield good grapes but wild grapes. We too continue to yield wild grapes, both as individuals as well as in our congregations and denominations. O, may we heed the warning You gave the nation of Israel in Isaiah 5:

  20 Woe to those who call evil good
  and good evil,
  who put darkness for light
  and light for darkness,
  who put bitter for sweet
  and sweet for bitter!
  21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
  and shrewd in their own sight!
  22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
  and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
  23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
  and deprive the innocent of his right!
  24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
  and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
  so their root will be as rottenness,
  and their blossom go up like dust;
  for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts,
  and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
  25 Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people,
  and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
  and the mountains quaked;
  and their corpses were as refuse
  in the midst of the streets.
  For all this his anger has not turned away,
  and his hand is stretched out still.

  Yes, praise be to You, O God, there is no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus. However, though Your wrath has been appeased by the blood of Jesus, may we never take our sin lightly. There is no small sin in Your sight. There is no insignificant or trivial sin in Your sight. You are holy through and through. Jesus Christ went to the cross and had His body torn and shed His blood all so we might approach You with humble boldness. We first came to You empty-handed, in fact, all we wore were our vile rags of self-righteousness. So too we continue to come to You empty-handed, with nothing whatsoever to commend us to You. We are unworthy like the tax collector; we can only look down and beat our breasts. Only as You have clothed us with Christ and only as we continue to clothe ourselves with Him can we be acceptable in Your sight. We were saved by Your grace alone through faith in His blood. He was the propitiation for our sin. And He continues to save us from Your just wrath today. May we never show contempt or despise His sacrifice for us by saying our sin doesn't really matter. You do not turn a blind eye to our sin and neither should we. You sent Your Son to die for our sin. God forbid that we cheapen Your gift of forgiveness, Your lavish grace and Your manifold mercies. May we never quench or grieve Your Spirit or grow hard hearted as the author of Hebrews warns us in Hebrews 3:

  7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
  Today, if you hear his voice,
  8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
  on the day of testing in the wilderness,
  9 where your fathers put me to the test
  and saw my works
  10 for forty years.
  Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
  and said, They always go astray in their heart;
  they have not known my ways.
  11 As I swore in my wrath,
  They shall not enter my rest.

  12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
  13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
  14 For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
  15 As it is said,
  Today, if you hear his voice,
  do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

  Sin can deceive us. Satan comes as an angel of light. He is wily and a liar and the father of lies. Holy Spirit, guard our hearts and minds. May we guard our own hearts and minds and be ever watching in prayer. May we keep ourselves separate from the world's way and not put ourselves in temptation's way. May we purify ourselves as You are pure. Keep us from the evil one and lead us not into temptation.

  Hosea reminds us the people perished because of lack of knowledge, because they forgot Your law. We cannot forget Your law in quite the same way they could, for Your law is now written on our hearts, but yet we can harden our hearts to Your voice and quench and grieve Your Spirit. God forbid that our consciences become seared so Your words to us become but a faint, distant whisper. Forgive us for hardening our hearts. Break our hard hearts. Soften our hearts so we might be ready to always receive Your Word to us. May we always have ears to hear what You have to say to us.

  May we have no tolerance for sin in our own individual lives and in the corporate life of Your Church. Give us a love for holiness and a hatred for sin. You have called us out to be a holy and blameless people. You have purchased us with the blood of Christ. We are no longer to live to ourselves. We are not our own. You have placed within us Your Holy Spirit so we might no longer live for the lusts of the flesh but delight to do Your will. We confess we often live for ourselves and not for You. We confess we often live no differently than the world. Forgive us, O holy God. When we walk in sin, we bring disgrace to Your holy name. May Your kindness lead us to repentance so we might confess our sin to you and receive Your forgiveness through the blood of Christ. He died to make us holy. You gave us Your Spirit to sanctify us. May we not take Your name in vain or show contempt for Your name, by continuing to nurture and feed our own sin, but by Your grace, may we depart from iniquity, mortify and put off sin and purify ourselves as You are pure and put on the Lord Jesus Christ so we might not fulfill the lust of the flesh but be holy as You are holy.

  Judgment must begin in Your house, O Lord. We are the temple of God. We cannot continue to remain in sin and entertain sin and say we have fellowship with You. When we do so, we are liars. We are to be holy as You are holy. We need You to come and search us through Your flaming Spirit and Your cutting Word. Our hearts are deceitful. May You shine in those dark place and cut us deeply and show us the wicked ways that are within us, and then lead us in Your everlasting and holy ways so we might be a praise to You and a honor to Your holy Name. And once we have considered and addressed the planks of sin in our own eyes, then fill us with Your Spirit that we may gently and humbly point to the specks in our brothers' and sisters' eyes. We must speak the truth in love. It is neither truthful nor loving for us to avoid speaking of sin when we see it in the Body of Christ. Then may You lead us to restore one another in a spirit of gentleness and humility. Give us boldness to uphold the purity of Your tabernacle like Phinehas did (Numbers 25). We can never expect You to come down again and revive us or expect spiritual renewal in our nations until we begin to be serious about our own sin and the sin in the midst of Your people, the Body of Christ. James writes of the blessedness of the ministry of restoration in the Church:

  19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,
  20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
  

  –James 5:19-20
  

  Write on our hearts the high calling we have to be holy and godly people as we read Peter's words:

  10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
  
  11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
  12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
  13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
  
  14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.
  15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
  16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
  17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.
  18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
  

  –II Peter 3:10-18, emphasis mine
  

  Come, Lord Jesus! You loved the Church. You gave Yourself up for us not only to save us from hell but to make us holy. Come, Lord Jesus! Wash us anew and purify us, so we might shine as lights in the world and bring glory to You and not be a reproach to Your holy Name!

  Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
  26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
  

  –Ephesians 5:25b-27

  Make us holy as Your are holy! May we be a praise in the earth! May we be ready for your coming!

  And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
  10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
  11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

  –Philippians 1:9-11

  Please add your prayers here for holiness.
  (Edit: 10.6.09 - I also invite you to read prayerfully "an open letter about being holy in doctrine and behavior.")

  • 1:09 PM
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