August 15, 2011

• "At the appointed time I will return to you" ~ Psalm 102:13, Genesis 18:14

  
  O, LORD, we ask You might arise and have mercy upon Your Church for the sake of Your name – and yet we bow to You and the set time You have appointed in which to favor us.

  Psalm 102:13
  You will arise and have mercy on Zion;
  For the time to favor her,
  Yes, the set time, has come.

  (all references are from the NKJV)

  
  In the same way that Abraham and Sarah had to wait years for that set time, that appointed time for the child of promise to come to them:

  Genesis 17:21 “But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”

  Genesis 18:9 Then they said to him [Abraham], “Where is Sarah your wife?”
  So he said, “Here, in the tent.”
  
  10 And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.”

  (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

  13 And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
  
  15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid.

  Genesis 21:1 And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

  In the same way, Your people awaited their redemption through the coming of the Messiah, Your only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world:

  Galatians 4:1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

  And now, in these days, You are awakening a people, a remnant in Your Church, who are turning to You and seeking You and awaiting the Church's reformation and revival through Your coming again at the set time, Your appointed time.

  We bow to Your perfect will and ways and wisdom. We know that You, O Lord God, wait to be gracious, very gracious to us, so You might be more highly exalted. We know that You always lead Your people to make for Yourself a glorious and everlasting name.

  We bow to Your sovereign timing, O Lord God, and yet we desire to remain importunate at Your throne because You are seeking such faith upon the earth. Help us not to grow weary in well doing. Keep us persevering in prayer. Impart to us the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, and sustain us by the One who ever lives to intercede for us at Your right hand. As You did with Abraham, guard us and keep us from wavering at Your promise through unbelief. Strengthen us in faith so we might give glory to You, O God. May we be fully convinced that what You have promised You are also able to perform.

  May we cry out day and night for You to return to us. Pour water upon us for we are thirsty. Flood the dry lands for we are dry. We confess to You that we have hewn and drunk from broken cisterns. We confess we have put confidence in our own flesh, we have returned to slavery, we have turned to Hagar, the bondwoman, rather than relying upon You and living by Your Holy Spirit's freedom and trusting by faith in Your promises. And now, in Your merciful kindnesses to us, You are bringing us to our senses so we might turn back to You and seek Your face once again and cast out the bondwoman and her son. We are not children of the bondwoman Hagar but of the free Sarah. We are children of promise as Isaac was. O, LORD, be gracious to us and have mercy upon us and forgive us our sins and purify us from our iniquities for Jesus' sake, even as we seek to purify ourselves by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

  Living Water, pour out Your Spirit upon us and our offspring that we might spring up and sing Your new song and praise throughout the earth. Like Abraham and Sarah, we have no life or fruit apart from You. In wrath, remember mercy, for You are the Lord our God, we are Yours. You are our Father. You are our Redeemer from Everlasting. O, hear us and answer us for the sake of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, for the sake of Your name and for the sake of the nations. Awake, arise and put on strength and be zealous, have mercy on Zion. O, be gracious to us. May the time to favor us, the set time, Your appointed time, come quickly!

  At the appointed time, return to us, LORD!
  O, arise and have mercy upon us!
  Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
  Bring life and fruit in abundance to Your dead and barren Church!

  
  ~ Please add your PRAYERS as the Holy Spirit leads you. ~

  • 2:30 PM
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