Piercing Heaven - Prayers of the Puritans

[HeldByGrace]

Beautiful prayers from the book Piercing Heaven - edited by Robert Elmer, that I'd like to share. May they be an encouragement, a thought provoker, or a prayer you need for yourself or others.

 

[HeldByGrace]

WHERE COULD WE EVER HIDE FROM YOU

"No one can hide in secret places that you cannot see, for you fill heaven and earth.
You are not far from every one of us. We cannot go anywhere that is beyond your
presence, nor flee from your Spirit.

If we ascend into heaven, you are there. If we make our bed in hell, in the depths
of the earth, you are there. If we take the wings of the morning, or live in the
uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead us, and your right
hand will hold us.

We cannot outrun you.

All things are naked and open before your eyes-even the thoughts and intents of
the heart.

Your eyes are in every place, beholding good and evil. You see everywhere,
proving yourself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are right with you.
You search the heart, that you may give to everyone according to their ways,
and according to the fruit of their lives.

O God, you have searched us and known us. You know when we sit down
and when we get up. You understand our thoughts from afar. You surround
our path and our lying-down, and you know all our ways. You know every
word we speak. Darkness and light are both alike to you.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for us. Amen"

Matthew Henry

 

[David]

This is a beautiful collection of biblical truth about God’s perfect knowledge and presence. Psalm 139 especially makes it clear that there is nowhere we can go where God is not present and nothing within us that is hidden from Him.

One small clarification: in Psalm 139:8, “If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there,” the word is Sheol, meaning the grave or the realm of the dead. The point is not that God dwells in hell in the same manner that He is present with His people, but that even death cannot place anyone beyond His knowledge, authority, or reach.

Hebrews 4:13 says, “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

That truth should both comfort us and cause us to examine ourselves. We can never be hidden from God, but those who belong to Christ can also rest in the truth that His hand will lead and uphold them. As David prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts” (Psalm 139:23).

 

[HeldByGrace]

I WRESTLE WITH SIN

"You are my Lord and God, and I will serve you.

I have chosen you as my inheritance forever, and I will wait for your salvation.

Hear the sighing of your prisoner, and deliver your captive. My heart is with you.

I pray that sin would no longer reign in my mortal body. I want nothing more to do with the throne of iniquity. Unite the chains, loosen the cuffs, and bring my soul out of prison.

Search me, Lord, and know my heart. Prove me, and know my thoughts. Is there any way of wickedness in me? Do I willingly go after sin's commandments? Do I harbor iniquity in my heart?

It is true: My heart wars against you. It riots and rebels against you.

But do I resign myself to it? Is it a pleasure to me? Am I at peace with it?

Lord, you know. I cannot rid myself of the iniquity in my heart, I cannot do the things that I would, I cannot pray as I would. I cannot listen as I would-nor think, nor speak, nor live as I would.

Wherever I go, sin goes with me. Where I stay, it stays. If I sit still, there it is with me. If I run from it, it follows me. I cannot rest, I cannot work, I cannot do anything-sin is always hounding me.

And yet, blessed be your name, this I do: I fight against it. I wrestle with it, though it so often takes me down. I do not trust it, though it flatters me. I do not love it, though it feeds me.

My heart is with you, Lord. I am following after you. I groan and I struggle in pain, waiting for your redemption. Until I die, I will not give up.

I will die fighting. I will die hoping. I will die praying.

Save me, Lord. Do not delay, my God. Amen.

Richard Alleine

 

[Yesua888]

I WRESTLE WITH SIN

"You are my Lord and God, and I will serve you.

I have chosen you as my inheritance forever, and I will wait for your salvation.

Hear the sighing of your prisoner, and deliver your captive. My heart is with you.

I pray that sin would no longer reign in my mortal body. I want nothing more to do with the throne of iniquity. Unite the chains, loosen the cuffs, and bring my soul out of prison.

Search me, Lord, and know my heart. Prove me, and know my thoughts. Is there any way of wickedness in me? Do I willingly go after sin's commandments? Do I harbor iniquity in my heart?

It is true: My heart wars against you. It riots and rebels against you.

But do I resign myself to it? Is it a pleasure to me? Am I at peace with it?

Lord, you know. I cannot rid myself of the iniquity in my heart, I cannot do the things that I would, I cannot pray as I would. I cannot listen as I would-nor think, nor speak, nor live as I would.

Wherever I go, sin goes with me. Where I stay, it stays. If I sit still, there it is with me. If I run from it, it follows me. I cannot rest, I cannot work, I cannot do anything-sin is always hounding me.

And yet, blessed be your name, this I do: I fight against it. I wrestle with it, though it so often takes me down. I do not trust it, though it flatters me. I do not love it, though it feeds me.

My heart is with you, Lord. I am following after you. I groan and I struggle in pain, waiting for your redemption. Until I die, I will not give up.

I will die fighting. I will die hoping. I will die praying.

Save me, Lord. Do not delay, my God. Amen.

So True, so lovely, thank you for sharing this with us

 

[bobinfaith]

Good morning, HeldByGrace;

Piercing Heaven will introduce others to God in Christ. In these times of world knowledge engrained in the non believer, this daily devotion will uplift even the most sophisticated, educated individual to learn more about who God is.

God bless you, HeldByGrace, and thank you for introducing this book. I'm keeping this in mind for the upcoming Holidays (and one for myself)

Bob

 

[David]

I WRESTLE WITH SIN

"You are my Lord and God, and I will serve you.

Sin is a powerful enemy, but we serve a mighty Savior. I think this devotional paints a realistic and biblical picture of the Christian’s struggle with sin. The true believer does not make peace with sin. We do not excuse sin, or learn to live comfortably with it. We hate sin. We fight sin. We grieve over sin. And we keep looking to Christ for our deliverance.

Paul understood this battle. That’s why he cried out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Immediately he gives the answer: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24–25, KJV).

The Christian life is a struggle, but it’s also a sweet walk in the grace of God. The very fact that we wrestle with sin instead of giving ourselves over to it is proof that God is at work in our lives. We may stumble in our journey, but we should never quit. We will get back up, repent of our sin, and keep moving forward in faith trusting in Christ and walking by the Spirit.

 

[HeldByGrace]

OUR LORD'S PRAYER

"Our Father, you are seated on a throne of glory in the highest heaven, and we bow before your awful presence with humble reverence. Even so we approach you with the confidence that we are your children, and you are our bountiful and compassionate parent.

We join our prayers to you with hearts full of brotherly love, and ask for each other the blessings we seek for ourselves.

Above all, we desire your glory. May your name be set apart and holy. May the whole world of living creatures join us to give you the honor you so deserve and require. May your kingdom come and your will be done among us. Help us to know, understand, and pursue your kingdom.

And may your will, always wise and gracious, be done on earth as it is in heaven. Teach us mortals to resign ourselves to you in obedience, the same way your angels in heaven obey you.

As for ourselves, Lord, help us not to seek the grand things of life. Help us not to worry about the future, but we humbly ask that you would open your bountiful hand-the one on which we always depend. Give us our daily supply for what we need today, and teach us to let you take care of the rest.

Though in many respects we have been disobedient and ungrateful children, yet we beg you, compassionate Father, to forgive us our offenses. We know we are guilty in your book, with debts we an never repay. But please forgive those debts, even as we forgive others-even those who have offended and injured us. We ask for the same kind of pardon we are willing to extend to others.

And do not bring us into places of pressing temptation, where we would lose our integrity and our soul would be endangered. But if we must be tried, graciously rescue us from the power of the evil one, that he would not triumph.

We know you can do these things for your children, and we humbly trust you will, because yours is the universal kingdom, the fullness of almighty power, and the glory of infinite perfection. To you be the praise of all, forever.

Amen. So may it be. We sincerely and earnestly desire that you may be glorified and our prayers heard and accepted. Amen."

Philip Doddridge

 

[HeldByGrace]

I WANT TO BE YOURS

Lord, you are as worthy to be the Omega as you are the Alpha. The last as you are first. The end as you are the beginning of all things. The ocean into which all being will flow, as the fountain from which it sprang.

I cannot live except by you. You are God alone. You are the fullness of life and being, the only root and spring of life, the everlasting I AM, the Being of beings.

You know all things. You know that I love you, and because I do, I present myself to you. It is all I can do.

I wish myself ten thousand times better, for your sake. And if I had in me all the excellencies of many thousand angels, it would not be enough. Nothing but your own goodness could make me worthy of your acceptance.

Because I love you, I want to be near you. I want to be yours. I want to lead my life with you, to dwell in your presence. I love you, O Lord, my strength, because your own perfections highly deserve it-and because you have heard my voice. You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

My only resort, O Lord, is to your mercy. You might most justly abhor and abandon us, and say to us,"Lo-ammi. You are none of my people."

But in the multitude of your tender compassion and mercy, do it not.

Lord, here I am, wholly yours. I come to surrender myself, my whole life and being, to be entirely and always at your disposal, and for your use. Accept a devoted, self-resigning soul.

I have here brought you back a stray, a wandering creature-my own self. I heard what the Redeemer has done and suffered to reconcile us. Against your known design, I can no longer withhold myself from your plan for me.

And I yield myself to you, because I love you. I make an offer of myself to be your servant-your servant, O Lord. You have loosed my bonds, and now I desire to bind myself in new ones to you, that are never to be loosed. Amen.

John Howe

 

[HeldByGrace]

I AM HIS

Lord, grant me grace to abide in Jesus, that every act of my life may testify whose I am, and whom I serve.

And like the martyr who answered every question "I am a Christian," may my every thought, word, and action proclaim Jesus and my union and oneness with him-so that everyone may plainly see I am no longer my own.

But instead, "being bought with a price, you glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are both his." Amen.

Robert Hawker

 

[bobinfaith]

Good morning, HeldByGrace;

Thank you for sharing more by Robert Elmer. These devotions act as "good morning" and "peaceful evening" encouragers.

God bless you, sister.

Bob

 

[HeldByGrace]

MY PRAISE FLOWS TO YOUR OCEAN

Lord Jesus! I ask for grace to seek you, as I would for hidden treasure.
I want to seek you, and you alone, O my God!

I want to separate myself from all other things. My soul chooses Jesus.
My soul needs Jesus. I want to trust in nothing else.

Not duties, not works. Neither prayers nor repentance. Not even
faith itself, as an act of my soul, will be my comfort.

But in Jesus alone, I make you my center. Every thought, every affection,
and every desire, like so many streams meeting in one. They should all
pour themselves, as rivers, into the ocean of your bosom!

And the nearer, as a stream that draws near the sea is propelled
to fall into it, so the more forcible and intense let my soul be
in its desires for you-even as my soul draws nearer to the hour
of seeing you.

Oh Lamb of God, help me to seek you through life, pressing after you
from one worship service to the next. And when those cease, and all
outward comforts fail, then, Lord, may I gather up (as the dying patriarch
did his feet in the bed)all my strength, and pour my whole soul into
your arms, crying out, "I have waited for your salvation, O Lord!" Amen.

Robert Hawker

 

[David]

There is something here that every Christian needs to understand clearly. Christ is not merely part of our salvation. He is our salvation.

Our hope is not in the strength of our prayers, the depth of our repentance, the sincerity of our emotions, or even in faith as though faith itself had saving power. Faith has value because of the One in whom it rests. Jesus Christ is the object of our faith, and He alone is worthy of our confidence.

Paul said, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” Philippians 3:8.

That is the heart of it. Strip everything else away, and what is left? Christ. His righteousness. His blood. His cross. His resurrection. His promise.

The Christian life is not about looking inward and asking whether our faith feels strong enough. It is about looking “unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” Hebrews 12:2.

And when the end comes, we will not stand before God boasting in how well we prayed or how deeply we felt. Our only plea will be Christ.

That is where our eyes need to stay.