"A man, humbly conscious of his soul's needs, and realizing the guilt of his sins,—that is the man to pour out his heart in prayer before the living God. I pray the Lord graciously to break your hearts; for, unless our hearts are broken in penitence, we shall never find in them a real prayer unto God."
It is true that a proud man does not pray. I find that the times when I am most self-sufficient are times that I am not praying and being penitent before the Lord. God's gives grace to the humble, but opposes the proud. I don't want to be opposed by God! I pray that the Lord continually breaks my heart towards my sin. How humbling it is that the Son of Glory died for me a wretched sinner. That is TRUE humility. Prayer is dependence on God, believing that He is our Only Hope!
Monday, July 28, 2008
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I just read this morning
Crush a fool in a mortar with pestel along with crushed grain,
yet his folly will not depart from him.- Prov 7: 22
As I was thinking about what you said about our hearts are hard when we don't pray, it seems the less and less we bow before God in prayer the harder the heart we are, and the harder it is to bend the knee. The same applies to correction like in Prov 7:22..if a fool is crushed (by discipline) there hearts are still so hard that they just continue in their folly. And like Packer's quote below, if theology doesn't effect our hearts, if we are not teachable then we essentially feed pride.
"If our theolgoy does not quicken the conscience and soften the heart, it actually hardens both; if it does not encourage the commitment of faith it reinforces the detachement of unbelief; if it fails to promote humility it envitably feeds pride." - J.I. Packer; The quest for godliness
James 4:10-“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exult you.”
I love this verse and am always convicted by it! It say’s to, “humble ourselves before the Lord, and He will exult us!” How kind of God to tell us to do such a little thing to receive exultation. Christ did a HUGE thing on the cross for us and how often I find myself not exulting my God and Savior as I should. I looked up the meaning of the word “exult” and this is what I found:
“To show or feel a lively or triumphant joy; rejoice exceedingly; be highly elated or jubilant.”
I need to be someone that does this more often than not. I want it to be shown in my life that I’m a joyful servant dependent on my savior in all things and through all things! I want to pray “rejoicing exceedingly” of all Christ has accomplished for me!
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