I often marvel at how blessed we are to live after the invention of the printing press. We have so many resources these days that help us understand and obey the Word of God. Saints in previous generations had no access to these types of written materials, including and especially the Bible itself!
Yet another great option was published by Crossway in 2018, and I am very much benefiting from it. I am referring to the ESV Prayer Bible: Prayers from the Past and Hope for our Present. This is a wonderful collection of 400 or more prayers "...linked to specific passages of Scripture, written by early church fathers, Puritans, Protestant Reformers, and more." Just yesterday morning I encountered a devotion based on Habakkuk 1:12:
"Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die."
I read the selection to Steve before church and he was so moved that he then opened our EPC worship service reading George Matheson's prayer:
"Let me feel, O Christ, that I am already immortal; that death could no more destroy my life than it could destroy yours, because mine is yours. When the shadows of the grave seem to encompass me, help me to remember, not so much that there is a life above as that there is a life within; help me to remember, not that you are waiting for me across the valley, but that you are waiting with me in the valley; then shall the rod and the staff of my comfort be, "You are from everlasting; therefore I shall not die."
Such beauty and encouragement for a weary soul! What more can I say except "Amen and Amen?" 💕💕💕
What a beautiful prayer! Asking the Lord to remind us that there is life within us, how helpful that is for me today as I struggle to find the energy to go through my day. Life seems to have wearied me (is that a word?) I struggle to find joy, energy, I have no appetite for food, I can't seem to focus on what I am hearing or what I am reading, where is my brain? Yet I can be reminded that there is life within me if I will just stop and think about that. That life within me (within us) is there to give us what we as humans are lacking. God's life is within us to keep us moving and doing His work along this cumbersome path that we walk here on this earth. I was just thinking on way in to work this morning how I try to seek comfort, encouragement, insight from those around me yet I cannot get what I need, I can't get no satisfaction :-) Then I was reminded that I can get it, I'm just looking in the wrong place, yes, Jesus can give me all I need, there now I have hope once again. Then to read this it is exactly where I am at. love your blogs Candy, thanks for the reminder, the encouragement and the prayer! Debbi
ReplyDeleteAre you sure you don't want to write your own blog, Debbi? I'm serious!!! :)
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