“Therefore I also, after hearing of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, mentioning you in my prayers …” Ephesians 1:15-16
Do you thank God for bringing others to faith in Jesus? St. Paul continually thanked God for graciously bringing the Ephesian believers to faith in Christ by the working of the Holy Spirit through the gospel. It is a mighty miracle of God when He sends forth His Word and the Holy Spirit and then raises the spiritually dead to spiritual life by bringing them to see and repent of their sinful ways and look to Christ and His cross for mercy and forgiveness!
Thank You, Lord, for raising me from death to life through hearing Your Word, and thank You for working mightily through the preaching of the gospel to grant faith and life to all my fellow believers. Amen.
“In whom ye also trusted, after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14
Hearing the gospel, the word of truth, we too came to trust in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross. The Holy Spirit graciously brought us to faith in Christ through hearing God’s Word. He came to regenerate and dwell in us at our baptism, and He keeps us in saving faith through the continued use of God’s Word until that day when we are taken to be forever with the Lord.
Thank You, dear Savior, for sending men to preach the gospel of our salvation, for granting us the Holy Spirit to create faith in our hearts through the hearing of Your word, and for preserving us in saving faith through Your word unto life everlasting. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted the Revised Webster Version of the Bible.]
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29
Rather than trying to know what God has not revealed to us and has left hidden in His divine wisdom, we should focus our attention on what He has revealed to us, repent of our sinful ways, and look in faith to Christ Jesus and the salvation He has accomplished for us.
Grant me the wisdom to read and study Your Word, O God, so that I might acknowledge my sinfulness and look in faith to Christ Jesus and His cross for pardon, forgiveness, and life in fellowship with You. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Webster Version of the Bible.]
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
How can the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to the LORD God, who created the heavens, the earth, and all things, and gave us life? It is only when we hear and heed the revelation of God’s Word, repent of our sinful ways, and look in faith to Christ Jesus and His cross for pardon and forgiveness. It is for the sake of Jesus, our Redeemer, that God hears and accepts our prayers and praises (cf. 1 John 5:14-15).
“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” I ask this for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised Webster Version of the Bible.]
“Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.” Psalm 19:13
In contrast to sins of ignorance, presumptuous sins are willful acts of disobedience and rebellion against God, committed with full knowledge of His will and often involving a belief that one can get away with it or that God’s mercy covers it without true repentance. David prays — and so should we — that God would keep him from such wilful disobedience and not let any sin rule over him, causing him to fall away from the true and saving faith and come under God’s wrath and judgment.
Grant that I not abuse Your mercy, O Lord, and wilfully continue in disobedience and sin, but repent of my sins, trust in the shed blood of Christ Jesus for pardon and forgiveness, and seek to walk in Your ways. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from the Revised 1883 Webster Version of the Bible.]
