Morning By Morning #37

Pray…and always keep on praying.

Ephesians 6:18

From the pen of Charles Spurgeon:

What a great number of prayers we have uttered since the first moment we learned to pray. Our very first prayer was one for ourselves, asking God to have mercy upon us and to blot out our sin. Of course He heard that prayer, but once He had blotted out our sins like a cloud, we had more prayers for ourselves.

We have prayed for sanctifying grace, for the grace of self-control, for a renewed sense of assurance of faith, for God’s promises to be applied to our lives, for deliverance in times of temptation, for power during times of spiritual warfare, and for help and relief during times of trial. We have been compelled to go to God as beggars for our souls’ needs, constantly asking for everything.

Dear children of God, testify to the fact that you have never been able to get anything for your souls except from Him. All the bread your soul has eaten has come down to you from heaven, and all the spiritual water it has enjoyed has flowed from the living Rock—Christ Jesus the Lord. Your soul has never grown rich by itself but has always been dependent upon the daily bounty of God. As a result your prayers have risen to heaven for a range of spiritual blessings that is all but infinite.

Your wants were beyond being counted, yet God’s supplies are infinitely vast. Your prayers have been as varied as His blessings have been countless. Don’t you then have reason to say, “I love the Lord, ‘for he has heard my cry for mercy’” (Ps. 28:6), for although your prayers have been numerous, so have God’s answers to them been great as well? He has heard you “in the day of trouble” (Ps. 50:15) and He has strengthened you and helped you even when you have dishonored Him by trembling and doubting before His “mercy seat” (Ex. 25:17 KJV).

Remember that and let it fill your heart with gratitude to God, who has graciously heard your poor, weak prayers. “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Ps. 103:2).

From the pen of Jim Reimann:

Our Lord is a generous God indeed, never stingily doling out His blessing, little by little, or withholding His greatest blessings for later. No, He lavishes His blessings on His children! Consider the many gifts “lavished on us” in just the two following verses:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Ephesians 1:7-8

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

1 John 3:1

Redemption, forgiveness, grace, wisdom, understanding, and love have all been “lavished on us”!

After all, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).

Lord, thank You for Your Son and for all the blessings that come from being in Him. May my heart be filled with gratitude as I consider Your generosity.