Key Verse: "Praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints;"
- Ephesians 6:18 KJV
What multitudes of prayers we have put up, from the first
moment when we learned to pray. Our first prayer was a prayer for
ourselves; we asked that God would have mercy upon us, and blot out our
sin. He heard us. But when He had blotted out our countless sins—then we had
more prayers for ourselves. We have had to pray for sanctifying
grace, for constraining and restraining grace; we have been
led to crave for a fresh assurance of faith, for the comfortable
application of the promise, for deliverance in the hour of
temptation, for help in the time of duty, and for succor in
the day of trial. We have been compelled to go to God for our souls—as
constant beggars, asking for everything.
Bear witness, children of God, you have never been able
to get anything for your souls elsewhere else. All the bread your
soul has eaten—has come down from heaven; and all the water of which
it has drank—has flowed from the living rock—Christ Jesus the Lord. Your
soul has never grown rich in itself; it has always been a poor pensioner
upon the daily bounty of God; and hence your prayers have ascended to
heaven—for a range of spiritual mercies all but infinite. Your needs
were innumerable, and therefore the supplies have been infinitely
great! Your prayers have been as varied—as the mercies have been
countless. Then have you not cause to say, "I love the Lord, because He
has heard the voice of my supplication!" For as your prayers have
been many, so also have been God's answers to them. He has heard you
in the day of trouble, has strengthened you, and helped you—even when you
dishonored Him by trembling and doubting at the mercy-seat. Remember this,
and let it fill your heart with gratitude to God, who has thus graciously
heard your poor weak prayers. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all
His benefits!"
Are you Saved?
