Today, let’s reflect on the second characteristics of great faith: trusting Jesus to have mercy on us (and being persistent in our request). What do we see in the Syrophoenician woman? She would not take no for an answer. Initially, Christ doesn’t even acknowledge her plea. But she doesn’t stop—to the point that the disciples ask Jesus to send her away. Then, Jesus indirectly dismisses her by reminding her that she was a Gentile woman. But she doesn’t stop asking Him to help her. Finally, Jesus tells her, “It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matt. 15:26). But she refuses to be turned away. She says, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (15:27).
Read MoreToday, we will talk about what great faith is a little more. In my last email, I spoke of two individuals (both Gentiles, ironically), whose faith impressed Jesus: the Syrophoenician woman, who asked Jesus to set her daughter from demons and the Roman centurion, who asked Jesus to heal one of his servants. In both cases, we see two things about their great faith: 1) they had a high regard for Christ; 2) they trusted Jesus to have mercy upon them (in the case of the Syrophoenician woman, she would not stop until He did).
Read MoreIn my last words of encouragement, we began taking about supplication, the last element of the prayer acronym—A-C-T-S. Supplication is what we usually have in mind when we think about prayer. Even our Shorter Catechism defines prayer as “an offering up of our desires unto God….” Supplication therefore takes up the bulk of prayer. But I hope that, through this meditation on prayer, the other elements of prayer—Adoration, Confession, and Thanksgiving—will increase in our prayers. Some say that they don’t pray because they have nothing to pray about—they are pretty content with their lives and don’t have much to pray for. That is wonderful that you have learned the secret of contentment. But let us not forget that God calls us to pray for others. And, now that we know that our prayer should include adoration and confession and thanksgiving, we can still pray a lot even when we don’t have anything to ask for!
Read MoreGood morning~! Today, let’s reflect on the last element of prayer: supplication—the act of asking God to grant us our desires. We have seen that our prayer should be so much more than making supplications. But we cannot deny that, when we think of prayer, we think of it in terms of supplication. So, even the Shorter Catechism says, “Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies” (Q. 98). We are grateful that God not only hears us when we pray but also commands us to pray:
Read MoreHow often do you thank God for your future? We certainly pray a lot for our future, asking God to heal us from our present sickness, provide for our present need, deliver us from our present crisis, etc. To thank God for what is yet to come may seem strange. It is only natural and right that we should thank God for what He has done. But to thank God in advance for what He will do later truly requires faith, doesn’t it? But we can, and should, thank God in advance for our future because God is in control of our future and made certain promises to us, which He will not fail to bring about.
Read MoreGood morning~! Today, let’s continue our reflection on prayer of thanksgiving. Since we talked about giving thanks for our past, let’s talk about giving thanks for our present. Giving thanks to God for the present starts with simply “counting our blessings.” This is not that easy for many of us. We are prone to focus on the few things we don’t have rather than the many things we already have. For some reason, the grass seems so much greener on the other side and our cup seems half-empty at best. What we have, we take for granted. What others have seems so much better and more desirable: just the fact that it’s not in our possession makes it glow with iridescent light. Only if we can remember how quickly that light fades away. So many of what we have and take for granted now once shone with the same light.
Read MoreWe are continuing our reflection on thanksgiving. This morning, I’d like to talk about giving thanks for God’s faithfulness in the past. One of the most important covenant activities is the act of remembering. God established religious feasts in Israel so that they could remember what the Lord had done for her. When the Israelites brought to the Lord the tithe of their first produce from the Promised Land, they were to remember how the Lord had delivered them from Egypt and brought them into the land by reciting their history. So, the Psalmist exhorts, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits…” (Ps. 103:1-2).
Read MoreThis morning, we move to the next element of prayer according to A-C-T-S, which is thanksgiving. I hope we can see the logical progression in the order of these different elements of prayer. We start with Adoration—remembering Who it is that we are addressing and praising Him for who He is. Remembering the greatness of God exposes our unworthiness, the least of which is our sinfulness before His holiness and purity. So, we confess our sins before Him. When we confess our guilt, we are not met with condemnation and punishment; rather, God meets us with His forgiveness and acceptance on account of the sacrifice Jesus has made for us.
Read More“In true confession a man does particularize sin [i.e., be specific]. A wicked man acknowledges he is a sinner in general; he confesses sin by wholesale; his confession of sin is much like Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Dan. 2:3. I have dream’d a dream; but he could not tell what it was, vers. 5. The thing is gone from me. So saith a wicked man, Lord, I have sinned, but he does not know what the sin is, at least not remember: whereas a true convert acknowledges his particular sins. As it is with a wounded man, he comes to the surgeon, and shows him all his wounds; here I was cut in the head, there I was shot in the arm: So a mournful sinner confesses the several distempers [i.e., various illnesses] of his soul. Israel drew up a particular charge against themselves, Judg. 10:10. We have served Balaam. The prophet Daniel recites the very sin which drew a curse along with it, Dan. 9:6. Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the Prophets which spoke in thy Name. By a diligent inspection into our hearts we may find some particular sin indulged, point that sin with a tear.”
Read MoreThis morning, we will think more about what we are to confess. Our Shorter Catechism says this: “No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed” (#82). Also, our Confession says, “…all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil” (33:1). It is obvious from these words that we are to confess not only our sinful, external deeds and words but also our inner thoughts as well.
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