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Tracy 3/19/2023 11:58:24 AM |
MAGNIFICENT PRAYER by NICK HARRISON When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him. Proverbs 16:7 A Confederate soldier was on sentry duty on the edge of a wood. It was a dark night and very cold, and he was a little frightened because the enemy was supposed to be near at hand. He felt very homesick and miserable, and about midnight, when everything was very still, he was beginning to feel very weary and thought that he would comfort himself by praying and singing a hymn. He remembered singing this hymn - - - "All my trust on Thee is stayed, All my help from Thee I bring, Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of Thy wing." After he had sung those words, a strange peace came down upon him, and through the long night he remembered having felt no more fear. "Now." said another man, "listen to my story. I was a Union soldier and was in the wood that night with a party of scouts. I saw you standing up, although I didn't see your face, and my men had their rifles focused upon you waiting the word to fire, but when you sang out - - - 'Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of Thy wing,' I said, 'Boys, put down your rifles; we will go home.' I couldn't kill you after that." (Dwight L. Moody) PRAY ABOUT IT: You have prayed for your enemies, but are you aware that God will make even your enemies be at peace with you? Continue to pray for them today. Don't pray that they come around to your way of thinking. Pray for God to bless them. You'll get a blessing too. If we could only read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) | |||
Tracy 3/11/2023 4:36:50 PM |
MAGNIFICENT PRAYER by NICK HARRISON Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the LORD, His wonderful deeds in the deep. Psalm 107:23-24 Too few Christians live radiantly, beautifully, abundantly. We do not rise to the level of the joys that are fitting of God's heirs. We do not know the love of Christ in the sense that we are conscious ourselves of being loved by Christ with all infinite tenderness. There are far deeper joys within our reach than we have experienced. The beauty of the Lord does not shine always in our faces and glow in our characters and appear in our dispositions and tempers. We are like the Galilean fishermen, toiling and taking nothing. Is it any wonder some of us are discouraged and almost ready to give up? But listen to the Master's voice as it breaks on our ears: "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught." The trouble with us is, we have been trying only the shallows of God's love. Half consecration knows nothing of the best things of divine grace. We must cut the last chain that binds us back to the shore of this world, and like Columbus, put out to sea to discover new worlds of blessing. We can best hasten the coming of the Kingdom of Christ in its full glory by letting love have its victories in us - - - the love that bears all things and endures all things - - - and by doing ever the gentle deeds that comfort lonely hearts and relieve suffering and distress. (J.R. Miller) PRAY ABOUT IT: Without a deep prayer life, we live in the shallows of God's presence. There are deeper waters of His love that God calls us to in prayer. To see them we must not be afraid of the deep, we must venture out. Don't be afraid to leave the shallows near the shore; God will show you wonders. Step out. As seamen in the life of faith, let us launch out into the deep and find that all things are possible to the Christian that believes. (A.B. Simpson) | |||
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