The Pastor’s Corner

Meditation for the day taken from Everyday Prayer with John Calvin written by Donald McKim:

Scripture: Luke 11:5-13

We live in a world today when people seemingly have everything they want instantly. The modern conveniences of our world have taught us to demand what we want and to get what we want now. Waiting? Patience? These virtues seem to be things of by-gone days. Accordingly, perseverance and persistence are lacking in the hearts and minds of many people. Laboring diligently and pressing forward even when things seem difficult are not things people are very good at, it seems. I am concerned that these virtues have been lost, by and large, in our world.

What is more alarming is how they seem to be lost in the church among professing Christians. Perseverance and persistence in the faith is something that all professing Christians are called to do. We are to do that in our lives as we strive after holiness and godliness using all the outward means whereby Christ communicates the benefits of redemption (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q85; Prov. 2:1-5). That is to say, that all of life is to be lived with persistence and perseverance. Therefore, that attitude and determination must be applied to the subject of prayer.

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Prayer: Our God in heaven: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you and praise you for another day that you have made. You have given us this day that we would glorify you in all that we do. As your people, we are committed to being glad that you have made this day that we might serve you and honor you and praise your name in thought, word, and deed. Therefore, please help us, Father. Forgive us for our sins and transgressions against you and help us to walk worthy of the calling you have placed on us. We thank you for the privilege of the preached Word that we heard yesterday and ask that you would cause us to meditate on it, confer with it, and seek to bring forth fruit from it in our lives. We know that we are often slow to hear, but please grant us willing hearts as we ponder the living voice of Christ to us, your redeemed children. Be merciful and grant us these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Our God in heaven, you have redeemed a people to come apart from the world and be your chosen nation and treasured possession. Though we are not of the world, we still live in the world. As pilgrims, we are traveling to our heavenly rest, and you are pleased to give us one day in seven that we might come apart from our worldly employments and recreations and gather with our brothers and sisters in corporate worship. We thank you for this great privilege that is our in Christ. We know that you have no need of our worship but have given it to us that we might be reminded of your love for us as we exalt your name by singing your praises and hearing from you as your Word is read and, especially, proclaimed. Please help us, our Father, to take seriously the Lord's Day and especially the gathering of the saints. Do not allow us to make excuses to avoid your worship, knowing that as we miss worship, we miss Christ. Therefore, we pray for ourselves that we would have a zeal for your worship. We pray for our brothers and sisters who habitually miss worship. We ask that you would overwhelm our hearts with a desire to exalt you and that you would convict those who are absent for their disobedience. Please grant to us today a measure of your presence and give to us the eternal Spirit so we can worship you as you have commanded. These things we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Almighty God in heaven, we praise your name today because you have granted us a new day to honor and serve you. This is the day you have made, and we will be glad and rejoice in it. We ask, our Father, that you would grant to us the zeal and perseverance to glorify you with the use of our time -- that we would redeem it, being careful to use the minutes and hours you have given us for your glory because the day and age in which we live are evil. Grant to us, holy God, a willing mind and spirit to spend each moment in your service and help us to resolve not to lose a single moment for the good of your kingdom. We ask that you would cause us to live with eternity in view and store up treasures in heaven and not earth. Please help us to remember that our lives are short and only those things done for you will last. Grant us these requests through Jesus our Lord. Amen.

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Meditation for the day taken from Everyday Prayer with John Calvin written by Donald McKim:

Scripture: Mark 11:20-24

The narrative under consideration today begins with an observation from the disciples about the cursed fig tree (see 11:12-14). It is on this occasion that Jesus launches into a lesson on the subject of prayer. As the disciples needed to be taught about prayer, we also need to be taught. So often, our prayers are prayerless. So often, we merely utter the words and do not connect and employ the great lesson Jesus offers in this narrative. That lesson is relatively simple, but it is hard to do. What is that lesson? That our prayers must be connected with faith and belief that the God to whom we pray can do "exceedingly, abundantly, beyond anything we ask or think." Prayer is not merely a moving of the air across our lips, nor is it simply contemplative thought. It is an expression of faith that states plainly that our God in heaven can do whatever it is we ask. Calvin wrote, "to have faith in God means precisely that assurance and expectation from God of whatever we need. As faith, if we have any, immediately breaks into prayer and reaches for the riches of the grace of God which are revealed in the Word, that we should enjoy them, so Christ adds prayer to faith...The true test of faith lies in prayer." (83). McKim adds, "Faith believes, with assurance that through prayer God will provide what we need. Faith gives way to prayer as it reaches for the blessings of God's grace, which are revealed in the Sc

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Prayer: Our Father in heaven, you who are more glorious than all of your creation and the one who redeems a people from their sin and misery, we thank you for the great salvation that is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord. Though we know that we deserve nothing from your hand but death and judgment and eternal torment in hell, you have rescued us and placed us on the solid rock that can never be moved. That rock is your Son and our Savior. Through him, we have an inheritance that is imperishable and undefiled reserved in heaven for us. In Him, we have all the blessings and promises that you grant to your people. We thank you, Father, for so great a salvation. Forgive us for the many times we allow our minds and hearts to think more on the affairs of this life instead of setting them firmly on the things. Give us the discipline to think about eternity and the wherewithal to labor while it is still day because the night is coming when no man can work. Please help us to redeem the time for the sake of your glory and kingdom. Forgive us when we go astray and help us to walk in newness of life. All of these things we pray only in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

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Meditation for the day taken from Everyday Prayer with John Calvin written by Donald McKim:

Scripture: Mark 9:14-29

The narrative before us finds the Savior with a father who has a son who is possessed by a spirit that convulsed him and threatened him with bodily harm. This father brought his son to the disciples, who were unable to do anything. Therefore, in an act of last resort, the man appealed to Christ for help. As he did so, he indicates a certain level of uncertainty as to the ability of Christ to resolve the problem. Jesus, noticing the father's lack of belief, encourages him by saying that "all things are possible for one who believes." The father admitted his belief that was mingled with unbelief, and at that, Jesus healed the boy.

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Prayer: Almighty God, you who are glorious and majestic, the only true God of heaven and earth, we praise your name this morning as those called apart from the world as peculiar and holy people adopted as sons and daughters to live holy lives before you. We are thankful that we can pour out our hearts to a Father in heaven who stands able and ready to help his children. We pray this day that you would be pleased to give us our daily bread, knowing that you have promised to give to us all that we need. Indeed, our God, we are a needy people. There is no good in us at all. Your kindness and grace determine all that we are and all that we do. You give good gifts to us, and you bless us with your presence and Word. You have sustained us in a world full of sin and misery. Our health is due to you. You grant our worldly possessions for us to enjoy. You design our families as a rich blessing to help us in our journey to our heavenly rest. Our friends are a great comfort as we labor together to serve you. For these reasons and many more, we offer you heartfelt thanks knowing that words fail us. Above all of these things, we have your Son, who you gave as a demonstration of your love for us. How can we say thanks for so rich an inheritance? Because of all that you have done and will do, we seek to serve you. We know that we fall short and mourn our indwelling sin. Please help us, Father. Please be patient and kind and grant us more of your Spirit that we may love you and others as you have commanded us. These things we pray only because of the work of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

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Prayer: Our most holy and glorious God in heaven, we pray this day that your kingdom would come and that your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Through your divine providence and matchless power, we pray that you would bring all things into subjection of your will as given to us in your Word. We also pray that you would cause us and others to know, acknowledge, and highly esteem you as you have revealed yourself to your creatures. We further pray that you would bring all glory to yourself and that your people would be zealous to do so by obeying you in all the ways you have commanded. Forgive us, Father, for the many ways in which we stray from the narrow path. Please grant us a greater measure of your Spirit that we would live worthy of the calling you have placed upon us. We ask these things in the name of the only Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Amen.

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Prayer: Almighty God, we praise your name today because you have made us and redeemed us. Through the work of your Son, we have been purchased as a peculiar people, your treasured possession. You have called us by name, and we belong to you. Once, we were aliens and strangers to the covenant of promise but now have been brought near as your chosen people, adopted to be holy and blameless in your sight. We thank you for this great privilege of being sons and daughters of the Most High. We confess that we do not always walk worthy of the calling you have placed upon our lives. We desire, however, to do all that you have commanded us not because it will add to our union with you but out of love for all you have done for us. Be pleased, our Father, to grant us more of your Spirit and help us to walk in the newsless of life that your redeemed people possess by virtue of your eternal Son who gave his life a ransom for many. These things we pray in praise and thanksgiving through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Prayer: Our glorious God, we boldly approach your throne today, having been given access to it through the work of the great High Priest, your Son, and our Lord. We come to plead for our churches and our families. We know that the people of old fell miserably and turned themselves to the cares of this world and idols of every kind because they failed to teach the next generation about you and your Word. As a result, they came under your Fatherly displeasure and were disciplined for their sin. We are also commanded to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to teach them all of your ways and commandments. We grieve our current world and the state of the church where your people are busy doing many things except those that are most needful. WE have failed, in many ways, to teach our children about you. We have been deceived into thinking that everything will work out if we merely bring them to church. Yet, the people of old had your very presence in the midst of them, and they still rebelled. How will we escape if we fail to teach the next generation about you? Forgive us, Father, for wasting precious time with those precious souls you have given to us. Please help us renew our zeal to honor your Word and obediently strive to teach our children the precious doctrines of our most holy religion. We pray these things in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

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