February 6
How Many Prayers?
What countless prayers we have offered from the first moment 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 sins like a cloud, 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 line of duty, and for comfort in the day of trial. We have been compelled to go to God for our souls, as constant beggars asking for everything.
Remember, child of God, you have never been able to get anything for your soul anywhere else. All the bread your soul has eaten has come down from heaven, and all the water it has drunk has flowed from the living rock--Christ Jesus the Lord. Your soul has never grown rich in itself; it has always been dependent upon the daily provision of God; and consequently your prayers have ascended to heaven for a vast range of spiritual mercies. Your wants were innumerable, and therefore the supplies have been infinitely great, and your prayers have been as varied as the mercies have been countless.
So then have you not reason to say, "I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy"? For as your prayers have been many, so also have God's answers been. 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 His throne. Remember this, and let it fill your heart with gratitude to God, who has graciously heard your poor, weak prayers. "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."
Family Bible reading plan
verse 1 Genesis 39
verse 2 Mark 9
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From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
