Tenacity is more than endurance, it is endurance combined with the absolute certainty that what we are looking for is going to transpire. Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered.
…If our hopes are being disappointed just now, it means that they are being purified… One of the greatest strains in life is the strain of waiting for God. “Because thou has kept the word of my patience.”
Remain spiritually tenacious.
Holy Lord, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, of failure to find Thy mind in Thy Word, of neglect to seek Thee in my daily life. My transgressions and short-comings present me with a list of accusations, but I bless Thee that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ. Go on to subdue my corruptions, and grant me grace to live above them. Let not the passions of the flesh, nor the lustings of the mind bring my spirit into subjection, but do Thou rule over me in liberty and power.
I thank Thee that many of my prayers have been refused. I have asked amiss and do not have, I have prayed from lusts and been rejected, I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness. Go on with Thy patient work, answering ‘no’ to my wrongful prayers, and fitting me to accept it. Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration, everything contrary to Thy rule. I thank Thee for Thy wisdom and Thy love, for all the acts of disciple to which I am subject, for sometimes putting me into the furnace to refine my gold and remove my dross.
No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin. If Thou shouldst give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins, or to have them burnt away with trial, give me sanctified affliction. Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of Thy grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in Thee. Then I shall bless Thee, God of jeshurun, for helping me to be upright.
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taken from “Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions” (via agirlwaiting)
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Spiritual Breathing
Exhale: Confess your sin the moment you become aware of it.
- Agree with God concerning it
- Thank Him for His forgiveness (1 John 1:9 and Hebrews 10:1-25)
- Confession requires repentance—a change in attitude and action
Inhale: Surrender control of your life to Christ, and rely upon the Holy Spirit to fill you with His presence and power by faith
- It is a COMMAND (Ephesians 5:18)
- It is a PROMISE (1 John 5:14-15)
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” -Ephesians 3:16-17
(Taken from theSatisfied?booklet by NewLife Publications, Campus Crusade for Christ, which was adapted from Bill Bright)
Confessions
God, I have not put You first in my life. I have desired the created over the Creator. I have failed to see Your glory in every created thing. I have valued human touch over the gentle and cleansing touch of an Almighty God. I have tried to depend on You, only to place my hope in my own ability to seek fulfilment. I have searched everywhere that I can for this fulfilment before turning back to You. I have been impatient with Your timing and my own circumstances, and have desired circumstances which are not my own. I have not trusted You. I have judged the selfish intentions of others while failing to acknowledge my own self-righteous sin. I have failed to accept Your complete forgiveness and as such, have not surrendered every inch of who I am to Your purposes. I have hated myself instead of my sin. I have idolized that which is not of You, and have even idolized those who point me to You. I have deceived myself into thinking that I don’t need You. I have shed tears because of my distance from treasured friends, but not because of Jesus’ excruciating death and humiliation on a Roman cross to save my soul from eternal separation from His presence and joy.
I pray for forgiveness and a love that covers over all my wrongs; I pray for restoration, the death of my selfish desires, and an awareness of Your sovereignty. God, heal my unbelief and guide me with Your Holy Spirit.
Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.-Romans 4:8
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit… hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. -1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle
Say it with me now….
My past does not dictate my future. Do you believe that?
Whenever we realize that we have not done that which we had a magnificent opportunity of doing, then we are apt to sink into despair; and Jesus Christ comes and says—“Sleep on now, that opportunity is lost forever, you cannot alter it, but arise and go to the next thing.” Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ, and go out into the irresistable future with Him. …Never let the sense of failure corrupt your new action.
I can’t believe… classes are over.
In a week, I’ll be a senior…
In 3 weeks, I will be in Ocean City, Maryland on a Cru summer project…
Only 2 finals, and a 25-page paper to go.
Wow.
awesome new song by Christy Nockels… :)
