Letters to the Family of God
by Joe Franzone | October 7, 2022 | Pastor's Blog
October 7, 2022
Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in Him,
for He shields Him all day long,
and the one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders.
Dear Friends,
My letter usually is a letter. But recently, I read a prayer by Charles Spurgeon, which I wanted to pass on to you.
The fact is God gives His people unexpected strength in life. Our weakness makes us shrink, but God's promise and power make us brave.
I prayed this prayer for us today, and we'll pray something like it all weekend and in the coming days. If you would like, please join me.
Father, it was a sweet day when You turned our way to meet us. Most blessed Lord Jesus, I praise You for the singular application of the Gospel to our case.
Nothing else could have helped us. We were under too deep a sense of sin to be relieved by the doctrine of mere improvement.
Too far gone to be healed by any flattering unction that could be laid on our wounds. What could we do, but we found all in You, as indeed we do today.
Some of us have been with You for many years and have been living upon You in dependence on You, and we have never had a want that You could not supply. We never had grief that You could not quiet. We have not, even with the prospect of death and the grave, always before us, any fear that You cannot put to rest.
O, precious Christ, we take You over again today and come with all our emptiness and sin, and folly and weakness, just as we are, and cast ourselves on You, as a person casts himself into the sea, not to bear up ourselves, but to be upheld by You. We put our trust in Your unfailing love.
Amen.
If God is compassionate, and He is, those who belong to Him should be too. When weak and dependent on God, it is far easier to have compassion for others. Therein weakness is a gain.
A prayer like this reminds us of where we came from, what we have, why we have it, who gave it, and how we never grow past dependence on Christ.
God bless you and help you.
With all my love in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pastor Joe