Category: Our Father Helps Us When We Call on His Name

Psalm 119:145-147 NRSVUE
With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD.
    I will keep your statutes.
I cry to you; save me,
    that I may observe your decrees.
I rise before dawn and cry for help;
    I put my hope in your words.

“Prayer is crying, laying hold on God, and spreading our wants before him with an earnest entreaty that he would not reject us, but would give us what we ask of him. It is a wrestling with the covenant angel; it is a sacred resolve, ‘I will not let thee go except thou bless me.’ If you want to conquer sin, know that it cannot be overcome by cold prayers, muttered in a heartless manner; it will not yield to empty ceremonies. Sin only flies before the blood of Christ and the power of the Eternal Spirit. These come to our rescue when, with cries and tears, we importune the Lord to help us. ‘I cried’; ‘I cried’; ‘I cried.’ Thrice does he repeat the words. His whole heart cried to God that he might be delivered from sin.” (C.H. Spurgeon, “Struggling against Sin,” The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons)

We cannot manufacture our own fervor to seek God’s help, but today, let’s ask for Spirit-supplied resolve and desperation to cry out to God 3x like the psalmist until we experience genuine breakthrough in prayer. Surely our Father helps us when we call on his name.

Prayer: Jesus, I cry to you. Thank you for your blood and the Spirit’s power that gives me real breakthrough and victory over sin. In Jesus’ name, amen.

-JL

 

Let’s read the following Scripture out loud:

Romans 10:11-13 NTFE
¹¹ The Bible says, you see, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich towards all who call upon him. ¹³ “All who call upon the name of the Lord,” you see, “will be saved.”

Galatians 4:6 NIV
Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

“For our mind cannot pray unless the Spirit prays first, as it were within earshot, just as it cannot sing out with rhythm and melody and tempo and harmony, hymning the Father in Christ, unless the Spirit, which searches all things, even the depths of God, first gives praise and hymns him whose depths he has searched out and, as he is able, comprehended.” (Origen of Alexandria, On Prayer)

Today, let’s be deeply encouraged that our ability to cry out to our Heavenly Father is possible because the Spirit is first calling out, ‘Abba, Father’ from within us. Our every cry is accompanied by the Spirit’s work and power in us. So let’s depend on the Spirit as we ask our Father for his help. Let’s also pray in this way for all attending SET Free this Saturday.

Prayer: Father, thank you for richly blessing me with your very presence. I trust and depend on your Spirit as I cry out to you today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s sing “Unto Him” by Shane & Shane. (link)

-JL

 

Let’s read the following Scripture out loud:

Romans 10:8-10 NTFE
⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we proclaim); ⁹ because if you profess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ Why? Because covenant membership comes by believing with the heart, and salvation comes by professing with the mouth.

“What counts as the badges in the present of those who will be saved, who will ‘not be ashamed’, in the future? First, ‘believing in him’; second, ‘calling upon the name of the Lord’…This transformed heart, visible in the public declaration of allegiance to Jesus as Lord and the belief that God had raised him from the dead, was the sign that someone was now a member of that renewed covenant family.” (Tom Wright, Romans For Everyone)

Today let’s respond again to the word that is near us, by professing with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believing in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. May God’s salvation come afresh and spur us on toward greater trust in Jesus’ sovereignty and authority over our lives. Let’s also pray for this faith and confession in our friends, students, and children’s lives that they may be saved and belong to God’s new covenant family.

Prayer: Jesus, you alone are my Lord and Savior. Thank you that as I confess and believe, I am saved. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s sing “Who Else” by Gateway Worship (click here).

-JL

Psalm 68:4-6a (NRSVUE/LSB/NIV)
⁴ Sing to God; sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds – his name is Yah(weh) the LORD – be exultant before him. ⁵ Father of fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy dwelling. ⁶ God gives the lonely a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners with singing…

“In the context of joy, the psalmist now issues a call to ‘sing praises’ to God, ‘to His name.’ Calling upon the name of God actualizes His presence.” (Donald Williams, Psalms 1-72, The Preacher’s Commentary)

Today, let’s heed Psalm 68’s call to sing to God and call upon his name. For as we do so, we are drawn in, not only to understand, but to experience the very presence of God – the one who both rides upon the clouds with sovereign power and is so close and tenderhearted as the father and protector of the needy and defenseless. So let’s open our mouths in praise and petition, and experience the Lord’s very real help as we bring all our concerns to him.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, you are the Lord God Almighty. Thank you for revealing who you are and your very heart to me through Jesus Christ. In my need, I sing out your praises and call upon your name. Help me to persist, that I may experience both your awesome power and tender compassion at work in my present circumstances. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s keep calling his name as we sing “He’s The One” by Bethel & Emma Rose (click here).

-JL