Pleading to God

Before going on with our study of 1 Peter I wanted to share with you something I was reading online. The biggest blessing for a Christian is of course the Holy Bible it is the standard for our lives and everything we read or hear for spiritual development outside of the Bible should be analyzed in light of Scripture. Also, and most important - always pray for the Holy Spirit to help.

The writing below is from an article I read online at http://www.westminsterconfession.org/godly-living
entitled "Renewal after a time of spiritual dullness" it was written by Samuel Hayward (1755)

It is given assistance to someone who has through the pressures of everyday living become slack in his christian duties of reading and prayer and has noted a lack of the closeness of God and when he does pray it has a cold formality to it not the frevency of past communion with God. What follows is a small portion of the guidance given to this individual and it is good sound advice for us as well when we suffer from the same condition.

1. Plead it with God. A sense of it tends greatly to give you faith and fervency in prayer, and to fill you with hope of the divine presence and favor. Here is a glorious argument to make use of with God: rejoice in it, my dear friend, and make frequent use of it. Often throw yourself at the footstool of God's throne, and address him is such language as this: --

"Lord, am I not thine? Didst thou not, O Father, choose me from eternity, and determine to bestow salvation upon me? Didst thou not, O mighty God, undertake for me, agree to put my name in the book of life, and, in cosequence of this, come and suffer and die in my stead? And hast thou not renewed me, O eternal Spirit, and set the broad seal of heaven upon my soul? If I am not thine, Lord, what mean such instances of communion with thee? What means this love to Jesus, these desires after a conformity to his image? Are not these as so many evidences of thine everlasting Love? And, oh! wilt thou leave me to wither and languish, to grow cold and formal? Wilt thou not come and kindle this sacred spark afresh, and carry on thy work with an Almighty efficacy? I acknowledge, Lord, I am unworthy of thy favor: I have sinned, and deserve thy everlasting displeasure. But did it not please thee, of thine infinite grace, to enroll my name amongst thy chosen ones in the volume of eternity! And wilt thou leave me? Lord, it was thine own act, thy free act; and I would humbly plead it. Therefore, come and visit my soul, shed abroad thy love in my heart, pardon my backslidings, and may I be enabled to rejoice in thy covenant love, and walk and act as one who has a real interest in it." --

Thus plead with God, and follow the example of the Psalmist, who in all difficulties, temporal and spiritual, addressed God as his God. Oh! the sweetness, the happiness, that is couched in these two words, My God!

I pray that this will be a blessing to the reader..

Blessings!