Thursday, November 10, 2011

Praying From His Victory

Everything we have in the Christian life is a gift from our Lord Jesus. We can’t achieve it; we must receive it. In prayer we learn that. Prayer is the laboratory in which we learn to take the theological truths of Scripture and apply them to life. We receive gifts through the Cross and Resurrection that provide us a new position from which to pray. We pray from this new position purchased for us by His sacrifice at Calvary. In prayer we learn to appropriate the gifts of the Lord Jesus. Here's what I mean . . .

We pray from His Victory. Therefore, we intercede in prayer each day from a place of victory, not for a place of victory. He gave us the victory (Rom. 8:37-39). Victory is a gift. Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Cor. 15:57).

We pray from His Strength. Not our own strength (Psalm 52:7), or we would all give up in a couple of minutes, but in His strength we go from strength to strength (Psalm 84:7; 54:1; Isaiah 30:15). The Lord is our strength (1 Sam 22:3, 33; Psalm 18:2; 46:1; 59:9, 17; 62:7; 71:16; 73:26; 140:7; Isaiah 12:2; 49:5; Hab. 3:19), and He promises to strengthen us in Himself (Zech. 10:12; cf. 1 Sam. 30:6; Neh. 6:9; Psalm 18:32; 68:28, 34-35; Isaiah 41:10; 1 Peter 5:10), and we respond in praise (Exod. 15:2; Psalm 81:1).

We pray from His Rest. Our intercession should be from a place of abiding (John 15:7-8) and rest (Matt. 11:28) in the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:1-2) from first to last (Rom. 1:17).

We pray from His Grace. We stand in his grace alone, and from His grace which abounds (Rom 5:15, 20; 2 Cor. 9:8), we receive grace for our every need (John 1:16-17; 2 Cor. 9:8).

We pray from His Wisdom. His wisdom makes us wise to intercede with wisdom from His Word on the behalf of others (Prov. 2:6; 1 Cor. 1:30-31; 2:16).

We pray from His Righteousness. We are called in His righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30-31; Eph. 2:8-9), not our self-made righteousness of works, which are rags in Christ’s sight (Isaiah 64:6).

We pray from His Holiness. God commands us to be holy because He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16).

Everything we have is a gift from the Lord. He is the giver of every good and perfect gift. That means we must be good receivers. Receiving requires humility and faith. Rebuke unbelief and pray in His holiness, His righteousness, His wisdom, His grace, His faith, His strength, and in His Victory!

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