Praying Prayers of Paul for the Church You Love
Philippians 1:9-11
This week, take this prayer of the Apostle Paul and use it as a prompt to pray for North Wake.
And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. ~ Philippians 1:9-11
Meditation For Preparation
A Faith-Driven Epitaph
Read: Heb. 11:8-22
"All these people were still living by faith when they died." - Hebrews 11:13
Behold the epitaph of all those blessed saints who fell asleep before the coming of our Lord! It matters nothing how else they died, whether of old age, or by violent means; this one point, in which they all agree, is the most worthy of record that they "were still living by faith when they died." By faith they lived - it was their comfort, their guide, their motive and their support; and in the same spiritual grace they died, ending their life-song in the sweet strain in which they had so long continued. They didn't die resting in the flesh or upon their own attainments; they made no advance from their first way of acceptance with God, but held to the way of faith to the end. Faith is as precious to die by as to live by.
Dying in faith has distinct reference to the past. They believed the promises which had gone before, and were assured that their sins were blotted out through the mercy of God.
Dying in faith has to do with the present. These saints were confident of their acceptance with God, they enjoyed the beams of His love, and rested in His faithfulness.
Dying in faith looks into the future. They fell asleep, affirming that the Messiah would surely come , and that when He would in the last days appear upon the earth, they would rise from their graves to behold Him. To them the pains of death were but the birth pangs of a better state.
Take courage, my soul, as you read this epitaph. Your course, through grace, is one of faith, and sight seldom cheers you; this has also been the pathway of the brightest and the best. Faith was the orbit in which these stars of the first magnitude moved all the time of their shining here; and happy are you that it is yours. Look anew tonight to Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, and thank Him for giving you the same precious faith as with those souls now in glory.