The Daily Word: Saturday, October 9th, 2021
Jeremiah 12:1-14:10
1 Thessalonians 1:1-2:8
Psalm 79:1-13
Proverbs 24:30-34
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Commentary from Pastor Michael White:
O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for Your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against You. – Jer. 14:7
You don’t deserve anything God has given you. How could you? Looking backwards, you have to admit that your life has been full of sin! Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” James 2:10 says that whoever keeps the “whole law,” yet stumbles in “one point” is “guilty of all”! Looking backwards, you’re guilty! So knowing everything you’ve done, why would God ever answer your prayers?
Because you are not coming in your name; you are coming in the name of Jesus! When you pray, you are not asking God for anything because you deserve it. You are asking “for His name’s sake”! Yes, you have sinned! But Jesus came and lived a sinless life and then died in your place, so that when you go to God in prayer, you could do it with Jesus’ authority and not your own!
When you pray, don’t ask because you think God wants to do it for you. Ask because you know God wants to do it for Jesus. Because when you give your life to Jesus, you are “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). When God looks at you, He doesn’t see your sin! He sees his Son. And you get to ask with the same confidence that Jesus has in the presence of His Father.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. – Heb. 4:16
Prayer:
Father, when I pray, I am not coming to You in my own name! I am coming to You in the name of Jesus. Thank You that because I come to You in His name – and not my own – my prayers are accepted. I am welcome in Your presence any time, day or night! Thank You that I come in Your name, and never my own, in the name of Jesus!
© Michael D. White, 2021. All rights reserved.