A Quiet Heart…

“Let us never despair about the salvation of others so long as they are alive. Let us name them before the Lord night and day, and cry to Him on their behalf. We may perhaps have relatives whose case seems desperate because of their wickedness. But it is not really so. There are no incurable cases with Christ. If He were to lay His healing hand on them, they would be “made straight, and glorify God.” Let us pray on, and faint not.” ~J.C. Ryle (Expository Thoughts on Luke – vol. 2, pg.121)

My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
men whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways.

The single heart is a heart which is not only changed, converted, and renewed; but thoroughly, powerfully, and habitually under the influence of the Holy Ghost.  It is a heart which abhors all compromises, all luke-warmness, all halting between two opinions in religion.  It sees one mighty object, the love of Christ dying for sinners.  It has one mighty aim, to glorify God and do His will.  It has one mighty desire, to please God and be commended by Him.  Compared with such objects, aims, and desires, the single heart knows nothing worthy to be named.  The praise and favor of man are nothing.  The blame and disapprobation of man are trifles light as air.  “One thing I desire, one thing I do, one thing I live for:” this is the language of the single heart.

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~J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Luke (vol. 2), pg.39

Heavenly Father,
Save me entirely from sin.
I know I am righteous through the righteousness of another,
            but I pant and pine likeness to thyself;
I am thy child and should bear thy image,
Enable me to recognize my death unto sin;
When it tempts me may I be deaf unto its voice.
Deliver me from the invasion as well as the dominion of sin.
Grant me to walk as Christ walked,
                 to live in the newness of his life,
                                    the life of love, the life of faith,
                                    the life of holiness.
I abhor my body of death,
            its indolence, envy, meanness, pride.
Forgive, and kill these vices,
            have mercy on my unbelief,
                                on my corrupt and wandering heart.
When thy blessings come I begin to idolize them,
            and set my affection on some beloved object –
            children, friends, wealth, honor;
Cleanse this spiritual adultery and give me chastity;
            close my heart to all but thee.
Sin is my greatest curse;
Let thy victory be apparent to my consciousness,
            and displayed in my life.
Help me to be always devoted, confident, obedient,
                        resigned, childlike in my trust of thee,
               to love thee with soul, body, mind, strength,
               to love my fellow-man as I love myself,
               to be saved from unregenerate temper, hard thoughts,
                        slanderous words, meanness, unkind manners,
               to master m tongue and keep the door of my lips.
Fill me with grace daily,
            that my life be a fountain of sweet water.

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(from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, pg. 92)

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.  On it you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” ~Exodus 20:8-11

(photo credit)

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We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

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Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

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We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

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“…I cannot read the Bible without desiring to see many believers more spiritual, more holy, more single-eyed, more heavenly-minded, more wholehearted than they are in the nineteenth century.  I want to see among believers more of a pilgrim spirit, a more decided separation from the world, a conversation more evidently in heaven, a closer walk with God….”  ~J.C. Ryle, Holiness

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Although these words were originally written about the church in nineteenth century England, this is my prayer for the Christians of twenty-first century America.

“Our Lord attracted sinners because He was different.  They drew near to Him because they felt that there was something different about Him….And the world always expects us to be different.  This idea that you are going to win people to the Christian faith by showing them that after all you are remarkably like them, is theologically and psychologically a profound blunder.”

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~Martin Lloyd-Jones (as quoted in Ashamed of the Gospel, pg. 31)