Six Prayers of Renewal 

Note: Read Part One, Six Prayers of Repentance. 

In chapter twenty-seven of Soul Physicians, I outline a biblical theology of putting on the new person we already are in Christ (compare Romans 6:1-14; Ephesians 4:20-24; Colossians 3:1-11). I embed within that theology a “Prayer of Renewal” related to each of six areas of our spiritual life:

• Our Relationship to God

• Our Relationship to Others

• Our Relationship to Ourselves

• Our Rational Beliefs/Mindsets

• Our Volitional Behaviors/Motivations

• Our Emotions

Today’s post shares these six prayers.

A Prayer of Relational Renewal: My Spiritual Relationship to God

“Father, I long for You more than gold or silver. Nothing else could ever satisfy my soul. Reorient my affections toward You and what You choose to provide. May my nearness to God be my Chief Good. Show me the beauty of Your holiness so that in worshipping Your loveliness, I exalt You. Empower me to enjoy You so that the universe marvels in amazement at how fulfilling You are. Silence all the clamoring of false lovers of the soul who would seek my attention. I want to worship You with everything I am, with undivided adoration. Give me a heart for You. A constant longing after you. Incite within me a deep passion for You.”

A Prayer of Relational Renewal: My Social Relationships to Others

“Father, Oh to be like You. Oh to be like the Trinitarian community. Mold me and make me, scour and shape me. Empower me to love like Jesus. Spirit, empower me to shrink not from the scars of death-to-self relating. Through my communion with You, enable me to give others a taste of Your grace love. More than anything, I want to give sacrificially like Jesus. You made me, recreated me, to give—to love with agape love. Thank you!”

A Prayer of Relational Renewal: My New Identity in Christ

“Father, I choose to live according to the peace that I have with You in Christ. I recall that one of Satan’s primary tools is the power of his false accusation that You are not generously accepting and that, therefore, I am Your enemy. The power of the Gospel renews my mind to the assurance that I am Your child, Christ’s bride, and the Spirit’s best friend! I put on wholeness, consciously reflecting on and resting in who I am in Christ. I put on my new identity in Christ. I enjoy who I am in Christ and who I am becoming through Christ as I become like Christ. I renew my mind to my new core identity in Christ. I reckon on this, and I reignite and fan it into flame. I clothe myself in my new peace. I cover myself in my new cleared, cleansed, and good conscience. I envelope myself in contentment with who I am in Christ.”

A Prayer of Rational Renewal: Putting On My New Beliefs and Mindsets

“Father, I surrender my mind to You. I consent to the truth of Christ’s grace narrative. I allow You to transform me by the renewing of my mindsets. Moment by moment fill my thought life with images of God-reality. Enlighten me to know You and the power of Your resurrection and the fellowship of Your suffering. Enlighten me together with all the saints to grasp how high and deep and wide and long is Your love. I commit to being a spiritual mathematician, adding life up from Your perspective. When I face suffering, I promise to believe that though life is bad, You are my Supreme Good. When struggling against sin, I promise to believe that even when I am sinful, You are gracious. And I promise not to take Your grace for granted, for though I know that it is wonderful to be forgiven, I understand that it is horrible to sin. Empower me to gird up the loins of my mind, to aim my mind toward heavenly things, to reckon on my new mindset, and to rest in my new mindset in Christ.”

A Prayer of Volitional Renewal: Putting on My New Behaviors and Motivations

“Holy Spirit, I yield to You. I consciously choose to admit that I’m a coward without You. With You, I can do all things. With You, no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. I put on choosing to depend upon You. I put on choosing to live for You. I put on seeking not only Your power to do right, but also Your guidance to know what is right. Step by step please lead me, all of the days of my life. In each relational interaction, empower and enlighten me to know what other-centered living looks like. Flow through me so that the disciplined, habitual passion of my soul reflects Your fruit. Show me how to connect to You, how to depend upon You, how to be nourished by You. Then let my greatest purpose be being like You, like Jesus.”

A Prayer of Emotional Renewal: Putting on My New Mood States 

“Father, thank You for feelings. Thank You that You have them. Thank You that I have them. Sometimes, many times, I feel like wishing them away. But then I would be a shell of a person. A Stoic, not a Poet. I don’t want that. What I want is heaven—no more cryin’ there. No more tears. No more looking in the eyes of a hurting loved one and feeling more pain than I ever thought possible. But until heaven, I want to be real. Raw. Honest. I want emotional integrity. I want emotional maturity. Help me to bring spirituality, rationality, and volitionality to my emotionality. Help me to be as emotional as King David, as Jeremiah, as Job, as Asaph, as Jesus, as You, as the great saints throughout Church history. Help me to feel life fully. Fortify me to feel the feelings of others. Deeply. Sincerely. Accurately.”

Join the Conversation

Which of the six prayers hits home the most for you today? How would you word your prayer in that area?

Tags: Christian Living, Prayer, Soul Physicians

Six Prayers of Repentance

In chapter twenty-six of Soul Physicians, I outline a biblical theology of putting off the old manner of life (compare Ephesians 4:17-19). I embed within that theology a “Prayer of Repentance” related to each of six areas of our spiritual life:

• Our Relationship to God

• Our Relationship to Others

• Our Relationship to Ourselves

• Our Rational Beliefs/Mindsets

• Our Volitional Behaviors/Motivations

• Our Emotions

Today’s post shares these six prayers.

A Prayer of Relational Repentance: My Spiritual Relationship to God

“Father, I come home to You. I confess as sin my false lovers. I confess as sin living like the old person that I used to be. I confess as sin my spiritual adultery. I acknowledge to You and to myself that my false lovers are horrible lovers and that my pursuit of them is ugly and putrid. How foolish of me to ever believe that anyone but You could ever satisfy the longings of my soul. How shameful. How disrespectful. Forgive me my relational sin. I acknowledge that You alone are my Supreme Good. I acknowledge that You alone are gracious and compassionate. I return to You as my Forgiving Father. I return to Your Son as my Worthy Groom. I return to Your Holy Spirit as my Inspiring Mentor. I love You, Lord. Renew my vision of You as a totally competent and totally good God—boundless in holy love.”

A Prayer of Relational Repentance: My Social Relationships to Others

“Father, I confess as sin my living for self, loving self. I will put off shepherding myself and focus on shepherding others. I reject all the self sins: self-sufficiency, self-promotion, self-protection, selfishness, self-centeredness. I confess as sin my cruel, harsh, manipulative, demanding, shaming, blaming, maiming way of treating others. Most of all, I confess as sin how far I’ve moved from reflecting You and Your radically other-centered Trinitarian existence. I am putting off the flesh, the characteristic ways I used to relate and I’m putting on the Spirit, the new me created to relate like You.”

A Prayer of Relational Repentance: My Identity in Christ

“Father, I’ve been so like Adam and Eve. Running. Hiding. Defensive. Playing dress up. All because I don’t believe You are who You say You are—the Forgiving Father. What sin! I put off my shame identity. I reject my sense of abandonment, ruin, rejection, and condemnation. I put off my futile attempts to quiet my inner restlessness. Instead, I rest in You. I rest in who I am in Christ and to Christ. It’s ugly of me to try to beautify myself. It’s a slap in the face to Your Son, my Savior. Forgive me. Cleanse me. Enlighten me by Your Holy Spirit to grasp how much You love me and how loving You are.”

A Prayer of Rational Repentance: Putting Off My Old Beliefs and Mindsets

“Father, I’ve finally come to my senses. I confess as sin my foolish belief that I can make life work apart from You. I’ve arrogantly suppressed the truth of how perfectly well You care for me. I’ve denied Your fatherly love for me. I’ve sinned against You by believing Satan’s (the False Seducer) smaller story, fleshly mindset that You are not my Supreme Good. I’ve allowed my view of reality to become filled with contemptuous images of You. I’ve allowed my mind to be squeezed into the mold of this temporal world, living according to the dominant plot theme of the earthly story. I’ve been like a deaf man straining to hear the Gospel story. I’ve denied the Cross. I return to You now repenting of these idols of my heart. Though I am not worthy in myself to be called Your child, by faith I claim my adoption in Christ. Thank You for forgiving me.”

A Prayer of Volitional Repentance: Putting Off My Old Behaviors and Motivations 

“Father, I’ve sinned against You by walking in the way of the sinner, by following the self-centered pathway of _______. I must put off choosing compulsively and put on choosing courageously. I must put off the old enslaved pathways and put on my new free, empowering pathways. Help me to quit coddling, cuddling, pampering, and spoiling my flesh. Empower me to be ruthlessly fierce in rejecting it and nailing it to the Cross. Reveal my secret sins, show me the patterns that I’m blind to, help me to detect my fleshly pathways. I reject my fleshly inclinations, patterns, and character. I put on the new characteristic of _________. I reject my characteristic approach to life of _________ and by Christ’s resurrection power I replace it with my new manner of life.”

A Prayer of Emotional Repentance: Putting Off My Old Mood States

“Father, I’ve sinned against You by worshipping feelings instead of worshipping You. My current mood state of _______ exposes how desperately I’m trying to live without You. My failure to face my feelings expose my distrust in Your ability to care for me. My refusal to soothe my soul in You exposes my doubts about Your goodness. I put off my emotional duplicity replacing it, in the power of Your Spirit, with emotional integrity. I will face whatever I feel and bring it to You. I put off my emotional lasciviousness. I put off indulging my fleshly passions. I confess as sin my addiction to ___________. I recognize it for what it is: a symptom of the deeper disorder within me, a spiritual, relational, mental, willful disorder. Forgive me. Empower me to manage my moods for Your glory and the good of others.”

The Rest of the Story

The Bible never tells us to put off without also telling us how God empowers us to put on the new person we are in and through Christ. Tomorrow we share six prayers of renewal.

Join the Conversation

Which of the six prayers hits home the most for you today? How would you word your prayer in that area?

Tags: Christian Living, Mortification, Prayer, Putting Off, Repentance, Soul Physicians

How Do We Relate?

What were relationships like in the culture of the Roman Empire when the New Testament was written? Relationships were decidedly one-sided.

Persons with power ruled with an iron hand over those who were powerless.

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:25-28).

Persons with money abused the poor.

“Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into curt? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?” (James 2:6b-7).

Fathers dominated, exasperated, embittered, and discouraged their children with harsh, dictatorial mistreatment (Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:21).

Husbands were inconsiderate of their wives, disrespectful, unloving, and acted in self-centered ways (1 P. 3:7; Eph. 5:25-33).

To use a technical term, relationships were perceived to be hierarchical. People ranked one another in a tiered system. The culture of the day classified and categorized everyone from top to bottom. If you were graded and ordered as below someone else, you had to give total allegiance and due deference. Those ranked on top demanded and enjoyed every privilege that rank allowed. They gave those lower on the totem pole no respect because the worldly culture of the day said none was deserved.

Instead

I love the Bible. I love statements like “but God.” And I love “instead” statements. We read one earlier. “Instead whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant (Mt. 20:26).

Peter picks up this same counter-cultural concept of servanthood when talking about elders and shepherds.

“Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” (1 Pt. 5:2-4).

James emphasizes the same counter-cultural concept of servant relationships when talking about the rich and the poor.

“Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’ 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor” (James. 2:2-6).

Paul, in addressing fathers and husbands exhorts them to live counter-cultural lives of Christ-like sacrificial, agape love for their children and wives.

Hierarchical or Sacrificial?

How do we relate? Do we relate in a hierarchical way or a sacrificial manner? Do we live counter-cultural to our self-centered world, or do we allow our minds to be conformed to our hierarchical world?

When church leaders demand deference and respect rather than demanding of themselves sacrificial relationships, they are modeling the world and not Christ.

When those who have lord it over those who have not, they are modeling the world and not Christ.

When fathers and husbands exasperate their children and dominate their wives, they are modeling the world and not Christ.

If anyone could have claimed the right to hierarchical relationships it would have been Christ Jesus, the Lord of all. Instead…

“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:6-8).

How does this relate to us?

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:3-5).

Join the Conversation 

How do we relate: hierarchical sacrificial?

Tags: Christian Living, Humility, Pastoral Ministry, Relationships

50 + Christian Blogs to Bookmark

Note: You’re reading Part Four of a four part blog mini-series on recommended blogs. In today’s post, I’ve collated all 56 recommended blogs—with just the blog title/author and the direct link. For a brief annotation/summary of each blog, read:

• Part One: Sixteen Biblical Counseling Blogs That You Should Bookmark

• Part Two: Sixteen Pastoral Ministry Blogs That You Should Bookmark

• Part Three: Two Dozen Christian Living Blogs That You Should Bookmark 

There are many excellent blogs that focus on biblical counseling, pastoral ministry, and Christian Living. Unfortunately, I can’t mention them all. The blogs I regularly read have some combination of:

• Frequency of posts

• Self-identified as focusing on biblical counseling, pastoral ministry, and/or Christian living

• Relatively high traffic/hits

• People I know of, or know

Here they are, listed in alphabetical by area of focus.

Sixteen Biblical Counseling Blogs That You Should Bookmark

• A Blog from a Counselor for the Church by Brad Hambrick

• The Association of Biblical Counselors Blog

• Biblical Counseling for Women by Julie Ganschow

• The CCEF Blog 

• Changing Lives by Bob Kellemen

• Chris Boucher’s Blog 

• Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams

• Counsel One Another by Paul Tautges

• Counseling Solutions by Rick Thomas

• Counseling with Confidence and Compassion by Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries

• Gospel Balm by Laura Hendrickson

• Grace & Truth by the Biblical Counseling Coalition

• Grace Dependent by Mark Kelly

• His Truth in Love by Mark Shaw

• Howard Eyrich’s Blog

• Paul Tripp’s Blog

Sixteen Pastoral Ministry Blogs That You Should Bookmark

• The 9Marks Blog 

• The Acts 29 Blog  

• Baptist 21 

• Blogs at the Village by the staff of the Village Church

• The Faith Baptist Church Blog 

• Gospel-Driven Church by Jared Wilson

• Greg’s Blog by Greg Laurie

• Ordinary Pastor by Erik Raymond

• Practical Shepherding by Brian Croft

• Pure Church by Thabiti Anyabwile

• Reformation 21 by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

• Reformed Spirituality and Missional Church by Tim Chester

• The Resurgence Blog 

• Steven Furtick’s Blog 

• The Travel Blog by Sojourner Church

• Vertical Church by James MacDonald

Two Dozen Christian Living Blogs That You Should Bookmark

• Albert Mohler’s Blog 

• Between Two Worlds by Justin Taylor

• Christ Is Deeper Still by Ray Ortlund

• The Covenant Eyes Blog 

• The Desiring God Blog 

• Don’t Stop Believing by Mike Wittmer

• For the Love of God by D. A. Carson

• Head, Heart, Home by David Murray

• Heavenward by Scotty Smith

• Josh Harris’ Blog 

• Kevin DeYoung’s Blog 

• Kingdom People by Trevin Wax

• The Ligonier Blog 

• The Lifeway Research Blog by Ed Stetzer

• Living with Power by Lina AbuJamra

• Michael Hyatt’s Blog

• Moore to the Point by Russell Moore

• Parchment and Pen by Credo House

• Strawberry-Rhubarb Theology by Dane Ortlund

• Tim Challies’ Blog 

• Tullian Tchividjian’s Blog http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tullian/

• View from the Cheap Seats by C. J. Mahaney

• Voices by The Gospel Coalition

• Wisdom for Life by Steve Cornell

Join the Conversation

What excellent biblical counseling, pastoral ministry, and/or Christian living blogs would you add?

Tags: Biblical Counseling, Blogs, Christian Living, Pastoral Ministry

Two Dozen Christian Living Blogs That You Should Bookmark

Note: You’re reading Part Three in a three part blog mini-series on recommended blogs. In Part One, I highlighted Sixteen Biblical Counseling Blogs That You Should Bookmark. In Part Two, I linked you to Sixteen Pastoral Ministry Blogs That You Should Bookmark.

As with the first two posts, I wish I could mention every excellent blog that focuses on Christian living. The Christian living blogs I regularly read have some combination of: a.) frequency of posts, b.) a self-identified focused on Christian living, growth in Christ, sanctification, etc., c.) relatively high traffic/hits, and, frankly, d.) people I know or know of.

Drum Roll, Please 

Here are the Christian living blogs that I regularly read, listed in alphabetical order. Of course, I don’t agree with everything every one of these bloggers post. Still, these blogs stretch my thinking as iron sharpens iron.

• Albert Mohler.com is, of course, Al Mohler’s blog site where he shares a biblical perspective on vital issues of our day. Don’t miss this one.

• Between Two Worlds is the blog home of Justin Taylor who posts gospel-centered wisdom for living.

• Challies.com, the home of Tim Challies, in many ways started it all when it comes to in-depth Christian blogs. This is your one-stop place for resources, links, and Christian thinking on the Christian life.

• Christ Is Deeper Still is home to Ray Ortlund’s post about strengthening our walk with Christ.

• The Covenant Eyes Blog focuses on biblical help for maintaining moral purity.

• The Desiring God Blog is the home of John Piper’s ministry focusing on exalting God by enjoying God.

• At Don’t Stop Believing, Mike Wittmer relates theology to life and current events.

• For the Love of God is a daily devotional by D. A. Carson designed to walk a person through the Bible in a year while assisting readers in discovering the riches of God’s Word.

• Head, Heart, Home is the home to David Murray’s posts focusing on a comprehensive, compassionate approach to Christian living.

• Heavenward by Pastor Scotty Smith is a unique blog—it’s a daily prayer on focused issues in the Christian life.

• At Josh Harris.com you’ll find posts from Pastor Josh Harris that help you to dig down deep in your Christian life.

• At Kevin DeYoung.com you’ll gain insight into applying truth to life from the ministry of Pastor Kevin DeYoung.

• The Kingdom People Blog by Trevin Wax provides robust resources for your Christian walk.

• The Ligonier Blog shares R. C. Sproul’s (and others’) deep insights connecting theology to life and ministry.

• The Lifeway Research Blog is hosted by Ed Stetzer with information for informed decisions about life and ministry.

• Living with Power is Lina AbuJamra’s blog home. Lina is the Women’s Ministry Director at Harvest Bible Chapel; she blogs about connecting to Christ’s resurrection power.

• Michael Hyatt.com provides insights from Michael Hyatt for Christian leaders and authors.

• Moore to the Point by Russell Moore blends a pastor’s heart and a theologian’s mind.

• Parchment and Pen is the blog home of Credo House with posts by Michael Patton and others—all relating theology to life.

• Strawberry-Rhubarb Theology is the blog home of Dane Ortlund where he focuses on reclaiming the mind for Christ.

• When your blog is recognizable by your first name, like Tullian, you know you have an abundance of readers. Pastor Tullian Tchividjian maintains a laser focus on gospel-centered living.

• View from the Cheap Seats by C. J. Mahaney provides a grace-oriented focus on Christian living. (As of this writing, C. J. has just announced a sabbatical. Whether his site will be “live” in the near future, I do not know.)

• Voices is the blog home of The Gospel Coalition where you’ll find contributions from a wide range of Christian leaders on a wide range of topics. Another “can’t miss” blog.

• In Wisdom for Life, Pastor Steve Cornell presents biblical principles for wise relating to God and others.

Join the Conversation

What additional excellent blogs do you recommend for biblical wisdom for Christian living?

Tags: Blogs, Christian Living, John Piper, Kevin DeYoung

Independence Day 

Note: The following material is developed from Soul Physicians.

Your Spiritual July 4th

As we celebrate Independence Day Weekend in the US, are you celebrating your freedom in Christ? Or, do you ever wonder why that same besetting sin repeatedly defeats you? Despite your continual decision to stop sinning in that same old way, do you find yourself returning again and again to the identical sin? Why can’t you find the victory over sin promised in Christ?

The Apostle Paul answers your life questions in 2 Corinthians 10:3-7 as he explains that strongholds are fleshly mindsets burned into our minds through the world, the flesh, and the Devil. They are destructive patterns of thinking and habitual false ways of looking at life without spiritual eyes. Over time they become embedded in our minds like a mental fortress suppressing the truth and habituating our wills to evil.

My mental stronghold sin takes a unique shape because I manufacture or carve my idol in my image—according to my non-God story of my life, according to my personally chosen perception of reality. Each particular act of sin is a branch off the tree from which I carve my idol. The root of the tree is my sinful imagination. The fruit of the tree is what I choose to nourish myself with—God or non-god. In the strongholds of my mind I form and shape the very idol of self that I worship instead of God (Isaiah 44:14-17).

Practical Life Questions

Personal sanctification require us to identify and expose person-specific strongholds. They force us to ask and answer questions like:

 “What is my image of God?”

 “What is my pattern of dethroning God?”

 “How do I typically try to make life work apart from God?”

 “What does my style of relating say about my underlying beliefs about life?”

Since strongholds involve longstanding patterns of thinking, we also need to probe questions such as:

 “Where was I recruited into this false belief about God?”

 “When did I begin to surrender to this lie?”

 “What sinful pleasure have I taken in this lie?”

Repenting of Sinful Strongholds: Our Ultimate Freedom

Repentance literally means a change of mind. I change my mindset from a fleshly one to a spiritual one. I change my mind from a stronghold ingrained in the flesh through the enticement of the world and the allurement of the Devil, to a mindset in which I take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ.

Dallas Willard explains the prominence of repentance and it’s connection to our spiritual independence from sin as new creations in Christ. “The ultimate freedom we have as human beings is the power to select what we will allow or require our minds to dwell upon” (Willard, Renovation of the Heart, p. 95). Repentance is the choice to reject the mental set of our old mind, replacing it with a mental focus in harmony with our new mind.

Repentance and mortification walk hand-in-hand. Repentance is the daily putting off and breaking up of the whole complex of conformity to the world, the flesh, and the Devil. In mortification through repentance, I’m involved in the life-long process of detecting my characteristic fleshly mindsets and turning from them. 

Uproot Sin’s Power through the Cross

To repent of a mindset, I must first recognize its insanity, see its vileness, and sense its ugliness. The Puritans labeled this process, “loading the conscience with guilt.” John Owen, in his classic work The Mortification of Sin, describes the process. “Get a clear and abiding sense upon thy mind and conscience, first, of the guilt, secondly, of the danger, thirdly, of the evil, of that sin wherewith thou art perplexed” (Owen, The Mortification of Sin, p. 107). 

Owen pictures a Christian struggling to defeat a besetting sin. Victory is stalled. The believer is perplexed, feels trapped, senses defeat. How can this Christian uproot sin? What will motivate this believer to hate sin with a holy hatred? Owen suggests the following principles of loading the conscience with guilt.

 Consider the danger of this particular sin. See the danger of being hardened by its deceitfulness (Hebrews 3:12-13) (p. 110). See the danger of God’s discipline (p. 111). See the danger of loss of peace and strength (p. 112).

 Consider the evil of it. It grieves the Holy Spirit (p. 115). The Lord Jesus is wounded afresh by it (p. 117). It will take away your usefulness in this generation (p. 117).

 Charge your conscience with the guilt of law breaking. Consider the holiness, spirituality, severity, inwardness, and absoluteness of God’s holiness (pp. 119-120).

 Consider the infinite patience and forbearance of God toward you in particulars (specifics) (p. 123). Remind yourself of his gracious withholding of judgment (p. 123).

 Pray for and pursue a constant longing for deliverance (p. 124).

 Ponder what occasions led to your giving in, and guard against them (p. 128).

 Reflect on the excellencies and majesty of God and how far short you are of him in holiness (p. 131).

 Place faith in Christ for the killing of your sin (p. 161).

Magnify Christ’s Graciousness

To break the stranglehold of strongholds, I must expose my unique strongholds, repent of my sinful mindsets, load my conscience with guilt, and enlighten my mind to Christ’s grace and truth. As important as it is to load the conscience with guilt, unless we lighten the conscience with grace, we would be terrified to ever come before our holy God.

Yet we can and should come boldly into his presence having had our conscience cleansed by Christ (Hebrews 10:19-23). Even as I load my conscience with guilt, I do so surrounded by the awareness that God is gracious even when I am sinful. I face the horror of my sin in light of the wonders of Christ’s grace.

A Prayer of Rational Repentance

“Father, I’ve finally come to my senses. I confess as sin my foolish belief that I can make life work apart from You. I’ve arrogantly suppressed the truth of how perfectly well You care for me. I’ve denied Your fatherly love for me. I’ve sinned against You by believing Satan’s smaller story, fleshly mindset that You are not my Supreme Good. I’ve allowed my view of reality to become filled with contemptuous images of You. I’ve allowed my mind to be squeezed into the mold of this temporal world, living according to the dominant plot theme of the earthly story. I’ve been like a deaf man straining to hear the Gospel story. I’ve denied the Cross. I return to You now repenting of these idols of my heart. Though I am not worthy in myself to be called Your child, by faith I claim my adoption in Christ. Thank You for forgiving me and accepting me in Christ.”

Join the Celebration

This Independence Day, will you celebrate your spiritual independence in Christ over sin?

 

Tags: 4th of July, Independence Day, John Owen, Sanctification