Jesus' Prayer for All Time — Tim Keller

“How can we not notice something, that the first part of this prayer, 40%, 50% of the prayer that Jesus gives us is all about God (Matthew 6:9-13). Nothing to do with your little needs, nothing to do with your little difficulties, nothing to do with you, and there nothing you need more than not to look at your needs. Jesus is saying that the very first primary goal of all prayer is to plunge yourself into the doctrine of God, is to think about who He is until your heart is dazzled.
Look at it all! He is heavenly, that’s infinite and transcendent. He is holy, that’s what hallowed means. He is sovereign and kingly, that’s what it means Thy kingdom come, but He is personal, He’s got a name, He is not an impersonal force, and He is father, and not just father but our Father, the language of intimacy. There is so much information about God, how great He is, and how accessible He is, how tough He is and how sweet He is, how holy He is and how forgiving He is. And it is all there. And Jesus says the first thing you need desperately to do is to plunge yourself into greatness of who He is. And see, this infinite God is your Father. You tell yourself that and you tell Him that and that’s the first part of all praying. There is nothing you need more than that — it is to adore and claim Him of who He is, and plunge yourself into the doctrine of God and dazzle your heart with who He is.” 



— Tim Keller, Jesus' Prayer for All Time

http://sermons.redeemer.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=18725
 

"O Lord, command what you will and give what you command" — St. Augustine

"O Lord, command what you will and give what you command" St. Augustine

“The Bible teaches two things: Many of the blessings of God are conditional upon our response of faith, and God Himself ultimately enables that response of faith and obedience.

Therefore, we pray to God for the enablement of what He calls us to do and what He calls others to do. In fact this is exactly why prayer is necessary. Only God can do what needs to be done. We are so sinful and so rebellious and so hard and resistant that if we are left to ourselves, we will carry on exactly as the people did in 2 Chronicles 30:10, with 'scorn and mockery.'…

It is knowing that we must work out our salvation in such efforts, and that this effort is a gift of God's grace, that keeps us constant in our praying for enabling grace, & vigorous in our working (Philippians 2:12-13). How else could we say with the apostle Paul, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me”? (1 Corinthians 15:10). I worked hard, but it was not I. That is what 2 Chronicles (30:6-9 & 30:10-12) and Augustine want us to learn.

Prayer: Lord, I pray that You would fill us with hope and joy and expectation that You have the power to put Your hand on us, and grant us the will to do what You command. You have made it plain: We are responsible to do what You tell us to do. But we know that in ourselves we do not have the will to do it. And so we cry with Augustine, 'Lord, command what You will, and give what You command.' Leave us not to ourselves. Have mercy. In Jesus' name, Amen.”

— John Piper, Life as a vapor

Jesus died and paid it all, Long, long ago — James Proc­tor

"Nothing, either great or small—
Nothing, sinner, no;
Jesus died and paid it all,
Long, long ago.

Refrain:

“It is finished!” yes, indeed,
Finished, ev’ry jot;
Sinner, this is all you need,
Tell me, is it not?

When He, from His lofty throne,
Stooped to do and die,
Ev’rything was fully done;
Hearken to His cry!

Weary, working, burdened one,
Wherefore toil you so?
Cease your doing; all was done
Long, long ago.

Till to Jesus’ work you cling
By a simple faith,
“Doing” is a deadly thing—
“Doing” ends in death.

Cast your deadly “doing” down—
Down at Jesus’ feet;
Stand in Him, in Him alone,
Gloriously complete."

— James Proc­tor

The Bible is not basically about you—it’s about Jesus — Tim Keller

"Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us (1 Cor 15; Romans 5).

Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal (Heb 12:24).

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.”

Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.

Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant (Heb 3).

Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk leaving an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.

Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

Jesus is the real Rock of Moses, the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.

The Bible’s really not about you—it’s about him."

— Tim Keller

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/08/26/the-bible-is-not-basically-about-you/

John Bunyan on prayer

"For, as for my heart, when I go to pray, I find it so loath to go to God, and when it is with him, so loath to stay with him, that many times I am forced in my prayers; first to beg of God that he would take mine heart, and set it on himself in Christ, and when it is there, that he would keep it there (Psalm 86:11). Nay, many times I know not what to pray for, I am so blind, nor how to pray, I am so ignorant; only, blessed be grace, the Spirit helps our infirmities (Romans 8:26)." — John Bunyan

Your lot is to have precious faith — Jeremiah Burroughs

“to them that have obtained like precious faith with us” 2 Peter 1:1

“If we write to any who are persons of honor, we usually give them title of honor, as the honorable ones. Yet the apostle, though he wrote to many who were rich and great too, put no other title upon them than this: “To them that have obtained like precious faith with us” (2 Peter 1:1). He accounted this (as indeed it is) to be the most noble Christian title and badge of honor that he could crown them with: “That have obtained like precious faith with us” (2 Peter 1:1). It is precious faith, a faith of price, and it has been obtained.

Faith is here compared to a precious stone, to a goodly pearl, and to a diamond. And so it is to them who have obtained it, to them who have had precious faith given unto them by lot (that is the meaning of the word). The word in the Greek that you have translated in your books as “obtained” signifies to have a thing by lot. So in Luke 1:9, it is said of Zacharias that he went to burn incense by lot. It was his lot to do the work. It is the same word that you have in Luke, with that of Peter, which is translated “obtained”. And so I might show you in many other places in Scripture where this word is used of having a thing by lot. “To you who have obtained like precious faith”, or, “to you who by lot have obtained like precious faith”, that’s the propriety of the word.

Question. But you will say, what is the meaning of that, to have it by lot?

Answer. There is much in this for setting out the blessed condition of believers. There is this in it: The faith that they have, they have merely by the free grace of God, by His providence and by His work, and by no other cause whatsoever that has made any difference between them and unbelievers. As that which a man has by lot, there is little or nothing to be attributed to second causes; as in a lottery, if one has a better lot than another it is not to be attributed at all to his skill who draws it out, but merely to be attributed to the providence of God.

God in His free grace did so order things that this man should have a good lot, and others should not. When the Lord gave the land in Canaan to the people of Israel, He gave it, but it was by lot, to the end that they might know that if one man had a better portion than another it was only by the free grace of God. This was so that no man could boast himself of it and say, “I am better than you,” or, “I am richer than you,” or, “I am worthier than you.” No, it was merely by God’s free grace and love, and not from anything in themselves. It’s as if the apostle should say, “Whereas all the world was in His presence, only God through His free grace made it your lot to have precious faith, that you should be enriched with this unspeakable gift.” That this lot should be your portion and others should have their lot fall to have some part of the earth, He gives the earth to the children of men.

Take a whole congregation or town, and all of them come into the presence of God to receive their lot. God says, “I will give such a man such an estate in the world; he shall be master of a ship and shave have so much money or lands, and that shall be his lot. Another comes to have his lot and he shall have excellent parts. I will give him the tongue of the learned and so get credit that way. Another shall be born of such and such parentage; he shall spring from the loins of nobles and their blood shall run in his veins.” Thus God crafts from all eternity the lots of men. Still another comes who shall not have much in this world, but he shall have faith in Jesus and he shall have heaven and eternal life; that shall be his lot, and thus God from all eternity gives every one their various lot and portion.

Your lot is to have precious faith? Oh! Your lot has fallen into good ground; you have a blessed inheritance; you were in the presence of God when there were all men before the Lord. As for unbelievers, heathens, and infidels they were before God; it might have been their lot to have faith and you might have had what they have. But it is your lot to have precious faith and it is their lot to possess the world. This is the meaning of the word “obtained,” and the elegance of the phrase is greatly darkened and eclipsed by the English word.”

— Jeremiah Burroughs, Faith