Growing in Wisdom

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

(Psalm 90:12-17)

Today is my 32nd birthday.  I have chosen this scripture to pray over as my birthday prayer and I am choosing to share it with you. May we all grow in Wisdom and Fear of the Lord as we continue to ABIDE in Him.

Father,

I am fearfully and wonderfully made in your image.  I praise you this morning on my 11,688th day!  As I number these days and look forward to the ones to come, I pray to grow in wisdom. Give me wisdom each day, because I know you can and you will if I ask for it.  I will receive it in faith and obedience.

Father, satisfy me each morning with your steadfast love.  It is unchanging, it is ever present, it is undeserved, but I am oh so very thankful to have it!  Fill me up with it as I hunger and thirst for more of you.

Then I will rejoice and be glad.  For your love transcends all understanding. If you are for me than who can stand against?

Make my heart glad as I look back and recall all the afflictions of my life.  For it is in them that I most clearly see your love and faithfulness. It is through those trials that you have proven to me your power and strength and love.

Let your work continue to be shown before me, for I am your servant.  May all the words of my mouth, the desires of my heart and the work of my hands be in your service.

Father, show your glorious power to my children.  As they witness my own sin and repentance and forgiveness let them see the mighty work of your love in me.  Open their eyes to the power of my Savior and the joy that comes in taking up my cross and following him.   Show us your power as we walk together day in and day out.  May we wonder together at your majesty as we read, play, learn, eat, and sleep.  Show them how you hear and answer their sweet prayers.  Show them how willing you are to receive them in your arms with forgiveness.  And in those moments when it matters most, soften my heart to be an example of your love and forgiveness and mercy to them.  Show them that when they seek you, they will always find you…and remind me of this truth each day as well.

Let your favor be upon me, my marriage, and my family this year, Father.  Establish the work of my hands upon me.  Reveal your purpose for me, initiate it and set it firmly and permanently upon your solid foundations.  That way it cannot fail, but come to completion to the glory and praise of your precious Name.

YES, Establish the work of my hands!

For I am your humble servant, abiding in the vine. Here I am LORD, use me as you will.

The Promises of God

As this new year begins, I feel like it is Spring my heart. As I draw nearer to God in prayer and studies, all is warmer, brighter, more fragrant.  It is not all picking daisies and smelling roses though. In just a few short weeks I have sought fellowship with the Father more and in turn have been bombarded with confrontation from the enemy.  There is a process taking place resembling that of weeding the garden or cleaning out the closets.

Still, the new year brings a lot of excitement for me.  I love the feeling of a fresh start.  I am not so good at the disciplines of dieting or exercise so those kinds of resolutions have no appeal, but I rejoice at the chance to make new goals for my spiritual life and grow in godliness.  

Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:7-10)

So I have three New Year’s Resolutions:

1. I resolve to “toil and strive” to “set my hope on the living God” this year. To do so, I have chosen to study the Promises of God.  I want to know more of them, know more about His character from them, and be able to apply them to my spiritual walk. I have chosen two scriptures as my theme.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:20)

2. I resolve to read through the Bible at least once this year and study the Promises of God throughout.  I am using a reading plan on my You Version Bible App called, The Discipleship Journal Book-at-a-Time Reading Plan.  So far I have read through Genesis, most of Exodus, some of the Psalms and Proverbs. As I am reading I am marking God’s Promises and I have already lost count.  I cherish each one and love seeing the Redemptive History in the Old Testament.

3. I resolve to grow in the practice of the spiritual disciplines.  I am co-facilitating a class on fasting and prayer for my local PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) and a huge part of the class is looking at Fasting and Prayer as disciplines.  It is a spiritual exercise, if you will. We may not always have the great desire to do them, just like passing on that cupcake or going for a run, but when we do take that first step of obedience, we are carried into the path of God’s grace and we grow in godliness.

I plan to write much more this year on the Promises of God and the Spiritual Disciplines. I also plan to write more on fasting as the season of Lent draws near. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you all and I hope to encourage you in your walk with God this year.  May we all grow in godliness and in doing so “be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29).

Have you made any resolutions this year?  Have you already suffered confrontation and struggles?  If so, I encourage you to take that step of obedience again and see the rewards in store for you.  May God bless you and keep you.

Abiding in Him,

Melissa K.

Related Post:

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/i-know-the-plans-i-have-for-you