A Crown to Present at Your Feet When You Return

Psalms, Prayers, and Devotionals

Dear Lord,     

          I am in constant ready of Your command.  I pray to be ever in Your service.  Oh Lord, inspire me and turn me.  Dispense Your Spirit into my soul.  Help me to earn a crown to present at Your feet when You return.

     Please supply me all I need.  I pray for courage.  Make me bold and protect me in the refuge of Your wings.  I am crazy about You; sick in Love and yearning to please You I am.  The enemy tortures my soul but Your Love heals me and helps me endure.

     Let me disengage from existence.  Build me an emboldened man, able to speak with conviction and make a stand for You.  Fill my everyday life with purpose.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Larry Word

Silent Longings

Psalms, Prayers, and Devotionals

Master,           

          You move mountains and make stars to sing.  What am I but the dust of the earth?  With great longing do I pray to be pleasing and acceptable in Your sight.  And with great longing do I pray that my life will have counted for something.  Please show me what my purpose is.  Help me to be a good communicator of Your Love.  Fill me with Your Spirit.  Let my soul never be far from You, be it in tears of affliction, or in prosperity and joy, please reveal meaning in everything that has happened and is yet to come.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

Larry Word

Words of Life

Prayers, Psalms, and Devotionals
Tract #10112

“Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”1 John 3:15

A MATTER OF THE HEART

Jesus said that if you look upon a woman with lust, you are guilty of adultery.  You have already fornicated in your heart.  It is not necessary to commit the act.  Similarly, scripture states that if you hate your brother you are a murderer.  God shows us time and again that it is the inward person that He sees.  Do not be deceived into judging others for their lifestyles or overt acts when the issue is the sin nature itself, the heart of our character that must be transformed through supernatural means.

UNDERSTANDING THE SIN NATURE

We must understand the “bad news” to fully appreciate the “Good News.”   Our situation is desperate!  We are born into sin, apart from God and incapable of pleasing Him.  Our own best efforts would never be good enough, for the standard of God is perfection.  This is a grievous truth to digest.  As fallible humans we are impotent to execute what is required by our Creator.  We are lost upon a barren wasteland, this rock in outer space called earth.  God stated that with sin comes death, and this is the destiny of every flesh-born person:  we shall return to the dust from whence we came.

 

SIN NATURE TREND TOWARD LEGALISM

Adam and Eve were told not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen 2:9).  This is a picture of the two trends of the sin nature.  Notice it is not only evil, but also of “good.”  In this approach, man tries to earn God’s favor through religion or good deeds.  Let us examine this more closely:  

Many attend church regularly and perform charitable works in the community because they feel God will approve.  They seek to earn righteousness by good deeds.  But this is Satan’s lie and the foundation of all religions in the world.  It is impossible to earn  God’s favor.  God will only accept you on His terms, as a humble and broken-hearted sinner.   There is nothing we could ever do to earn God’s favor.  Watch for this tendency to want to come to God based on your good works.  This is oft referred to as legalism, and is prevalent in most religions, especially Christianity.  Many fall under its unsuspecting spell.

“…and all our righteousness are as filthy rags”  Isa 64:6 “for it (the flesh) does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom 8:6-7)

 SIN NATURE TREND TOWARD HEDONISM

The other side of the sin nature is lawlessness, seeking pleasure and self-gratification.  “Eat, Drink, and be Merry for Tomorrow We Die” is the attitude.  But fulfillment cannot be earned through pleasure any more than it can be attained through good deeds.  The hedonist is no better off than the ascetic, except that the hedonist might be aware he/she is in opposition to God, while the self-righteous believes he/she has earned  God’s favor.

God allows no flesh to glory in His sight.  It is essential to approach God as a broken person, aware of your need.  Approach God in humility and truth.  Do not wait to “get right.”  This is the lie of legalism!  Come to God exactly as you are, in all your flaws.  Come to God in your drug addiction, in your homosexuality, in your lust patterns.  Come to God in your anger, recognizing you are a murderer.  We all are.  The issue is not what you have done or continue to do.  The issue is the state of your heart.  Are you proud or have you been broken?

The Good News is that although we are sinners and desperately incapable of pleasing the Lord, that God did not leave us stranded or forsaken.  God has provided every means for salvation.  He sent His Son to bring you back to Him safely.  The Lord will meet you wherever you are at.  Turn to Him and offer your heart.  

PRAYER

Dear Lord,

Keep us a simple people, a little flock of sheep, humble and teachable in your Perfect Way.

Oh Lord, reveal to the people what it means to have a Personal relationship with You.  Let the Truth spread forth and shine in the dark places, in the tabernacles of hearts. Enlighten us with your Spirit.  Refresh souls across this land.

Lord, we look to the sky with longing and anticipation; we look within ourselves for your abiding Presence.  Please move us with Your Spirit that we might understand our place and purpose on earth. 

Your music evokes my tears; please move my soul.  Your Spirit intercourses with mine; please move my soul.  Your promises of kindness make me to turn and wait for You; please move my soul.  Your instill vision in my heart; please move my soul.

Let this message speak Christ into the hearts of readers.  Enrich in us a foundation of Love and bring us to a heightened understanding of Truth.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

Larry Word

Lord, Transfer Me to a Higher Plane

Devotional Letters, Psalms, and Prayers to God

Dear Lord,

        One day we shall have our private paradise together, where interruptions are few and our bond is conscious and strong.  We will be one body together.  Oh Lord, transfer me to a higher plane.  It is a daily struggle to be around these distractions.  Help me detach from all of this madness.  I would like You to be my sole focus, or should I say “soul” focus.  

     You are my candle and my song.  Bless me with Your mercy and make me to keep improving.  Write through me; create through me messages that help inspire others to seek a relationship with You in their hearts.  Gather the shards, the broken glass of my life, and make something special.  Make these wounds count for something.

     Your blood and death has redeemed me.  You have given me a story around which to frame my feelings.  How concentrated can I really be when I do not know what I am supposed to be doing for You right now?  How long must I await before You activate?

     Awaken in me, my Lord.  Activate.  Lay not dormant, but arise and fight my cause.  Intercede from Your mighty throne as my High Priest.  And keep me humble, for my aspirations for You often seem too grand.  Sprinkle stardust into my eyes and make my heart to beam.  Forget me not in Your heavenly abode.  But reveal to me Your promise—that eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who Love Him.  Amen.  And Lord, I surely Love You fervently, with a great longing do I desire for Your appearance.

     Your music evokes my tears; please move my soul.  Your Spirit intercourses with mine; please move my soul.  Your promises of kindness make me to turn and wait for You; please move my soul.  Your instill vision in my heart; please move my soul.

         Mystically I peer into thee, beholding the reflection of my own humanity.  Not that I compare to You, but that I am Your temple and Your glory projects out from me.  As I look within myself, I see Your cloud by day and fire by night, the Shekinah Glory behind the windows to my soul.  Thank you for allowing me to sense Your Presence.  In Jesus Name.  Amen

Larry Word

Grief May Endure a Night, But Joy Comes in the Morning

Devotional Letters, Psalms, and Prayers to God

 

Dearest Beloved,

         Grief endured for a night, but joy came in the morning.  Perfect Love casts out fear, banishes darkness into oblivion.  My Master, thank You for slowly building back a ministry for me, for coming to trust me with some of Your Kingdom and its resources.  Thank You for my prosperity during turbulent times.  I pray that You continue to bless the sheep that respond to Your call.  Most Holy One, won’t You use me to communicate the message of Your grace?  My mind races and I get flooded with ideas and inspiration of how many different ways I might serve You.  My eyes water to feel and sense the wonderful Love You have for me.  Lord, please come take over my life.  I grant You executive position, my Lord, won’t You please be my King?

     There is nothing further I need to prove to myself.  I have shown how truly fallible a man is.  I have fallen from the high summit because of my haughty and presumptuous spirit.  But You are a God of forgiveness, a God of miracles, a God of mercy.  Your praise shall be echoed from the corners of the universe and Your Kingdom shall have no end.

     Master, I pray for yet more humility, for spiritual nourishment that I might grow up to be a tree planted alongside a running river.  Please appoint me to a cabinet post in Your future government.  Please commune with me and enter into a deeper covenant relationship.  With childlike wonder and awe, my spirit is renewed by You daily.  My soul is refreshed to be in Your presence.  It is my desire to one day spend eternity with You, gazing upon Your face. 

     Oh, how I do miss You, my Lord.  You revealed Yourself to me and then dissolved into the sky.  You imputed thy righteousness upon me, awakened my heart to a Love I never imagined existed.  You are beyond what anybody could imagine.  You must be experienced to truly understand.  One can trust You and have a righteous faith, but there is nothing that compares to beholding Your grandeur and living a life in communion.  One must have pure eyes to see; one must be cleansed to behold.  One must woefully accept death before the Light of Truth transforms the heart.  One must hate their own life in order to save it.  Oh Master, indeed grief endures for a night, but joy comes in the morning.  Come forth, Morning Star, come Blessed Master Jesus.  Amen.

Larry Word

Inner Chambers of my Heart

Devotional Letters, Psalms, and Prayers to God

You take me upon clouds and welcome me into the inner chambers of my heart.  I gaze at the sky in awesome wonder, in wait of your Promised return.  Your people moan down here on this earth, Beloved.  Your People seek your face with a repentant heart, Beloved.  Please turn not your back upon us.  We are a wretched species, gone astray from you when we had all of paradise to enjoy.  But the riches of your mercy surpass the folly of our sin.  Turn us toward you in these last days, Sweet Master.  Beckon the flock of your pasture. 

Glorious Yahweh, thank you for taking on the tent of human flesh in Jesus.  Thank you for your plan of redemption.  Germinate trust in your Promises across the Land.  In Jesus name, glory be to God. Amen