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From J. C. Philpot's Daily Portions February 1
"They shall come with weeping, and with supplications
will I lead them." –Jeremiah 31:9 Until God is pleased to pour out upon us the spirit of
grace and of supplications, we cannot worship him aright; for God is a
Spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth;
nor can we without this spirit offer up that spiritual sacrifice which is
acceptable to him through Jesus Christ. When this spirit has been once given
and kindled in a believer's breast, it never dies out. It is like the fire
upon the bronze altar, which was first given by the Lord himself from
heaven, and concerning which God gave this command--"The fire shall ever be
burning upon the altar; it shall never go out" (Lev. 6:13). This fire might
sink low; it might be covered with the ashes of sacrifice, but it never was
allowed to go out for lack of supply of fuel. So at times it may seem to you as if there were scarcely
any spirit of prayer alive in your bosom; and you may feel as destitute of a
spirit of grace and of supplications as if you had never known its lively
movements and actings. But you will find it drawn out from time to time by
circumstances. You will be placed under peculiar trials, under which you
will find no relief but at a throne of grace; or God will in tender mercy
breathe again upon your soul with his own gracious Spirit, and by his
quickening breath will revive, I will not say kindle, for it is not gone
out, that holy fire which seemed to be buried under the ashes of corruption,
that inward spirit of prayer which he gave you at regeneration, and which
will never cease until it issue in everlasting praise. February 1 |