Richard de Wych wrote the following prayer, which led to the song from the Broadway musical, “Godspell:” Thanks be to You, my Lord Jesus Christ for all the benefits You have given me, For all the pains and insults You have borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, of You three things I ask: To see You more clearly, love You more dearly, follow You more nearly, day by day.

 

TO SEE YOU MORE CLEARLY

Clarity in seeing the Lord comes from knowing His Word better. Do you have a regular discipline of Scripture reading? There are multiple ways to read through the Bible regularly. One way is the Book approach, which is choosing one book of the Bible, reading a chapter a day, and moving on to another when finished. A good place to start is with Proverbs—it has 31 chapters—or the Gospels of Mark or John. Another way would be a chronological approach, and a third is the McCheyne Bible reading plan, with a chapter from 4 different sections of the Bible. See Preacher Baker for copies of each plan.

 

TO LOVE YOU MORE DEARLY

Coupled with daily Bible reading is a time of prayer. I see this as God speaking to me in His Word and then my responding to Him in prayer. The word PRAY can help us remember the different aspects of prayer:

 

Praise: Tell the Lord how much you love Him.

Repent: Confess known sins to Him and ask for His forgiveness (1 John 1:9).

Ask: Make requests for others and for yourself to King Jesus. (Philippians 4:6)

 

Yield: Surrender all to Jesus as you pray.

 

These elements are based on the Lord’s Prayer, found in Matthew 6:9-13. If you follow this pattern every day, you will come to love God in a new and deeper way.

 

TO FOLLOW YOU MORE NEARLY

To follow King Jesus more nearly on a day-to-day basis, we need to apply His Word to our lives. In our Bible reading time, we need to use the following outline to see areas of application the Spirit is leading us to:

S. – Sin to confess & avoid (In the passage, is there a sin to confess? Is there a sin that I should avoid?)

P. – Promise to keep (Does God communicate a promise for me to claim?)

E. – Example to follow (Do I find people in this passage that are a good role model? What character traits and which actions are commendable? Which are not?)

C. – Command to obey (What does God want me to apply to my life today and this week so that I develop Godly character and habits?)

K. – Knowledge about God (What does this passage tell me about God or about Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit?)

 

DAY BY DAY

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. (Luke 9:23 KJV)

Let us all seek to follow Jesus daily this month!

      In Christ, Rev Tom Baker
                          Ephesians 6:19