"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." Rom. 12:1
Suggested Format for the Prayer Time
Praise (approximately 10 minutes)
- Begin your prayer by praising God for who He is: He is faithful, omniscient (all-knowing), just, etc.
- Praise God that He has been waiting so long for you to give Him your whole heart.
- Thank God that He does not want just some of you but that He wants you with all talents and shortcomings.
- Praise God for the ways He is teaching you to abide in Him.
Confession and Claiming Victory Over Sin (approximately 5 minutes)
- Ask God to show you which sins you need to confess openly and which you need to confess privately. Claim His victory over those sins.
- Ask God for forgiveness if you have not been surrendering your heart to Him daily.
- Ask God for forgiveness for times when you used your time, money, and talents for yourself and not for Him and His glory.
- Thank God that He forgives you according to 1 John 1:9.
Supplication and Intercession (approximately 35 minutes)
- Ask God to take away anything that hinders you from surrendering your time, money, strength, abilities, fears, hopes, and will. Tell Him you want to belong wholly to Christ.
- Ask that God will help you to pray like Jesus, "Not my will, but Your will be done" (Luke 22:42).
- Does anything hinder you from giving Him your whole heart and being? Tell Him about those things. Ask Him to make you willing to surrender them.
- Pray for your family members and friends who are not surrendered (fully) to Christ. Ask God to make them willing to surrender their whole being to Him.
- Pray that your local pastor and church leaders at different levels will give to God their whole being.
- Pray for the young people of our church to find joy in surrendering their lives to Christ and following Him. Lift up the young people of your church by name in prayer.
- Pray that every church leader around the world holds deeply to a faithful spiritual and evangelistic perspective. Plead with the Lord to guard pastors and church members against losing the prophetic identity of who we are as the Seventh-day Adventist Church, God's remnant church at the end of time.
- Mission to the Cities—Pray for the Trans-European Division and the cities they are trying to win for Christ: London, Zagreb, Tallinn, Dublin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Budapest, Bergen, Randstad, Warsaw, Belgrade, Gothenburg. Pray for people to have a deep hunger for the Word of God.
- Pray that the seven (or more) people on your list will see their need and open their hearts for the Holy Spirit.
- Pray for any personal needs you have.
Thanksgiving (approximately 10 minutes)
- Thank God that He will answer according to His will and in His time.
- Thank God that He is willing to take your sinful heart and make it pure and holy.
- Thank God that Jesus was willing to live and die, not for Himself but for the One who sent Him.
- Thank God for revealing Himself in a special way in your life during these ten days of prayer.
Suggested Songs to Sing
"Live Out Thy Life Within Me" (SDA Hymnal #316); "Yes, Lord, I Give My Life to You"; "I Need Thee Every Hour" (SDA Hymnal #483); "Seek Ye First"; "Draw Me Nearer" (SDA Hymnal #306); "I Surrender All" (SDA Hymnal #309); "Near, Still Nearer" (SDA Hymnal #301); "Wholly Thine" (SDA Hymnal, #308).
Our Greatest Gift to God: Our Being
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." Rom. 12:1
Christ taught His disciples that the amount of divine attention given to any object is proportionate to the rank assigned to it in the creation of God. He called their attention to the birds of the air. Not a sparrow, He said, falls to the ground without the notice of our heavenly Father. And if the little sparrow is regarded by Him, surely the souls of those for whom Christ has died are precious in His sight. The value of man, the estimate God places upon him, is revealed in the cross of Calvary. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And will not God judge those who cause pain or disappointment to the ones for whom Christ has given His life? Then let men be careful how, by word or action, they cause one of God's children sorrow or grief. (The Signs of the Times, Nov. 17, 1898)
Christ made a complete sacrifice in our behalf, when He gave Himself as an offering for sin; and He asks us to give ourselves entirely to Him. He asks for the whole heart; He will accept nothing less than the undivided affections. "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." (The Signs of the Times, Feb. 1, 1899)
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Cor. 6:19, 20, KJV)
Whether we give ourselves to the Lord or not, we are His. Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price. We are the Lord's by creation, and we are His by redemption. Therefore we have no right to think that we can do as we please. All we handle is the Lord's. We have no right of ourselves to anything, not even to an existence. All our money, time, and talents belong to God, and are lent us by Him that we may accomplish the work He has given us to do. He has given us the charge, "Occupy till I come." Luke 19:13. (Our High Calling, p. 42)
The love of Christ in the heart is what is needed. Self is in need of being crucified. When self is submerged in Christ, true love springs forth spontaneously. It is not an emotion or an impulse, but a decision of a sanctified will. It consists not in feeling, but in the transformation of the whole heart, soul, and character, which is dead to self and alive unto God. Our Lord and Saviour asks us to give ourselves to Him. Surrendering self to God is all He requires, giving ourselves to Him to be employed as He sees fit. Until we come to this point of surrender, we shall not work happily, usefully, or successfully anywhere. (Letter 97, 1898)
I see before me today those whom I know God can use if they will put their dependence in Him. … It is an honor to follow the Saviour. And it is by obeying the instructions that He has given that you are to be prepared to meet Him when He comes. If you will ask God to help you to overcome what is un-Christlike in your dispositions, He will prepare you for entrance into heaven, where no sin can enter. Those who daily give the life to Jesus, and who follow on to know Him, will be greatly blessed. Say, Christ gave His life for me, and I must give my life for Him. If you give yourselves wholly to Him, you will be conquerors in the warfare against sin. The Lord Jesus will be your helper, your support, your strength, if you will receive and obey Him. (The Youth's Instructor, June 9, 1914)
In the parable the pearl is not represented as a gift. The merchantman bought it at the price of all that he had. Many question the meaning of this, since Christ is represented in the Scriptures as a gift. He is a gift, but only to those who give themselves, soul, body, and spirit, to Him without reserve. We are to give ourselves to Christ, to live a life of willing obedience to all His requirements. All that we are, all the talents and capabilities we possess, are the Lord's, to be consecrated to His service. When we thus give ourselves wholly to Him, Christ, with all the treasures of heaven, gives Himself to us. We obtain the pearl of great price. (Maranatha, p. 72)
Questions for Personal Reflection
1. You are so precious in God's eyes that He did everything to make you His own. How does this make you feel?
2. Think about what Jesus gave for you so that heaven could be yours. Is it worth giving yourself daily to Him? Isn't it the most reasonable thing to do?
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Thursday, January 07, 2016
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