The Reformed Christian Muse

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The promise that God is making me, that he is fashioning me to be like His Son, is a most glorious truth. It provides hope to the weary.

My prayer to God from this passage:

 Father, make me like your Son. Grant to me the power to walk in obedience and to forsake my sin. Forgive me and cleanse me. My prayer is that today I will bring glory to your name. That men will see my good works and glorify you, heavenly Father. Amen.

Blessings in Christ,
Terry W. WEst

 It it such a sin of pride and presumption to go about our lives making plans as if we are not absolutely dependent upon the Lord. This is the sin that James condemns, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”–  yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”   As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:13-17) May God forgive me this sin.

Proverbs 20:24  A man’s steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?

My prayer to God from this passage:

Father, forgive me of this sin of arrogance. Forgive me for living my life as if I am autonomous, as if I am independent from you, Oh Lord, my Creator and sustainer!

And now, as my Saviour Christ has taught me, I am bold to pray:

 Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And for give us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Blessings in Christ,
Terry W. West

My tendency is to want things to come easy. I am impatient and want things to happen now. This verse is hits me right at home.The Christian life, it seems, would be so much easier without the constant warfare. If I had my way, I (like the prodigal son) would want my inheritance right now. All of it. But, God has not designed it this way. To receive our full inheritance we must persevere. We must endure much tribulation and suffering in this life. But the blessing that we shall receive, the inheritance that is promised to us in Christ, it of surpassing glory. May I, as Paul, keep this truth ever in my mind, so that I too can proclaim that, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”(Romans 8:18 )

Proverbs 20:21 An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning will not be blessed in the end.

My prayer to God from this verse:

Father, I confess unto you my sin, I have not loved you in thought, word, or deed, I have not loved my neighbor as myself, for Christ’s sake, have mercy on me, and forgive me of my sin and cleanse me from my unrighteousness. Father, grant to me the grace to endure whatever you have providentially purposed for me. Help me to learn to appreciate and give thanks for all that You teach me by the trials of this life, knowing that you, Oh Lord, are faithful who has promised me my inheritance in Christ. Oh what a blessing I will receive in the end. Amen.

And now, as my Saviour Christ has taught me, I am bold to pray:

Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And for give us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Blessings in Christ,
Terry W. West

Proverbs 20:13  Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.

My prayer to God from this verse:

Father, my you grant to me a attitude of diligence. I ask that you give to me the grace to diligently seek after you and your kingdom. Forgive me for neglecting my duty and responsibility. May I, by your grace, see every hour of everyday as a gift from you that i do not deserve, but that I should use to seek the kingdom first and bring glory to your name by my good works. Amen.

And now, as my Saviour Christ has taught me, I am bold to pray:

 Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And for give us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Blessings in Christ,
Terry W. West

The Apostle Paul was constantly aware of his unworthiness of God’s grace. If the doctrines of grace teach us nothing else they should teach us our absolute unworthiness of God’s present and abiding grace and mercy. We all should echo Paul in this text and confess our sin and unworthiness of Christ. From this ever present knowledge Paul had the greatest motivation to bring this gospel of grace to his fallen neighbors that they too may be saved. He knew that for this very reason he was given this saving grace. May we never forget this. May the Holy Spirit continually remind us of this. The Christ who came into the world to save sinners, is the Christ we must be fervently motivated to offer to this world of sinners, beseeching them to be reconciled to God, so that they may know His forgive even as we. Notice Paul says that Christ shows PERFECT PATIENCE towards him the foremost of sinners. When I am thinking clearly and I am beholding Christ, in whom I have found such mercy, I identify completely with Paul here and understand the significance of this grace. May we continually remember this unfathomable truth.

1 Timothy 1:13-16, “Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”

Let us pray a prayer back to God from this passage:

Father, you who have loved us and sent your own Son into this world, grant unto us the grace to be ever conscience of our sinfulness and unworthiness of this love we have in Christ. Cause us, Father, to make it the passion of our lives to be instruments through which you offer this love to sinful humanity as you display your perfect patience in and toward us as an example to all who see our lives. may we never bring reproach and shame to you, Oh merciful Father, by failing to imitate you in showing mercy and grace to others with whom we interact with. And when we fail to do so, I pray you forgive us this grave sin. I pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

Blessings in Christ,
Terry W. West

We the covenant people of God have been given many gifts from God. We each have been given a vocation in the Kingdom of God. In light of being in covenant with God and being a husband and father, the gift I desire most is to be faithful in this God given vocation. This passage in Proverbs is the cry of my heart, especially in view of the fact that I fall so short of my duties to my family.

Pro 18:16 A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before the great.

I pray that my gift of being both husband and father will make room for me. That I will perform these duties to the glory of God and the true spiritual well being of my family. That in the end my family may be a testimony, before all who behold, of God’s grace and mercy.

My prayer back to the Lord from this passage:

Holy Spirit, grant to me the the power and ability to be the husband and father I am commanded to be. Show me your favor, pour into my heart that love that Christ has for his church. Gift me with the willingness to give myself for my wife and children. Grant me repentance for my sin and failure to be all that you have commanded me to be. Your commandments, oh God, are a delight, they are perfect and ordained to life. Subdue my sinful heart and conform me to the image of the one who gave himself for me. The one who bore my sins in his own body and satisfied the wrath of God in my place. The one for who’s sake I have graciously been granted me life and righteousness, having been united to him in my baptism, and given freely that faith which justifies. May I perform my vocation and make use of my gifts to the glory of God through Christ alone. Amen.

Blessings in Christ,
Terry W. West

 This text has really come home to me the last day or so. I have a tendency to engage in discussions that are unprofitable out of a motivation to defend my on personal “integrity” or in other words to “save face”. This is not a reason to be discussing the truths of God and his holy scriptures. It is sinful. A friend of mine reminded me of this text while we were discussing these types of encounters. It is so easy to get caught up in “being right” while perceiving oneself as defending the truth. So this text is my meditation for today.

Tit 3:8-11, “8  Faithful is the saying, and concerning these things I desire that thou affirm confidently, to the end that they who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men: 9  but shun foolish questionings, and genealogies, and strifes, and fightings about law; for they are unprofitable and vain. 10  A factious man after a first and second admonition refuse; 11  knowing that such a one is perverted, and sinneth, being self-condemned.”

My prayer back to the Lord.

Father, I pray that you will constantly remind me of the truth of this text, least I find myself not defending your truth but rather my own pride. I ask for your forgiveness in Christ. Grant to me by the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit to be mindful of my own wickedness of heart. Teach me to rightly approach the discussion and debate concerning your word and truth. Teach me to ever have your glory in view not my own pride. Grant to me, Holy Spirit, a Christ like attitude and sincere concern for the souls of people and to always remember the grace I have received  in Christ for his sake alone. All this I ask of you in prayer, Heavenly Father, in union with your Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Blessings in Christ,
Terry W. West

I read this verse to my family today as we were reading through this portion of John’s Gospel. I was stressing to my children the privilege and importance of being in Christ and having his life in us. I was teaching them that we receive  this grace given to us by the Spirit as we partake of the bread and wine in the Lord’s supper, when we partake in faith. As we come to the Lord’s table every Lord’s day, we are reminded of the necessity of living because of Christ every moment of every day of our lives. So we are meditating on the following verse today.

Joh 6:57  As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.

Our prayer back to the Lord from this verse.

Heavenly Father, we thank you  for your grace and mercy in sending Christ, that bread from heaven that gives us life. We acknowledge our dependence upon the Holy Spirit to communicate this life as we partake of the flesh and blood of Christ daily by faith. We thank you for the privilege of coming to the communion table each Lord’s day and receiving grace by faith through the power of the Spirit as we eat the bread and drink the wine. Amen.

Blessings in Christ,
Terry W. West

Meditating upon a passage of scripture is a discipline that I am finding most edifying. What a gracious privilege it is to take a short passage of scripture and say it, think about it, and look to the Holy Spirit to apply the truth of it to my life.

Psa 34:14 Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

To then pray the passage back to the God is an act of worship that I thank the Holy Spirit for granting to me, and that I find very glorious.

Lord, I confess my sin before you, I acknowledge my wickedness. I ask that you grant me repentance, cause me by the power of the Holy Spirit to turn from the evil that I find so easy, and do good. I thank you, Father that I have peace with you in Christ. I ask that you would work in me to seek to make peace in every area of my life and in all my dealings with my family and neighbors. Lord, help me to make this the pursuit of my life, that I may be called your child, oh God. Amen.

Blessings in Christ,
Terry W. West

Meditate upon this text. Ponder it’s truth and trust in the work of the Holy Spirit to apply His word to our lives by writing it upon our hearts.

Psa 149:4  For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.

Pray this text back to the our blessed triune God.

Lord, I thank you that you take pleasure in your people, I humbly thank you for your great salvation found in Christ. My my life be adorned with your glory, oh Lord! I pray that my life will be a reflection of your holiness, for I am the work of your hands. Amen.

Blessings in Christ,
Terry W. West