Day 4: Good Gifts
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him! (Matthew 7:9-11).
Our heavenly Father, How priceless is Your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. They feast on the abundance of Your house; You give them drink from Your river of delights. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light (Psalm 36:7-9).
We are grateful for Your providential care, apart from You we have no good thing (Psalm 16:2). And we ask in wonderment, who are we that You are mindful of us, that You care for us? (Psalm 8:4). Not only do You abundantly bestow on us good things in the sight of all (Psalm 31:19), but You invite us to come to You with our needs, our requests and our burdens: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7).
Lord, be in our asking! For often, we do not often have the wisdom, the maturity, and the vision to ask for the right things. But the Lord Jesus reminded us that if we, even as flawed humans will not give our children harmful things when they bring their requests to us, how much more would You, a perfect heavenly Father give only good gifts when we ask!
You know our hearts—all our longings lie open before You; our sighing is not hidden from You (Psalm 38:9). And even though we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, You have promised that the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses...The Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26 - NKJV).
Help us to pray in the Spirit so that we would not pray amiss—with wrong motives (James 4:3). Help us to bring to You our struggles, our petitions, our requests, our supplications and our intercessions—in the power of the Spirit, so that our prayers honor You.
Give us child-like humble hearts like Solomon who confessed, Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of Yours?” (2 Chronicles 1:10).
We humbly confess our own weaknesses and our limitations to You, and we pray that as with Solomon, You do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us (Ephesians 3:20 - NKJV). Thank You for the wordless groans of the Spirit on our behalf.
Father, we may not be called to lead an earthly kingdom, but we are representatives and ambassadors of Your heavenly kingdom. Let Your kingdom come and Your will be done as You equip us with every spiritual blessing—as You supply all our needs according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).
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