September 11, 2021 -- Romans 7:18-19 -- Driven to Prayer

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Romans 7:18-19 ESV

Yesterday I listened to a brief sermon excerpt of a Paul Washer sermon “God is creating weakness in your life”. The point of the sermon was to teach that our very point of weakness is the place where God is teaching us to turn to Him, rely on Him, so that we urgently and persistently pray to Him. All of our lives are utterly and wholly dependent on Him—but it is the place of weakness where we are most keenly driven to prayer. Such sustained prayer in turn teaches us urgent, God-focused prayer in every other area of our lives as well.

The Apostle Paul knew his sinfulness. In fact, at the end of this passage in Romans he is finally driven to declare, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:24-25). The fact that our sins are hateful to us and grievous to us is the very sign the Spirit of God is working in us and through us, driving us into the arms of our Saviour Who has rescued us from the wrath of God which is set against all sin.

Are you despairing over your sin? That is an appropriate response...but it should not end there. Go to prayer—persistent, urgent, Spirit-fueled prayer which takes the promises of God that are “Yes” and “Amen” in Jesus Christ and plead for the strength to fight such sin and gain the victory in Jesus. Jesus our King declared to us “take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). This is good news indeed. Tomorrow is Sunday. Prepare to gather with the people of God and bless the Lord for His rich salvation, sealed in us by the Spirit of God.

The Broken Heart

O LORD,,
No day of my life has passed that has not
proved me guilty in thy sight.
Prayers have been uttered
from a prayerless heart.
Praise has been often praiseless sound;
My best services are filthy rags.
Blessed Jesus, let me find a covert in thy appeasing wounds.
Though my sins rise to heaven, thy merits soar above them;
Though unrighteousness weighs me down to hell,
thy righteousness exalts me to the throne.
All things in me call for my rejection,
All things in thee plead for my acceptance.
I appeal from the throne of perfect justice
to thy throne of boundless grace.
Grant me to hear thy voice assuring me:
that by thy stripes I am healed,
that thou wast bruised for my iniquities,
that thou hast been made sin for me,
that I might be righteous in thee,
that my grievous sins, my manifold sins,
are all forgiven,
buried in the ocean of thy concealing blood.
I am guilty, but pardoned,
lost, but saved,
wandering, but found,
sinning,but cleansed.
Give me perpetual broken-heartedness,
Keep me always clinging to thy cross,
Flood me every moment with descending grace,
Open to me the springs of divine knowledge,
sparkling like crystal, flowing clear and unsullied
through my wilderness of life.
"The Broken Heart" The Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayer and Devotion. Ed: A. Bennett. Carlisle: The Banner of Truth Trust, page 150

https://youtu.be/Tmp6oLceDZA