5. Regenerative Prayer! Psalm 39:12-13

Text: “Hear my prayer O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not Thy peace at my tears; for I am a stranger with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.  O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

                                                                                                              Psalm 39:12-13.

Good morning, ‘low-battery Christian’!  As your eyes light upon this weekly Bible Lesson,  perhaps you know in your heart of hearts that you are not ‘firing on all cylinders’ in your Christian commitment to the Living Lord Christ Who has suffered and died on that cruel Cross to save your never-dying soul.  You are, perhaps, very aware of your luke-warm state in Christ, and know your deep need to be recovered out of the state you are presently in. 

If this is your case this morning, praise God that He has already made you aware of your urgent need of renewal!  Praise God, He is not ignoring your luke-warm state!  Praise God, He has caused your eyes to light upon this Scriptural message this morning, for after reading this exposition from God’s Word, you shall be ready to receive His regenerative power again.  Hallelujah!  What a loving and gracious Lord God we seek to serve!

If the Lord God is making you aware that your Spiritual ‘battery’ is low in power – get ‘plugged in’ to God’s Word; open your Bible with zeal to learn and receive the renewal of Spiritual power you so desperately need.  Do so right now, Christian!

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”  (Acts 1:8)

“So then faith cometh by hearing (reading), and hearing by the Word of God.”  (Romans 10:17)

‘Low-battery Christians’ are true and genuine ‘born again’ believers, who seem to have forgotten how they were first regenerated from having a DEAD spirit, to being blessed with a full-powered Spiritual nature from God!  Having forgotten how they were first saved from Spiritual death, they are currently at loss as to how they might recharge the Spiritual life they have been blessed with.  Sad, but too often true.  

Reminding such ‘low-battery Christians’ of how they were originally Spiritually regenerated, can be the knowledge they desperately need to be empowered anew for active service in the army of Christ Jesus.

Therefore, we must take such forgetful Christians back to the day of their Salvation, and from that vantage point, direct them to God’s Word once again.

“And you hath He (the Spirit of God, God the Spirit) quickened (made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sin…Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved).”  (Ephesians 2:1;5)

1. Election: God the Father elected us to be Eternally saved, before the foundation of the world, and gave us to His Son, Christ Jesus, Who would save us in the appointed time.

“Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the father in My Name, He may give it you.”  (John 15:16)

2. Salvation: Quickened by God the Spirit to know our sinful state, Christ’s impeccable righteousness; and the judgement that must surely come – the Lord drew us with His cords of love and truth to know the way of Salvation in the full Atonement Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cruel Cross; and to receive his gracious gift of Salvation faith in Him.  We were ‘born again’ of God the Spirit, and adopted into the Spiritual family of the Living Lord God Jehovah.  We were truly saved by Christ.

“All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him/her that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out, for I came down from Heaven , not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.”  (John 6:37-38)

3.  Empowered:  We could never have done this great thing by a making a mere human decision; or being born into a Christian family; or by some super-human act of the fallen human will.  God had to empower us to become His Spiritual children.

“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe (trust) on His Name: which were born, not of blood (family relationship), nor of the will of the flesh (human willpower), nor of the will of man (human reasoning and decision-making), but of God.”  (John 1:12-13)

4. Kept Secure:  Once genuinely saved, we shall always be securely saved – IF we are really the elect of God!  God does the convincing of our sin; God does the ‘quickening’ of our spirit; God does the redeeming of our souls; God does the saving of our souls – and therefore, God alone is tasked with the keeping of all souls He has truly saved.  ‘Salvation is of the Lord’, from beginning to end.  Glory to His Name!

We are “…KEPT by the power of God through faith unto Salvation…” (1 Peter 1:3-5)

Thought:  God’s Word was the means of receiving this Salvation grace.  Therefore, it is God’s Word that must renew in faith all those who are lacking in Spiritual power to serve the Living Lord God Who has redeemed our never-dying souls from our sin.  In God’s great Name I say unto you, ‘Live in the full power of the Spirit of God, Christian!  Lift that Bible and recharge your spirit!’