Borrowed Prayer

John Piper quoted this in one of his sermons, and I want to quote it here-

"Search me, O God, and know my heart today; I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin; Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray. Fulfill thy Word and make me pure within. See if there be some wicked way in me; Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame; Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free. Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame;"

Jim Elliot

I have been reading Jim Elliot's journals this week, and have really enjoyed them so far. I just wanted to put up one of his entries. This is my prayer also- "Father, le me be weak that I might lose my clutch on everything temporal. My life, my reputation, my possessions, Lord, let me loose the tension of a grasping hand. Even, Father, would I lose the love of the fondling touch. Rather, open my hand to receive the nail of Calvary-as Christ's was opened-that I, releasing all, might be released, unleashed from all that binds me here."

Ephesians 5:1

I was just looking up something in my James Boice commentary on Ephesians, and I came across this part on Ephesians 5:1. Here is Ephesians 5:1-"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children.." Here is what Boice says-"Be imitators of God.' It is the only place in the Bible where these words occur, and what makes them so startling is that they point to a standard beyond which there is no other. William Barclay calls this 'the highest standard in the world.' Alexander Maclaren calls it 'the sum of all duty.' To Martyn Lloyd-Jones it was 'Paul's supreme agrument...the highest level of all doctrine and in practice...the ultimate ideal." What a high calling we have as Christians!