Category: ESV First Person

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray for the Good Things of Life and Preservation in Calamities

Petition 3.39 | ESV

We must pray for the good things of life, with a humble submission to the will of God.

Lord, you have told me that godliness holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come; 1 Timothy 4:8(ESV) and that if I seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, other things will be added to me; Matthew 6:33(ESV) and therefore, I cast all my anxieties about these things on you, who cares for me; 1 Peter 5:7(ESV) for my heavenly Father knows that I need them all. Matthew 6:32(ESV)

We must pray to be preserved from the calamities to which we are exposed.

You, Lord, are my refuge and my fortress, Psalm 91:2(ESV) and under your wings will I find refuge; your faithfulness is a shield and buckler; let me therefore not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day. Psalm 91:4-5(ESV) Having made the Lord my refuge and the Most High my dwelling place, let no evil befall me nor any plague come near my tent. Psalm 91:9-10(ESV)

Let the LORD be my keeper, even he who keeps Israel and neither slumbers nor sleeps. Let the Lord be my shade on my right hand, that the sun may not strike me by day, nor the moon by night. Let the Lord keep me from all evil; the Lord keep my life; the Lord keep my going out and my coming in, from this time forth and forevermore. Psalm 121:4-8(ESV)

Lord, put a hedge around me and my house and all that I have on every side; Job 1:10(ESV) and take sickness away from me. Exodus 23:25(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray for Grace to Fit you for Heaven

Petition 3.38 | ESV

We must pray for grace to fit us for heaven, and that we may at length be put in possession of eternal life.

Lord, qualify me to share in the inheritance of the saints in light; Colossians 1:12(ESV) let God himself prepare me for this very thing, and give me the Spirit as a guarantee in my heart. 2 Corinthians 5:5(ESV)

O that I may know that my citizenship is in heaven, and that from there, with comfort, I await a Savior, the Lord Jesus, who shall transform my lowly body to be like his glorious body. Philippians 3:20-21(ESV)

O that I may set my mind on things that are above, and that my life may be hidden with Christ in God; that when Christ, who is my life, shall appear, I also may appear with him in glory; Colossians 3:2-4(ESV) that when he shall appear, I may be like him, may see him as he is, 1 John 3:2(ESV) may behold his face in righteousness, and when I awake, may be satisfied with his likeness. Psalm 17:15(ESV)

When I fail, let me be received into the eternal dwellings, Luke 16:9(KJV) in the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God; Hebrews 11:10(ESV) that I may always be together with the Lord, 1 Thessalonians 4:17(ESV) to see as I am seen and know as I have been fully known; 1 Corinthians 13:12(ESV) and, in the meantime, help me to encourage myself and others with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:18(ESV) And hoping in Christ, may I purify myself as he is pure. 1 John 3:3(ESV)

And now, may my Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God my Father, who loved me and gave me eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort my heart and establish it in every good work and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray for the Grace Needed to Die Well

Petition 3.37 | ESV

We must pray for grace to deliver us from death* and to carry us well through our dying moments.

Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know and consider how fleeting I am, that my days are as a few handbreadths and all mankind stands as a mere breath! Psalm 39:4-5(ESV) My days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. 1 Chronicles 29:15(ESV)

Lord, so teach me to number my days, that I may get a heart of wisdom, Psalm 90:12(ESV) and make me to discern my latter end! Deuteronomy 32:29(ESV)

Lord, make me always ready, dressed for action with my lamp burning, Luke 12:35(ESV) for the Son of Man is coming at an hour I do not expect. Luke 12:40(ESV)

Keep me all the days of my service, waiting till my renewal comes; and then shall you call, and I will answer. Job 14:14-15(ESV)

Bring me to my grave like a sheaf gathered up in its season; Job 5:26(ESV) satisfy me with life, whether it be long or short, and show me your salvation. Psalm 91:16(ESV)

And when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, be with me, that I may fear no evil; let your rod and your staff comfort me. Psalm 23:4(ESV)

Let goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life, and let me dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:6(ESV) May steadfast love and faithfulness be with me. 2 Samuel 15:20(ESV)

Ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, and receive me; Psalm 49:15(ESV) guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me into glory. Psalm 73:24(ESV)

* We must all die (save those alive when the Lord comes), so the author directs us to ask for deliverance not from the inevitable fact of death, but from the fear and power of death. Editor.

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Pray for Preserving Grace

Petition 3.36 | ESV

We must pray for grace to preserve us to the end and to fit us for whatever lies before us between this and the grave.

Lord, rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into your heavenly kingdom; 2 Timothy 4:18(ESV) being kept from stumbling, may I be presented blameless at the coming of your glory with great joy. Jude 1:24(ESV)

Lord, make me increase and abound in love for your people and for all, so that my heart may be established blameless in holiness before my God and Father, at the coming of the Lord Jesus with all his saints. 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13(ESV)

If Satan demands to have me that he may sift me like wheat, yet let Christ’s intercession prevail for me that my faith may not fail. Luke 22:31-32(ESV)

Until I am taken out of the world, let me be kept from the evil one, John 17:15(ESV) and sanctified through your truth: your word is truth. John 17:17(ESV)

Build me up, I pray, in my most holy faith, and keep me in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of my Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Jude 1:20-21(ESV)

Grant that I may continue to call on you as long as I live, Psalm 116:2(ESV) and until I die, may I never put away my integrity from me; let me hold fast my righteousness and never let it go, and may my heart not reproach me for any of my days. Job 27:5-6(ESV)