Previously, we covered: The Conception of a Disciple, The Miracle of Birth, and Changing the Diapers. Now the conclusion-

by Austin Ricketts

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(previous article in series)

Razing Cain

Mortification of the flesh which we war against is the constant goal in the process of sanctification. We must always be seeking to raze, or burn our sin to dust in the hopes that Christ will be revealed in us. As I sought to pray and to seek God in a new way, this was my chief goal. With the Liturgy of prayer before me, I had a powerful tool against the devices of the evil one.

With this in mind, I bowed before the throne of the Sovereign LORD and, with the aid of my Advocate, I spoke boldly. I began with an Invocation, asking the Lord to meet with me. I believed that He would meet with me, yet I could not assume anything; I didn’t want to.

After this, I prayed the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew chapter six, which proceeded to instill within my mind the proper mode and order of prayer. Shortly following would be the Salutation. This is where God sends His peace and assures that He will meet with us. “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

A proper Liturgy has the reading of the Law. This is to reveal your sin to you and show you the need for repentance. So, naturally, I included this into my Liturgy of Prayer. I wanted to raze the “Cain” that is always within me. Praying through the Ten Commandments helped to convey my sin to me, and thus opened my heart to repentance.

As my heart was opened, I began to confess my sins before the just and supreme Judge of the entire universe. As many sins as would come to my mind, I would confess them. After I confessed all of these, I would ask the Lord to forgive me for not loving Him with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength. I would also ask forgiveness for not loving my neighbor as my self. I did all of this to make sure that I confessed as well as possible before the Judge.

Now the dawn would appear, it was time for the Absolution. During this time I would read Psalm 103:1-3, 10-14 and Psalm 12:6. These verses assured me that the Lord is merciful, true and trustworthy. I was pronounced innocent on account of the One who took my place. Even if I could not remember all of my sins to ask forgiveness for them, He has forgiven me by the blood of the holy Lamb.

Quickly enough, the petitions and pleas would start rolling off of my tongue. I asked for many things before the Lord and thanked Him for many as well. These were some of the closest times I had ever spent with the Father. I am thankful that He gave me this idea of Liturgy.

As the time came to close, I would pray a Benediction asking the Lord to keep me safe and well until the next time I came before Him. “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep my heart and mind in the knowledge and love of God, and of His Son Jesus Christ my Lord: and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be with me, and remain with me always. Amen.”

Adulthood?

This Discipline was one of the best things that I’ve ever done. I believe it taught me a deeper knowledge and gave me a greater respect and reverence for Him. Overall, it was a tremendously positive experience.

From doing this discipline I have learned how to keep my focus as I pray. Before this I would normally only pray at night before I went to bed. This was not a bad thing for the most part and I would normally pray for a large quantity of time, however, my prayers tended to lack focus and I would go off on rabbit trails and forget where I started or where I was going. With the introduction of this Liturgy of Prayer, I remained focused and it seemed to me that I prayed with greater intensity and depth. I still continued to pray at night before I went to bed but I would no longer lie in bed as I was praying which helped substantially.

The only negative aspect of this discipline is that it takes a lot of time to complete. I would usually average forty minutes and sometimes an hour would pass before I was finished praying. This caused me to struggle. Many days would go by where I would neglect to sit down and pray through the Liturgy. This struggle highlighted the weakness of my flesh to do anything out of my own strength in service of God. This was the most important lesson about sanctification that I could have learned. We will always fail in our attempts to work out our salvation, even with fear and trembling. We must finally rely upon and rest in the fact that Christ has done all the work for us already. Our desire for discipline must grow out of the gratitude for what Christ definitively achieved on the cross, nothing less than our whole salvation.

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