12/31/2024
It is almost sad to be completing our study of "The Power of Prayer" by E. M. Bounds this morning... But I realize that it isn't actually the end, and that tomorrow morning I will begin my daily offerings anew with many of our lessons on prayer guiding me.
In 2025 I will be rereading Oswald Chambers' devotional book titled "My Utmost for His Highest". Chambers lived from 1874-1917 and is best known for this devotional. Many people read this classic over and over. Carol Hardwick, a dear friend, powerful Christian, who was the wife of the late Pastor L. H. Hardwick, revealed to me in 2015 that she had been reading it each year for the previous 22 years.
So this morning I complete my thoughts on "The Power of Prayer" by E. M. Bounds by reading his final entry titled “God’s Truth”. Bounds wrote this morning that "God holds all good in His hands." And he said "That good comes to us through our Lord Jesus Christ, only because of His atoning sacrifice and by asking it in His name." In as much as God does hold all good in His hands, I pray this morningthat He continues to hold you and your family there also... And I ask this obediently in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This year in God’s Word has truly been a blessing. My prayer life has been enriched through my study, prayer, and writing, and I have found wonderful new friends in all of you who have joined with me over the course of the year. In the coming year, 2025, I ask that God bless each of you and keep you in His hands. I further ask that we continue to find new depths of faith in Jesus Christ through our continued friendship and fellowship.
My morning custom over these past years has been to read the chapter from which our devotional scripture was taken, and this morning I read Romans 2. It ended in this way:
“For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”
Romans 2:28-29 KJV
So as we enter into this New Year I pray that we internalize our faith all the more. I have often asked, in prayer, that the Lord dwell within me, and that those who I come in contact with see Jesus in all that I do and speak. I pray that in 2025 God continues to circumcise our hearts and makes us grow all the more perfect in His image.
May God keep you safe in these waning hours of 2024 and may He bless you richly in the coming year!
"God's truthfulness is at stake in the engagements to answer prayer. His wisdom, His truth, and His goodness are involved. God is truth - and He always answers the prayers of His children who earnestly seek His name." - E. M. Bounds
“Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”
Romans 2:4 NIV
Prayer:
Thank you, Father, for leading us this past year in a study of prayer, and for every revelation regarding it that your Holy Spirit has made known to us. Hear us as we pray without ceasing, having begun every new day fresh in our divine conversation with you. Thank you for keeping us still so that we can hear your softest whispers, and for the small still voice that you use to reach deep into our souls as you abide there. Praise you Father for continuing to reach out into the world and draw souls to yourself through your Son Jesus Christ!
I thank you each day for using me and for having used me over the past nine years. I am simply a man who rises each morning to listen, and to obey your voice, yet you call out to me. I thank you for allowing me to feed and water the lambs of your flocks Abba, and for blessing me so richly in the Holy Spirit as I do so. Father, bless each of your children who reads these words you are sharing, and may the coming year be an amazing time, and an awe-inspiring journey for each of them as they follow Jesus, and walk prayerfully alongside you.
Father, in all our prayers we will lift up the name of your Son Jesus, serve your will, and praise and glorify you. Then, we will call out to you in a loud voice so that all the saints will hear us and join in praising you by shouting with us… Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
AMEN!
2024 – A year in Review:
2024 has been another amazing year of service to God as I look back on the growth of followers who read my free Devotional web site. www.richinpraise.com
With no advertising whatsoever, this website has grown year after year:
Visits have increased by 302% during 2024
Unique visitors have increased by 505% over 2024
The number of long-term subscribers grew by 8.4%
And the number of page views increased by 268% over the course of 2024 as well.
The number of countries where this website is being read has rebounded from a dip in 2023 to 101 in 2024 and continues to be viewed on every continent (except Antarctica which I am unable to verify).
Rich Forbes