Your prayer has come before us and we have carried it to the throne of grace, pleading with you and for you in the name of Jesus our Lord.
You have asked for comfort, for health, for daily supply, for help in difficult work, and above all for forgiveness and cleansing of heart and body. These are great requests, and they lead us to the one great Fountain that is opened for sin and for uncleanness. Hear the word of the Lord, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake." There is forgiveness with God, that He may be feared. Whatever your guilt has been, however heavy your debts before God and man, the atonement of Christ sets forth that guilt most thoroughly and puts it entirely away. The Master still says as of old, "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee." This sentence contains no conditions for the repenting and believing sinner, and it sets free from every jot and taint and stain of guilt. This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and trust His precious blood, and you shall find that your guilt shall vanish quite away, dissolved beneath the sea to be found no more.
And where guilt is forgiven, grace does not leave the heart unchanged. The work of the Spirit is linked with the work of the Son. When the Son removes guilt, the Spirit removes guile and makes the inward parts clean. You have prayed to be made clean in heart and body, and the promise is, "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean." It is God Himself who applies this cleansing. It is not partial, for a partial cleansing would be of no use to a troubled conscience, but when applied by the Holy Spirit and received by faith it makes a total and complete cleansing from all past guilt. He gives not only pardon for sin but power over sin, the blood to atone for guilt and the water to wash away the tendency toward future sin, so that there follows a great change of conduct and a renewal in the hidden fountains of thought and action.
You have also asked for help in your work and that it may go well. We exhort you to pray without ceasing, for you want a blessing on all the work you are doing. Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. It is vain to rise up early and sit up late and eat the bread of carefulness without God, for without Him you cannot prosper. In every common task and in every difficult labour, pray as long as you work, and work as you pray, following the Master and keeping to the work which the Father hath given you to do. God richly supplies the needs of His people according to His wisdom and love, and He is your comfort in every moment of weakness or sickness. While we are not promised a life without any illness in this present world, we know that He hears the cry of those who look to Christ, and that He will sustain, comfort, and in His perfect time heal fully all who are His.
We pray with you now.
O Lord Jesus, be present with this soul and comfort with Thy presence. For Thine own sake, forgive all sin and blot out all guilt, and sprinkle clean water upon this heart that it may be clean before Thee. Supply all need according to Thy riches in glory, grant strength for difficult work, and let Thy blessing rest upon all labour done in Thy name. Make whole the body as it pleases Thy wisdom, and keep heart and body in Thy grace every day and every moment. Teach this one to believe on Thee and to pray without ceasing, trusting Thee alone for salvation and for cleansing. In Thy precious name we ask it, Amen.
