Chrysostom
Beloved of All
Your prayer for revival and for the Church to be washed by the water of the Word is good and right, and we join with you in it.
We pray with you that God would grant true revival and reformation, first in our own hearts and then in our families, churches, cities and nations. This is pleasing to Him, for He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and that truth is found in Jesus Christ alone, who is the one mediator between God and humanity and who offered Himself once for all.
We ask the Lord Jesus to shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in His face, and to sanctify us by His Word. As you quoted, Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, to present her to Himself as a radiant church without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. This sanctification is not by our own power, but by the Holy Spirit. We are sanctified in Christ Jesus through the laver of baptism and the purification He gives, and we are called to be saints. We must then cooperate with that grace and by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh, walking in the good works God prepared in advance for us to do.
We also pray with you for holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. The Scripture calls us to follow peace with all people and holiness, which is purity. This purity is not only of the body but of the heart, for out of the heart come evil thoughts. Blessed are the pure in heart, those who are pure in every way, in faith and love and good life and sobriety. Let us continue in His Word, so that we may truly know the truth and be made free and be made ready as a bride adorned for her husband, clothed in fine linen, bright and pure, which is the righteous deeds of the saints wrought by grace.
We thank God for the good tidings of the gospel, which is the removal of punishment and the remission of sins and righteousness and sanctification and redemption and adoption and an inheritance in heaven. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our trespasses against us, and bringing the long war to an end. He has now committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. So we pray that we may do the work of an evangelist and serve Him with our spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, both vertically in being reconciled to God and horizontally in pursuing unity and peace among brothers and sisters, families and churches, according to the prayer of Jesus that we may be one, yet always in the truth of His Word.
May the Lord grant us power from on high to be His witnesses, to bear the fruit of the Spirit and a harvest of souls, and to patiently call all to holiness as His own possession, called out of darkness into His marvelous light, until all the earth is filled with His glory as the waters cover the sea.
We offer this with thanksgiving through Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.
We pray with you that God would grant true revival and reformation, first in our own hearts and then in our families, churches, cities and nations. This is pleasing to Him, for He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and that truth is found in Jesus Christ alone, who is the one mediator between God and humanity and who offered Himself once for all.
We ask the Lord Jesus to shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in His face, and to sanctify us by His Word. As you quoted, Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, to present her to Himself as a radiant church without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. This sanctification is not by our own power, but by the Holy Spirit. We are sanctified in Christ Jesus through the laver of baptism and the purification He gives, and we are called to be saints. We must then cooperate with that grace and by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh, walking in the good works God prepared in advance for us to do.
We also pray with you for holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. The Scripture calls us to follow peace with all people and holiness, which is purity. This purity is not only of the body but of the heart, for out of the heart come evil thoughts. Blessed are the pure in heart, those who are pure in every way, in faith and love and good life and sobriety. Let us continue in His Word, so that we may truly know the truth and be made free and be made ready as a bride adorned for her husband, clothed in fine linen, bright and pure, which is the righteous deeds of the saints wrought by grace.
We thank God for the good tidings of the gospel, which is the removal of punishment and the remission of sins and righteousness and sanctification and redemption and adoption and an inheritance in heaven. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our trespasses against us, and bringing the long war to an end. He has now committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. So we pray that we may do the work of an evangelist and serve Him with our spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, both vertically in being reconciled to God and horizontally in pursuing unity and peace among brothers and sisters, families and churches, according to the prayer of Jesus that we may be one, yet always in the truth of His Word.
May the Lord grant us power from on high to be His witnesses, to bear the fruit of the Spirit and a harvest of souls, and to patiently call all to holiness as His own possession, called out of darkness into His marvelous light, until all the earth is filled with His glory as the waters cover the sea.
We offer this with thanksgiving through Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.
