Counting Our Blessings: A Prayer about the Effectual Calling of God
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This is the tenth installment in a series of prayers based on the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647). To learn more about the history of the Westminster Standards, please click here.
The Westminster Confession of Faith—Effectual Calling
All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and, by His almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ: yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace. — Westminster Confession of Faith 10.1
How long Father until you save those for whom I have been praying?
Father in Heaven,
When hearts seem just as hard as they were when I started praying for them, I begin to wonder if I should quit praying—O Lord, may I never! I can’t quit, for like the apostle Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). I have nowhere else to turn for my salvation or the salvation of my loved ones. You alone give life through your calling people out of the estate of sin and death and into grace and salvation in Jesus Christ. So, even though I have not yet seen some of my prayers answered, I keep looking to you Jesus, as you reveal yourself in your word. I follow the apostle Peter in confessing, “We have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:69).
No one else is as powerful and as gracious as you.
As the Holy One of God, you effectually call a people to yourself. No one else is as powerful and as gracious as you. You alone predestinate people to life (Eph. 1:11). Nothing can thwart your plan (Job 42:2, Prov. 21:30). We see this to be true in your plan of salvation. Everyone you have chosen to save is saved in your appointed time (Eph. 1:10).
There is no salvation apart from your initial and effectual call.
By your grace, I can wait for your timing, for I know that our salvation depends entirely upon you, from start to finish. No one can come to you unless you first draw him, and the one you first draw you will raise up on the last day (John 6:44). As you tell us in your word, those you predestinate you also called, those you called you also justified, and those you justified you also glorified (Rom. 8:30). There is no salvation apart from your initial and effectual call (Rom. 11:7), and any salvation you start you finish (Phil. 1:6). You deserve all the thanks and glory, even today.
Even while you use us, you are the one who does the work.
I confess there have been times that I have impatiently thought, to my shame, that if I just argued enough, in just the right way, I could bring someone to saving faith in Christ by my own strength. If someone didn’t believe, it was because I hadn’t put enough muscle into it, so I thought. Lord, please forgive me. I was mistaken and naïve. This is your work. Even while you use us, you are the one who does the work.
You chose all who are in Christ to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit.
So, I pray to you, asking that you would work by your word and Spirit for this is how you carry out your salvation. You chose all who are in Christ to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit through belief in the truth (2 Thess. 2:13). Thank you for your Spirit indwelling us who believe and for your word which we recognize as the truth. We could not be saved with one and not the other. But together, your word and Spirit work wonders. Your Spirit writes your word on our hearts so that we ourselves become a letter testifying to the gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3:3). Thank you for this high privilege.
We need your Spirit to give us understanding and power to obey wholeheartedly.
Please forgive us, your children, for neglecting your word and Spirit. We neglect your word by not reading it, by not listening to it attentively, by not treasuring its promises, by not regularly consulting it for wisdom, and by not sharing it with others. It is not you who are slow to save, but we who are slow to come to you through your word. Likewise, forgive us for not calling upon your Spirit when we do turn to your word. We need your Spirit to give us understanding and power to obey wholeheartedly. Help us to pray earnestly as we turn to your word. Please, apply your word to our hearts by your Spirit that we may be strengthened for our journey.
As new creatures in Christ, you have given us new freedom.
And what a great journey you have called us to—out of a state of sin and death in which we are by nature into grace and salvation in Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:2). I cannot imagine a greater transformation. Please help me to remember what you have done in me and promise to complete, so that I may have confidence that you can do this work in others for whom I pray. I look back at my life and remember how weary and hopeless I was in the state of sin and death. Thank you for calling me out of that state permanently. You have given us new freedom as new creatures in Christ. The law of the Spirit of life has set us free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2). You have set us free in our mind, our heart, and our will. Please continue to set hearts free in this love!
Your electing grace does not abolish my freedom but rather establishes it.
And now by your grace, my will is free to follow Christ. I want to obey. My will is now that your will be done (Matt. 26:39). And when I struggle to obey (Rom. 7), you renew my will to follow yours. Thank you for working in me to will and to work for your good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). Your will works with mine, and yet my will is still genuinely mine. Your electing grace does not abolish my freedom but rather establishes it, so that I offer myself freely to you (Ps. 110:3). All of us who are given to Jesus come to him by our own will (John 6:37). Please give my loved ones the deep desire to follow Jesus, some of them for the very first time.
May we never quit praying for you to call and to save.
I pray that I and many will be comforted by what you reveal about your effectual calling. Please assure preachers that their labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58), that every word preached will fulfill its purpose because it is guided by the Holy Spirit. May believers know that when you plan to draw someone to yourself, you will assuredly do it. Let this confidence put to rest our despair and spur us on in our prayers. May we never quit praying for you to call and to save. Lord, today may you call sinners to yourself, even those for whom we have been praying for many years.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
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