Category: ESV First Person

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for the Measure of Peace you Experience

Thanksgiving 4.9 | ESV

For our own share in the public plenty, peace, and tranquility.

When I have eaten and am full, I have reason to bless you for the good land that you have given me, Deuteronomy 8:10(ESV) a land which the eyes of the LORD my God are always upon, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Deuteronomy 11:12(ESV)

You make peace in my borders and fill me with the finest of the wheat: Psalm 147:14(ESV) I am delivered from the sound of archers at the watering places; there, therefore, will I repeat the righteous triumphs of the LORD, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel. Judges 5:11(ESV)

I thank you that the powers that are set over me are servants of God for my good; Romans 13:4(ESV) that they seek the welfare of your people and speak peace to all your people. Esther 10:3(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for your Successes and Good Relationships

Thanksgiving 4.8 | ESV

For success in our callings and affairs, comfort in relations, and comfortable places of abode.

It is God who equips me with strength and makes my way blameless, Psalm 18:32(ESV) who has blessed the work of my hands; Job 1:10(ESV) and it may be that though my beginning was small, yet my latter days will be very great. Job 8:7(ESV)

My house has been safe from fear, and there has been no rod of God upon me; Job 21:9(ESV) so that glad songs of salvation have been in my tent from day to day. Psalm 118:15(ESV)

With my staff it may be I have crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps; Genesis 32:10(ESV) and it is God who settles the solitary in homes. Psalm 68:6(ESV)

If I have enjoyed life with my relations, Ecclesiastes 9:9(ESV) and they have been to me as a lovely deer, a graceful doe, Proverbs 5:19(ESV) I must give you thanks for it; for every creature is that to me, and no more, that you make it to be.

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for the Supports and Comforts of this Life

Thanksgiving 4.7 | ESV

For the supports and comforts of this life, which have thus far made the land of our pilgrimage easy and pleasant to us.

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears me up; God is my salvation. Psalm 68:19(ESV)

You make me lie down in green pastures; you feed me beside the still waters. Psalm 23:2(ESV) You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head, and my cup overflows. Psalm 23:5(ESV)

It may be I was sent out with no moneybag or knapsack, but did I lack anything? Nothing, Lord. Luke 22:35(ESV)

The lamp of God has shone upon my head, and by his light I have walked through darkness, and the friendship of God has been upon my tent. Job 29:3-4(ESV)

You have richly provided me with everything to enjoy, 1 Timothy 6:17(ESV) and have brought plentifully into my hand. Job 12:6(KJV)

Many a time I have eaten and been filled, and have delighted myself in your great goodness. Nehemiah 9:25(ESV)

When I remember all the ways that the LORD my God has led me for so many years in this wilderness, Deuteronomy 8:2(ESV) I must here set up a stone and call it Ebenezer, for till now the LORD has helped me. 1 Samuel 7:12(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for Granting you Recovery from Danger

Thanksgiving 4.6 | ESV

For signal recoveries from danger by sickness or otherwise.

When perhaps there has been but a step between me and death, 1 Samuel 20:3(ESV) and when I have felt that I have received the sentence of death, 2 Corinthians 1:9(ESV) and have been ready to say, “In the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years”; Isaiah 38:10(ESV) yet in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction and cast all my sins behind your back. Isaiah 38:17(ESV)

When the snares of death have encompassed me and the pangs of Sheol have laid hold on me, I have called on the name of the LORD and have found that gracious is the LORD, and righteous, yes, my God is merciful; I have been brought low, and he has saved me, Psalm 116:3-6(ESV) and has delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling. I will therefore walk before the LORD in the land of the living. Psalm 116:8-9(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for Preserving you

Thanksgiving 4.5 | ESV

We must give thanks for our preservation; that our lives are prolonged and the use of our reason and understanding, our limbs and senses, are continued to us.

It was owing to your good providence that I did not die at birth, and did not come out from the womb and expire; that the knees received me, and the breasts, that I should nurse. Job 3:11-12(ESV)

Though before birth I was called a rebel, Isaiah 48:8(ESV) yet by your power I have been borne by you from before my birth and carried from the womb; Isaiah 46:3(ESV) and you keep my soul among the living and have not let my foot slip. Psalm 66:9(ESV)

All my bones shall say, “O LORD, who is like you!” Psalm 35:10(ESV) For you keep the bones, and not one of them is broken. Psalm 34:20(ESV)

I lay down and sleep, for you, LORD, make me to dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8(ESV)

You have commanded your angels concerning me, to guard me in all my ways; to bear me up in their hands, lest I strike my foot against a stone. Psalm 91:11-12(ESV) And they are all ministering spirits, sent out to serve for the good of those who are to inherit salvation. Hebrews 1:14(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for Making you in His Image

Thanksgiving 4.4 | ESV

Secondly, With reference to ourselves in particular.

We must give thanks that he has made us reasonable creatures, capable of knowing, loving, serving, and enjoying him, and that he has not made us like the beasts that perish.

We praise you, for we are fearfully and wonderfully made; and that our souls, our nobler part, know very well; Psalm 139:14(ESV) for no man knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him. 1 Corinthians 2:11(ESV)

You have made us of that rank of beings which is a little lower than the heavenly beings and is crowned with glory and honor; Psalm 8:5(ESV) for it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand; Job 32:8(ESV) and the spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD. Proverbs 20:27(ESV)

Our bodies are capable of being the temples of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6:19(ESV) and our souls of having the Spirit of God dwell in them; 1 Corinthians 3:16(ESV) we therefore glorify you with our bodies and with our spirits, which are both yours. 1 Corinthians 6:20(KJV)

You, Lord, have formed us for yourself, that we might declare your praise. Isaiah 43:21(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for the Many Instances of His Goodness and Kind Providence (continued)

Thanksgiving 4.3 | ESV

The heavens are the LORD’s heavens, but the earth you have given to the children of man; Psalm 115:16(ESV) and you have put all things under their feet, and given them dominion over the works of your hands; Psalm 8:6(ESV) so that the fear of man and the dread of man is upon every beast of the earth and upon the birds of the heavens, and into his hand they are delivered; Genesis 9:2(ESV) because you had a favor to him and delighted in the children of man. Proverbs 8:31(ESV)

You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that you may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen his heart. Psalm 104:14-15(ESV)

You give to all life and breath and everything; Acts 17:25(ESV) and the earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love. Psalm 119:64(ESV)

All the creatures look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. Psalm 104:27-28(ESV) When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. This, your glory, shall endure forever, and you rejoice in these works. Psalm 104:30-31(ESV)

It is through your goodness, O Lord, that as one generation of mankind goes, another generation comes; Ecclesiastes 1:4(ESV) and that you have not blotted out the name of that corrupt and guilty race from under heaven. Deuteronomy 29:20(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for the Many Instances of His Goodness and Kind Providence

Thanksgiving 4.2 | ESV

With reference to all the creatures and the world of mankind in general. [continued]

You did not leave yourself without witness among the nations, in that you did good by giving them rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying their hearts with food and gladness. Acts 14:17(ESV)

You cover the heavens with clouds, and prepare rain for the earth, and make grass grow on the hills. You give to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry. Psalm 147:8-9(ESV)

You bring rain on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land. Job 38:26-27(ESV)

You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks* overflow with abundance. Psalm 65:9-11(ESV)

You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills; they give drink to every beast of the field; and beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches. Psalm 104:10-12(ESV)

You have set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved; Psalm 104:5(ESV) you set a boundary to the waters of the sea, so that they might not again cover the earth. Psalm 104:9(ESV) You have shut up the sea with doors, Job 38:8(ESV) and prescribed limits for it, saying, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther; here shall your proud waves be stayed.” Job 38:10-11(ESV) And you have made good what you have sworn, that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth. Isaiah 54:9(ESV)

Your covenant with the day and with the night is not broken; Jeremiah 33:20(ESV) but still you give the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Jeremiah 31:35(ESV) and are faithful to that covenant of providence: That while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease. Genesis 8:22(ESV)

* paths

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Be Particular in your Thanks to God, Marvel at His Good Nature and Kind Providence

Thanksgiving 4.1 | ESV

We must be particular in our thanksgivings to God:

For the discoveries that he has made to us in his word of the goodness of his nature.

We give thanks to the God of gods, to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 136:2-3(ESV)

Your goodness is your glory, Exodus 33:19(ESV) and it is for that which all your works give thanks to you and all your saints bless you. Psalm 145:10(ESV)

You are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, Psalm 145:8(ESV) and have told us that you do not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men; but, though you cause grief, you will have compassion according to the abundance of your steadfast love. Lamentations 3:32-33(ESV)

You take pleasure in those who fear you, in those who hope in your steadfast love. Psalm 147:11(ESV)

For the many instances of his goodness.

The goodness of his providence relating to our bodies and the life that now is; and this,

1st, With reference to all the creatures and the world of mankind in general.

You have stretched out the heavens like a tent, Psalm 104:2(ESV) and in them you have set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Psalm 19:4-5(ESV) And you make your sun rise on the evil and on the good, and send rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45(ESV)

When we look at the heavens, the work of your fingers, the sun, the moon, and the stars which you have set in place, Lord, what is man that you care for him? Psalm 8:3-4(ESV) For truly the light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun: Ecclesiastes 11:7(ESV) All glory be to the Father of light, James 1:17(ESV) who commands the morning and causes the dawn to know its place. Job 38:12(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Introduction and Exhortation to Stir Yourself Up to Praise God

Thanksgiving 4.0 | ESV

Of the Fourth Part of Prayer, which is Thanksgivings for the Mercies we have Received from God and the Many Favors of His we are Interested in and Have and Hope for Benefit by:

Our errand at the throne of grace is not only to seek the favor of God, but to ascribe to him the glory due his name, Psalm 29:2(ESV)  and that, not only by an awful adoration of his infinite perfections, but by a grateful acknowledgment of his goodness to us, which cannot indeed add anything to his glory, but he is pleased to accept of it and to reckon himself glorified by it, if it comes from a heart that is humbly sensible of its own unworthiness to receive any favor from God, that values the gifts and loves the Giver of them.

We must stir up ourselves to praise God with the consideration both of the reason and of the encouragement we have to praise him.

I give thanks to you, O God; I give thanks to you, for your name is near. I recount your wondrous deeds. Psalm 75:1(ESV)

Let my soul bless the LORD, and let all that is within me bless his holy name; yes, let my soul bless the LORD and forget not all his benefits. Psalm 103:1-2(ESV)

I will praise the Lord, for it is good, it is pleasant, Psalm 92:1(ESV) and praise befits the upright; Psalm 33:1(ESV) yes, it is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night. Psalm 92:1-2(ESV)

I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever; Psalm 145:1-2(ESV) I will pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and sing aloud of your righteousness. Psalm 145:7(ESV)

I will sing to the LORD a new song and his praise in the assembly of the godly. Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King. Psalm 149:1-2(ESV) Let the godly exult in glory, and let the high praises of God be in their hearts and in their throats. Psalm 149:5-6(ESV)

I will bless the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being; Psalm 146:2(ESV) and when I have no being on earth, I hope to have a being in heaven, to be doing it better.

I am here through Jesus Christ to offer up a sacrifice of praise to you, which I desire to do continually, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge your name. Hebrews 13:15(ESV) And you have said that he who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies you, Psalm 50:23(ESV) and that this will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. Psalm 69:31(ESV)

I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted me, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love. Isaiah 63:7(ESV)