Reflecting on the Attributes of God

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Last Sunday evening, our Church began what I hope will be a long series of 1st Sunday Prayer meetings. We had a nice turnout of a little over 20 people, all gathered to lift up holy hands in prayer.

Our first work of prayer together was to simply give thanks to God for who God is. To help facilitate our prayer, I asked for those in attendance to list some of the attributes of God for which we are especially thankful. I nearly ran out of room on my dry-erase board. Here are a few of the attributes listed:

That God is:

  • Infinite, Eternal, and Unchangeable
  • Divine and Sovereign
  • Righteous and Just
  • Merciful, Patience, and Forgiving
  • All-powerful and all-wise
  • Good, Loving, and Accessible

This was a wonderful exercise, and really helped us to begin our time of prayer together on the right foot.

In a similar vein, I thought I’d share some points from á Brakel’s The Christian’s Reasonable Service on ways to reflect upon the attributes of God. May this be as rich and informative for you as it was for me.

In order to be properly engaged in the contemplation of God, and thereby to increase in the knowledge and love of God, the following directions are to be observed:

First, maintain a lively impression that you are but an insignificant creature, and seek to persevere in such a spiritual frame. Realize that your soul’s ability for comprehension is very limited and that a matter may readily exceed your understanding.

Secondly, be more passive in your contemplation of God and allow yourself to be more illuminated with divine light. Quietly follow that light with your thoughts and permit yourself to be influenced by it rather than wearying your soul with rational deductions, so the soul may move beyond the illumination granted at that moment.

Thirdly, in doing so it is essential that the soul in all simplicity approves of God’s revelation of Himself and refrains from hankering to comprehend this revelation. If one seeks to penetrate the manner of God’s existence intellectually—that is, His eternity, infinity, omniscience, omnipotence, and internal motions—it will of necessity bring the soul in darkness and various temptations will emerge as a result, for the mind then contemplates things which are beyond its reach. Therefore, one should quickly resist any inclination to ponder about the “why” and the “how” of God’s existence, nipping any temptations in the bud.

Fourthly, in order for the soul to contemplate upon God in a manner which is becoming of Him, he must seek to be in a godly frame of mind and be emptied of sinful desires and world conformity, for “the secret of the LORD is with them that fear Him” (Psa. 25:14).

Fifthly, in doing so historical faith must be very active. This means that as we come to the Word, we will read what God says about Himself, without contradiction accept it as the truth, and conclude and confess that God is such as He reveals Himself to be.

Sixthly, it is essential that one considers God to be His God in Christ. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is to be found in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). Outside of Christ God is a terror, and can only be viewed as a consuming fire. In Christ, however, one may have liberty; and God reveals Himself to such who approach unto Him in that way.

à Brakel, Wilhelmus. The Christian’s Reasonable Service. Edited by Joel R. Beeke. Translated by Bartel Elshout. Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 1992.

Only A Prayer Meeting

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My heart is overjoyed!

This Sunday we are starting a month prayer meeting at the Church, a time to come together on Sunday evening to meet with our brothers and sisters in Christ and bring our supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving before our God who cares for us. This regular meeting has been a long-standing prayer and desire of mine for the Church, and I am confident that this is the beginning of a new day for our congregation.

Where the church as been easily divided and unity of being in one accord is threatened, where we have lost sight of our great commission, where we have been weak and ineffective – it is because we have neglected this essential means of grace. Spending time together, praying boldly, asking humbly, expressing faithfully our desire for God’s glory in and through His Church, though not a quick fix, will strengthen the Church and enable us to weather the coming storms.

As we embark on this ministry of prayer, I thought I’d share with you a brief portion of an address given by Charles Spurgeon at one of his prayer meetings. Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers,” helped to organize what became a weekly prayer meeting at his church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle (London), which had hundreds of members gathered each week in prayer. He famously called these prayer meetings the “Boiler Room” of the church, Spurgeon saw the prayers of his people seeking the grace and favor of God’s Holy Spirit as the spiritual power behind his preaching and ministry. Here is a portion of Spurgeon’s address: Only a Prayer Meeting!

What a company we have here tonight! It fills my heart with gladness, and my eyes with tears of joy, to see so many hundreds of persons gathered together at what is sometimes called ‘only a prayer meeting.’ It is good for us to draw nigh to God in prayer, and specially good to make up a great congregation for such a purpose. We have attended little prayer meetings of four or five, and we have been glad to be there, for we had the promise of our Lord’s presence; but our minds are grieved to see so little attention given to united prayer by many of our churches. We have longed to see great numbers of God’s people coming up to pray, and we now enjoy this sight. Let us praise God that it is so. How could we expect a blessing if we were too idle to ask for it? How could we look for a Pentecost if we never met with one accord, in one place, to wait upon the Lord? Brethren, we shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians. To mix it up with the weeknight lecture, and really make an end of it, is a sad sign of declension. I wonder some two or three earnest souls in such churches do not band themselves together to restore the meeting for prayer, and bind themselves with a pledge to keep it up whether the minister will come to it or not.

Spurgeon, Charles H. Only A Prayer Meeting (London, 2022; Christian Focus Publications) Page 9.

Brothers and Sisters, let us pledge to join with one another as the body of Christ for prayer. May we pray boldly, humbly seeking God’s grace and favor for His Church, interceding for the lost, making supplication for the needy, and in all things giving thanks to God through Christ Jesus our Lord!

SDG