“Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people . . . Talk of His wondrous works! . . . Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth” (Psalm 105:1-2, 5).
Dear Praying Friends:
We must not forget what God has done for his people and for us, but we should remember his wondrous works towards his people and in our lives. Only in this way can we give thanks, call upon him in renewed prayer, and declare his praises among the peoples.
What, in particular, should we remember? That God “remembers His covenant forever . . . which He made with Abraham” (Psalm 105:9). He kept his promises to Abraham to give his descendants a land and to bless all nations in his “seed,” that is, Christ (Genesis 12:2-3; Galatians 3:16). Most of all, he sent his Son to live and die and rise for our salvation, and he has given us the Lord’s Supper as the main way we remember what he has done for us in Christ (1 Corinthians 11:24-25).
In our own lives, it’s good for us to write down and recall his many blessings to us, to fuel our gratitude, our prayers, and our witness to others.
That’s why I include a “thank you for praying last week” section in these weekly letters. It’s also the principal motivation for the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity (bdcconline.net), in which we record God’s mercies to foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians.
Thank you for praying last week. God enabled me to attend to some important household matters, complete the story on Roland Allen, write a monthly prayer letter, and continue composing notes on 2 Timothy. The review of Richard Cook’s Darkest before the Dawn should be finished tomorrow. Look for these soon at bdcconline.net and reachingchineseworldwide.org, respectively.
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits” (Psalm 103:2).
Yours in his abundant grace,
Wright