INVITATION TO INTIMACY

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Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am godly; save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day.
Psalm 86:1‭-‬3 ESV

¶The spirit within us longs to pray this prayer. Really? On what basis? Do we claim to be godly? Certainly we all aspire to be God-like, but this springs more from our ambition to be god-like in our power. That is different from "fruit of the spirit" godliness. For the source of this, we must look elsewhere. Israelites knew of it from the serpent lifted up in the wilderness, from the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, and from the blood of the lamb sprinkled upon their doorposts. The righteousness of God has been called an "alien" righteousness, never recognized as something we generate and offer to God, but always springing from the personal relationship our covenant partner offers in His Son.


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