From the Desiring God National conference this Fall in Minneapolis I am reminded of a short excerpt from the first panel discussion with Justin Taylor, John MacArthur and John Piper. The question was over responding to discouragement. Piper gave this glimpse into his (very humbling) prayer life.
“Probably, I pray the prayer ‘keep me’ and ‘preserve me’ as often as I pray any prayer. Keep me saved – because I think God uses means to cause us to persevere. Keep me in the ministry – I don’t want to be a short-lived person [minister]. Keep me married – I don’t want to wreck it that way. Keep me! I pray that: ‘now unto him that is able to keep you from falling’ (Jude 24, KJV). I pray that blessing down on me a lot.”
Whether we are discouraged or not, that’s a great outline for our personal prayers.
Tony Reinke 
I remember that as well and agree it is an excellent little tool/guide to “push” us into prayer when discouragement looms. His A.P.T.A.T. is great too.
I myself have been going through a wilderness as of late and seemingly everything in my walk has become as parched and desolate as a desert wandering, but I still trust Him that it is for my greater good, so I endure with the grace given.
These little guides for prayer and devotion pay dividends when Christians are in that “dark night of the soul” where it seems the floor has been swiped from beneath you and all motivation to come before the throne seems helplessly lost.
But as Piper said, ya gotta grab those promises and hold on for dear life!!!!
That’s exactly right, my friend. You latch on to those promises with both hands and pray that God keeps you! Let me know if there is any specific way we can care for you online. Blessings! Tony
Tony, and I say this in all sincerity and truth, your blog has been seeing me through tremendously. I say that with a watery eye because it has been a hard line to tow and the gems I dig from here are very precious to me.
I appreciate your correct perspective and posts that are always on time for me.
I say these things not to puff up your head, but because it is as true to me as my gospel is.
Thank you. :)
That’s amazing. This afternoon I felt a strong burden to post this, though God is pouring out grace and blessing like never before. I now know why. Praying for you, my friend! Tony
And as an aside, it seems like Piper is the only one who gets this “dark night of the soul” that the majority of us go through in our walk….especially to those of us who are melancholy and introverted. I’ve heard sermons of his where he described himself as the same personality….prone to discouragement. I think it was in his Q and A with MacArthur at the Perseverance conference.
It’s a real issue…not all of this walk is on mountain tops. Much is fought in the valleys and the absolute merciful blessing desiringGod has been to me with their free downloadable resources in incalculable. It’s taught me how to hope properly and the absolute RADICAL nature of Grace and how unfathomable it is to my small mind. Even the concept of “Gutsy Grace” has been a great aid from my slough of despond.
Sorry to take this OT a bit, but again I say thanks…especially for your prayers. But by Grace, He will see me home.
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