Regaining Strength: 90 Days of Prayer and Praise

By Randy Sawyer

Regaining Strength is a 90 day devotional journal written to guide the reader through a season of spiritual revival. Each day's readings encourage involvement in spiritual disciplines in order to help the reader regain focus and strength in every aspect of life. Sawyer divides the material into three sections: "God the Father," "God the Son," and "God the Holy Spirit." Daily readings will consider definitions and demonstrations of the Godhead, and each will specifically address the issue that is at the core of all our questions concerning God, and how we can have a more personal and abiding relationship with Him. The disciplines include: solitude, meditation, prayer, Scripture reading and memorization, fasting, exercise, worship, accountability, and service. The combination of daily Bible readings, explanations and applications, as well as the added spiritual disciplines makes this devotional journal a unique tool for personal growth and study as well as small group study.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Randall House
• Release date: Oct 12, 2010
• ISBN: 9781614840565

Randy Sawyer

Dr. Randy Sawyer has been in ministry since 1977, serving in numerous capacities including pastor and college professor. He has published several books including "Regaining Balance" and "Regaining Strength." He has conducted over 400 revivals and numerous Bible and evangelism conferences. Randy Sawyer graduated from Free Will Baptist Bible College, Nashville, TN in 1978. He received his M.Div from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, NC in 1995. He received his D.Min. in 2001 from Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC.

Book preview

Preface                               by Randy Sawyer

We seem to have lost our concept of the majestic these days! Few among us can view a mountain landscape and be moved by its grandeur, or take in the hues and shades and colors of the sky just after a rain storm or just before the sun sets and feel over-awed at the sight, or see a beautiful gem stone, a diamond, an emerald, or a peridot, and sense that it is above the ordinary, a thing of splendor. To many the majestic has become the mundane. We’ve seen it too often to be moved any longer. Or we either lack the time or the depth to observe the essence and quality of the magnificent. Likewise, God no longer appears transcendent to us; nor does He seem to be above all other things, holy.

When Isaiah entered the temple (Isaiah 6), he saw the seraphim encircling the throne and singing, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts (verse 3). These angelic beings were able to speak in human language and communicate in moral and doxological categories. They sang the trisagion, Holy, holy, holy. Since the Hebrew language has no adequate comparative or superlative, the pattern of repetition was used in order to make a point. In Genesis 14:10 for example, we read of the construction of a pit, pit. The phrase could be translated, deep and great pit. That is, to fall into a pit is one thing, but to find oneself in a pit, pit, is quite another. So, God is not just holy, He is holy, holy, holy. To be holy is to be other than! This trisagion denotes His separateness from all the created order. He is not what we are. We are finite; He is infinite. We are limited in our presence, being in only one place at a time; whereas, God is everywhere present at one and the same time. Speaking of morality, we are sinful indeed, while He is absolute holiness, but not just holy, He’s holy, holy, holy.

Additionally, to speak of His holiness is to recognize His majesty. That God is majestic means He is absolute sovereign, one of great authority, and of dignified bearing and presence. He is a being of limitlessness splendor. According to Isaiah’s vision, the angels are constantly giving voice to the majesty of God. In comparison to other beings, He has moral majesty, and such otherness prompts those who know Him to celebrate with adoration and praise.

But that’s not how we see Him nor respond to Him today by and large. The note of God’s grandeur, greatness, and glory that so fills the Bible is noticeably missing in our churches and in our lives. Believers very seldom sing with the psalmist, I will extol you, my God the King, and bless your name forever and ever (Psalms 145:1); nor shout with the heavenly saints, Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, (Revelation 19:6-7). When we experience the Godhead, our first and natural response should be: Isn’t He majestic? Isn’t He magnificent? Isn’t He spectacular? Isn’t He holy? Isn’t He holy, holy, holy? However, that is not often the case, is it?

Some may be asking fundamental questions that need answers to strengthen faith. Is God for real, or is He simply the invention of humanity’s wishful thinking? Is He just the projection of man’s desires and needs? And if God is for real, what kind of being is He? How can we know Him? Upon what basis do we approach Him? What does He require of us? How are we to worship Him? Does He give us any guidelines to go by in dwelling before Him? And do we really need Him? If so, why do we need Him? What does His presence give us that no other does?

Ever go to the doctor for a consultation or diagnosis only to be frustrated when he uses words and terms leaving you thoroughly confounded? He starts rattling off medical terminology to which you feel like responding, Doc, give it to me straight, in layman’s language. Preachers do it too, don’t they? Sunday after Sunday we hurl theological jargon at our hearers. The term theology derives from theos-God, and logos-word. Theology is a word about God. The word theology does not actually appear in Scripture, but the Bible certainly places a strong emphasis on theology; in fact, Scripture is literally God’s own word about Himself.

Theologians, those who have given their lives to the study of God’s words about Himself, have organized theology into various categories. These include:

Soteriology—God’s word about salvation

Pneumtaology—God’s word about the Holy Spirit

Christology—God’s word about Christ

Harmtalogy—God’s word about sin

Within each of these categories are sub-categories, with each discipline expressed in language many lay Christians cannot digest. After hearing such profound theological sermonizing, the response is often: What does this mean? And what does it mean to me?

Concepts, abstractions, and theories leave us cold and lonely. The real issue is, who is God, and how does He affect who I am and what I become? And further, how can I have a more intimate relationship with Him?

Puritan William Ames defined theology as the knowledge of how to live in the presence of God. In the middle of our attempts at understanding God, that observation seems to take us to the bottom line. If that’s how you feel, then this volume of Regaining Strength is for you.

Each of the three sections of this devotional journal will lead us in thoughts concerning the Godhead. The first 30 days will deal with God the Father, the second will deal with God the Son, and the final month will deal with God the Holy Spirit. These daily readings will consider definitions and demonstrations of the Godhead, and each will specifically address the issue that is at the core of all our questions concerning God—how we can have a more personal and abiding relationship with Him.

These daily readings will involve scriptural references to each person of the Godhead, will include comments from my heart to yours, and will also give particular instructions concerning one or more of nine spiritual disciplines that will aid us in regaining strength in our spiritual lives. These disciplines include:

Solitude—a life in communion with itself

Meditation—a life in harmony with the spirit

Prayer—a life in fellowship with its Creator

Scripture reading and memorization—a life in contact with God’s Word

Fasting—a life in balance with its needs

Exercise—a life invigorated and strong

Worship—a life in accord with its purpose

Accountability—a life in network with other disciples

Service–a life in connection with others

The combination of daily Bible readings, explanations and applications, as well as the added spiritual disciplines makes this a unique tool for personal growth. Remember, it takes about two weeks to develop a habit, and six months to break one. So if you’ll make a conscious choice to spend a few minutes each day with the Lord, then you will have established a habit that will not so easily be broken thereafter. Let’s get started together. God Bless you as you join me in this journey, and as we together journey with Him.

Section One

God the Father

God the Father

The thought of a father conjures many images, both positive and negative. To those whose father has been a good and lovingly presence in their lives, the role of father is viewed with respect, and remembered as one of authority, affection, protection, support, and guidance. Children are glad to have been born to such a man. They rise up and call him blessed! I’m so thankful to find myself in that number.

On the other hand, to those whose father has been absent, angry, abusive, and mean, the role of father is viewed with shame and remembered as one from whom his unhappy offspring have sought only escape. I don’t know of this type of father/child relationship personally, but I have witnessed its marks and scars frequently and vividly on others. In reality, no father is perfect, but some are nearly as far away from perfection as can be imagined.

Because of myriad feelings and thoughts associated with the designation father, not everyone is pleased to find that the Scriptures speak of God as God the Father. The personality characteristics don’t compare favorably in many incidences, unless and until the truer picture of the Heavenly Father is known. The picture of what a father should be is not seen by comparing one earthly man to another, but is understood only when earthly men are evaluated in light of the Heavenly Father. Then we know our earthly father’s weaknesses and the Heavenly Father’s strengths. Where do we discover God our Father’s character traits, qualities, and deeds? In the book He has written about Himself—the Bible.

In the Old Testament Scriptures:

• God is seen as the heavenly Father, and His chosen ones as His sons and daughters. Many times God is called Father in national terms, referencing, of course, the nation of Israel. As Moses spoke his last words to the nation of Israel, he corrected them, Do you thus repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you? (Deuteronomy 32:6).

• On other occasions, He is a Father, viewed not collectively, but personally. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him (Psalm 103:13). When King David lamented at the struggles of his life, he encouraged himself in his adoption by the heavenly Father: For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in (Psalm 27:10).

• Again in leading his people to sing of the Lord’s steadfast love, David taught them: "He shall cry to me, You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation" (Psalm 89:26).

• The Lord is likewise viewed as God the Father by Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Solomon, etc. Yahweh (His most personal name) is my Father; my Father is Yahweh!

In the New Testament, the portrayal of God as Father is seen more clearly and applied more personally. As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, seeking deliverance from the cup of the Lord’s wrath, He cried, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will (Mark 14:36). Some want to translate the word Abba with our term of endearment, daddy, which is not inappropriate. God is not to be understood as a distant ruler, but one who is intimately close and readily accessible.

Regaining Strength

The writers of the New Testament see the Father in His role as:

• Absolute in authority (Matthew 5:48; Luke 6:35)

• The Father of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:14, 18; 6:32; 17:24)

• Progenitor to humanity (Matthew 2:22; 19:5; Luke 2:48; John 4:53; Hebrews 7:10)

• Ancestor of the righteous (Matthew 3:9; Mark 11:10; Romans 4:17)

• Affectionate toward everyone (Matthew 23:9; 1 Corinthians 4:15;

• The Father of the Son of Man (Matthew 11:27)

• The Father of all people (Matthew 5:43-45)

It is also interesting to note:

In John’s gospel, the Father appears by word or reference 115 times, and other pictures and comments concerning Him can be found throughout the Pauline corpus, as well as in Peter and in James. Those apostles (Peter, James, John, and later Paul) who knew Him more intimately than the others felt keenly their filial relationship to Him.

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, and us by extension, He advised that prayer be addressed to our Father in heaven (Matthew 6:9).

In Paul’s benediction at the end of 2 Thessalonians 2, particularly in verse 16, he teaches his readers that the Heavenly Father is the fountain and source of the river of grace: Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Grace flows from God the Father, through the God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit, into our lives, giving us the right to call Him, Abba! Father! He is the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change (James 1:17). As we draw near to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16), we find that our Father is always the same, neither sinful, nor moody, nor changing, therefore casting neither shadow nor turning away His face, but to each who comes, each time he comes, He is ready to dispense grace and help. When He does