As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

— Matthew 24:37

We are told in Scripture that just as there was a deluge of wrath in the days of Noah, so there is also a deluge of wrath coming at the end of time. The Lord is going to destroy the world, though not again by water, for He has promised, “while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease” (Genesis 8:22).

But there is a day coming when the earth will no longer remain; when God will at last drop the curtain upon the great drama of the ages and will bring to a resounding conclusion the story of mankind—not with water, but with fire, “and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat” (2 Peter 3:10). The Lord will destroy the world with fire.

There are many who believe that day is near. We do not know the day or the hour when it shall be, but certainly the cup of iniquity in the modern world is filled almost to full, if not overflowing. When it is, there will come another deluge of wrath.

Then every eye shall see Him, both the living and the dead, the sheep and the goats, the saved and the lost. We shall all see Him in that great day, which shall dawn like any other day. People will be going about their business, most of them completely absorbed in the things of this world, most of them giving no thought to the things of Jesus Christ or to His gracious offer of salvation to those who will trust in Him.

Question to ponder:
What other parallels can you think of between our time and the time of Noah?

If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me. Where I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

— John 12:26

The final prayer of the five prayers is that God would use us. We should pray, “Dear Lord, use me this day for Your glory. I want to be used by You today to serve You.” This is why God has made us—to fulfill His perfect plan.

Offer yourself each morning to God, to Jesus Christ as Master and Lord of your life, and you will be amazed at what will happen, at the opportunities for service you will have that will make the end of your day a glorious thing. As you lie down at night, you will know that God has used you, that your life has had eternal significance. People will be brought into your presence who have deep needs, those who have need of Jesus Christ, and you will have the pleasure of pointing them to the Savior.

Your life will begin to bud and blossom and bring forth fruit abundantly to the glory of Jesus Christ, if you are available to Him. And if you sincerely pray, “O God, use me today,” He will. So recapping these five prayers that will change your life:

Slay my old nature.
Cleanse me.
Fill me with Your Holy Spirit.
Lead me.
Use me.

Question to ponder:
Has God used you to be a channel of His grace to someone in need of the Savior? What was it like?

…You have held me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.

— Psalm 73:23-24

The Bible says that as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God, the sons of God. The Holy Spirit would lead us by the hand into a great adventure day by day, but too often we have our own plans. We make up our own agenda. We do not submit to the Spirit of God, nor do we ask that He veto any or all of our plans.

He has a perfect and better plan for our lives—a better plan for this day than you have. As you pray for guidance, you will find that as the Spirit of God guides and leads your life, you will live a life more exciting and adventurous than you ever dreamed the Christian life could be. Truly, it will be a day of discovery.

Let us be sensitive to God’s leading, lay all our dreams and plans in His hands, and see His purpose and plans unfold in our lives.

Question to ponder:
Can you think of a time you obeyed God’s leading and benefited greatly from it?

Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

— Acts 8:17

When we are first born into God’s Kingdom, we receive the Holy Spirit. Then we are sanctified by the continued renewing and refilling of the Holy Spirit.

The Christian life is a supernatural life. The spiritual man was dead, and only as the Holy Spirit, the giver of life, comes and quickens our lives will there be the slightest stirring in the garden of our soul. Unless the Spirit, which comes each spring to this barren earth and causes the blade and the flower to burst forth across the earth—unless that same Spirit of life comes into our souls, there will be deadness, spiritual lethargy, and spiritual apathy. Without Him, there will be no life. We need to pray that the Spirit would fill us and enliven us—that He would bring us to spiritual life and joy that only God can give, that He would empower us to live for Him, to overcome temptation, and to serve Him throughout our lives.

It is the work of God’s Spirit to sanctify us in this way. Then we may be able to bring forth good works. It is the Holy Spirit who daily teaches us, convicts us of sin, and calls us to a closer walk with Christ.

Question to ponder:
What do you see of the work of the Spirit in your life?

Purge me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

— Psalm 51:7

We must come and ask God to cleanse us in every part of our being. Many people forget that even their memory is tainted by its intimate connection with the old self. All manner of sin has been brought into the sanctuary of the mind. Our memory needs to be cleansed. Have you ever asked God to cleanse your memory from all of the evil stored there? Our affections need to be cleansed and purified. Our wills need to be cleansed.

We need to realize that only through the blood of Christ is there cleansing for sin. “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

If we are going to come into the presence of God and expect Him to hear and answer our prayers, we dare not come into His presence besmirched and befouled and tainted with our sins.

“Cleanse me, O God!” That means, of course, that we are going to confess our sins and repent of them as well as ask to be cleansed from them.

Question to ponder:
Why is daily cleansing necessary?

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

— Romans 7:18

As long as we live here on earth, we will have two natures—one foul, the other blest. The old nature is irreparably evil and corrupt. The only thing that can be done with it is to destroy it. It must be crucified with Christ, and a new nature must replace the old. While the old nature diminishes, the new nature grows.

Remember, the old nature cannot be improved; it has to be removed. It can’t be mended, therefore it must be ended. Only Christ can do that. He does it by the continual supply of His grace. Having come to live in our hearts, He continually supplies His grace, so that we can grow in that grace. It is all done by Christ; it is all done by the work of His Holy Spirit in our hearts.

When we ask God to slay us, it is not a prayer of destruction, but rather a prayer of reconstruction. We are asking the Lord to slay our sinful nature and to put to death all that is opposed to Him and all that hinders our new nature and steals our peace. It is because of our trust in God’s goodness that we can pray this prayer, “Slay me.”

Question to ponder:
Are you reluctant to pray this prayer?

… I give myself to prayer.

— Psalm 109:4

All Christians need to learn how to abide in prayer. I am sure most of you have your stated times of prayer in the morning and at night, before your meals and after. The Bible says that we are to pray always. In all times, in all things, we are to pray. We should constantly be in touch with God. We are to walk with Him and talk with Him. Our last thoughts at night and our first thoughts in the morning will be of Him, as we learn to be always in prayer and thus to be dwelling in the secret place of the most High.

In the next few days, we will go through five prayers that can change our lives. Here they are:

Slay me (i.e., my old nature).
Cleanse me.
Fill me (with Your Holy Spirit).
Lead me.
Use me.

Try to pray these every day, and you will begin to notice changes.

Question to ponder:
Have you given yourself over to prayer?

Now all these things happened to them for examples. They are written as an admonition to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come.

— 1 Corinthians 10:11

Samson’s life was a great tragedy, but we learn much from a life such as his that had great potential, but went awry. In a certain way, he was a picture of Christ—a very, very imperfect picture. Christ also had His birth announced by angels. He also was consecrated unto God. He also had a great calling. His calling was also to deliver the people of God, not from the tyranny of the Philistines, but from the tyranny of all evil.

Yet Christ never violated His vows. He never compromised His consecration. He lived a spotless sinless life all of His days. Then one day in the temple of the devil—upon a Cross with outstretched arms—Christ, the greater one than Samson, pressed upon the columns that upheld the very kingdom of evil, and with a mighty push, they went down. Christ did what He came to do. He destroyed the works of Satan.

Question to ponder:
Is there more you can do to live up to your Christ-given potential?

… not of works, so that no one should boast.

— Ephesians 2:9

Many people mistakenly think they can work their way to heaven by being good. Centuries ago, a simple farmer from England indirectly laid this myth to rest. He was an old and very godly plowman and was acquainted with a young English curate who had recently started a ministry in England. Though the plowman had no education, he had been educated by the Spirit of God and the Word of God. One day, in one of their many conversations, while they were talking about the greatest hindrance to spiritual attainment and growth, the curate said that he believed the greatest hindrance to spiritual attainment was the unwillingness to surrender one’s sinful self.

Sounds reasonable, but the plowman said, “No, I think not. I think the greatest hindrance to the advancement in the spiritual faith is the unwillingness to surrender one’s righteous self.”

It is a long way from, “I am proud to stand before God and tell how I have lived my life for the betterment of mankind,” to “God have mercy upon me, a sinner.”

Question to ponder:
Have you surrendered all your self-righteousness to the Lord?

… being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

— Romans 3:24

Today there are so many people who do not even begin to understand the rudiments of Christianity and who suppose that salvation is something they earn by their own good works. They are utterly far afield. They do not know that salvation is an unearned gift—unmerited, undeserved, and unworked for. It is a gift given purely by the grace and goodness of God.

I have asked many people, “What do you think we contribute to our own salvation?” Do you know? If you don’t know, you should. Do we contribute some good works? We have none to offer for every one of our works is stained by sin. Do we contribute some faith that we work up ourselves? We have none.

What do we contribute? Only one thing. Our contribution to our salvation is just one thing. We contribute the sins that Jesus took upon Himself and for which He died.

Question to ponder:
Although Jesus paid it all, there is still one thing we can yet do—thank Him continuously. What is your response to such a great salvation?