John Piper
Desiring God
Oh, how grateful we should be that he has chosen us to be employed in this high service! How eager we should be to spend much time in prayer!
Ephesians 1:11
Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
Ephesians 1:4-5
GOD DECIDES WHO WILL BE SAVED
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Ephesians 2:1
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
Romans 6:17
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin."
John 8:34
In whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4
Being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
Ephesians 4:18
Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
Romans 8:7
GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY ENABLES PRAYER
And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
John 6:65
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:44
A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.
Acts 16:14
For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6
Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26
Who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:13
The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
2 Timothy 2:24-26
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRAYER AND EVANGELISM
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
Romans 10:14
And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
John 6:65
With gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,
2 Timothy 2:25
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Ephesians 2:8
He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
Ephesians 1:5
But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased
Galatians 1:15
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:5
GOD USES MEANS
This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
1 John 5:14
And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Romans 8:27
For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed,
Romans 15:18
Equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 13:21