June 12 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

"Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full" (John 16:24).

Devotional

A close and realizing view of the atoning blood of Jesus gives a most powerful incentive to prayer.

How this encourages a blessed and holy walk in communion with God—the atoning blood! the mercy-seat sprinkled over! the High Priest before the throne! the cloud of incense constantly ascending! the Father well pleased!—what can more freely invite a soul who longs for close and holy communion with God?

And when the atoning blood is realized upon your conscience—when pardon and acceptance are sealed upon your heart by the Eternal Spirit—oh, then what a persuasion you have, O believer in Christ, to draw near the throne of grace! Then, there is no consciousness of guilt to keep you back. There is no dread of God. There are no trembling fears of rejection. Through the cross you see God as reconciled. You see him standing in the endeared relationship and wearing the inviting smile of a Father.

With such an altar, such a High Priest, such atoning blood, and such a reconciled God, how important prayer should be to you, O believer in Christ! Let your soul—depressed, burdened, tried, tempted, as it may be—draw near the mercy-seat. God delights to hear! He delights to answer!

Even the feeblest child of God—the most disconsolate, the most burdened—may approach and open all his heart to a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God when he takes in his hand the atoning blood, pleading the infinite merit of Christ, reminding him of his own gracious promise to receive and favorably answer the petition endorsed with the name and presented on behalf of the Son.

Strenuously plead the atoning blood. Fully urge the precious and infinite merit of Christ. And you will obtain the blessing you request.

Could the weak pleading of the atoning blood be the reason why so few of our petitions are answered? Can that be why so little blessing is obtained? There is so feeble a recognition of the blessed way of access. There is so little wrestling with the precious blood. There is so little looking by faith to the cross. The dear name of Immanuel is so seldom urged. And when it is urged, it is so coldly mentioned. Oh, is it any wonder that so many of our prayers return to us not answered, our petitions not granted?

The Father loves to be reminded of his beloved Son. The very breathing of the name is music to him. The very waving of the censer of infinite merits is fragrant to him. He delights to be pressed with this plea. It is a plea that always prevails. It is a plea he cannot reject. It glorifies himself, it honors his Son, and at the same time it enriches him who urges it.

And in the absence of all other pleas, oh, what a mercy to be able to come with a plea like this! Who can fully estimate it? The poor believer has no plea springing from himself. You search, but you can find nothing on which to rest a claim. All within is vile. All without is marred by sin. Unfaithfulness, ingratitude, and lapses make up the history of your day. But in Jesus Christ you see that which you can urge, and in urging which God will hear and answer.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea,
a great high Priest whose Name is Love
who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on his hands.
My name is written on his heart.
I know that while in Heaven he stands
no tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
and tells me of the guilt within,
upward I look and see him there
who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
my sinful soul is counted free.
for God the just is satisfied
to look on him and pardon me.

Behold him there the risen Lamb,
my perfect spotless righteousness,
the great unchangeable I AM,
the King of glory and of grace.
United to him I can't die.
my soul is purchased by his blood,
my life is hid with Christ on high,
with Christ my Savior and my God!

(Charitie L. Bancroft, 1863; stanza 3 alt. by LEW, 2006)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.