ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
GOD IS PERSONAL
God is a self-conscious Being capable of thought, will, and interaction with His creation. Continue to adore God again today because he is personal. He is a God who is perfect in strength and endless in power but his is personal God because he can relate with your weakness and sorrow. He put on human flesh and experienced temptation, human weakness, and sorrow. He understands everyday human existence. He understands you personally.
Hebrews 4:15-16 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Praise the Personal God
Praise God that he can relate with you personally. Praise God that he can personally relate with your life. Praise God that he took on flesh and became human. He knows what it is to struggle. He knows what it is to be tempted. Praise him that personally invites you to come to him when tempted. He is a constant help.
CONFESSION: Confess your sins to God and receive his continued mercy.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
THANKSGIVING: Giving thanks to God for his specific blessings in our lives.
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100
SUPPLICATION: Bringing our requests to God.
- Bring your personal prayer requests to God.
- Continue to pray for the River Youth at church camp. Ask God to bear fruit through the seeds being planted in their lives.
- Pray for opportunities to build trust relationships with non-believers.
SCRIPTURE READING:
2 Corinthians 9 New Living Translation
The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem
9 I really don’t need to write to you about this ministry of giving for the believers in Jerusalem. 2 For I know how eager you are to help, and I have been boasting to the churches in Macedonia that you in Greece were ready to send an offering a year ago. In fact, it was your enthusiasm that stirred up many of the Macedonian believers to begin giving.
3 But I am sending these brothers to be sure you really are ready, as I have been telling them, and that your money is all collected. I don’t want to be wrong in my boasting about you. 4 We would be embarrassed—not to mention your own embarrassment—if some Macedonian believers came with me and found that you weren’t ready after all I had told them! 5 So I thought I should send these brothers ahead of me to make sure the gift you promised is ready. But I want it to be a willing gift, not one given grudgingly.
6 Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9 As the Scriptures say,
“They share freely and give generously to the poor.
Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”
10 For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
11 Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. 12 So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.
13 As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. 14 And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. 15 Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
Generous sowing brings an abundant harvest. This doesn’t mean that God will automatically give you ten dollars to every one dollar you give away. There is mystery as to how God chooses to bless the generous giver but there is no doubt that he does. You may or may not be blessed with a lot of money as a result of your own generosity. You will find that God provides for your needs and then some in ways that are surprising. There are, of course, people who have been generous and have lived in dire poverty. God, and they only know how he has chosen to compensate them for their faith. I’ve known the very unhappy rich and the very happy and godly poor. Don’t turn this into a math problem, or an economic transaction. Just know that God blesses in real and practical ways the generous giver. You can find out for yourself but there is only one way to do so, you must become a generous giver.