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. God is a the ever loving perfect God who sees. In all of life’s circumstances he sees you. It is not just that he is aware but he is interested and involved. Think a Hagar. She was misused by Abraham. Hated by Sarah and driven away, Even though she did not give birth to the child of promise, God saw her and cared for her. He is personal and he sees you and knows you.
Genesis 16:13 She (Hagar) gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
Praise the Personal God
Praise God that he can relate with you personally. Praise God that he sees you. There is no circumstance in your life that catches him off guard. He never forgets any of the people he has created. Praise him that all the billions of people on the planet are fully seen by him right now. In your joy, in your loneliness, in your peace, in your turmoil, he sees you. Praise Him.
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.
- Pray for those leading the national denomination we are a part of, the Great Commission Baptists. Ask God to use our cooperation in the denomination to further his church and to bring glory to his name.
- Ask God to speak as you read and meditate.
SCRIPTURE READING:
2 Corinthians 9 The Message
1-2 If I wrote any more on this relief offering for the poor Christians, I’d be repeating myself. I know you’re on board and ready to go. I’ve been bragging about you all through Macedonia province, telling them, “Achaia province has been ready to go on this since last year.” Your enthusiasm by now has spread to most of them.
3-5 Now I’m sending the brothers to make sure you’re ready, as I said you would be, so my bragging won’t turn out to be just so much hot air. If some Macedonians and I happened to drop in on you and found you weren’t prepared, we’d all be pretty red-faced—you and us—for acting so sure of ourselves. So to make sure there will be no slipup, I’ve recruited these brothers as an advance team to get you and your promised offering all ready before I get there. I want you to have all the time you need to make this offering in your own way. I don’t want anything forced or hurried at the last minute.
6-7 Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.
8-11 God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it,
He throws caution to the winds,
giving to the needy in reckless abandon.
His right-living, right-giving ways
never run out, never wear out.
This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.
12-15 Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they’ll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
Paul writes that God loves the cheerful giver but who doesn’t? Everyone has been “served” by someone who is far from cheerful. A grumpy waiter, an unhappy service technician can make life less joyful for us. One who serves and gives joyfully doubly blesses our lives. Once in the giving and twice in the joyful manner in which they give. How does one become a joyful giver? Are we to wait until we can give cheerfully before we give? Generous giving flows, ideally, from a cheerful heart but a cheerful heart is formed by settled habits. The best way forward is to work on heart and habits simultaneously. If you want to become a kinder person it would be wise to act with kindness (even when you feel like being unkind) and at the same time to seek to become a person who loves being kind. The choosing of kindness is part of becoming kind. Paying attention to what is going on in your heart is the other part of becoming kind. Want to be a cheerful giver? What to give from a joyful heart? Then give as a settled habit AND pay careful attention to the condition of your heart as you do.