ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
GOD IS SELF-SUFFICIENT
All things are God’s to give, and all that is given is given by Him. He can receive nothing that He has not already given us.
Acts 17:24-28
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
Praise the Self-Sufficient God
You rely on God for everything. Praise Him because he is self-reliant. Praise Him that he gives freely. Confess your reliance on 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 Isaac and Suzanne as they serve in Germany with Black Forest Academy.
- Ask God to speak to you as you read the scriptures.
SCRIPTURE READING:
2 Corinthians 13 New International Version
This will be my third visit to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”[a] 2 I already gave you a warning when I was with you the second time. I now repeat it while absent: On my return I will not spare those who sinned earlier or any of the others, 3 since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 4 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you.
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. 7 Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be fully restored. 10 This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.
Final Greetings
11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All God’s people here send their greetings.
14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
Paul wrote that Christ was “crucified in weakness, yet he lives in God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him to serve you.” This is a paradigm shift for them then and for us now. It has never been cool or comfortable to embrace weakness in order to see God’s strength revealed. We can even “spiritualize” our desire to be strong. “I want to use my strong gifts, personality in order to draw people to Christ.” “I want to look my best, be successful, be considered cool in order to connect with people.” By all means use all God has given you to try and connect others to Christ but God really doesn’t need you to show others how great he is by showing them how great you are. Christ, the most powerful human ever, allowed himself to be crucified in utter weakness in order that God’s power would be revealed. What we have seen this year in Corinthians is that they gloried more in human strength than in God’s power. Paul wanted to turn this upside down view of the world, right side up.