ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
GOD IS BLESSED God delights fully in himself and in all that reflects his character.
We imitate God’s blessedness when we find delight and happiness in things that please God. When we’re thankful for the specific abilities, preferences, and other characteristics with which God has created us as individuals, we imitate his blessedness. We find our greatest blessedness—our greatest happiness—in the source of all good qualities, God himself.
Genesis 1:31 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!
Praise God that He is Blessed
Praise God that he is full of delight. He is the source of joy and blessedness. Praise him that everything he has made is good. Praise and thank him for sharing his delight with us.
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 in our church who are sick. Ask God to comfort and heal them.
SCRIPTURE READING:
Ephesians 3 New Living Translation
God’s Mysterious Plan Revealed
When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles . . . 2 assuming, by the way, that you know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. 3 As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. 4 As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. 5 God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.
6 And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus. 7 By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.
8 Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. 9 I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.
10 God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence. 13 So please don’t lose heart because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored.
Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual Growth
14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
How is that you can “know the love that surpasses knowledge?” Does that seem like a contradiction to you? If his love surpasses knowledge that means it cannot be known, right? No, the point is that although we can truly “know” or experience the Love of Christ we cannot know it completely. A child can “know” personally of its parents’ love without being fully aware of all the sacrifices the parent makes. Christ’s riches, Paul writes, are “unsearchable.” This doesn’t mean “inaccessible” it means they are far greater than we can fully comprehend. We cannot go “searching” for the riches of the gospel and expect to find them. We cannot discover on our own what God alone can and has revealed. Even when we access the truth of the love of Christ we will never be able to plumb the deaths of that love. It is the discovery, the experience, in increasing fashion of the riches of Christ that transforms us now. Do you dig, daily, deeply, into those riches? How do you dig? You dig by what you allow your mind to focus on. You dig by what you allow your heart to treasure. You dig by the daily choices you make to sacrifice, love, forgive, obey. Dig deeply into the unsearchable riches of Christ. You will begin to change the instant you start. You will be continually changed as you continually dig deep.