ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
GOD IS CREATOR The whole of creation came into existence through the will and power of God.
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Psalm 139:14 “I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
Praise God the Creator
Praise God for his creative power. Praise Him for creating your mind and body. Praise Him for creating the world we live in. Take time and praise him for different aspects of creation.
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 unchurched friends. Ask God to give you opportunities to have gospel conversations with those who do not know Him.
- Pray for those in our church who are sick. Ask God to comfort them and bring healing.
SCRIPTURE READING:
Ephesians 5:22-6:24 Christian Standard Bible
Wives and Husbands
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, 23 because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. 27 He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. 28 In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 since we are members of his body. 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. 32 This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.
Children and Parents
6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, because this is right. 2 Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise, 3 so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land. 4 Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Slaves and Masters
5 Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as you would Christ. 6 Don’t work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart. 7 Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to people, 8 knowing that whatever good each one does, slave or free, he will receive this back from the Lord. 9 And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
Christian Warfare
10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. 13 For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. 14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, 15 and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. 16 In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God. 18 Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. 19 Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. 20 For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.
Paul’s Farewell
21 Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed. 22 I am sending him to you for this very reason, to let you know how we are and to encourage your hearts.
23 Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who have undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
Paul asked for prayer that he would fearlessly make the gospel known. Does this surprise you at all? At this point in his life Paul had lived quite fearlessly. He had taken the gospel all over the Roman empire and had spoken to everyone he encountered about the Lord. He gave no indication that he had ever been anything other than fearless, but that is our assumption isn’t it? That is reading in rather than reading out what Scripture says. Paul was bold and Paul had times of fear. He was a human and this is how humans are. When Martin Luther was taken before the prestigious and powerful church council to be questioned regarding his declaration that salvation is by faith alone, he trembled. Who was he to think he knew better than all these wise men? That night, alone in his room, he took his fears to God. He mulled over the truth of the gospel in his mind. The next day it was the same person, but a different man who stood before the council. He said, boldly, “My soul is captive to the word of God…here I stand.” Do not despair that you sometimes fear. Do not despair that you sometimes lack courage. Paul asked for prayer that he would be fearless because he would sometimes feel fear. It’s okay to fear. But you do not have to live in it. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.