ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
PATIENCE OF GOD Divine patience is the power of control which God exercises over Himself, causing Him to bear with the wicked and forebear so long in punishing them.
Nahum 1:3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power.
Praise God for His Patience
Praise God that He was and is patient with you. Thank God for His patience. Praise God that patience is no struggle for Him. He exercises patience without effort.
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 Austin and Jenni and their family as the live and work overseas.
SCRIPTURE READING:
1 Thessalonians 1 New International Version
Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians’ Faith
2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
Today, as we begin this week together I want you to leave your guilt and regret with Jesus. As you begin a new year there are plenty of things we have all left undone or unsaid from last year. There are plenty of things we should have not done or said last year. By all means learn from those things but do not allow them to become an anchor that you carry with you into this year. That is both unnecessary and unhelpful. It is unnecessary because Christ has covered all of it in his sacrifice for you. You cannot and need not try to pay for your own sins. That has been done for you. You cannot add to what Christ has done. It is unhelpful because trying to carry these things is like trying to run a race dragging a heavy weight behind you. You cannot run well or for very long like that. You will very quickly wear out. Cut that rope that ties you to that load. Right now, say out loud the things that you drag with you into this year. Say them to God in confession and receive his forgiveness. Speak to God of his grace and forgiveness. Tell him that you will take him at his word and receive that forgiveness and live in it. Leave the regrets from last year. Move fully and freely into this year.