ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
GOD IS GOOD – There is such an absolute perfection in God’s nature and being that nothing is wanting to it or defective in it, and nothing can be added to it to make it better.
Exodus 33:19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Psalm 106:1 Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;his love endures forever.
Praise God for His Goodness
Praise God that He is completely good. There is no room for improvement in His nature. Praise God that He always acts according to His goodness. Praise God for the specific ways He has demonstrated His goodness.
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 caught in the sex trade and victims of human trafficking. Pray that these people would be rescued. Pray that they would know that they are seen by God.
SCRIPTURE READING:
Hebrews 8 – Christian Standard Bible
A Heavenly Priesthood
8 Now the main point of what is being said is this: We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore, it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he wouldn’t be a priest, since there are those offering the gifts prescribed by the law. 5 These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For God said, Be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain. 6 But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises.
A Superior Covenant
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one. 8 But finding fault with his people, he says:
See, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah—
9 not like the covenant
that I made with their ancestors
on the day I took them by the hand
to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
I showed no concern for them, says the Lord,
because they did not continue in my covenant.
10 For this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 And each person will not teach his fellow citizen,
and each his brother or sister, saying, “Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me,
from the least to the greatest of them.
12 For I will forgive their wrongdoing,
and I will never again remember their sins.
13 By saying a new covenant, he has declared that the first is obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old is about to pass away.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
The New Covenant is internal not external. God has done something in us through the gospel. Perhaps you look at your “insides” and wonder where the power of the gospel really is. How can this new life be so profound and yet you still feel so much like…you. We all feel this way. We all feel like we are two steps forward, three backwards at times. We all feel like even that would be better than what is happening right now; perhaps we aren’t moving at all…we are just stuck. Be careful about measuring wrong. If you measure wrong you will fail to see what is really happening in your life. When you were a child you never saw yourself grow physically, yet somehow you did grow. You could spend a year looking in the mirror and you would never “see” growth. Yet at the end of that year, you would have grown. How do we measure growth? We have to plot a trajectory over time. At any point in time we may fail, but over time do we see increasing victory in various areas that look more and more like Christ? Of course, it may be the case that you are not in fact growing, and if this is true you should change your approach to spiritual training. It is very likely that since you are reading this that you are growing, and you need to be careful to measure growth over time… not just at points in time. To measure at points in time can be very discouraging and can negatively impact growth over time. For those “point in time” failures, confess and move on. For that growth over time success, be grateful and move on.