ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
GOD IS JUST God is righteous and holy, fair and equitable in all things. We can trust Him to always do what is right.
Psalm 75:1-3 We thank you, O God! We give thanks because you are near. People everywhere tell of your wonderful deeds. God says, “At the time I have planned, I will bring justice against the wicked. When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil, I am the one who keeps its foundations firm.
PRAISE THE GOD WHO IS JUST
Praise God that He brings justice at the right time. Praise God that He is near and nothing escapes His notice. Praise God that His justice is righteous and holy. His justice is perfect.
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 Christian Challenge as they meet tonight at River. Ask God to grow the student’s faith and grow their community. Pray for students far from God. Pray that they would turn to Him.
SCRIPTURE READING:
James 1:12-18 – The Message
12 Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.
13-15 Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.
16-18 So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
When Job suffered through losses of unimaginable magnitude, he refused to blame God. He didn’t understand what was happening or why, but he had learned to trust God and he did not place him on trial. As time went on and his foolish friends (and wife) gave him continual bad advice, he eventually came to the point where he began to question God’s wisdom and goodness. He tried to put God on trial in the middle of his own trial. God refused to submit to Job’s subpoena. Instead, he called Job to the witness stand. There he asked Job if he was there when the cosmos was created. After a series of very pointed questions, Job finally had a perspective change. He regained his sanity. God is good and he alone must be trusted. The result of all of this was that Job’s experience of God grew. Where once he had merely heard of God, now he had seen him personally. His response was to humbly submit to God. Will you take God off trial in your mind? Will you submit to him? You do not have to understand all that he does in order to trust him with your life. In your own trials, do not put God on trial. That will not bring good into your life.