ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
GOD IS WRATHFUL
Unlike human anger, God’s wrath is never capricious, self-indulgent, or irritable. It is the right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil. Nahum 1:2-8
Nahum 1:2-3
The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.
Praise God for His Wrath
In general venting is seen as a bad thing. When God vents His wrath, it is terrifying but ultimately good. God vents His wrath because He is fully just, infinite in love, and completely good. He is holy. Praise God for His wrath. Without wrath there would be no justice or love.
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 Persecuted Church. Ask God to encourage believers around the world who are suffering because of their faith. Ask God to strengthen their faith and reveal Himself through their lives.
SCRIPTURE READING:
James 1:18-26 – Christian Standard Bible
18 By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Hearing and Doing the Word
19 My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, 20 for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. 25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does.
26 If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless and he deceives himself.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
John 8:31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” 34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
“The truth shall set you free” is a very common cultural slogan. Many don’t know it came from the Bible and most don’t know the original context. The truth will only set you free if you believe and live in the truth. The “slogan” is often used in a generic feel-good way or to indicate that simply knowing what is true will somehow lead to freedom. To know the truth but to not do the truth will certainly not lead to the freedom that Jesus promised. What is the freedom that Jesus was referring to? It is freedom from the power of sin and death. It is freedom to have relationship with God restored. It is certainly not freedom to “be yourself” or “be true to yourself.” Freedom that Christ brings is freedom to NOT be yourself as you currently are. It is the freedom from the parts of us that are not like God. It is the freedom from our own self-centeredness. There is no freedom in Christ apart from obedience to Christ. What God wants for us, we would want ourselves, if we could only see life as he sees it. We train for godliness in order to more fully and more consistently see life as God sees it.