ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
God is Merciful
God’s merciful compassion is infinite and inexhaustible. Through Christ, He took the judgment that was rightfully ours and placed it on His own shoulders. He waits and works now for all people to turn to Him and to live under His justification.
Joel 2:13 – “Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.
Praise God that He is Merciful
Praise God that He does not give us what our sin deserves. Praise God that He freely offers mercy. Praise God that His mercy is infinite.
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 Embrace. Ask God to guide their staff today as they encourage women to choose life.
SCRIPTURE READING:
James 3:1-12 – English Standard Version
Taming the Tongue
3 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
The tongue is powerful out of proportion to its size. Of course, when James writes of the tongue, he is using that organ to symbolize speech. In context, he is making speech a key “work of faith.” Faith without works is dead, and life-giving speech is a demonstration of life-giving faith. The fruit that grows in our lives (and comes from our lips) is the result of the roots that undergird our lives. We must be careful not to measure “word by word.” We all make mistakes because we are not yet perfected in Christ. Instead, we must pay attention to the overall trajectory of our words. If we are using too many words of complaint, discouragement, and bitterness, then it is a sign that our hearts are trending in the wrong direction. If we are throwing around ideas that do not comport with Scripture, then certainly our hearts have gone astray. The tongue is a thermometer; it measures the temperature. The heart is the thermostat; it sets the temperature. Guard your heart, Proverbs says. It is the source of our lives…and our words.