ADORATION – Reflect on God’s Greatness
IMPASSABILITY OF GOD He is not overwhelmed by any emotion, he is not incapacitated or weakened or stifled by any event or any amount of grief or love. Rather, God is totally self-controlled. While God does grieve, and does passionately love, he does so completely on purpose.
God is also immutable meaning he does not change. He is also infinite, which means his love is endless. It seems at first glance that an impassible God, a God whose love does not grow is just a stoic. However an infinite unchanging God results in God’s wonderful impassibility. He is immeasurable love. He is limitless in joy and delight.
Malachi 3:6 For I the Lord do not change.
Psalm 147:5 Great is the Lord and abundant in power. His understanding is beyond measure.
Praise God for His Impassibility
Praise Him that He is not overwhelmed by emotion. He is love. He is infinite love and joy. Praise God that He is perfect in love and joy regardless of your actions or deeds. Praise Him that you can do nothing to diminish His love and perfection.
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 again for those in our church who are sick. Ask God to health their bodies. Ask God to use their sickness to bring them closer to Him.
SCRIPTURE READING:
James 4:4-10 – Christian Standard Bible
4 You adulterous people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God. 5 Or do you think it’s without reason that the Scripture says: The spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely?
6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says:
God resists the proud
but gives grace to the humble.
7 Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION:
“Grieve, mourn and wail.” This isn’t something you would find on an inspirational poster. But there is real inspiration in those realities. The Old Testament prophets spoke like this to wayward Israel. The nation had walked away from God and now the way back to him would require grief, mourning, and tears. Why is this so? Because if we do not grieve our sin, we do not understand our sin. This is not about trying to work up emotions about our failures, it is about having a perspective on them. Our sin is grievous, and sad, and tragic. If we cannot mourn sin, then we cannot understand how bad sin is. There is a real sense that if God helps us to grieve, mourn, and wail then he is giving us a great gift. Look back to James chapter 1.”When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” James 1:13-15 Anyone who plays around with sin is playing with fire. If we grieve and mourn our sin then we are less likely to play around with temptation. Temptation is the seed that can become sin. If we can learn to cry over sin then perhaps temptation will lose some of its power in our lives. God help us mourn sin so that temptation becomes less tempting.