You come
comforting me,
forgiving me,
recreating me,
giving me a destiny.
You come
teaching me,
healing me,
nourishing me, and
sharing Yourself with me.
Though infinitely above me, You come to be
all around me,
all within me,
ever before me,
ever beside me.
Almighty, all-holy, all-loving God,
You wrap me in Your presence,
enabling me to
speak and
live and
be like You.
Praise to You!
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Isaiah 40
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A reflection on Revelation 17:7-18,
the Lamb’s victory over the beast
Just as the appeal of evil is a lie,
so its power is a lie.
All reality has only
one Master,
one Creator,
one King.
Evil is built on
a truth,
a world,
a good,
a reality
outside of God, and
no such reality exists.
No such good exists.
Evil is self-deceived, and
in the end,
it will self-destruct.
It will unwittingly serve the purposes of
the one Master,
the one Creator.
Outside of Him, everything is only
a lie,
a shadow,
a false hope,
without substance,
emptiness,
nothingness.
All truth,
all good,
all power
is in God alone.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Great Lord of All Reality
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My tears have been my food day and night.
O my God, my soul is in despair.
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over Me.
(Psalm 42:3, 6, 7, NASB)
Father, grief and sorrow have come in like a flood,
and I am overwhelmed.
Tears are my constant companion.
I need joy, the joy that comes only from You,
but I cannot grasp it.
Father, now I am ready to hear the words of Christ.
Now I am ready to look hungrily at His example.
Hours before His arrest, torture, and brutal execution,
what was He so eager to share with His disciples?
The fullness of His joy:
“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (John 15:11, NASB)
“[Father,] now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” (John 17:13, NASB)
Jesus stood on the brink of the greatest
physical, emotional, and spiritual assault
any human has ever faced.
What strengthened Him, encouraged Him, and drew Him on?
His fullness of joy.
“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1b-2, NASB)
Jesus endured every humiliation that unbridled hatred could throw at Him, yet
He despised the shame.
He considered it unworthy of consideration in light of
the joy set before Him.
Father, Jesus found His joy in You, in
knowing You,
pleasing You, and
glorifying You.
Father, You are the fullness of joy for me as well.
With Jesus, I seek,
not joy,
but You.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Fullness of Joy
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A prayer response to Revelation 17:1-6,
the doom of Babylon
Temptation comes
appearing to be alluring beauty,
pretending to provide something good,
offering pleasant and harmless stimulation.
But Father, help me to see evil for what it
really is and
always is:
destructive,
ugly,
cruel,
corrupt, and
deadly.
Its appeal is a pretense,
always shallow and
always a lie.
It is unable to give anything
good or
lasting.
It is impotent,
unwise,
unbeautiful, and
unloving.
The tempter is a sworn enemy of all that is good.
His purpose is always to
steal,
kill, and
destroy (John 10:10).
Following him always leads to
disappointment and
failure.
But Father, I cannot handle temptation on my own.
When it comes, help me to immediately
turn to You and
trust You to deliver me.
And when I fail,
help me to repent immediately,
knowing that You are always eager to
forgive and
restore completely.
You are good, Father, and
Your love endures forever!
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Soldiers of Christ, Arise
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Father, it’s nearly bedtime.
My mind is tired.
My body is tired.
But I don’t want this day to end
without turning to You once more, at its close.
You were good and faithful today,
just like always.
Thank You, my Father!
You being You
is what makes life wonderful!
I was not always like Christ today:
harsh words…
missed opportunities.
Too often I was distracted from what was
truly important.
Sometimes I forgot to pray
when I needed You.
But Father, You are
so good,
so forgiving, and
so generous
that I still end this day with a glow of joy.
You are with me, and
I am with You,
always,
completely,
forever.
You love me,
deeply,
with all Your magnificent being.
How can I help but smile all over,
even when I’m weary
and imperfect?
How can I help but love You?
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Evening Prayer
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A reflection on Revelation 16,
the pouring out of the bowls of wrath
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
(2 Peter 3:9, NASB)
Our loving God is so patient.
He seems to
delay and
delay and
delay His return,
anxious for all to repent and come to Him.
But our patient God will not delay forever.
He warns us that after delays that seem endless,
the end will come suddenly.
The God who has waited for so long will move
quickly and decisively.
That is His way.
He will come unexpectedly,
like a thief in the night.
Turn to Him
now.
Give yourself completely to Him
now.
Whatever good you know to do,
do it now.
The only way to be ready for
that unknown day and hour is to
stay ready.
Stay busy at your assigned task.
Stay faithful.
Keep your hopes and desires focused on
Him alone.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Christ Is Coming! Lift Your Eyes!
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Luke 11:5-13; Ephesians 3:14-19; Colossians 2:9-10
We parents are weak and limited in so many ways.
Though we love our children,
there is much we simply do not have and
thus cannot give them.
Yet we gladly pass on to them whatever we can.
But more importantly, day by day,
without even thinking about it,
we share with them all that we are.
Father, You are the perfect parent,
infinitely greater than all that the best human parent
can even aspire to be.
All that exists is Yours,
so there is no limit to what You can give Your children.
You are complete and perfect in Yourself,
so there is no limit to the gifts and graces You can impart to them.
And You are perfect in love.
No selfishness ever taints or limits Your giving.
You joyfully, unreservedly share with Your children
all that You have and
all that You are.
Almighty God, You share Yourself with us!
You fully incarnated
Your pure and perfect Son
in our human flesh
so that through Him,
we might share in You.
You breathe into us
Your own Spirit,
Your own
holy,
boundless,
eternal life
that we might be filled forever with
all the fullness of God Himself.
Praise to You, magnificent Father,
infinite in greatness,
infinite in goodness,
infinite in love!
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Fullness of God
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A reflection on Revelation 16,
the pouring out of the bowls of wrath
As the Lord delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you…You shall find no rest…the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. (Deuteronomy 28:63-65, NASB)
We live in a day of grace.
The Father is patient,
tirelessly reaching out,
eager to draw everyone back to Himself.
Believers and unbelievers alike live in a world where,
even in its corrupt state,
we are bathed in God’s
power,
wisdom, and
ever-present goodness.
But this day of grace will not last forever.
Soon all these gifts and graces that we
ungratefully, arrogantly take for granted
will be gone.
When that day arrives,
the unrepentant will be stubbornly blocking God’s path to the
the pure and beautiful world He has promised.
They will be standing between
the God of fierce love and
the eternal welfare of His children.
They will have sealed their own fate.
By ignoring God, they will have sided with His enemy,
the one who hates God and
all who are His,
the one God has sworn to destroy.
The day of mercy will have passed.
The day of judgment will have come.
God will do what He must do:
He will show Himself holy.
He will show Himself just.
He will keep His promise to purify His world.
Those who have clung to their sin,
who have distanced themselves from Him,
will be given what they have freely chosen.
They will be left outside,
away from the only Source of all
light and
love and
goodness.
All that will be left for them is
pain,
darkness,
gnawing hatred, and
deep, complete, unrelenting need.
Now is the time for repentance.
Now is the day of salvation.
Now is the time to
choose Him.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Mighty Day
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You are a child of
Almighty God,
the Sovereign Creator,
the Maker and Master of all reality.
He dearly, deeply loves you!
You are His treasure!
He joyfully shares with you
all He is and
all He has.
He eagerly pours out on you
His own Spirit,
His time,
His attention,
His exuberant affection,
His wisdom, and
His glorious purity.
Blessing you is His constant delight!
He is tenderly nurturing you
moment by moment
until you fully share
His character,
His mind, and
His loving heart.
Rejoice!
You are a child of the King!
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Children of the Lord
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A prayer response to Revelation 15:5-8,
a prelude to God pouring out His wrath
Father, Your wrath against sin is
deep,
total, and
irreconcilable.
You are eternally, unalterably opposed to
anything that
harms Your dearly-loved children or
separates them from You.
Your wrath against sin is not
a temper tantrum or
a passing mood.
It is a fierce,
holy,
burning,
almighty love
that refuses to accept anything but
our very best in You, our
fullness and
completeness and
unbounded joy.
Our freedom from sin is precious to You.
You bought it
with Your Son
and paid for it
with His life.
Thank You, loving Father,
for Your uncompromising wrath against sin.
You deliver us completely from its awful curse.
Praise to You!
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Your Ceaseless, Unexhausted Love
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