Transcendent
Pure
High above
Wholly other
Separate
Creator
Uncreated
Eternal, without beginning or ending
Awe-full
Incomparable
Incorruptible
Majestic
Divine
Supreme
Exalted
Infinitely beyond
Just
Right
Perfect
Complete
Holy
Holy
Holy
God
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Eternal Light
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Transcendent God, You live in eternity
above all time,
unlimited,
unhurried,
untouched by its relentless flow.
You are the master of time,
not its slave.
Time means change, and
You are beyond all change.
You are unchanging fullness,
unchanging perfection.
Yet we humans need time, Father.
We need its opportunities to
change and grow.
We are only the seeds of
who we need to be.
And You are like a gardener,
content to work,
content to wait,
content to patiently nurture us
until the time is exactly right and
we are all Your love intended us to be.
You will not rush.
What seems like delays is
only Your mercy,
only Your unflinching determination to give
only Your best to Your children.
Transcendent God, we cannot think Your thoughts.
We cannot trace Your ways,
But we trust Your perfect wisdom and
Your unchanging love.
Help us to work and rest
in Your Spirit,
in Your time,
in Your peace.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Eternal God, Unbound by Tim
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Worship Like Jesus
“True worshipers will worship the Father
in spirit and truth;
for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
God is spirit, and those who worship Him
must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24, NASB)
Father, I want to worship You
as You desire to be worshiped.
I want to worship You as Your Son worshiped You.
His worship rose,
not just from His lips,
but from His heart and life.
His worship was
prayer,
simple trust,
eager obedience,
loving service, and
complete self-sacrifice.
He worshiped You with all He was,
with all His
heart,
soul,
mind, and
strength.
Father, give me His Spirit.
Form in me His character.
Form in me His relationship with You.
Help me to worship You
like Jesus.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Father, Help Me Worship You
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from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER
John 1:1-9; 17:24; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:15-17
There is but one God, the Father,
from whom are all things and
we exist for Him;
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things, and
we exist through Him. (1 Corinthians 8:6, NASB)
See the Son in His eternal magnificence.
Nothing existed before Him.
From the very beginning,
He is with God, and
He is God.
He is the Father’s only Son,
one with Him in every way.
The Father and Son are two persons,
not interchangeable,
yet nothing separates them.
They are one substance.
The Son is the Word of the Father,
sovereign and
creative.
He is completely responsive to the Father.
All the Father’s purposes, all His heart,
the Son brings to full and perfect reality.
See the Son:
all the Father’s life and
all the Father’s light,
pure, unborrowed, uncreated.
See the Son,
overflowing with all the infinite wealth that is the Father.
See the Son,
totally invested,
totally absorbed in the loving will of His Father.
Father, I want to know Christ.
I want a living share in His relationship with You,
in His glad obedience to You, whatever the cost.
I want to share in His Word,
His death,
His resurrection,
His Spirit, and
His eternal glory in Your presence.
Father, I ask for a
constant and complete oneness with You
in Jesus Christ.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: We Can Know Our God Transcendent
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Father, in Your great heart
You long for us to know You
entirely and completely,
all we are
knowing
all You are.
You created this entire universe,
immense and majestic,
not only to show us Yourself,
but to engulf us in
Your power,
Your wisdom,
Your love, and
the vastness of Your mystery.
Yet even as we are immersed in all this, we see only
the fringes of Your robe.
We hear only
a faint whisper of You. (Job 26:14)
To show Yourself completely,
You gave us Your own Son.
You incarnated Him as
the most helpless and humble of all human beings:
the newborn infant of
an unmarried peasant girl
from a small, oppressed people
in one corner of the world.
Here is the transcendent, undiminished God!
Here is the full radiance of Your glory!
Here is the exact representation of Your very nature! (Hebrews 1:3)
Here is the fullness of Your Deity in bodily form, and
You have made us
full and complete
in Him. (Colossians 2:9-10)
As we look to Him,
we are being changed into His likeness. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
But we do yet see Him for all He is. (1 John 3:2)
With all His many magnificent names,
He has a name, an identity,
that no one knows but Him. (Revelation 19:12)
But we know this:
when He appears,
we will be like Him,
because we will see Him just as He is. (1 John 3:2, NASB)
We will know Him fully,
we will know You, Father,
even as we are fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)
Your deep longing for us
will be fulfilled
every moment,
forever,
entirely and completely,
all we are
knowing
all You are.
We will be immersed in You,
one with You,
saturated with
Your presence,
Your holiness,
Your love,
Your life, in all its depth and richness.
Father, finish what You have begun.
We long for You!
We are waiting at the door.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Knowing God
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Feed Me, Lord
Father, as You feed my body so generously and faithfully,
You long to feed my soul.
In Jesus Christ You spread a rich banquet
for my true, eternal self.
You offer me
His Spirit,
His love,
His peace and joy,
His unbroken relationship with You.
You offer me everything that my being craves,
everything I will ever need,
everything You are.
Father, as I come to Your table today,
may I come hungry,
ready to be fed with
every song
every prayer,
every word.
Feed me with
the Spirit of Christ.
Feed me with
His body and
His blood.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: We Taste Your Life and Long for More
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Romans 14:13-23
Do not…destroy your brother for whom Christ died (Romans 14:15, NIV).
Lord, as I interact daily with people,
help me always remember that I’m handling
Your most precious commodity and
Your most valuable work.
I’m dealing with those you love and
for whom You died.
May my
actions,
words, and
manner
always speak
Your love,
Your mercy,
Your forbearance, and
Your self-sacrifice.
Lord, Your presence among us is
righteousness,
joy, and
peace.
May my life be
righteousness,
joy, and
peace in my little world.
May I be the fragrance of Your love
to everyone around me.
Jesus, be
my comfort,
my pleasure,
my goal, and
my highest good
as I walk among Your loved ones today.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Lord, You Are Love
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Today, Eternal God, we live and move and breathe in You.
Help us live this day
abundantly,
in the reality of all You are.
You are our Father.
Help us walk in
all the privileges of the children of God.
You are our Savior, who gave Yourself for us.
Help us rest in
Your all-encompassing love.
You are the Spirit.
Help us love and serve
here in Your presence,
out of the rich abundance of Almighty God.
We ask all this
in Your name and
for Your glory alone.
Amen.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Today in Your Presence
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Your Implanted Word
Matthew 13
As we worship, You will sow among us
Your Word,
Your precious, eternal, life-giving truth,
Your truth about Jesus Christ, Your Son.
Your Word will be read, sung, taught, and proclaimed.
O Father, help me receive it with an
open mind and
open heart.
Help me to listen as Your Spirit whispers it to me.
Help me to nurture Your implanted Word with
trust and
obedience.
Father, may the seed of Your Word
grow in my heart and life and
bear much fruit,
all to Your glory.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Bless This Seed
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from the devotional book, PICTURES OF GOD
I’ve been in full-time Christian ministry for forty-four years. I began in 1973, teaching at God’s Bible School in Cincinnati. Two years later I moved to Kansas City to work for Lillenas Publishing Company, where I spent 34 years. Since leaving there at the end of 2009, God has focused me on writing and publishing hymns and devotional material. All my adult life I’ve also been active in my local church, mostly teaching the Bible.
From my own experience, I offer this testimony:
God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed (2 Corinthians 9:8, NASB).
God has fully equipped me for absolutely everything He has ever called me to do. Every task, every time.
Have I always felt confident in myself? Heavens, no. Usually the opposite. Though I’ve been teaching for all these years, public speaking has never come naturally to me. But God uses me, enables me, and always gives me a message that I know is from Him. He shares His wisdom with me, and He shares His wisdom through me.
I’ve written over 600 hymns, a number of books, a regular blog, and articles for a variety of uses and formats. But every morning as I get up to write, I deeply feel my total inadequacy for that day’s task. Every single morning. Before I get out of bed, I pray, reminding God of my total dependence on Him. I make myself available to Him, telling Him that I can only do what He enables me to do.
For my part, I pray, study, prepare thoroughly, rest, exercise, try to take care of myself, and work hard. I do my best with everything I write, whatever the task. And at the end of the day, sometimes I feel comfortable with the results of that day’s writing. Sometimes I don’t. But I keep it committed to Him, and I trust Him to work in His own way and time.
Even though I am not confident in myself, I am confident in Him. And He never, ever lets me down. As long as I look to Him, He never abandons me to my own weakness and incompetency. Forty-four years and counting.
Listen and sing:
Hymn: Speak Your Word, My Father
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