Tag Archive for ascension

from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-05-26 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Prepare for Ascension Day

Father, thank You for the ascension of Jesus.
He is once again in Your intimate presence,
breathing the love and peace that were Yours
from all eternity.
We share Your joy in His return!

His ascension assures us that His work here is complete.
The perfect human life has been lived.
The full and final sacrifice for all our sin has been
offered and
accepted.
At Your side He is ruling all history and all reality with
perfect wisdom,
perfect power, and
perfect love.
Once again He is bathed in the glory and magnificence
that are uniquely and rightfully His.

As He is parted from us, You reassure us that
You will be with us forever.
You remind us that
You will soon pour out Your Spirit on us, and
Your Son will one day return
just as we have seen Him go.

By His ascension, You have exalted the crucified Christ as
Savior,
Lord, and
soon-coming King.
Father, we praise You!
Today help us celebrate this glorious reality.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Glorified Christ
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I Long for the Father

2017-03-15 Devotional with Hymn, One with Our Father One comment

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER 

John 13:1, 3 

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. (John 13:1-3, NIV) 

Father, as Jesus neared the end of His time here,
His deepest longing,
His burning desire was this:
to return to You.

His Spirit in me is breathing the same desire.
Father, I long to come home to You.

Father, You are the goal toward which
all history is moving.
I want my thoughts,
my desires, and
my daily living
to keep moving toward You as well.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Longing for Home
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The Ascended Christ

2015-04-21 Devotional with Hymn No comments

from A Christ-centered Year

God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. (Ephesians 1:20-21, NRSV)

On Ascension Day, Jesus is at the Father’s right hand,
reigning as Sovereign Lord and King.

His work is completed.
The perfect human life has been lived.
The Sacrifice has been offered and accepted.
Atonement has been made.
Humanity and holiness are rejoined.
Sin and death are conquered.
Peace reigns.
Life reigns.
Love reigns forever.

Jesus is once again where He belongs:
in the bosom of the Father,
on the seat of power and honor,
bathed in eternal glory.

He is soon to signal His heavenly arrival by
lavishly pouring out God’s own Spirit
on every child of God.

In the meantime, two angels have made His departure
a promise of His return:

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11, NASB)

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Glorified Christ
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Jesus Walks among Us

2014-05-18 Devotional with Hymn No comments

I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me…and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in the furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters…His face was like the sun shining in its brilliance. 

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”
(Revelation 1:12-18, NIV)

This is John’s vision of the Christ that walks among us now. He is not the Galilean carpenter, but the risen, ascended, glorified Christ in all His splendor.

His eyes are like blazing fire. He sees reality. He sees everything as it truly is: this world…the Church…our lives and hearts.

His voice is like the roar of a mighty waterfall. He speaks from absolute authority and wisdom. He speaks from pure love.

He is walking among us. He sees. He is speaking. Father, help us to turn to Him often, listen, and obey.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: The Glorified Christ
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See Him Now

2013-04-28 Devotional with Hymn No comments

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and
the exact representation of His being,
sustaining all things by his powerful word.
After he had provided purification for sins,
he sat down at the right hand
of the Majesty in heaven.
(Hebrews 1:3, NIV)

See Him now,
the Jewish peasant,
the Victim,
the One rejected, ridiculed, brutalized, and
executed as a blasphemer and traitor.

See Him now
in all the glory that is His from all eternity.
See Him risen to the right hand of the Father.
He is seated, His task complete.
He has wiped away all our sins,
completely and forever.
He has poured out
the Holy Spirit of God Himself
on every person who will receive Him.

This is the Christ who is with us now,
our Companion,
our Shepherd,
our Wisdom,
our adequacy for every situation.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: See Almighty God
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