Get your worship on and PTL! Thank God I'm Forgiven is a day we focus on all we are thankful for in Christ and for our salvation! Rejoice! Count your many blessings--one by one!
Good Morning Thankfully Praising Redeemed of the Lord! Amen! What joy we know and gratitude drives our actions! Yes, PTL!
Eph. 2:10 comes up in our devotional time again . memorize, internalize and step into it because it is who you are and reveals the first steps God's plans for you: "You are God's masterpiece, made new in Christ to do the things He created you to do and planned for you from long ago." And when we come to Christ we are gifted, activated and empowered to go do those things according to our uniqueness in Christ. Thanks Lord! That is Jesus' easy yoke for us weary of striving and tired of falling short. We are Hi. He calls us by name. He knows us and still loves us and He has great plans for you and us as His gathered and sent Body. PTL!
Check out the devos below that thread this thinking all together for and worship, load up, partner up and go live and love like Jesus! It's gonna be a beautiful day to get out and enjoy this life in Christ. Share your joy and gratitude with some that Jesus is leading you to. Go! he is with you and you are made for such a time as this! Amen! Only you can do for Christ what you are created and gifted to do! rejoice and follow well! I'm praying for you and to know the peace of being you in Christ and doing what He has for you!
Sarah Young
Upper Room: Uniquely Made
God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:27 (NRSVUE)
On a recent walk, I spotted an oak leaf lying among maple leaves. The fallen beige leaf stood out on the golden carpet of maple leaves. Its rounded lobes contrasted with the sharp points of the other leaves surrounding it. Still, together, the leaves were beautiful.
How often do we notice someone who is different? Skin color, style of clothing, hairstyle, age, and other features may set them apart from the crowd. Maybe we are the unique people where we work, live, or go to school. Sometimes people stand out, and that’s just fine.
God creates each person with unique gifts and abilities. Even though we are different from one another, we all bear the image of God. Together with one another and the Divine, we collaborate to establish justice, make peace, and promote love.
Some people may desire that everyone conform to the same appearance, style, or belief, but God creates variety. The diversity of the natural world and humanity bring wonder and joy in their myriad expressions of God’s creativity. Let us embrace God’s work of love and our calling to celebrate that labor.
's Prayer
God who delights in diversity, thank you for creating each of us. Help us to appreciate the variety you have made and to treat every person with kindness. In Christ’s name. Amen.
The Word for You
I to We
Connection blog
- The Prayer of Jesus’ Life
“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you. . . . I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was” (John 17:1, 4-5).
Here it is plain that the phrase “yours is the glory” was in fact the prayer of Jesus’ life. The thrust of the text is that through His joyful obedience to God throughout His earthly life, God’s reputation, renown, and power were revealed in and through Him.
Here, to glorify God is to accomplish the things that God wants done. Jesus did that—and so can we.
To glorify God is to know Him intimately. It is to receive “marching orders” from God, and it is to carry them out. It is to look back on our day, our week, our month, or our life and say, “I did what you asked me to do. It is accomplished.”
Then it is to take a further step. Jesus could do this like no other. He requested a return to the glory that He had as the preexistent Word of God. In His case, it was a magnificent return to a wondrous reality—to be not only in heaven with God, but to be the center of heaven and to be God. In our case, we ask for the heaven we have never known before.
Our reward will be different in character, though it will be magnificent beyond all human existence. Jesus Christ the Lord is the center and we never can be. But we can be joined to the center and shine with His borrowed radiance forever. We shall share His glory and find ourselves seated in Him and with Him forever.
Lord Jesus, You truly are the center of life, as well as the very center of heaven! You are my God, the King of Glory! Teach me the ways of heaven through Your kingdom on this earth so that I might continue to glorify You every moment until I walk with You in the heavenly kingdom! Transform my heart, and please give me that joyful obedience that reveals You to others!
--Adapted from Power Praying by David Chotka.
Prayer Points
Read Ps. 73:23-26 and give praise to the one who holds you every day by your right hand.
Thank God for guiding you by his wise counsel.
Confess any time you have desired some earthly trinket more than the riches of your heavenly Father.
Commit yourself to staying close to God .
Ask God to be “the strength of [your] heart and [your] portion forever.”
Pray for any unsaved friends or relatives by name.
Ask that they will embrace the peace that comes with having God hold them by the hand.
Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayerleader.com. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
