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In
Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
“Now, my God, may your eyes be open and
your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.”
“Now arise, Lord God, and come to your
resting place, you and the ark of your might. May your priests, Lord God, be
clothed with salvation, may your faithful people rejoice in your goodness. Lord
God, do not reject your anointed one. Remember the great love promised to David
your servant.”
2 Chronicles 6:40-42
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to
God.
Adoration. Confession. Supplication.
Using the A.C.T.S. acronym as a model
for prayer, these were three of the four elements we have looked at.
Indeed, we don’t serve a God who is
distant and uncaring. He doesn’t oppress His people and mete out punishment on
them unjustly. And He doesn’t refuse to pardon those who repent of their wrongs
and ask for mercy and grace.
No, God is a god of love. In fact, He
is love (1 John 4:8) and no one knows love unless they know Him.
It’s out of the deep love for us that
God is ever near us and ever ready to hear our prayers, whether we are
confessing our sins and seeking His forgiveness or raising up our supplications
and expressing our needs.
In the end translation, no one loves us
like God loves us, no one is always with us like God is with us, no one
communicates with us like God is willing to communicate with us, no one is
willing to forgive us when we do wrong like God forgives, and no one protects
and can rescue us like God can protect and rescue us.
This is why we should praise Him and
adore Him above anything else in life with every breath and heartbeat He
provides. This is also why we should ensure that thanksgiving, the fourth
element of prayer, is a part of every talk we have with God.
I’ve always held that the next most
powerful words in the English language after “I love you” are “Thank you”. In
fact, I have always tried to make it a point to let people know how much I
appreciate them. You may have heard this also referred to as an “attitude of
gratitude”.
The truth is that we have so much to be
thankful for in life if we really think about it, even when we’re in the midst
of difficulty. For through Christ and our belief in Him, we are and will always
be richly blessed no matter our circumstances. Because of the salvation promise
God gave us out of love, that His only Son would be given to pay the price for
our sins so that if we believe in Him we wouldn’t perish but live forever, we
are people of victory. Nothing this life can throw at us will ever separate us
from the love of God found through Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39). Nothing.
Friends, we need to give thanks to God
for this, not just right now as we read this devotion, but every single chance
we get. We don’t deserve any good thing from God because of the sinners we are
and yet He has chosen to give us an opportunity for not only redemption but
salvation. It simply amazes me.
In the meantime, God isn’t operating
separate from us. He doesn’t choose to do all things apart from sinners like
you and me. No, He works in and through us, doing extraordinary things through
ordinary people. He takes the broken and sin-stained people that we are and
transforms our actions into divine acts of glory and majesty and splendor. Any
good thing that we do is a product of God providing us the opportunity and then
doing it through us. This is why He deserves all the honor and glory and praise.
And this is why He deserves all the
thanksgiving we can muster up.
This is what Solomon wished for the
people of Israel in his prayer before God. He hoped that the people of Israel
would rejoice in His goodness.
As I lift up my prayer for you today,
this is my hope as well. That you will ever thank God for all that He has been
in your life, all that He is today, and all He is yet to be.
Isn’t that the least we can do for a
God who has given, and continues to give us so much?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you
feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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