Evening Prayer: April 20th

O God, if I failed to be faithful today, forgive me and grant me rest from my fears. I pray for my nation this night. You have said that if your people, who are called by your name will pray, you will heal their land. I come and pray this night, Lord God, come and heal our land. I pray for a revival for your Church. May a Holy Fire come down upon the American church again that we may have courage and boldness to proclaim the truth in a culture that has lost its way. Now as the sun sets upon this day, lead me into the safety of your arms that I may rest from the stress of today. In the name of your Son, Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Daily Scripture Passage: Psalm 33:1-5, 12-15

Psalm 33:1-5, 12-15 (ESV)

The Steadfast Love of the Lord

33 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
    Praise befits the upright.
² Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre;
    make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
³ Sing to him a new song;
    play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

⁴ For the word of the Lord is upright,
    and all his work is done in faithfulness.
⁵ He loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

¹² Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
    the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

¹³ The Lord looks down from heaven;
    he sees all the children of man;
¹⁴ from where he sits enthroned he looks out
    on all the inhabitants of the earth,
¹⁵ he who fashions the hearts of them all
    and observes all their deeds.

Thoughts to Ponder from Ephesians 1:11-14

Ephesians 1:11-14 (ESV)

¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

“…so that we might exist for the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:12).

If you had to define God’s glory, how would you do it? It’s a difficult concept to put into words, but we know it when we see it. Any time God is manifested – in the beauty of creation, in a miraculous healing, in worship – we see his glory. In fact, God cannot be separated from his glory, just as he cannot be separated  from his love, his justice, or his mercy. It’s simply who he is.

In today’s passage from Ephesians, Paul tells us that God sent Jesus into the world to redeem us so that we might live for “the praise of his glory.” As comforting as this statement is, it also issues us a challenge: How can we live, here and now, in a way that manifests and gives praise to the glory of the Lord?

Simply by letting God’s glory shine through us. Remember: We are all temples of the Holy Spirit, and that means that God himself lives in us. And wherever God is, so is his glory. This means that we manifest God’s glory in every relationship that reflects his own sacrificial love. It means that we show his glory whenever we pray with expectant faith or when we readily ask for forgiveness and forgive someone who has sinned against us.

Obviously, we give glory to God when we raise our voices in worship. But it also happens when we trust him through a difficult situation, when we share our faith, when we celebrate in worship, and when we give up our time to help someone. In all these ways, we are letting God’s glory shine though us.

What God has done for us by redeeming us is a pure gift. There’s nothing we have done or could do to merit such favor. But we can respond to this great gift by making our lives into a hymn of praise to the Lord. We can manifest his glory by keeping him at the center of our hearts, seeking to please him in all that we say and do.

Father, your love overwhelms me. Fill me with your Holy Spirit so that each moment of each day, I live for the praise of your glory. Amen.

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