This week, we were invited to worship with a song about tears and laughter. As you re-read these verses, think about the things that have made you sad during this past week. Like a sower planting a seed, pause to bring these sorrows to God in prayer:
The Lord has done great things for us;
we are glad.
Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like streams in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him (Psalm 126:3-6).
This song reminds us that because of what Jesus has done (The Lord has done great things for us!) all of our prayers will end in praise. We don’t know how long it will take for everything that God has started to be finished. Right now, because Jesus saved us through his suffering, we are able to connect every part of our lives--all of our sorrow and all of our work--to Him.
Pray: We ask for your mercy in these situations that have brought us sorrow this week. We ask for strength and help for the work that you have called us to do this week. Sustain us today, Lord Jesus, in the hope that comes from connecting everything in our lives to your death and resurrection. We look forward to shouting for joy on the day when your work of restoration is full and complete.
We heard the good news preached that everything is moving toward Jesus and that we grow and change by obsessing more and more on Jesus, on grace and on the gospel.
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. …Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (I Cor. 10:1-5, 11-13).
What are some of the ways that God’s people have always struggled to make Him the center of their lives?
What are some of the ways that you struggle to die to yourself and seek new life in Jesus?
Pray: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, We were defined by you and your word, but we reject you, your word, and your purpose for our lives. Often, we turn your word into the best way to control others and control our lives. Instead of you being our ultimate authority, we think life should only be on our terms. We are broken and sinful. But you have not left us this way. In Jesus, you have pursued our sinful and broken hearts. Jesus, you went to the cross and died for us that we would die to self and find new life in you. Holy Spirit, work in us to live in light of God’s goodness to us. Fix our eyes on Jesus.
Jesus is the glorious center of history and eternity. The forward motion of our lives is in the movement of all things toward him. As you read this beautiful passage from Hebrews chapter 1, think about how God is showing us that the goal of eternity is rest. Imagine this picture of Jesus resting at God’s right hand, satisfied in his creation, enjoying it in perfect harmony:
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs (verses 1-4).
Pray: Lord Jesus, open our imaginations to be astonished at the future you have prepared for us--Heaven and earth reunited--you are ours, and we are yours forever. Help us to live according to the reality that you have done it; It has happened; The salvation we need and long for has been accomplished. May the presence of this grace strengthen and mature us so that your rest and your joy would be reflected in your people.
As you look forward to next week, prayerfully read the following verses from I Corinthians 13, asking the Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus as his Word is preached, received and lived out by his people:
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (verses 8-12).