Father, in Jesus' name, I bless and praise You my God and King. Thank You for this time to spend alone with You in Your presence and for giving me a heart and mind to do so. Your presence gives me a glimpse and taste of heaven even as I live in this broken and fallen world. Thank You that there is a day coming when You will make all things new. You will give Your people new bodies and You will create new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. There we will be in the radiance of Your Light as You light up all of creation for the rest of forever. We long for that day when the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and Your Kingdom will never end. Your eternal Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy.
We long for the day when all these things will be no more: sin, mourning, pain, broken and sick bodies, broken families and divorce, orphans, widows, murder, suicide, abortion, sexual immorality (sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman), gender confusion, transgenderism, pedophilia, rape, sex trafficking, prostitution, slavery, racism, ethnocentrism, nationalism, favoritism and partiality, hatred and hostility, selfishness, pride, exploitation, poverty, deceit, violence, vice, vileness, injustice, inhumanity, natural disasters, cancer, H.I.V. and AIDS, COVID-19 (pandemics), and death. Yet greater than all these things being no more we look forward to being with our great God and Savior Jesus Christ forever. To be fully in Your presence is beyond our ability to comprehend and to fathom.
Father, thank You for lavishing Your love upon Your children even as we live in the midst of this evil age. Help us to look to You and live for You letting absolutely nothing get in the way of our relationship with You: not our marriages, not our children, not our families, not our finances, not our work, not our ministries, not food and drink, not entertainment, not persecution, not times in the desert, not mountaintop experiences, not the allure of this world, and not even the things that You bless us with.
God, show us our sin and anything that is quenching the fire that You have started in our hearts. Help us to fan the flames so that Your fire in us continues to grow until the entirety of our lives are consumed by You. May we be like burning bushes, continually burning but not being burned up. May others encounter You and hear You speak even through our lives and lips. Moses encountering You in the burning bush took him from 40 years in the wilderness, which he had run to in fear, to heading back to confront the greatest world leader with the reality of the great I Am who would rescue His people from slavery through him.
Our histories do not denote the great things You are calling us to partner with You in the days to come. In the areas where we have faltered and given up on divinely given dreams may You use us to prove to us and to others in the world that You are Almighty God. There is nothing too hard or impossible for You. Jesus, loose and untie us to carry Your presence and Word to this world that desperately needs You. May You use us to bring great multitudes of men, women, boys, and girls to know the forgiveness of sins and salvation for their souls as we live and proclaim the good news of who You are and what You did to reconcile the world to God by Your death on the cross and Your resurrection from the dead. May we fulfill our calling as Christ's ambassadors in this world until You return. Amen!!!
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