Lord, I confess that I am not prone to being patient.
My mind is filled with opportunities and joys and healings
That I am convinced will bring me the satisfaction my heart is looking for.
In fact, there are days when the things I long for
Are so obvious to me – so clear to my mind – so passionate in my heart
That I can't imagine a world where you're not going to provide it for me.
Because it's clearly what I need – and I need it now!
And yet, time after time, your ears seem deaf to my cries.
And I can't tell if you're saying no – or wait – or just don’t bother me.
But either way, it feels like a death to my heart.
And it crushes my spirit.
Are you not listening?
Do you not care?
Don’t you want what's best for me?
I confess there are many times when I'm convinced it's a no.
And in those times it's easy to believe you're not good.
It's easy to trust my own judgment so much
That I move ahead on my own
And hope your blessings will catch up with me.
And yet my life is littered with the messes I've made
From not waiting – from not listening – from assuming I know what's best.
Please forgive me for acting like I know everything you know.
Please forgive me for believing I can see everything you see.
Please forgive me for assuming that you're not good.
Father, teach me to rest in your perfect provision.
Convince my heart that you are always good.
Help me to trust you no matter what I see.
Lead my soul to the quiet rest of patiently waiting
For a good and wise Father to give his child what is best.
Child, I know you're weak.
That's why I came to earth.
I came in weakness and surrendered myself to death
So that my strength might come to you.
And the strength I give you is life itself!
As any king would be with his children
I long for you to barge into my presence.
You never need to clean yourself up first.
You don’t even have to announce yourself.
Because you have a Dad who understands.
I've been tempted in every way that you have, yet did not sin.
So you can approach my throne any time you want
Because it's a throne of grace.
And when you come, I’ll give you all the mercy and grace that you need
To help you in your time of need.
So approach my throne
And hear my words of love and forgiveness:
Though you are a dirty mess,
I have cleansed you with hyssop, so you are now clean!
I myself have washed you and made you whiter than snow!
Lord, when I think of your love for me
And your willingness to die for me
Your name is beautiful
And your power is great.
But when it comes to beauty
And the power it holds over my heart
I find that I'm often distracted by the lesser beauties of this world.
And the promise of their affections often captivates my heart.
The beauty of a reputation gained by right living.
The beauty of a plan that works the way I had hoped.
The beauty of toys that can distract me.
Even the beauty of moral living
That makes me feel more owed by God
And less patient with those who struggle around me.
Father, help me to see that these are indeed lesser beauties
Because they have to be earned. They have to be bought.
They can be lost. And they can break my heart.
And help me to see that Jesus is indeed a greater beauty.
Because what he offers has already been earned for me by his life.
It was already purchased with his precious blood.
Which means your love can't ever be lost or break my heart.
Help me learn to displace these lesser loves
With the greater beauty of Jesus’ life lived for me
And the perfect substitute of his death for me.
Teach me to compare these beauties
So that my heart can be increasingly consumed
By how much greater and higher your beauty is.
Lead my heart beyond the knowledge of God
To the worship of that surpassing beauty
That it might captivate and control my affections.
Child, I know the hardest words for you to believe are:
Because I have lived the perfect life you owe to God
And because I died the death your rebellion deserves
You are now holy and righteous – beautiful and faultless in my sight.
I know your heart tells you every day that it can't be that simple:
That there's got to be something you need to bring to the table.
Some level of faith.
Some level of sorrow.
Some promise of increased commitment.
But when I cried from the cross, “It is finished,”
I meant it.
All striving has ceased.
All living to please me has finished.
All sacrifice and penance to cover your sins in done.
Being too humble to accept this isn't humility – it's pride.
And I will not share my glory with anybody.
Believe me when I say that in my great mercy
I have given you new birth into a living hope
through my resurrection from the dead,
And I've given you an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,
who through faith are shielded by God’s power
Until that day when I bring you the full enjoyment
of that salvation I purchased for you.
Lord, I confess today that you are indeed a mystery!
At times, I see the evidence of your work all over my life.
And other times, it feels like you're not even there!
And I admit that I often struggle to understand what you're up to.
If I’m honest, I have to admit that I often miss your work in my life
Because I'm looking for a version of Jesus that fits my expectations.
I have too many preconceived notions about how you should be acting,
How you should be delivering, and how you should be providing.
And when you don’t deliver in those ways,
It's easy for me to assume you're just not there.
Father, forgive me for demanding that you work in the ways I expect.
Forgive me for often creating a Jesus in my own image.
Forgive me for complaining against your good work when I don’t like it.
Forgive me for only seeing you in the good
And assuming you're never there in the bad.
Remind my selfish heart
That you are actively working in all things in my life
And that you are turning every bit of it for my good.
Help me to remember that there isn't a thing that happens to me
That you aren’t using in loving ways to make me more like Jesus.
Father, lead my heart to that rest today.
Child, how slow to believe you are
That I came as a suffering Servant
To live the perfect life you could never pull off
And to die in your place.
You sometimes act as if I'm your personal genie
Crafted to bring you a designer life
When I've come to re-make you into my image.
How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?
And that means you're not always going to understand my ways.
Because my goal is not to bring you heaven on earth
But to use that very same suffering
And circumstances you can't understand
To strip away the ugly self that drags you down
And remold you into my image.
And that is what I've done!
Because of the works of Jesus
You are as beautiful and acceptable to me
As if you had done everything Jesus has done.
It's yours! It's credited to your account!
And I'm working in every area of your life
To make that new reality more and more real to you.
I want you to experience and enjoy all that I've purchased for you.
And I will never stop working until it's not only real TO you
But true OF you.
Child, why are you so consumed with your religious performance?
Why do you beat yourself up for being so unfaithful and so inconsistent?
Why do you think I'm mad at you for your many mistakes?
Don’t you know that's why I broke into your world?
That's the whole reason I took on flesh and blood!
At one time, you were slaves under the authority of the law.
But when the time had fully come,
I sent my Son, born of a woman, born under that law
In order to redeem you who were slaves to that law
That you might now receive the full adoption as sons and daughters.
The only performance I now look to is the performance of my Son.
He fulfilled the law perfectly by living it in your place.
And he paid your debt in full by dying in your place on the cross.
And so when I look at your heart today
I only see his perfect record credited to your account.
Will you live today as joyful, rescued children
Instead of the soberness of your own brokenness?
That's what Christmas means!
I have rescued you from the darkness of death
And have brought you into the light of my favor.
Rejoice, rescued child! You have been redeemed!
Lord, when we consider your holiness,
the perfection of your love and purity,
and your glory that compels all your creatures to praise You,
we are reminded time and again of our own failings.
Though you have told us what is good,
we try instead to decide it for ourselves.
You offer us the wisdom of your Word,
and we choose our own foolishness,
all the while believing ourselves wiser and more faithful than we are.
Our lips pledge our trust in you, and we believe them.
But our worry and fear reveal the truth of our hearts: that we trust only ourselves.
We live as though our own wisdom,
our own virtue or ability could preserve us.
But when we glimpse your glory, Father, the vastness of your wisdom,
we know all this to be foolishness.
Father, grant that we would trust in the wisdom of your Word.
Let the grace of your Son, change our desires to long for your truth.
May your Holy Spirit train our hearts to trust you more than we trust ourselves.
Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us.
When foolishness clouds our view,
causing us to doubt your goodness, power, and wisdom,
let the light of Jesus, full of grace and truth,
shine through the gloom to lead us out of our folly and sin
and into your wisdom and love. Amen.
Oh beloved Child of the Lord Almighty, hear and believe his grace and mercy!
With everlasting love I will have compassion on you,
says the LORD your Redeemer.
I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud
and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.
The LORD builds up his church,
he gathers the outcasts of his people.
He heals the brokenhearted,
and binds up their wounds.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
In his wisdom, the divine Word, God the Son,
put on flesh to dwell among us,
so that his cross, which is foolishness to the world,
would put to shame all our worldly wisdom.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,
that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed.
Child, this is the truth of the gospel.
Know and receive the love of your Father,
whose Holy Spirit is daily raising you up
out of the darkness of sin, into the light his grace.
Father, I have to admit, that when the Psalmist proclaims
“O how I love your law, I meditate on it day and night”,
I confess that my own personal love languishes.
When I hear your commands and decrees
I often feel hemmed in, held back, unfairly restrained.
It's easy for me to doubt your goodness
And my heart tells me you can't be fully trusted.
Besides that, my constant failings
Fill me with guilt and shame.
It's hard to love a law
That exposes me for the imposter that I am.
And yet I know that Jesus has perfectly fulfilled
Every aspect of this law for me.
And I hear you say that everything it demands
Is now true of me in your sight.
But it's hard for me to believe.
I struggle to find joy and rest in the commands I read.
Help me to see that your laws are good,
That they form safe boundaries for my life.
Help me to see that these laws
Are descriptors of the God I love
And that they are pictures
Of where you are ultimately leading my heart.
Teach me to love your laws.
Fill me with joy in their commands.
Make my heart rejoice as I am reminded
That Jesus obeyed where I couldn’t
And that by your grace,
You are slowly transforming me
To be a lover and keeper of your precious commands.
Child, my demands and decrees are indeed great.
They are so great, that no one but my Son could keep them.
But that is why I sent him into your world:
To obey perfectly in every way what you were unable keep,
And then to die in your place as your perfect sacrifice.
I understand how my laws can intimidate you
How guilty and lifeless they make you feel.
But my laws are good!
They are for your protection, for your benefit
They are a reflection of my character
And they are picture of where I am taking you.
How foolish you are, and how slow to believe
That I am as perfect in my mercy
As I am in my justice.
Don’t you remember what I declared to Moses?
“The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet I will not leave the guilty unpunished; I will punish the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
And that is who I am!
A righteous and holy God, who cannot overlook your sin.
But a merciful and gracious God,
Who has been satisfied by the perfect substitute of my Son
Who has paid your debt in full.
Enter into the grace I offer you,
As broken children, still scared of their Father
But assured of my unending love.
You are my treasure. The joy of my heart.
Lord, when I turn my eyes to the glories of your creation
I am humbled and amazed at the greatness of who you are.
The vastness of the heavens blows me away.
The intricate detail of a single cell is beyond my comprehension.
And they all point to your glory.
But if I'm honest, I confess that it's far too easy for me
To not look THROUGH your creation to see your glory
But to look TO your creation to provide it.
And when I do, I enter the roller coaster of disappointment.
Everything I see promises life and joy and satisfaction.
But what it promises lasts no longer than a piece of gum.
It was great for a minute,
But it's now worthless and needs to be spit out!
Father, forgive me for believing that the pictures of your glory
Could ever satisfy my heart the way you can.
Forgive me for settling for experiences I can control
Rather than opening myself up to your boundless wonders.
Teach me that I was made for more glory
Than anything in this world could ever offer.
Help me to enjoy the beauties of this world
As they point me to you.
And rescue me from the lies that
I can find my heart’s satisfaction
In any reflection I see apart from you.
Child, I designed you for great things!
I gave you a capacity for joy and fulfillment
That's way beyond anything you’ve ever settled for in this life.
That's why I'm so passionate about keeping your heart
From wasting your breath on things that can never satisfy.
Never settle for mere images and reflections of my glory
When I offer you the real thing!
Never believe the lie that I'm trying to hold you back
When my heart’s desire is for greater joy than you’ve ever known.
And so I call you to rejoice in my goodness!
Let your gentleness be evident to all, because I am near.
Don’t be anxious about anything, but in every situation,
By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving
Present your longings for glory to me.
And I will give you more than you could ever imagine!
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
Whatever is pure, whatever is lovely
If anything is excellent or praiseworthy
Think about such things!
And my peace will fill you!
Lord, you are indeed holy and perfect and righteous in all your ways. And though part of me wants to worship you for that holiness If I'm honest, I rarely celebrate your holiness. Rather, it often makes me cringe with guilt and shame.
As a result, I tend to diminish your holiness By fixing my eyes on your mercy and grace instead. And it makes your holiness seem smaller, less intimidating.
Father, help me to see that your mercy and grace Don’t have the transforming power they should have If I fail to see the great chasm between your holiness and my waywardness. Help me to see that the greater the debt that's been paid The greater my joy and thankfulness will be.
And even more, help me to see that what truly separates me from you Are not my evil deeds, as much as my best deeds - The things that bring me self-righteousness And value apart from you Which diminish my awareness of the depth of my need.
Help me to not see your mercy as a partial fix To the shortcomings of my heart But rather the only hope for a heart that is bent In every way imaginable, away from you and your glory. Help me to see that the good news of your love Is the best news my heart could ever hear.
Child, no one sees the depth of your sin like me. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before my eyes. I see sins and selfish motives that you don’t even see!
And yet true love keeps no record of wrongs. And though I see your sin – and all the rebellion beneath it I have taken your sin and its guilt away from you As far as the east is from the west. I have hurled it into the bottom of the sea, Where I choose to remember it no more – To not hold it against you.
That's because my Son came and paid your debt in full. I don’t overlook your sins – but I made payment for them myself. I forgive your sins – not because you have done anything righteous But because of my great love and mercy.
And never think it's merely a clean slate that I want for you. What I desire is a relationship with you - A relationship of love and intimacy.
So turn from your sins and rebellion Walk away from your guilt and shame.
And celebrate with me the perfect love that we now share
Because of my Son, Jesus.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures…Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
“ ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.” Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”
Father, my heart joins all creation in singing, “ ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’
And yet, I confess my struggles to lay MY crowns before your throne.
I believe in your holiness,
But often surrender to my passions in the moment.
I acknowledge your surpassing worth,
But often worship my circumstances and my dreams instead.
Forgive me for believing in a theoretical holiness.
Forgive me for succumbing to the deeper passions of my own comfort.
Forgive me for not entrusting my life to your holy will.
Lead my heart to see that holiness is what I was made for.
Help me to believe that living under your holiness
Will bring my heart greater joy
Than all my passions and dreams combined.
Help me to stop running FROM your holiness
And grant me a heart that increasingly runs TO it.
Child, I know you live in the dark shame of your failures and sins.
But arise! Shine! For your light has come!
My Son endured the greatest darkness of all
So that the light of the world could now shine in your hearts.
And in that light, I want to you see my true love for you.
I don’t just pardon you of your sins.
But I have your very names engraved on the palms of my hands,
That I might see and remember my great and enduring love for you.
Therefore, you can now approach my throne of grace with confidence,
So that you may receive mercy and find grace to help you in your time of need. “Come now, let us settle the matter,”
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
Father, it's such a sweet reminder to my heart
That you have not forgotten me
And that you're working everything in my life
For my good and for your glory.
But I have to confess that my life is a constant display
That I really don’t believe that,
At least not at a functional level.
I see worry all over the face of my life.
I'm often filled with fears about my future.
The pressure to succeed or figure things out
Often leaves me locked in the grip of anxiety.
Not only that, I admit that it's hard for me to rest
When I can't see a way forward.
It seems impossible for me to not scheme,
And find ways to manipulate what I think needs to happen.
Forgive my arrogant pride of assuming I know better than you.
Forgive my belief that if I can't see a way forward
Then there must not be one.
Forgive me for only resting in your provision
After I see you beginning to work.
Teach me, Father, to find rest in your promises
No matter what I see or experience.
Lead me to deeper trust that you are good
And that you are, indeed, working everything in my life
For good purposes – to make me more and more like Jesus.
Father, I now bring to you those areas of my life
Where I have been trying to keep control…
Child, the lie of your heart is that
You need to do something more
To add to what my Son accomplished on the cross.
Some level of sorrow.
Some level of penance.
Some form of obedience.
And so let me speak the truth over that lie:
When my Son cried out from the cross: “It is finished”, He meant it!
Everything that was needed to satisfy my wrath
For the sins you have committed,
Everything IN you that falls short of my commands,
Every good and noble deed that you ought to live out,
My Son, Jesus, did that for you.
And so when he cried out from the cross, “It is finished”,
He was declaring that every bit of that was complete.
He did it perfectly
And he did it in your place.
And just as I placed your sins upon him on that cross,
I also credited his righteous life to your spiritual accounts.
That means that – in my eyes – and one day in reality,
You are as perfect and beautiful and righteous
As my own Son, Jesus!
Believe my declaration that “It is finished”,
And rest in that today.
Lift up your hearts and rejoice
Because everything you need today is finished!
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