3rd. February. 2022. Daily Devotion.

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! ~ Psalm 8:1

Then there is admiration, that is, appreciation of the excellency of God. Man is better qualified to appreciate God than any other creature because he was made in His image and is the only creature who was. This admiration for God grows and grows until it fills the heart with wonder and delight.

“In our astonished reverence we confess Thine uncreated loveliness,” said the hymn writer. In our “astonished reverence.”

The God of the modern evangelical rarely astonishes anybody. He manages to stay pretty much within the constitution. Never breaks over our bylaws. He’s a very well-behaved God and very denominational and very much one of us, and we ask Him to help us when we’re in trouble and look to Him to watch over us when we’re asleep.

The God of the modern evangelical isn’t a God I could have much respect for. But when the Holy Ghost shows us God as He is we admire Him to the point of wonder and delight.

Lord, give me just a taste of ‘astonished reverence.’ Let me see You today as You really are and experience that ‘wonder and delight’ of which Tozer speaks. Amen. ~ from “Worship” by A. W. Tozer

Be a bright flame before us, O God, a guiding star above us, a smooth path below us and a loving shepherd behind us, each day and each night, now and for ever. Amen. Columba of Iona (521-597)

Prayer for a fresh Vision

Eternal God, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.”
We pray for a fresh vision of the life of heaven
that renews our passion to see your kingdom here on earth.
May we be captivated anew by heaven’s breath-taking beauty:
beauty revealed in glorious worship;
worship flowing from a great multitude;
a multitude united in celebration of rich diversity;
a diversity that embraces all nations, tribes, people and tongues.*
And so then may our lives re-shape this world.
In the name of Christ. Amen. * Inspired by Revelation 7:9-12

To Love Lost Souls

Lord Jesus, I want to love with Your love those souls that are withering or lost. Enable me to remove any prejudices, judgments, and assumptions from my heart so that I may see them as You do: glorious and beloved children of the Father who have the opportunity for eternal life with Him. Remind me that You love them as much as You do me, and that at some point, You used someone to revive me as I withered and to bring me into Your flock when I was lost. Amen. ~ Miriam Drennan