Adoration

ADORATION

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COVENANT OF WORKS

Screen Shot 2016-05-16 at 11.49.35 AM“Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners….” (Rom 5:19 NLT). “This divinely chosen arrangement whereby Adam determined the destiny of his descendants, has been called the ‘covenant of works,’…” The Reformation Study Bible (ref#56, p13, “The Fall”).

My natural-born condition of wanting to decide for myself what is good or bad is the reason this covenant exists. FATHER, I am prone to establish for myself a collection of activities I consider good and bad and then work to do the good. Left to myself, without Your input, FATHER, it makes sense to me that if I work at being good You will bless me; this is the “covenant of works.” My part is to be as good as I can, Your part is to bless me and invite me into heaven—I hope—if I can just do enough good to satisfy You…

 “…the human heart would much rather offer to God its works, no matter how costly, than humble itself to confess sin. That is the reason why man is always predisposed to go the way of works;…” Roy and Revel Hession (ref#100, p 80).

You, FATHER, established the “covenant of works” with Adam and Eve in the Garden. You were to be their GOD and they were to be Your people; You gave commands and they were to follow them. And You warned them about the consequences if they did not follow Your commands: “…you shall surely die’” (Gen 2:17 ESV).

The “covenant of works” requires obedience (Lev 18:5); perfect obedience leads to life (ref#63, p517). But now, as with Adam, if I break this covenant “the punishment…is still in effect…death” Wayne Grudem (ref#63, p517-518).

Since I do not have the ability to obey every one of Your commands, my only choice is to give up directing my own life and put myself under the Lordship of CHRIST. If I trust Him to fulfill all Your covenant requirements for me, then I shall live forever and never die.

For this I am humbled, LORD GOD; JESUS is my escape from the covenant of works that I cannot keep. You are Jehovah-Jireh, my Provider.

“O HEAVENLY FATHER,

Teach me to see…

that Christ does not desire me…

to live in self-confidence in my own strength…”

The Valley of Vision (ref#76, p57).

ADORATION

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THE SPIRIT—MY INTERNAL SECURITY

Screen Shot 2016-05-14 at 1.57.40 PM“Give me the saving lamp of thy Spirit that I may see thee, the God of my salvation, the delight of my soul, rejoicing over me in love” The Valley of Vision (ref#76, p136).

It is the SPIRIT “…Who writes the law of God inwardly on the heart],…” (Isa 59:21 AMP). FATHER, the SPIRIT verifying Your Word reveals Your covenant, promises, faithfulness, and more.

By the SPIRIT I find joy, for when He brings the Gospel truths home to my soul with life, vigor and power, transforming me into the image and likeness of those truths, it is to my delight (ref#35, p388).

He understands my spiritual condition. When I stop to notice I find Him doing constantly what I need. What comfort to know He is always present with me continually (ref#35, p388-389).

He enables me to loose my desire to keep my agenda; there is an excitement and joy being led by the SPIRIT. I will exalt Him for making me able to stand empty—to stand waiting for Him.

FATHER, He prods me to recount Your graces—awakens me to comprehend how much You value me—makes me know the extent to which You cherish me (ref#130, p179). And all this is just a drop in a bucket compared to what He pours out for me.

“…the Father…will give to you…the Spirit… whom the world is not able to receive because it does not see Him with discernment and does not know Him experientially. But, as for you, you know Him experientially…” Kenneth S. Wuest (ref#37, p250, [John 14:16-17]).

AORATION

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GOD’S IMAGE

Screen Shot 2016-03-28 at 5.57.06 AM“BENIGN LORD, I praise thee continually for permission to approach thy throne of grace,…” (ref#76, p145).

FATHER, Your Son, THE CHRIST, is GOD, inseparable from deity, the second person of the Trinity (John 1:14,18). He is not merely an image or reflection of You, but absolutely the authentic representation of Your being (ref#96, p1813 [Col 1:15]). He comes out of You, the FATHER, as a Son (ref#21, p809, [Heb 1:2]).

CHRIST is “the Founder and Builder” of Your family (ref#21, p809 [Heb 1:2]). The seeds CHRIST propagates are ever being renewed and remolded into fuller and more perfect knowledge after the likeness of Yourself (Col 3:10).

Natural man can rule the animal and plant kingdoms (Gen 1:28-29), but he cannot rule the heavenly powers, especially Satan (Eph 6:10-12). He is unable to use his powers to reflect Your holiness (ref#56, p9, “The Image of God”). Only CHRIST, being the very image of Your Person (Heb 1:3), rules all powers on both earth and heaven. He triumphs, and the community united with Him triumphs over the forces of sin, death, and the devil (ref#56, p14 [Gen 3:15]). Thank You, FATHER, for sending CHRIST to live in me to reflect Your holiness (Gal 2:20).

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THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Screen Shot 2016-03-26 at 2.36.30 PM…FATHER, as a Christian my life is an impossible life to live without drawing on Your SPIRIT for “The Spirit of God shatters every power in the world, the flesh and the devil, every power of sin and the domination of Satan” Oswald Chambers (ref#157, June 15th).

“The Spirit…is Christ without the limitations of the flesh and the material world. He can reveal what Christ could not speak. He has resources of power greater than those Christ could use, and he makes possible greater works than his” Samuel Chadwick (ref#161, p18).

“He is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of witness, the Spirit of conviction, the Spirit of power, the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of light, the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of help, the Spirit of liberty, the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of revelation, the Spirit of promise, the Spirit of love, the Spirit of meekness, the Spirit of sound mind, the Spirit of grace, the Spirit of glory, and the Spirit of prophecy” Samuel Chadwick (ref#161, p18,19).

FATHER, all Christians have the SPIRIT resident in them but I desire to be “full” of Him—desiring He control me to the point that I am “distinct and observable in some way” to others (ref#161, p109). When I feel my heart warmed with joy, and I’m supported in peace, and established in obedience, let me give Him the praise due Him (ref#35, p422).

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GOD’S POWER

Screen Shot 2016-03-26 at 1.44.24 PM“O the depth of the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments, and how untraceable the paths He takes…” Kenneth S. Wuest (ref#37, p372,373, [Rom 11:33]).

FATHER, the book of Nahum declares that You are slow to anger yet great in power (Nahum 1:3). How is it that You see Your enemies yet do not rouse Yourself to wrath but hold Your anger?

Remind me, that Your power is not a power that has to prove itself over and over. It is so great that no challenge comes close to overcoming You. It is Your greatness that brings me grace and goodness (ref#34, Feb 22nd PM).

 “When Moses said, ‘I beseech thee, show me thy glory,’ God replied, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before thee’ (Exod 33:18-19). Not, ‘I will make all My power, My majesty, My holiness pass before thee’ but ’I will make all My goodness to the weak, the sinful, and the undeserving pass before thee’… His glory is His grace (Eph 1:6)” Roy and Revel Hession (ref#100, p32).

FATHER, I naturally desire You show Your power—how often have I prayed, “LORD, show everyone how great You are by miraculously healing so and so.” I always want You to exalt Yourself. But isn’t that so “I” can be proud of You? “You are ‘my’ GOD who has great power.” Thus “I” boast and in so doing “I” give myself glory.

“Glory in a man’s eyes is always that which exalts him…God’s glory consists in the very reverse—not so much in His ability to exalt Himself and humble man, but in His willingness to humble Himself for the sake of man; not so much in a mighty display of power that would break in pieces those that oppose Him, but rather in the hiding of that power and the showing of grace to the undeserving when they turn to Him in repentance” Roy and Revel Hession (ref#100, p31,32).

“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isa 57:15 ESV).

GREAT GOD, You are unsearchable in Your judgments and Your paths are untraceable. Yet You make Yourself approachable!

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I AM A PLANT IN HIS GARDEN

Screen Shot 2016-02-25 at 10.23.16 AM…FATHER, CHRIST, as the Son of GOD, did absolutely everything for Your sake, but as the Son of Man, He did absolutely everything for my sake. For my sake He took my nature upon Himself (1 Tim 3:16). “He took on…a life of prayers, tears, fears” and suffering like me but unlike me He took on all this in perfect obedience “with cheerfulness and delight” (Heb 10:7-8) (ref#35, p249).

For my sake He was obedient to death. He dedicated Himself as a sacrifice—to be killed (John 17:19). What a fearful cup he tasted so I might never have to taste it (Matt 26:39). FATHER, it was a cup full of the curse of the law (Gal 3:13), Your wrath (1 Thes 1:10), and most of all the loss of Your presence (Ps 22:1). He left “his glory, his riches, his ease,” His very life, “to undergo loss, shame, wrath, curse,” and death for me (ref#35, p250). For me!

His interest is that I should be His—that I become a partaker of His glory (1 Pet 5:1). And now He proves His love by His continual care in all my deliverances and afflictions—in all my conditions of sinning and suffering. I am “the apple of his eye, his jewel, his diadem, his crown” John Owen (ref#35, p250).

I am a plant in His garden while the unbelieving world is wilderness. Even if I am “the meanest, debased, weakest and poorest believer on earth,” CHRIST prizes me more than all the rest of the world (ref#35, p251).

“Lord, unto Thee from my full heart my prayers ascend;

To thee will I sing praise….

And for Thy loving grace and truth which hath no end

Will thank Thee all my days” Arthur S. Way (ref#38, p468, [Ps 138:1-2]).

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SCRIPTURE AND THE SPIRIT

Screen Shot 2016-03-15 at 4.42.33 PM…FATHER, the words You have set in Your Bible are encased in human language but they are not limited to what the human mind can perceive (ref#79, p150). I recognize biblical writings as informative, intriguing, or entertaining but my mind can do nothing to connect me with the words—nothing to change the condition of my heart. Only by the SPIRIT does the words become personal.

“God’s language in his book is alive and full of power. Sharper than a two-edged sword, it cuts open the very thought life of people. It exposes and interprets what they think and feel” Will Metzger (ref#79, p150).

The SPIRIT’s witness to Scripture is not revealing new information but shedding light on what is already written. With the SPIRIT present to interpret the precious words for me my whole being is impressed upon. I am able to react to the words in the same way I sense taste and color (ref#56, p1677, “The Authentication of Scripture”). “As I saturate my life with the Word, I give the Spirit a vocabulary to personalize the Word to me” Paul E. Miller (ref#62, p246). Surely the inward work of the HOLY SPIRIT persuades and assures me that what I’m reading is written for me.

“We read the Scriptures in vain unless we come to them earnestly desiring a better knowledge of God’s will for us…” Arthur W. Pink (ref#152, p173).

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THE SPIRIT’S ILLUMINATION

Screen Shot 2016-03-15 at 3.16.13 PM…ALL-GIVING FATHER, I extol You for supporting the SPIRIT as He provides illumination to me. Sin attacks my mind and will in such ways that I miss or resist the force of Your Word (ref#56, p1646, “Illumination and Conviction”).

Praise to You, SPIRIT; You reveal Scripture in an understanding way. By reading Scripture on my own I become familiar with its content but cannot apply it to my life. You, SPIRIT, set me on the wave of truth that flows into my heart (ref#56, p1646, “Illumination and Conviction”) where it can be applied to my life.

SPIRIT, I am also humbled by Your ability to bring me to repentance and satisfy me with the FATHER’s assurance of His grace and certainty of His everlasting favor (ref#56, p1646, “Illumination and Conviction”). I thank You for Your constant care of my needs; You surprise me by Your closeness the moment You illuminate sin that I am not aware of.   I will find You through the Word, prayer, meditation, and as I battle to live by the light You give (ref#56, p1646, “Illumination and Conviction”).

“I am bell and He is sure wind, and He moves and I am rung and I know it for what it is…” Ann Voskamp (ref#130, p60).

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CHRIST – RULER OF KINGS

Screen Shot 2016-03-15 at 11.45.30 AM…FATHER, You decreed CHRIST to be the firstborn from the dead (Rev. 1:5)—so that He alone in everything and in every respect might occupy the chief place (Col 1:18).

“Having died a martyr to his testimony, and given his life an offering for sin, he was restored to life again, as all the Scriptures witness and became ‘the first fruits of the resurrection,’…”The Apocalypse: Exposition of the Book of Revelation (ref#70, [Rev 1:4-8]). He is Your first-born, higher than the kings of the earth (Ps 89:27).

CHRIST rules the kings of the earth (Rev 1:5). From “him they have their authority; by him their power is limited and their wrath restrained; by him their counsels are over-ruled, and to him they are accountable” Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (ref#18, [Rev 1:3-8]). Every king, from the foundation of the earth, in their absolute authority over millions of subjects, are all kings over which CHRIST is the King of kings (ref#16, [Rev 1:5]).

Being faithful, His love is ever present. Having justified and sanctified me, He makes me too, a king FATHER, for Your glory (Rev 1:6).

With the SPIRIT of CHRIST’s enabling power, as a king, I rule my own spirit, possess the ability to conquer Satan, and am privileged to work with You in prayer, as well as cooperate with You in judging the world. CHRIST, You give me access to You, enabling me to enter into the holiest place and to offer spiritual sacrifices (ref#18, [Rev 1:6]).

To CHRIST be glory and dominion forever and ever (Rev 1:6). I shall show all praise and honor to my Redeemer. He reigns as King of kings continually. I desire that He exercise strength and power and authority over me through all eternity (ref#16, [Rev 1:6]).

ADORATION

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MY NATURE

Screen Shot 2016-03-14 at 3.30.11 PM…FATHER, You have created me to be Your image bearer—to look and act like You. Humans are unique beings of Your creation; the rest of Your creation, without instruction, reflects Your glory but You have given mankind the assignment to declare Your excellencies (1 Pet 2:9).

Being human I am different from the rest of Your creation in three ways: (1) I can receive revelation from You (ref#5, p40). (2) You have given me the ability to interpret that revelation (ref#5, p41). (3) And, I am always a worshipper (ref#5, p44).

However, FATHER, soon after You created humans You permitted satan to corrupt them. Thus I was naturally born into a spiritually lifeless condition. My heart was not inclined to love You (ref#1 p38) nor did it listen, reflect, or worship You. Instead I carried in my spiritually dead body the promise from satan that I had autonomous personal wisdom without any need for You or Your revelation.

It was my nature to give into the lies of satan that convinced me I could be self-sufficient, and self-focused (ref#5, p14). It came naturally for me to idolize and worship everything but You (Ezek 14:5).

But, You imprisoned me with a sinful nature so You could offer me an escape by believing in JESUS CHRIST. You bound me so I might see the freedom CHRIST offers (Gal 3:22, Rom 11:32).

I adore You for giving me CHRIST so I now have the ability to triumph over my born-with nature. CHRIST not only saves me from sin but saves me from myself.