Wednesday is a day of worship, a day where we give praise to our God for his amazing grace.
This is Week 1: Our focus is on Growing In Grace.
My prayer goal for this week is __________________________________________.
Let’s Pray:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Read the following passage from Ephesians 2:1-10.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Reading to Worship
The normal response to encountering God is worship. When that doesn’t happen, our first response is to ask, "Why?" Why isn’t our heart moved when we hear his voice in his Word? Do a heart-check and see if you can identify the blockage in your own heart as you read our text.
Where are you in this passage? How can you make it more personal?
Using words and thoughts from our passage, complete one of the following sentences as we begin to move towards worship (please make these statements as personal to you as possible).
• My heart is moved by ______________.
• I want to know a God who _______________.
• God’s grace to me is so clearly evident in ____________________.
To Consider as We Go to Worship
“To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God and to surrender the will to the purpose of God.” (William Temple)
A Time to Worship
Spend two to three minutes worshipping God in response to this passage. Give praise. Thank God for his grace. Revel in God’s character. Sing of God’s mercy and goodness. Let your heart move in response to God’s revelation of himself.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, grant us your grace so that we may know you and love you more and more each day and love the people you put in our path. Teach us how to worship you in spirit and in truth. Transform our hearts and minds and wills so we desire you above all else. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Posted on
Wed, October 6, 2010
by Dane Lewis
filed under