Worship Devotional CXVI

Apr 2

Originally posted to the Facebook group on 4/2/2022.

His Grace Is Sufficient

Worship Devotional for 4/3/22

We have come to know the only God who is true and faithful. In Him, the living God, we find lasting rest and peace, the source of all goodness and light and eternal life, and our souls are satisfied. This life is no longer driven by a search for meaning, for we have found our true purpose and have become who we were meant to be, and it's all because of the grace of God who saved us and redeemed us and made us new through Jesus His Son and through the work of the Holy Spirit. So now we must face the paradoxical reality in which we presently find ourselves — how we are in this world but not of it, how we are dead to the flesh and yet still live in these bodies, how we must die to ourselves to find real life, and how we must forsake our self-pursuit in order to glorify God, which ultimately leads to the greatest possible satisfaction and fulfillment for us.

We have access to the very presence of the Most High God, who is holy and who dwells in unapproachable light, and yet we dwell in His midst as we praise Him and posture ourselves before Him in worship, where His love and peace wash over our hearts and renew our minds. We are no longer called citizens of this world, for instead we belong to the kingdom of heaven. We set our minds on what is above and not what is on earth, on the things of heaven which are eternal rather than that which is temporary and fading away. Yet we are here in this world where there is necessity for bearing worldly responsibility, such as working to "earn a living" and taking care of these bodies of flesh. We have to deal with temporal things in this life, though we must be careful to not let them distract us from what is real and true or consume us with cares and worries that choke out our faith. Why is this? Why must we linger here when we have been reconciled to the One who is true and now belong with Him in His heavenly kingdom? Pay attention to what God has revealed in 2 Corinthians 4:15:

"Indeed, everything is for your benefit, so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving to increase to God's glory."

The same grace that has been given to us is meant to be extended to others, and then through them to others, and so on, so that thanksgiving may increase to God's glory! We are here still as believers and as those who have been made new so that we may extend God's grace and increase His praise! As we gather to worship Him with singing and rejoicing in His presence by His Spirit, we must remember that these blessings of glory and salvation and hope that have been so generously poured out on us are not just for us, but for people from every nation and tribe and language! As worshippers of the true and living God, our mission and purpose here is to increase His praise, that the grace that dwells in us may dwell also in others. This is not meant to be a burden, because ultimately it is God who is doing His work through us by His Spirit. Instead, it is a great joy. Let's keep in mind, as we praise the God who satisfies our hearts with His love, that His love is for all people and that we can share that love with those around as we live our lives on this earth, even in our mundane and burdensome, but necessary, dealings with the temporary and worldly things. The love of God gives us a joy in everything that causes us to express praise so that others might hear and believe and join with us, though the joy that we have is deeper and greater than we can fully express.

Sometimes the task of sharing our blessings and working to multiply and increase God's praise can seem massive and overwhelming. Sometimes we neglect it because we become distracted by the struggles and difficulties and cares and concerns of this life, or because we have become complacent with worldly things that do not really satisfy. We may even feel at times like we have failed and are too weak and incapable of doing what God has called us to do. But even in our greatest weakness, there is hope. Even the Apostle Paul struggled with weakness when he suffered from "a thorn in the flesh." We read in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 how God answered him when he pleaded to God to take it away:

"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, catastrophes, persecutions, and in pressures, because of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

His grace is sufficient for all of us. His grace is enough to cause our lives on this earth to be fruitful for His glory. So with great hope and joy, and also with holy fear and sincerity, we must humble ourselves before God and pray that He would reveal to us the way we should go and raise us up in the works that He has prepared for each of us to do. We must stay alert in prayer that we may keep our eyes on Christ and our minds set on what is above, holding fast to the things of eternity and letting go of the things of this world. May God use us to care for the poor and weak and needy, to preach the gospel of truth to all people, and to shine with His light while we are in this world. May He break our hearts for the things that break His. May the grace He has given us, which is sufficient to carry us through this life and into eternity, be extended through us to more and more people so that thanksgiving and praise and worship may increase to His glory.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18:

"Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Psalm 63:1-3:

"God, You are my God; I eagerly seek You. I thirst for You; my body faints for You in a land that is dry, desolate, and without water. So I gaze on You in the sanctuary to see Your strength and Your glory.
My lips will glorify You because Your faithful love is better than life. So I will praise You as long as I live; at Your name, I will lift up my hands. You satisfy me as with rich food; my mouth will praise You with joyful lips."

James 1:22-27:

"But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his own face in a mirror. For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but one who does good works — this person will be blessed in what he does.
If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, then his religion is useless and he deceives himself. Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

Ephesians 2:1-10:

"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that he had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the heavens, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift — not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them."

Songs: