Category: purpose in life

Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
One generation will commend
your works to another;
they will tell of your mighty acts.
Psalm 145:3-4  NIV

What we know about God is confined to our small brains, our limited experiences, our willingness to read about the great deeds of God in Scripture, and our hearing of his incredible work through the lives of older Christians. There is nothing quite like listening to older, grace-filled brothers and sisters in Christ who know our Lord and his power through worship, obedience, and experience. God will always have a witness to His wonder and grace. We have so much wonder to explore.

God Almighty, by your grace I call you Father.
Your majesty is beyond my ability
to comprehend and your power
is beyond my ability to grasp.
What I do know, dear Father,
and what I do understand, Almighty God,
brings me to my knees in humble adoration
and reverent appreciation.
Thank you for your love, your mercy,
and your grace that makes your majesty
approachable and my mortality redeemable.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.

What we have received
is not the spirit of the world,
but the Spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand
what God has freely given us.
1 Corinthians 2:12 NIV

We sometimes get frustrated when people outside of Christ do not seem to be able to understand the teaching of Scripture. However, we must not forget that there are two realities to the truth of Scripture that non-believers do not experience. First, the Holy Spirit, who inspired Scripture and uses Scripture to form us, also helps followers of Jesus understand the truth that God has given us. Second, the truth of Scriptures often becomes more understandable as we obey it. The Holy Spirit is at work helping us understand the Scriptures he inspired! Let’s never approach our time in Bible study without asking for the Holy Spirit to make God’s truth known to us!

Father God,
I thank you for blessing me
with your Holy Spirit.
I pray that as I open the Bible,
I will hear your voice
and understand your will.
I ask, dear Holy Spirit,
that you open my mind
and that you work on my heart
so that I understand and obey
the truths that the Father
has shared through Scripture.
In Jesus’ name,
I pray. Amen.

I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will praise you and extol
your name for ever and ever.
Psalm 145:1-2 (NIV)

The way we praise God forever, the way we honor our pledge to give him glory for all the days of our life, is really pretty simple: we do it today. As long as we praise God today, the forever takes care of itself. So as you commit to lift high the name of God and praise him for all eternity, remember the place it starts: praise God today — not only in the things that you say, but also in the way that you live!

Mighty God and loving Father,
today I want to tell you how
marvelous and wonderful
I believe you to be.
You are righteous,
faithful, holy, and merciful.
You are tender, loving,
and yet magnificent in glory
and incomparable in strength.
You have redeemed me from my sin
and given me hope beyond my own death.
You have filled my life full of good people
and have promised me a home with you.
You, O God, are without peer
and without rival.
You are my King,
my awesome and majestic Father.
In Jesus’ name I praise you,
today and forever.
Amen.

Pray in the Spirit at all times
and on every occasion.
Stay alert and be persistent
in your prayers for
all believers everywhere.
Ephesians 6:18 NLT

“Pray in the Spirit …!” Paul is asking believers to pray consciously recognizing that the Spirit given them when they came to Christ (Ephesians 1:13) gives them direct access to God. That access allows them to pray what is on their hearts (Ephesians 2:18; cf. Romans 8:26-27) and to ask for knowledge, power, and boldness for others (Ephesians 1:17; Ephesians 3:16; Ephesians 6:18-20). In other words, the Spirit lives inside us and empowers our prayers, interceding directly to the heart of God and enabling our prayers to have powerful results! Our prayers are so much more than the words we say. We pray, consciously, alertly, and persistently, speaking to the Creator of the universe, assured we are heard, knowing that God will respond with power and grace in the lives of those for whom we pray!

Father God,
thank you for your incredible
gift of the Holy Spirit
who makes my prayers
much more than my words.
Thank you that I can
pray in the Spirit,
speaking to you spirit to Spirit,
knowing that I am heard
and understood and that the Spirit
conforms my prayers to your will.
Thank you that such intentional praying
brings powerful blessings
for those for whom I pray.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.

But you must remain faithful
to the things you have been taught.
You know they are true,
for you know you can trust
those who taught you.
You have been taught
the holy Scriptures from childhood,
and they have given you the wisdom
to receive the salvation that comes
by trusting in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God
and is useful to teach us what is true
and to make us realize
what is wrong in our lives.
It corrects us when we are wrong
and teaches us to do what is right.
God uses it to prepare and equip
his people to do every good work.  
2 Timothy 3:14-17 NLT

I love Paul’s challenge to Timothy to be faithful to what he had been taught and to remember why he could trust what he had been taught. Paul reminded Timothy that Scripture can make us wise, give us faith, correct us, teach us, prepare us, and equip us in two important ways: First, through a Spirit-filled mentor or parent, and second, through the Scriptures themselves, which he describes as holy and inspired (God-breathed or Spirit-inspired). The Scriptures’ power lies in the words the Spirit inspired and the people who show the transforming influence of the Spirit at work in their lives. Why wouldn’t we be eager to let the “sword of the Spirit” (God’s word, Ephesians 6:17) be at work in our lives?

Almighty God, thank you
for speaking to us in words.
As I place myself under the guidance
of the words of Scripture,
dear Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit
uses them to form me into a person
who is increasingly more
like Jesus each day.
In the name of the Lord Jesus, I pray.
Amen.

Making sense of the currents situations in life. – Exodus 14:13-14

The wisdom we speak of
is the mystery of God —
his plan that was previously hidden,
even though he made it
for our ultimate glory
before the world began.
But the rulers of this world
have not understood it;
if they had, they would not have
crucified our glorious Lord …
But people who aren’t spiritual
can’t receive these truths
from God’s Spirit.
It all sounds foolish to them
and they can’t understand it,
for only those who are spiritual
can understand what the Spirit means.
1 Corinthians 2:7-8, 14 nlt

The Holy Spirit lives in the follower of Christ. Without the Spirit living in us, we don’t belong to Christ and cannot live for God. Without the Spirit, we will not be transformed to become like Christ. What’s more, real prayer happens only because of the Spirit’s work in our hearts. Now, this verse goes one step beyond what we’ve seen to this point: we cannot truly understand the message of God — the Scriptures of God, the Word of God — without the Holy Spirit within us. Not only did the Holy Spirit inspire God’s message (2 Tim. 3:16-17), but the Spirit helps us understand this message and apply it to our lives. We cannot follow Christ without the Spirit of Christ alive in us!

Most Holy God,
I cannot help but fall to my knees
in humble thanks that the two things
most necessary for me to be
saved and to live for you
were provided to me by your grace.
I thank you for the gift of your Son,
who died for my sins
and was raised from death
to ensure my salvation.
I thank you for your Holy Spirit,
who makes my life as a
follower of Jesus possible.
Please accept my heart’s
deepest appreciation for providing
what I could never achieve or deserve,
because of your love for me.
In Jesus’ name I offer you my thanks.
Amen.

“Jesus Anointed at Bethany”
Mark 14:1-11