Heavenly Father, we praise You this morning for being the God of highest Heaven and lowest earth. Your glory exceeds the universe and yet fills the heart of each of Your children.

You are Supreme over all but still stoop in grace to lift up the broken soul. You are wise beyond comprehension yet still invest Yourself in the hearts of fools who would never have found You. You are the Almighty who is attracted to those who are pitifully weak. You are the amazing God who intrudes into the mundane world of those who are self-absorbed. You are immaculately holy and pursue the filthy, defiled and dead. As the Giver, You relentlessly chase us takers until we are made ready to receive the precious gift of life through Your Son. We have lived hungry all of our days until we saw Him as the Bread of Life. We were soul-parched and sin-scorched until we drank of Him who is the Water of Life. We have found our all in Jesus Christ the Lord and we give You the glory for awakening us to His precious voice.

Forgive us this morning for our sins. We have clung to self and protected what we have been called to release. We have spurned grace and chosen sin more times than we can remember. We are guilty of judging others and failing to properly judge our own hearts. We’ve been silent when we should have spoken, spoken without discretion when we should have been mute and failed to extend the hand to those around us in need. We have coveted and lusted and lied and often sat motionless in spiritual apathy. We have regularly failed to be moved by the cross of Christ. We have allowed our belief in Your sovereignty to excuse us from our call to reach the lost. We have thought vague thoughts toward Your holy throne and considered it prayer. Our hunger for things has sometimes eclipsed our holy duty to sacrifice our wealth for His name’s sake. God, we cannot hide these sins or a thousand others from You. We receive in this moment Your mercy and grace and turn from ourselves unto the inviting brilliance of Your great glory. Thank You for the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all manner of evil. Thank You for accepting us totally and completely in Him. Thank You that there is zero condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Thank You that we have been justified before the highest authority and the most intense scrutiny in the entire universe. You have declared us free from our guilt and we bow before You in unspeakable gratitude.

Let us experience You today above all other potential realities. Let us hear Your voice through Your word. Let us be Your hands in faithful service to an impotent world. Grant unto us the joy of sensing Your presence as we gather with Your other children to pray and sing and give and serve. May Your glory in our hearts and minds be so authentic that all rival glories are burned away. Convince us again this day of who You are, what You have done and what You have decreed. Let our flesh die further as we present ourselves a living sacrifice before You. Empower us to mourn over sin, rejoice under grace, overcome by the Spirit, persevere through Your power and triumph in our faith. Shackle Satan and his committed host and immunize us against their assaults – we sense their activity each day. Quicken our love for others; let us experience the reality of oneness with all other saints so that this world may know that we are Your followers. Tenaciously continue to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ, empowering us to face the necessary trials, the ordained testings and the fellowship of any sufferings that You deem appropriate. Keep us singing and praying and watching and hoping. Sweeten discouraged hearts with cascading grace and timely relief. Humble hearts of pride with therapeutic pain and intruding disillusionment. Make us to see that we are nothing apart from You and help us to truly believe this. Father, balance that awareness of our nothingness with affirmation of our validity in Your Son.

This day, as all others, belongs to You, our God. Keep us aware of this great thought each moment. Speak above every rival voice and own our hearts and minds and wills today. Let us remember what You have accomplished on our behalf. Forbid us to forget that the great weights of our earthly pilgrimage are to be shouldered by You alone. Let grace devour our sense of guilt. Let gratitude rest where the guilt once lay rooted. Smile upon us today, O King. Our eyes are upon You as we wait for the glory of our great God.