Father, in Jesus' name, I bless and praise You for You are the great and mighty One. You are almighty and more awesome than I can and will ever know. Thank You for the promise of Your presence with Your children here on the earth in the person of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Thank You for granting us access into Your presence in heaven as we are seated at Your right hand in Christ. You sit in unapproachable light and yet we can come before Your presence as we are shielded in Christ (like Moses hidden in the cleft of the rock). We have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ through the gospel.
One day we will fully be in Your presence in our resurrection bodies, in a new heaven and a new earth where the New Jerusalem comes down. There You will dwell with Your people and live with us forever. What You have made available for those who love You is beyond our ability to comprehend. Great are Your Lord and greatly to be praised. Your greatness is unsearchable. Your greatness no one can fathom.
God, thank You for daily growing us in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not let us ease up or stop in our pursuit of You. Continue to blow us away with the glory that Jesus, the eternal Son of God, shared with You before the creation of the world. That truth is absolutely staggering juxtaposed by the astounding sacrifice that He made to save us from Your wrath that we rightly deserve for our sin and rebellion. Help us to better understand Your infinite holiness as well as the magnitude of our sin against You. Our sin is great and yet Your grace is greater still.
God, You had every right to judge all humanity and pour out Your eternal wrath on every person that has ever lived. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The fact that Jesus was sent to be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world is absolutely remarkable. To think that this was planned even before the creation of the world is even more incredible. We cannot thank You enough for what You've done for us through the sinless life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for us. Thank You Father that You made He who knew no sin to be made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God through faith in Him.
Jesus, help us to see afresh and anew that You are the incomparable gift of God the Father to us. Shake us from the apathy and indifference that we have towards You. We are moved more by gifts in this world and the festivities of this season than we are by You. When You are the One who has brought creation into being and then entered into Your creation to bring redemption and salvation to a broken, fallen, and sin-filled world. Sadly, for many of us You are an afterthought when every fiber of our being should be praising and worshiping You for what You made available to us by coming to the earth.
Jesus, we'll never be able to understand the reason why You came. The way in which You came was utterly miraculous. For the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You and You would take all of Your deity and put it in human form beginning as a zygote in a virgin's womb as Your conception was brought about by the Holy Spirit. To think that Your earthly journey would begin in the dark recesses of a woman's womb and end in the dark caverns of a borrowed tomb after being crucified on the cross for the sins of the world is mind blowing. Yet You were raised to life again and have ascended to the Father's right hand. You are now forever the glorified Son of Man and eternal Son of God who will be given universal dominion as King by God the Father. May we give ourselves to You in light of who You are and what You have done for us. Amen!!!