Category: Greatly Loved

James 5:16-20 NIV
¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

¹⁷ Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

¹⁹ My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, ²⁰ remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

“Whenever I read this passage from James 5, I have great difficulty thinking I am anything like Elijah. But Scripture tells us how to position our lives to be like Elijah – that is like a righteous person. We are directed to confess our sin, and to pray for each other for healing. Today, let us bring our lives before the Lord, seeking the Lord’s forgiveness and healing.” [adapted from P. Nate’s message]

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we confess the ways we have wandered away, and we ask for your healing in areas of need. Teach us to pray as your righteous people today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s worship the Lord with “Do It Again“ by Elevation Worship (click here).

– LB

Daniel 9: 21a, 22-23a NIV
²¹ …while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision… ²²instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. ²³ As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed [greatly loved (ESV)].

“In verse 23, we come to the title of the message, ‘Greatly Loved’. You get a sense from Gabriel here that the answer was already being brought as Daniel prayed. Daniel had no idea, but the Lord was already preparing things in the works. When our lives are positioned by God’s Word, positioned to turn to the Lord, positioned for God’s people, and positioned as God’s servants, the Lord brings us into what he is already preparing. You get a sense that God was sending his answer the moment Daniel turned to the Lord! We are the greatly loved people of God, and we hear that again and again!“ [adapted from P. Nate’s message]

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you that we are the greatly loved people of God. May your great love pour into our lives, as we turn to you again. May you send your word quickly to us as we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s worship the Lord with “Living Hope“ by Phil Wickham (click here).

– LB

Daniel 9:17-19 NIV
¹⁷ “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸ Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. ¹⁹ Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

“We see that Daniel does not seek a specific solution. Daniel is out of answers, but he knows that the Lord is the only One who can act on behalf of his people. Note the relational language throughout this passage – ‘our God’, ‘your servant’, ‘your desolate sanctuary’, ‘your Name’, ‘your people’, etc. Daniel positions himself as the Lord’s servant within the people of God who carry God’s Name. This anticipates the full reality of how the Lord would dwell with his people – ultimately fulfilled through the name above all names, Jesus Christ, who builds his Temple through the church, by the Holy Spirit who dwells in and among us.” [adapted from P. Nate’s message]

Prayer: Lord, we present our lives before you today for the sake of your Name. Let your mercy pour through your church, your dwelling place. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s worship the Lord with “Psalm 23 (Surely Goodness)“ by Shane & Shane (click here).

– LB

Daniel 9:1-3 NIV
¹ In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— ² in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. ³ So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

“I imagine that Daniel treasured in his heart the prophecy of Jeremiah about these seventy years, that the end of exile was soon to come about. Yet, instead of rejoicing, Daniel turns toward mourning, sackcloth and ashes. Instead of celebration, Daniel is downcast. Why is this? He realizes that the hearts of the people have not changed even in exile. This broke Daniel’s heart. He realized that history would be repeated unless there was a transformation, a revival among the people. Unless the Lord himself acted. Note that Daniel ‘turned to the Lord God’. This is both physically and in heart. We see that Daniel’s prayer is all about how he is positioned.” [adapted from P. Nate’s message]

Prayer: Lord, we turn our lives, our hearts, and our minds to you in prayer, that you would position our lives to share your mercy and love with those around us today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s worship the Lord with “Your Love So High“ by Hillsong (click here).

– LB

Let’s read aloud the following together

Jeremiah 31:31-34 NIV
³¹ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
³² It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son, Jesus who became the Word in the flesh so that we could know you. Thank you for the new covenant we have in Christ Jesus – for forgiving all our sins, washing over us with your Spirit, and raising us to life with Christ. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s worship the Lord with “Raised to Life“ by Elevation Worship (click here).

– LB