Worship Devotional CXXXVIII
Life For God’s Glory
(Victorious Testimony)
Worship Devotional from 9/25/22
Psalm 107:1-3:
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim that He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe and has gathered them from the lands — from the east and the west, from the north and the south.”
Psalm 66:5-9:
“Come and see the wonders of God; His acts for humanity are awe-inspiring. He turned the sea into dry land, and they crossed the river on foot. There we rejoiced in Him. He rules forever by His might; He keeps His eye on the nations. The rebellious should not exalt themselves. Selah
Praise our God, you peoples; let the sound of His praise be heard. He keeps us alive and does not allow our feet to slip.”
When the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by great signs and wonders, delivering them from centuries of slavery by His sovereign power and authority and according to His mercy and His plan for His chosen people, He was also putting on display for future generations a sign of the salvation that would come in Christ. We all, being born into sin and into this broken world, have known the oppression of slavery in one form or another. 2 Peter 2:19 tells us:
“…people are enslaved to whatever defeats them.”
And in John 8:34:
“Jesus responded, ‘I assure you: Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.’”
And of course we know from Romans 3:23:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
So the whole world is under the oppression of the enemy (see also 1 John 5:19). We were once enslaved to our selfish desires, and to things that only caused shame and destruction in our lives. But because of what Christ has done for us by dying on that cross and rising again from the dead, bearing the weight of God’s wrath toward sin in His body, suffering in our place, and then defeating death forever in the glory and power of God, we are now justified by this grace and mercy which God has poured out on the whole world, so that all who will hear and believe in the name of Jesus Christ may be saved! We who have believed have received this astounding gift of life, and we now have an eternal hope for eternal life in Christ! This is the testimony of every believer. The details of what this looks like and how this came to be may differ in each of our lives, because God is the Creator of each one of us who has uniquely designed each of us to contribute to His glory. We all were made in His image, to bear His name on the earth and to be witnesses for His glory, and the unique experiences, traits, desires, abilities, life circumstances, skills, knowledge, cultures, etc. that set us apart as diverse from one another all come together in a colorful display to the multiplication of the everlasting wonder and glory of God.
In each of our lives, God has spoken His truth to us, and has worked in our experiences and circumstances to ultimately bring about His sovereign plan for our good and His glory. We may not always understand what God is doing, but we know by faith, trusting in the promises of God, that He is with us and for us through it all. We have seen God’s working in our lives, whether it was the power of His word spoken to us that changed our hearts and minds, or a miracle that was performed that turned our eyes to Christ, or the many other ways that God is working in and among us. We can all testify to His glory in a unique way, for we have been made new in Christ and are loved by God.
We will have suffering in this world. There will be hard times where we don’t immediately see what God is doing or understand His reasons. But in these times we remember the victories that we have seen before where God fought for us and delivered us from the powers of evil. We recall His faithfulness and His goodness when it’s hard to press on, and we keep believing in the power of the everlasting God. He who was faithful before will be faithful again, because that’s just who He is. Even in the present difficult circumstances, God’s work still stands, immovable and unchangeable, as irrefutable evidence that He is good and that His promises are true. As we press on in our faith and continue to believe and trust in Him alone, we will stand victorious in the end, for even in death our hope remains. May our whole lives be lived in praise to God’s glory, so that when the world sees us they see Christ, and God is glorified for the things He has done, for He alone is worthy of all praise, honor, and glory forever and ever.
Revelation 12:10-11:
“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
‘The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Messiah have now come, because the accuser of our brothers has been thrown out: the one who accuses them before our God day and night. They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and the by the word of their testimony, for they did not love their lives in the face of death.’”
Themes: Life, Testimony, Victory, Overcoming
Songs:
Scripture References:
Psalms 34, 66, 68, 77, 78, 80, 81, 95, 96, 104, 105, 106, 107, 114, 135, 136, 146
Romans 5:1-5, 12:1-2
1 Corinthians 15:50-58
Revelation 1-3, 12:10-12