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Come and See

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them. They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come and see,” he said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day.”
John 1:38-39 NLT

Those two disciples of John just had to spend some time with Jesus and He was gracious enough to receive them. John had previously pointed out that Jesus was the “Lamb of God” and that was enough for them. I’m reminded of the parable Jesus taught, about treasure. We read in Matthew 13:44, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field“. ‭‭How excited are we about spending time with Jesus? Is it important enough for us to abandon what we are doing and just sit at the Master’s feet? Reading His Word and praying? Worshipping, lost in His presence? Of course, we still have a living to earn. There are chores to be done. But are our lives orientated around Jesus or is He peripheral to our worldly existence? Or in other words, which kingdom do we desire to be grounded and promoted within? 

The Christian life provides a priceless opportunity to be close to our wonderful God, and live a life His way, not ours. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus said, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be“. And He went on, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:33). 

Jesus set out life priorities. His invite “Come and see” hangs in the air, always there, always available, just waiting for us to respond and hear His words, personal and tender, gracious and loving, never harsh, always wanting our highest good. Can I ask a question – do you know Jesus? I mean, really know Him personally, and not just know things about Him? If not, His invitation is there just waiting for a response. Jesus’ invitation “Come and see” is timeless, and is just as relevant and potent today as it was two thousand years ago. There is a choice to be made. Do we say, “Yes Lord, Your will be done” or is Jesus going to say to us one day, “Sorry, but your will be done”. Hmmm…

Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for Your patience with us wayward and sinful humans. We commit to follow You, this day and every day. Amen.

Disciples (2)

Posted on by korgrocker

“As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.”
John 1:36-37 NLT

‭‭I wonder if John’s two disciples knew what they were getting into when they decided to follow Jesus. Before them was three years with the Master, the “Lamb of God“, Himself, followed by a demanding but mostly rewarding life punctuated by times of extreme danger, personal discomfort, beatings and, finally, a violent and painful death. That time spent with Jesus was life changing for those two disciples but they never turned their backs on the “Lamb of God”. 

But for anyone today there is this dichotomy of choice – we either follow Jesus or we follow the devil, the latter being the default position. If we don’t want to spend eternity with God in Heaven, then we have no need to do anything. No need of going to church, or reading the Bible, or praying to our wonderful Creator. But the choice to follow Jesus will inevitably set us apart from the majority of people in the world, and at times we will feel as though we are swimming against a tide. Here in the West, we will not suffer beatings and a violent death – not yet anyway – but we may experience ridicule and be ostracised, excluded by those who have chosen the common path.

But it is a privilege to be able to follow the Lord. Choosing to be a follower of Jesus means setting ourselves apart from the world. We aspire to grow in our faith, aspiring to be more like Jesus, seeking to please Him at every opportunity. Though we diligently sit in the pews, listening to, and taking part in, the services, what really matters is putting into practice what we are hearing. James 1:22, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves“. And as a follower of Jesus, we strive to share the Gospel with those around us, making disciples of the Master wherever and whenever we have the opportunity. Being a Christian means a life of joy, as we share in the wonders of the Kingdom of God.

Dear Lord Jesus. As the old hymn says, “I have decided to follow Jesus”. We sing it together today. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Disciples (1)

Posted on by korgrocker

“The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples.”
John 1:35 NLT

When we read about the ministry of John, there is little to suggest that he did anything other than baptise people for the forgiveness of their sin, and introduce Jesus to the world. We read in Mark 1:4, “This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven”. John seemed to be a preacher with one message, but, more importantly, he made a declaration about the One to come, who would baptise with the Holy Spirit, and who we later find, would Himself be baptised by John. But we read nothing about John‭‭ making disciples until we read he was joined by “two of his disciples”. 

What is a “disciple“? It is a word mainly used in a religious sense, but means no more than a follower. Someone who voluntarily hears and applies the teaching or lifestyle of another person. We pilgrims, believers in Jesus, are disciples of the Master Himself, and we read His Word and apply it to our own lives, as well as assisting Him in His ministry to the world, something that has not ceased ever since He came to Planet Earth two thousand years ago. We have read the Great Commission, those verses at the end of Matthew’s Gospel – “Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age”” (Matthew 28:18-20). 

We should note, though, that we are not making disciples of ourselves. We are pointing those we share our testimonies with to Jesus Himself. He is the One to follow, not ourselves. We may assist in that process of course, but Jesus is the Master. A quote from “gotquestions.org”, “A Christian disciple is one who puts Jesus first, obeys the Lord, produces good fruit, loves others, and makes more disciples. Such a one is sure to make an impact in this fallen world for the glory of God.” We pilgrims are disciples of Jesus and Jesus alone, so we should be careful lest we get distracted by a charismatic leader, who might be saying things that we want to hear, and we become his or her disciple instead. Thereby leads the road to disappointment and even a spiritual shipwreck. 

Dear Lord Jesus. Only You are the One to follow. Only You are the “way, the truth and the life”. We are so grateful. Amen.

Another Baptism

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then John testified, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and resting upon him. I didn’t know he was the one, but when God sent me to baptize with water, he told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that he is the Chosen One of God.””
John 1:32-34 NLT

In John 1:33, John introduced another baptism, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. While he was baptising the people in the Jordan, he was on the lookout for the One who was the baptiser with the Holy Spirit. And sure enough, it happened. John saw something that no-one else did – the “Holy Spirit descending like a dove”, and resting upon the head of Jesus. The implication of this can be missed or overlooked in Christian circles, but without that Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence, no Christian can realise their full potential in God. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit occasionally fell upon someone and they were empowered to do some task as God ordained. But in the New Testament we find that people were permanently indwelt with the Holy Spirit. This was something that Jesus promised, as we read in John 14:16, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you“. And then, just as Jesus was about to leave Planet Earth, He said to His disciples, “John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit”(Acts 1:5). 

The Holy Spirit is offered by God as a gift for everyone who believes in Jesus, and He said that the Holy Spirit is available for everyone who asks. Luke 11:13, “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him“. The Holy Spirit empowers all believers in the ministries they have been assigned. He constantly supplies gifts and He helps us in our needs. In other places the Holy Spirit is likened to rivers of living water, refreshing our very souls. 

So, pilgrim, have you received this baptism in the Holy Spirit? A believer without the indwelling Holy Spirit is like a car without any petrol. The car might look very nice and shiny, and be packed full of all the technology ever needed, but it won’t go far until it has been refuelled. So it is with us pilgrims. We need a constant supply of Heavenly resources, supplied through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Dear Father God. We pray for more of Your Spirit to fill us to overflowing, equipping us to be Your beacons in a sad world. Amen.

The Lamb of God

Posted on by korgrocker

”The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’ I did not recognise him as the Messiah, but I have been baptising with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.”“
John 1:29-31 NLT

The sacrifice of lambs was an important part of Jewish religious life. We can perhaps remember the story in Exodus of the Passover, where a lamb was killed and its blood wiped over the door posts of the Israelites’ dwellings. The application of blood indicated to the angel of death that he was to “pass over” all those living inside. Also, lambs were offered as sacrifices in the Temple, morning and evening, as part of the offerings for the sins of the people. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that the Jewish system of offerings all pointed to the coming Messiah, and the people hearing John’s message would have been familiar with the Passover celebrations and the whole purpose of the sacrificial lambs. The prophecy in Isaiah 53:6-7 clearly made the connection between the sacrifice for sin and the role in that played by the Messiah. “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.”

Today we pilgrims don’t depend on the slaughter of animals for the forgiveness of our sins. The “Lamb of God”, Jesus Himself, became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. It is only through Him that we can receive redemption. Isaiah wrote, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own“. Paul wrote, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). One of the constants we meet in life is sin, a spiritual disease endemic in every human being. But through Jesus we can be released from the consequences of that sin, and be able to stand before God clothed in the righteousness of the Messiah. So today, and every day, we turn to the “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.  There is no other way into God’s presence. Jesus made a profound statement, eternal in its reach and consequences. It is timeless and irrefutable. He said in John 14:6, “ …I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“. We pilgrims burrow our way into the implications of this verse, as we journey towards our goal. The gateway to the narrow path that leads to eternal life starts at the Cross of God’s Lamb, Jesus.

Dear Father God. Who ever heard of a god who became a human being! But Jesus did and we are eternally grateful. Amen.

Jesus Unrecognised

Posted on by korgrocker

“John told them, “I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize. Though his ministry follows mine, I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.” This encounter took place in Bethany, an area east of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.“
John 1:26-28 NLT

John had a very public ministry and he was known throughout Israel. The people considered him a prophet and, as such, an important man. Such was his fame that the authorities were wary of him. Jesus had a conversation with some religious leaders about John. He asked them a question, as recorded in Mark 11:30-32, ”“Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human? Answer me!” They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John. But do we dare say it was merely human?” For they were afraid of what the people would do, because everyone believed that John was a prophet“. John had some important information for the Jews, about Someone who was far greater than he was, but at this stage in His ministry, the Man of whom John spoke, had yet to be recognised. 

Would we pilgrims recognise Jesus if we met Him one day? Isaiah warned that Jesus would have no great distinguishing features of other attributes. We read in Isaiah 53:2, ”My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him”. Western films portray Jesus as a white male but the reality is that Jesus would have been of middle Eastern appearance. We build in our minds a picture based on His ministries, His compassion, love and so on, but there was nothing that set Him apart physically. But that doesn’t alter the fact that Jesus was, and is, the Son of God. 

If we were able to recognise Jesus and His saving grace, others will too. Someone introduced us to Jesus. We may or may not have been looking for Him. We may have been sadly distorted in our perception of who He was. But He found us anyway and we responded to His love and grace. We came to Him in repentance and received the gift of eternal life. I recently had the opportunity to thank the man who introduced me to Jesus, even though it was quite a while since I had met with him. What a privilege it is when we pilgrims have an opportunity to introduce someone to Jesus. They may not recognise Jesus at first, but through His love and grace they will come to take the first steps into His Kingdom. Jesus made such an impact on the Apostle Paul that he wrote, ”Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ“ (Philippians 3:8). That’s how important Jesus is. 

So do you know Jesus? Can you consider Him your friend? We can all get to know Jesus now, in this life, and we will be in His company forever in the life to come. What a privilege! What a Saviour!

Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for coming to this world all those years ago. You are preparing a place for us in Heaven and we look forward to joining You there. Amen.

Rights

Posted on by korgrocker

“Then the Pharisees who had been sent asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?”“
John 1:24-25 NLT

More questions for John, this time concerning his apparent intrusion into an area the Pharisees considered to be their religious “”right”. They claimed exclusive rights over all things spiritual in Israel and tried very hard to stop anyone trying to take over part of what they do. Apparently, baptism was not something new to the Jews. They used immersion in water as a ritual act of cleansing when a Gentile converted into Judaism. But John’s baptism was applied to the Jews themselves, as a public declaration that they had repented of their sins. Not something the religious authorities would have been pleased about because they considered that their exclusive territory.

Should we pilgrims have been baptised, by full immersion as those in the early church were? Peter’s first recorded sermon included this verse, “ … Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). The reference, “be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” implies full immersion in water, a public declaration of faith and one that clearly transitions a person into the Kingdom of God. It is also something very significant in the life of a believer because, in times of stress and doubt, their heritage can be referred back to. Baptism is a spiritual event just as significant as any other identity document.

John was asked, “what right do you have to baptise?”. In some countries today, there are very few “rights” let only being able to be a believer in Jesus. We mustn’t forget that many will consider it a privilege to be able to express our religious and social freedom in a Western nation. In John the Baptist’s day, the rights of an individual were few, being impacted by poverty, the Romans and by the religious authorities. But John wasn’t fazed by that and he just got on with what God had commissioned him to do – “prepare the way …”. We pilgrims also have a task before us, and one that is likely to be impacted by the conversion ban legislation that is slowly, but inexorably, passing its way through the UK parliaments, central and devolved. In the Anglican and Presbyterian denominations here in the UK, there is a restriction on who can officiate at services, but believers in Christ are all “ordained” in their own right – ” … you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).

So what “rights” do we pilgrims have, in our spiritual and religious duties? There is nothing complicated here. We just get on with what God has asked us to do. It may not be easy. For some it may be dangerous, for others inconvenient. It may cost us our money and time. But the Holy Spirit will lead and guide us – that is God’s “right”. There is a higher law at work and one that, when followed, could lead us to our own “cross”. The Creator God of this world had the “right” to send His Son, Jesus, to save the world. We pilgrims have dual citizenship – we are citizens of the nation in which we were born, but we are also citizens of the Kingdom of God. The authorities may remove or amend our “rights” in our natural kingdoms, but they cannot touch our “rights” as children of God at all. And we know which kingdom will prevail in the end.

Father God. Only You can determine our true rights. Through Jesus we are privileged citizens in Your Heavenly Kingdom for ever and ever. Amen.

Who Are You

Posted on by korgrocker

“This was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, “Who are you?” He came right out and said, “I am not the Messiah.” “Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?” “No,” he replied. “Are you the Prophet we are expecting?” “No.” “Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?”“
John 1:19-22 NLT

An interesting question, “Who are you?”. John the Baptist’s ministry was popular and we read in Mark 1:5, “All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River“. But it wasn’t surprising that the religious leaders were a bit concerned about what was going on. Who was this person, they thought, who was attracting so many people and muscling in on their areas of religious jurisdiction? So they sent around their priests, those who specialise in rooting out error and heresies, along with their “heavies”, the “Temple assistants“. And they started their inquisition with the question, “Who are you“? But John knew straight away what was bothering them, and we read, “ He came right out and said, “I am not the Messiah””. As we read on, we find his answers were connected to Old Testament prophesies about the Jewish expectation that the Messiah would come. At that time the political situation in Israel was ripe for the Messiah, as, once again, the Jews were under the yoke of an oppressive and cruel regime. Their hope and expectation was that the Messiah would kick out the Romans and once again enable them to be a free and proud nation.

But all that aside, how would we answer the question, “Who are you?”. It is a very difficult question to answer because we need to know why we are being asked it. All the basic information about us can be found through our ID data and bank accounts. There are marriage and birth certificates, police records, utility bills, CV’s. Social media will expose more information – in fact typing in our names into Google will expose all sorts of results, some of which might be quite revealing. I can remember someone telling me a few years ago about a stranger they met in a seminar, and in an idle moment typed in their name into an internet search engine, to find that the person had been involved in a scandal that had been recorded in a media article. But all of this fails to answer the really important question of, “Who are you?”. 

Our initial response might involve our name and address, our profession, even a bit about our ancestry, particularly if we are the offspring of a well know person such as an actor or politician. But that is when we have an opportunity to introduce our spiritual identity. We pilgrims are citizens of Heaven and are children of God Himself. The Apostle Paul wrote, “I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law” (Philippians 3:5). Paul’s description of himself concerned his national and religious identity, succinctly put into one verse. People of his day would have immediately known much about him because they would have automatically filled in any gaps. But he goes on, ”I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ“(Philippians 3:7-8). 

As children of God, we pilgrims too must have an answer ready to the question we have considered today, because through it we too can take a stand for our spiritual identities. John the Baptist was very clear about his identity. We read what he said in John 1:23, ”John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Clear the way for the Lord’s coming!’”“. Are we clear about our mission here on Planet Earth? Yes, of course we have a temporal earthly identity, but, more importantly, our citizenship in the Kingdom of God is eternal. That is where we should be focusing our future. 

Father God. Through Jesus we know the words of eternal life. Please help us to follow them, we pray. Amen.

Jesus is God

Posted on by korgrocker

”No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.”
John 1:18 NLT

I have never seen a famous historical person such as Shakespeare or John Wesley, because they were dead before I was born. But I know about them from their writings and biographies, and have seen artist’s impressions through paintings and drawings. But God is different. Even though He has always existed, no-one has ever seen Him, for one simple reason – He is Spirit. Human beings are natural and physical. There are occasions in the Old Testament when the greats of old such as Moses, Elijah and others apparently came close to seeing God, but not in any coherent and tangible way. But back to, for example, John Wesley. Although I have never seen him in the flesh, I can find out many details about him. His life has been picked apart by others who knew him to the extent that I can almost imagine that I have met him in person. 

When Jesus came, He revealed God to us. In the same way a son can tell us much about his father, through his memories, his mannerisms, his looks, Jesus told us much about His Father. We read in John 14:8-10, ”Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me“”. In his Colossians letter, Paul wrote, “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body” (Colossians 2:9). 

So we pilgrims, by following Christ, follow God, and in Him we will find a complete diet for our souls. In our natural world, there is much fretting and fussing over the food we eat, or don’t eat, or can’t eat. I know someone who is almost paranoid about the perceived harm done to their body by ultra processed foods. There are many diet sheets loudly proclaimed by their adherents. But there is only one diet for our spiritual lives and that can only be found in the Bible. Nothing ultra processed there! In this Book we will find out all that we need to know about our Trinitarian God. Fellow pilgrims – are we reading it? As often as we can? Through it God feeds our spirits. 

Two thousand years ago a baby was born, of peasant parents in humble surroundings, but that Child started a life dedicated to His Father that ended on a Roman Cross in the greatest sacrifice, and consequent moment in history, that this world has ever seen. Many, if not most, have discounted it as being irrelevant to them and their lives. But we need to proclaim this wonderful Son to all regardless. At every opportunity. How else will people know the wonderful God, the Creator of this Universe?

Dear Father God. Thank You for Jesus and all You have done for us. Amen.

Moses and Christ

Posted on by korgrocker

”For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.“
John 1:17 NLT

John writes now about the comparison between what is effectively law and grace. The Jews, the Israelite nation, had escaped from Egypt, and were two months into their journey to the promised land when they arrived at the wilderness of Sinai. There they set up camp. And Moses went up Mount Sinai to meet with God. “ … The Lord called to [Moses] from the mountain and said, “Give these instructions to the family of Jacob; announce it to the descendants of Israel” (Exodus 19:3). Then followed the giving of the Ten Commandments and a series of instructions and laws that God had designed for the benefit of His people. Deuteronomy 28 starts, “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will …” (Deuteronomy 28:1), and then there follows a list of all the good things God’s people will enjoy if they are obedient to Him. But the Israelites were warned what would happen if they failed to keep to these commandments. “But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you” (Deuteronomy 28:15). The down side of being disobedient to God is well documented. Blessings would follow obedience to God and curses would follow if disobedience was the norm. Through the law given to the Israelites came a definition for sin. But there was a problem – no person could become pure enough by following the law to satisfy God’s requirements. 

Paul started his life as a Pharisee, and he was so zealous to protect the Jewish way of life, with its laws and customs, that he even persecuted the early Christians. Galatians 1:13, “You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it.” But there was then that day when he experienced God’s grace in all its fullness after seeing a bright light, a vision of Jesus. We read, “He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”“ (Acts 9:4). Paul’s conversion was total and dramatic. He transitioned from law to grace.

What do we pilgrims think of law and grace?  Jesus didn’t come to this world to replace the Law with something else. He came to fulfil the Law by becoming the final sacrifice. So instead of trusting in rules and regulations, we trust in Jesus. We read in Romans 3:20, ”For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are“. Instead, ”God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God” (Ephesians 2:8). This does not mean that we maintain sinful thoughts and behaviours. We bring them all to the Cross in repentance. The Law shows us what God wants (holiness), and grace gives us the desire and power to be holy.

Father God. We worship You today, deeply grateful for all You have given us. Amen.