Psalm 15

John Chamberlain   -  

January 29, 2023

Heavenly Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

My guess is that everyone here would say it would be ideal to live in heaven and in your presence forever.  Yet we know from Romans 3:23 that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We also learn from Romans we can receive the righteousness of God by trusting in Jesus.  In our Psalm today, David lays out a roadmap on how we should attempt to live our lives here on earth. We understand this side of heaven, it is impossible to fully achieve what David describes, but these characteristics are still worthwhile pursuits.  When we share the truth of your word to people, help us to convey it in a way that they know we passionately believe it.

Heavenly Father, may we respect our neighbors and people around us because we understand all people have been created by you and have value.  It is so easy in our society to show misguided honor to professional athletes, celebrities and movie stars.  After all, they are the ones that seem to be on top of the world. However, David rightly instructs us to show honor to those who have a healthy reverence for You. Guide us in ways we can honor people that we know are totally devoted to you.  Help us to keep our word and not waste time talking poorly about people around us.

Our desire is we continue to grow in our faith as we work on the areas David has outlined in this Psalm. Even though we often stumble on the path, remind us that the roots of our faith will grow deep.  When the storms of this world hit, we will not be shaken as we continue to follow You.

We praise you for the 6000 students that attended a recent missions conference in Urbana, IL. Also, we thank you for the new strategies C has been implementing on Linked In, which seem to have been getting more people excited about Bible translation.  We pray that you would bless the new Wycliffe Venture Cohort tool, that college students and young professionals can use to help determine their next step in missions.  We also ask that your Spirit would be leading a good number of young people to sign up for the Pathways 2 week online course coming up in March. The course is designed for young people to explore ways they can become involved in missions.

Finally Father, we know that our world is in desperate need of the peace that only You can offer. I ask You would increase our desire to share the love of Jesus with those around us, so they can also know of that peace.

For it’s in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit we pray,

And all God’s people said………Amen.