Psalm 24
July 20, 2025 Heavenly Father, praise be to you as the Creator of the world. Praise be to you as the owner of all that is in the world—things and animals and people. Your right to ownership is amazing and, to us, is good news. May we regard the world around us from your point of view. You made it all; you own it all. Conform our lives to this profound and wonderful reality. May our impulse to worship you grow stronger and deeper. Strengthen and deepen our trust in you, our humility before you, our joy because of you, Creator and Possessor.
Praise be to you also, Father, as the King of glory. Your greatness is on display as King: you are strong, you are mighty, you are a warrior King, you fight for your people, you secure victory for your people over your enemies. As exuberantly as King David saw this in his day, we see it so much more clearly. Jesus the Messiah is the King of glory. He is strong and mighty, risen from the dead; mighty in battle, having conquered the world, the flesh, the devil, and death. He entered the heavenly gates and sat down at your right hand amid the praises of the heavenly throng. We are so blessed, Lord Jesus, that you are our King of glory. We worship you this morning.
In that spirit of worship, as we pursue a lifestyle and lifetime of worship, seeking every day to ascend into your presence, so to speak, we confess, heavenly Father, that our hands are not clean, and our hearts are not pure—not as clean or pure as is consistent with your holiness. In outward actions and words this week we have sinned against you. In inward attitudes, motives, thought patterns, and fantasies we have sinned against you. Left to ourselves we could not ascend to the holy place of your dwelling. But we take refuge in our King of glory, the One whose hands were perfectly clean, whose heart was perfectly pure when he walked this earth. Lord Jesus, we turn from ourselves and embrace you as the one who died in our place, who was raised to life, and who ascended to the right hand of God. By your grace, through faith in you, we have been united with you. So we revel this morning in your clean hands and pure heart that have been freely accounted to us, that adorn us, and that usher us into the presence of God.
We ask that, in the week to come, and beyond, our hands and hearts would more consistently reflect and express, in the nitty gritty of our earthly lives, the perfect cleanness and purity that are ours in Christ in the heavenly realm and reckoning of God. May we be a generation that truly seeks your face, experiences your blessing, and lives out your righteousness.
We pray today for the persecuted church around the world. We think particularly of our brothers and sisters in Nigeria. Amid great suffering, may they be sustained and encouraged by you. Fight for them, Lord, and give them victory. May their joy in the Holy Spirit and their love for their enemies prompt many to turn to Jesus as the true God and eternal life. And we ask for their deliverance; for peace and stability in their country that they might live quiet and peaceable lives for Jesus.
We pray for the family of Carolyne today. Comfort them and sanctify to them Carolyne’s death and her joy in the presence of Jesus. And we pray for our bereaved brothers and sisters in Texas in the unspeakable aftermath of the flash flooding. O Lord, have mercy.
In this world, Lord, we sometimes mourn death and celebrate life in the same breath and prayer. And we thank you for the arrival of baby boy Jensen and praise you for the gift that he is. May your blessing be on him and his family.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, and all God’s people said, “Amen!”