O, come let us adore Him
2 minute reading time
Y’all. I cannot get up in the morning to spend time with God because:
A) Our bed is so very warm, and if it drops to the 40’s in Fort Worth, it might as well be 40 below.
2) I’ve been eating junk and watching rubbish (Home Alone just flows through my veins at this point) so I’m supah-dupah sleepy in the morning.
and
D) My motivation to get up has been all wrong…
I want the gifts, not the Giver.
Hey God, will you please gimme all the writing prompts, all the branding creativity, all the perseverance through a tricky web project, and all the energy to make this a memorable Christmas for my family? K that’s it! Love you, mean it! In Jesus’ name!
Ugh. So gross!
This Christmas week, I long to shift focus to Him 1 and prepare Him room. Anybody wanna join me?
Alrighty then! (Cringe-worthy Ace Ventura quote).
Let’s get back to basics.
This heart shift coincides beautifully with working back through this very simple ACTS prayer model of putting adoration at the forefront of our motivation.
For me, this looks like sitting still2 with Him first thing in the morning amidst the glow of the Christmas tree simply because I love and adore Him.
While He certainly doesn’t need praise and adoration, He deserves it above all else.3 One of the most important books I ever read, second to the Bible (which btw, I have not read cover to cover by any means), is the book The Knowledge of the Holy. I highly, highly recommend it as a supplemental tool for learning more about WHO God is. In this book, I learned how much He doesn’t need me - He is completely and totally self-sufficient4 among many other incredible attributes - but He still longs to be close to me.
How sweet is that? We cannot give Him anything He needs, yet He wants us to be near to Him. A completely selfless Giver. Unconditional Love,5 Grace, & Mercy again and again and again.
Speaking of Mercy...
For me, the confession portion looks like confessing all those things making my heart restless:6 deadlines (self-inflicted and otherwise) and being so eager to please man (be it a client or a kiddo or a husband or my inner overachieving, perfectionistic self ;) -- I lose sight of pleasing Him first. In confessing and receiving his forgiveness for all of my shortcomings, I cannot help but feel a heart of gratitude.
And you know what?
The Bible tells us we enter his gates with Thanksgiving.7 Sooo, what if we do this together?
Group Project Time! JK. Did you just get hives like I did?
PTSD aside, I’m going to start a running gratitude list today through the end of the year and keep it with my Bible to add to it each morning. Join me if you wanna.
THEN, after walking through adoration, confession and thanksgiving -
We humbly come to the throne of Grace8 for supplication to ask this sweet, selfless Giver for His good gifts all while remembering the greatest gift of all -- Jesus!9
Father God, you are the Giver of all good things. We come to your throne humbly adoring your goodness shown loud and clear through the gift of Christmas! You gave us your Son, fully God and fully man, to walk the sinful, dark earth and warm it up with His LIGHT. Without Him, we would still be under the law checking boxes and consumed with legalism. But you gave us Jesus - the Savior of the world to set us free! In this undeserved freedom Father, we long to turn from our sinful ways and step into the purpose you paved for each of us. This week, help us see the beauty of Christmas with your eyes, your ears, and your tongue - whew I need that last one bigtime. We love you, we need you, and we thank you for Jesus!!!!!!!! It is in His name we pray, Amen.
Verses referenced herein for further study:
Jeremiah 29:13
Psalm 46:10
Deut 10:21
Psalm 97:9
Jeremiah 31:3
Psalm 131
Psalm 100:4-5
Hebrews 4:16
Luke 2:11