Adoration -- Becoming what we behold
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Adoration—Becoming what we behold.
Over the next several weeks I would like to talk with you a bit about prayer. Many people have used the acronym A.C.T.S. to talk about how to do prayer well. Although I don’t think it is a complete way to look at prayer (it doesn’t mention listening) I do think it’s helpful. What I would like to share with you is perhaps a slightly different take on the quick and easy 4-steps to a good prayer life model. I am not offering you check boxes so you can create another set of rules to live by. I want to present before you an opportunity for more. I want to whet your appetite for a deeper relationship with Jesus.
As we read Scripture, we are constantly confronted with people whose perception of God is different than our current experience suggests. In Psalms 63:3, the writer proclaims, “your love is better than life.” If we truly believe that what the Bible says is true, than either this Psalmist had a mediocre life at best, or we don’t see God the same way the Psalmist did.
So how do we bridge that gap? How do we begin to move into a place where the beauty of Christ rivals the television, or sports, or music, or whatever you hold dear in life? How do we span the distance between what Scripture says and our experience? The key is Worship and adoration.
In my opinion, adoration is the most important thing a Christian can do. By adoration, mean more than simply being friends with God or tell him that we like him. When we adore God, we look into his face and worship him. We pour out our hearts before his beauty. In adoration, we magnify the Lord’s name. When you magnify something, the object itself does not get bigger, it simply looks bigger to us. When we magnify God, it is not as if God gets bigger. His magnified image fills our sight. We get a better understanding of who he is and what he’s like. As we adore and fix our eyes on Jesus, we begin to behold him as he really is. As we behold him we become like him. That is the key. We become what we behold.
Now, we see this principle at work everywhere in our lives. We begin to look and act like the people we hang out with. We talk like the people in our community. For better or for worse, the way we live life is wrapped up in more than just ourselves. Yet, I don’t want you just to take my word for it. I want you to see this truth in Scripture. In 2 Cor 3, Paul is talking about how we have a better covenant than Moses or David and how the hearts of those who don’t believe are covered under a veil so they will not see the glory of God. From there we read:
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate [a] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:16-18 TNIV)
Make sure you catch that; when we contemplate the Lord’s glory, we are transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory. Let’s take a look at how the Message translation says it.
16-18 Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him. (2 Cor. 3:16-18, Message)
Did you catch it? Because Jesus has taken away the separation between us and God, we can look on his face. When we do, our lives are changed and we become like him.
Let me illustrate this a little. Several times in John, Jesus refers to himself as the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5). However, in Matthew Jesus said that we are the light of the world (Matt 5:14). WE are the light of the world. But how does this work? If Jesus is the light how can we be the light? As we gaze at Jesus in worship, we begin to look like him. Being in His presence and seeing Him for who He is transforms our lives. We become the revelation of Jesus to the world. We represent Christ to our neighbors and friends. The more we look on the person of Jesus, the better that representations becomes.
Many of you at this point are saying, “That sounds great but I haven’t a clue how to pray a prayer of adoration.” Simply tell God what he means to you. Tell him what he is like. If you struggle to find words to say, let the Bible speak for you. You don’t have to think of something new to say but it does have to be your voice. The Psalms are always a good place to start. As you read them, turn them back into prayer. If a psalm describes God, then tell God he is like that. If a verse says something about God you do not understand or that you haven’t experienced in your life, ask the Holy Spirit to show you what it means. One of his names is “teacher”.
Let’s try a couple
Ps 42:1 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”
Lord, my soul pants for you. I want you to be the desire of my heart.
-or-
Lord, I don’t seem to want you like this writer wanted you. Come and change my heart. I want my soul to cry out for you more than my body wants water.
Throughout the psalms, the writers use imagery like: shields, fortresses, strong towers, birds’ wings, rocks, deserts, hunger, thirst, and the list goes on. Use those images and let your imagination turn them over in your mind.
Let’s try another. Ps 73:23-26 “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand”.
You never leave me or forsake me. God you hold onto me even when I don’t hold onto you.
“You guide me with your counsel”
You are my teacher. Your word guides my steps. Wisdom comes from you alone.
“and afterward you will take me into glory.”
Lord I want to see your glory. Let your goodness pass before my eyes like Moses.
“Whom have I in heaven but you?”
Jesus, you are my inheritance. You are the treasure in the field that I have sold everything for.
“And earth has nothing I desire besides you.”
Lord, I don’t see this in my life. I want you to be the central longing in my heart. Give me the grace to love you more.
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Thank you that you are faithful. You are strong even when I am weak. I could not even love you except for your mercy and grace.
As you read your Bible or do your devotions this next week, I want to encourage you to spend some time in adoration. Even if you spend the entire time in adoration and leave your prayer list behind, it’s well worth it. Remember, the Christian walk is about our relationship with the person of Jesus. The more we know him, the more we spend time with him, the more captivating he will become to our hearts.
Let’s pray.
Holy Spirit, we ask that you would reveal Jesus to our hearts. Give us a revelation of the Risen Christ this next week. May the reality of Jesus become more concrete in our lives. Jesus, “I pray that out of [your] glorious riches [you] may strengthen [us] with power through [your] Spirit in [our] inner being, so that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith. And I pray that [we], being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep [your love], and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that [we] may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:14-21).
Over the next several weeks I would like to talk with you a bit about prayer. Many people have used the acronym A.C.T.S. to talk about how to do prayer well. Although I don’t think it is a complete way to look at prayer (it doesn’t mention listening) I do think it’s helpful. What I would like to share with you is perhaps a slightly different take on the quick and easy 4-steps to a good prayer life model. I am not offering you check boxes so you can create another set of rules to live by. I want to present before you an opportunity for more. I want to whet your appetite for a deeper relationship with Jesus.
As we read Scripture, we are constantly confronted with people whose perception of God is different than our current experience suggests. In Psalms 63:3, the writer proclaims, “your love is better than life.” If we truly believe that what the Bible says is true, than either this Psalmist had a mediocre life at best, or we don’t see God the same way the Psalmist did.
So how do we bridge that gap? How do we begin to move into a place where the beauty of Christ rivals the television, or sports, or music, or whatever you hold dear in life? How do we span the distance between what Scripture says and our experience? The key is Worship and adoration.
In my opinion, adoration is the most important thing a Christian can do. By adoration, mean more than simply being friends with God or tell him that we like him. When we adore God, we look into his face and worship him. We pour out our hearts before his beauty. In adoration, we magnify the Lord’s name. When you magnify something, the object itself does not get bigger, it simply looks bigger to us. When we magnify God, it is not as if God gets bigger. His magnified image fills our sight. We get a better understanding of who he is and what he’s like. As we adore and fix our eyes on Jesus, we begin to behold him as he really is. As we behold him we become like him. That is the key. We become what we behold.
Now, we see this principle at work everywhere in our lives. We begin to look and act like the people we hang out with. We talk like the people in our community. For better or for worse, the way we live life is wrapped up in more than just ourselves. Yet, I don’t want you just to take my word for it. I want you to see this truth in Scripture. In 2 Cor 3, Paul is talking about how we have a better covenant than Moses or David and how the hearts of those who don’t believe are covered under a veil so they will not see the glory of God. From there we read:
16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate [a] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:16-18 TNIV)
Make sure you catch that; when we contemplate the Lord’s glory, we are transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory. Let’s take a look at how the Message translation says it.
16-18 Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him. (2 Cor. 3:16-18, Message)
Did you catch it? Because Jesus has taken away the separation between us and God, we can look on his face. When we do, our lives are changed and we become like him.
Let me illustrate this a little. Several times in John, Jesus refers to himself as the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5). However, in Matthew Jesus said that we are the light of the world (Matt 5:14). WE are the light of the world. But how does this work? If Jesus is the light how can we be the light? As we gaze at Jesus in worship, we begin to look like him. Being in His presence and seeing Him for who He is transforms our lives. We become the revelation of Jesus to the world. We represent Christ to our neighbors and friends. The more we look on the person of Jesus, the better that representations becomes.
Many of you at this point are saying, “That sounds great but I haven’t a clue how to pray a prayer of adoration.” Simply tell God what he means to you. Tell him what he is like. If you struggle to find words to say, let the Bible speak for you. You don’t have to think of something new to say but it does have to be your voice. The Psalms are always a good place to start. As you read them, turn them back into prayer. If a psalm describes God, then tell God he is like that. If a verse says something about God you do not understand or that you haven’t experienced in your life, ask the Holy Spirit to show you what it means. One of his names is “teacher”.
Let’s try a couple
Ps 42:1 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”
Lord, my soul pants for you. I want you to be the desire of my heart.
-or-
Lord, I don’t seem to want you like this writer wanted you. Come and change my heart. I want my soul to cry out for you more than my body wants water.
Throughout the psalms, the writers use imagery like: shields, fortresses, strong towers, birds’ wings, rocks, deserts, hunger, thirst, and the list goes on. Use those images and let your imagination turn them over in your mind.
Let’s try another. Ps 73:23-26 “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand”.
You never leave me or forsake me. God you hold onto me even when I don’t hold onto you.
“You guide me with your counsel”
You are my teacher. Your word guides my steps. Wisdom comes from you alone.
“and afterward you will take me into glory.”
Lord I want to see your glory. Let your goodness pass before my eyes like Moses.
“Whom have I in heaven but you?”
Jesus, you are my inheritance. You are the treasure in the field that I have sold everything for.
“And earth has nothing I desire besides you.”
Lord, I don’t see this in my life. I want you to be the central longing in my heart. Give me the grace to love you more.
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Thank you that you are faithful. You are strong even when I am weak. I could not even love you except for your mercy and grace.
As you read your Bible or do your devotions this next week, I want to encourage you to spend some time in adoration. Even if you spend the entire time in adoration and leave your prayer list behind, it’s well worth it. Remember, the Christian walk is about our relationship with the person of Jesus. The more we know him, the more we spend time with him, the more captivating he will become to our hearts.
Let’s pray.
Holy Spirit, we ask that you would reveal Jesus to our hearts. Give us a revelation of the Risen Christ this next week. May the reality of Jesus become more concrete in our lives. Jesus, “I pray that out of [your] glorious riches [you] may strengthen [us] with power through [your] Spirit in [our] inner being, so that Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith. And I pray that [we], being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep [your love], and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that [we] may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:14-21).
