Praying the Names of God - July 30
From Praying the Names of God Week Seven, Day Two
The Name
Adonay is a Hebrew word meaning "Lord," a name that implies relationship: God is Lord, and we are his servants. As a word referring to God it appears more than three hundred times in the Hebrew Scriptures. As you pray to Adonay, tell him you want to surrender every aspect of your life to him. Pray for the grace to become the kind of servant who is quick to do God's will. Remember, too, that the Lord is the only one who can empower you to fulfill his purpose for your life. In fact, it is in knowing him as your Lord that you will discover a true sense of purpose. The New Testament depicts Jesus as both Lord and Servant. In this latter role he exemplifies what our relationship to Adonay is to be.
Key Scripture
You are my Lord; I have no good besides you. (Psalm 16:2 NASB)
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Tuesday
PRAYING THE NAME
Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep.Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field,"Come along now and sit down to eat"? Would he not rather say, "Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink"? (Luke 17:7-8)
Reflect On: Luke 17:7-10
Praise God: Because his greatness compels our service.
Offer Thanks:> For the chance to be used by the Lord.
Confess Any disdain for the role of servant.
Ask God: To give you a greater vision of what it means to be his servant.
Recently my daughters and I took a weeklong cruise aboard a ship with a crew made up of people from all over the world. Though the ship was beautiful, I was even more impressed by people who served us. I had never experienced anything like it. Young people from Croatia, the Philippines, Romania, and South Africa couldn't do enough for us.
Why are there so few Americans among the crew? I wondered. It seemed like an ideal job for a young person who wanted to bank most of his salary and meet lots of interesting people at the same time. But then I remembered the grueling schedule and the menial jobs. Crew members cooked, mopped floors, waited tables, entertained children, and cleaned staterooms seven days a week for six months straight before getting a three-month breather. And each member of the crew seemed dedicated to serving us with a genuine smile. Would many Americans know how to deliver such an extreme level of service? Would they even want to? Would I want to? I wondered.
"Servant" is not a particularly popular word in our culture. It sounds demeaning, belittling, hardly something we should aspire to. Such an attitude can make it hard for us to understand our position as servants of the Lord. Perhaps that's why we so often get things reversed, treating God as though he were some kind of celestial butler who should use his divine power to further our plans. With that kind of attitude underlying our prayers, it is a wonder the Lord answers so many of them. Perhaps it is time to repent and ask God to help us to give him the kind of perfect service that Jesus himself did. Let us bow before the Lord today, asking for only one thing—the grace to glorify him.
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Meet your spiritual ancestors as they really were: Less Than Perfect: Broken Men and Women of the Bible and What We Can Learn from Them.
