“I have learned, and am learning, that there’s no real victory or joy in the Christian life unless there’s also a sense of total dependence upon God. And that sense of dependence is what makes prayer spring to life.”
David jeremiah, The prayer matrix, p. 63.
Please read the first blog post entitled “Why Fast?” This explains what fasting is and why we follow Jesus in this spiritual discipline as together we seek the heart of God.
21 Days Devotional Blog (with opt-in text option)
During these 21 days, a devotional will be posted each morning on our “21 Days Blog” on Ascent’s homepage. You can go to the home page each day, or you can text ASCENT21 to the number 97000 to opt-in to receive a daily text reminder with a link to that day’s devotional.
Daily Devotionals
Each day during our 21 Days, we will focus on one part of the ACTS prayer acronym – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication. We will spend between 3-5 days on each part of the ACTS prayer acronym. Each devotion will take less than ten minutes of your time.
- We will Engage the Word – looking at a passage of Scripture that draws our mind’s attention and heart’s affection to the Lord.
- We will Connect the Heart – considering a truth that is applicable to our lives.
- We will Reflect on the Truth, asking a number of questions each day that invite us to look and listen with intent.
- And we will Depend on the Spirit – We will pray, for it is in praying that we learn to pray. And it is in praying that the Spirit changes our hearts.
We want to encourage you to grab a journal or a notebook – something to write on as you walk through each devotional. Yes, it will add a few minutes to the time it takes to do the devotion, and it will also deepen your experience and shape your walk with God for years to come. This journal or notebook will be a keepsake to remind you of God’s faithfulness during this challenging season for all of us.
Adoration
Engage the Word
Read Psalm 145:5-10 – A Psalm of David
5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6 They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
7 They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.
10 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your saints shall bless you!
When the psalmist David penned these words over 3,000 years ago, he could not have known that not only would his generation still be speaking to ours today (verse 4), but that God’s mighty acts, wondrous works and awesome deeds would reach a new climax in the gospel events through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And it is through these wondrous works of Jesus that we are able to most richly see and know the grace, mercy and steadfast love of God.
Reflect on the Truth
- What are some ways that you can see and acknowledge God’s abundant goodness in your life?
- Verse 8 says that “The Lord is gracious and merciful.” Grace is often defined as “unmerited favor.” How have you experienced God’s grace in your life?
- Take a few moments to meditate on each verse, one at a time. How does this exercise lift your heart toward the praise of God in adoration?
Depend on the Spirit
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the deeper longings, desires or motives in your heart that those thoughts are pointing to. (For example: you may write down, “I am so grateful that God is slow to anger and that He is merciful in ways that I don’t deserve. I don’t fully understand it, but I praise Him for it.”) The Lord can help us discern the path forward – through His word, His Spirit, His people.
For Prayer
Pray at this time for all who call Ascent Church their church home – that we would be a people who regularly acknowledge God’s abundant goodness and appropriately reflect back to Him the radiance of His worth.
As David is praising his King for awesome deeds and wondrous works—if the king were a human, those deeds might be imposing projects like the pyramids. But the most wondrous work that our King created is us. We are the works of his loving hands. His most awesome deed is Jesus—again for us! That’s encouraging, humbling, and convicting—all at the same time.
Amen!
So well said!
It is all too easy to rush past David Jeremiah’s observation at the top about embracing a sense of total dependence upon God. When I studied at Dallas Theological Seminary, one of my favorite classes was taught by Howard ‘Prof’ Hendricks. I don’t even remember the name of the course, maybe ‘Greek for non-Greeks,’ it was similar to ‘Football Math.’ However, I felt like I was in a doctoral program on Prayer every time Prof closed our class in prayer. I will never forget it. After praying whatever it was that he prayed, he always said, “And Father, we bring these requests to you with Great Expectancy and Desperate Dependency.” I remember nothing else that he taught, but I didn’t have to. Those four words were worth the price of admission, and they changed my life. What does it mean to live every day with a sense of total dependence upon God. Rain or Shine, do I come before Him (and live) each day, with desperate dependence…and with great expectancy for what He will do next? No, but I’m learning.
This is so good. I never studied under Prof, but was able to sit under his teaching at a seminar one time, just before he died. Wow, did God use him mightily over a faithful, life-long career! Great Expectancy and Desperate Dependency… So good. Thx for this, John.