Day 21 - 21 Days of Prayer Devotional

21 Days of Prayer DAY 21 - Jude 1:24-25 24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. 25 All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen. CONSIDER THE CONTEXT The book of Jude was written by a half brother of Jesus Christ. Jude wrote the book in response to more false teachings that were trying to break into the Christian Church. Jude was probably a prominent leader of the Church given his impressive pedigree. Today's prayer comes from Jude as he prays for those who would read his letter. In this portion of Jude's prayer the word "glory" is what we will be focusing on. Jude, like the rest of Jesus' family, almost missed the glory of Christ - in fact, they once thought He was out of His mind! But God's glory through someone can't be pawned off so easily when it is seen over and over again. CONSIDER THE IMPLICATIONS Glory is one of those words that gets used all the time but is really hard to define. Think about it, what does glory mean? If you look the word up in the dictionary you will get an amazing glimpse to how profound the word glory is. Descriptions like, renown, worthy of praise, honor, worthy of worship, bliss, to name a few, are used to help define this elusively simple word. Yet that's the word the Bible uses to define God's presence. He ushers in glory. At the same time we are called (even created) to bring glory to God. Strangely, those same descriptions used to define glory in the dictionary apply to us as we move to bring glory to God. Jude praying that we, readers of his letter, would bring all glory to God, shows us that we are responsible for making sure the world sees that all we are is a direct result to the relationship we have with Christ. Glory given to us is glory wasted. Jude knew that first hand as his eyes were opened to who his half brother really was and that kind of glory made a permanent change in who Jude was for the remainder of his life here on earth and, for all eternity. CONSIDER THE PRAYER Lord, thank you that Jude reminds me of the fact that I will, one day, fully be in your glorious presence. It is a result of your glory that Christ is in my heart. It is as a result of your glory that Coastline exists. Help me to be a part of You getting your glory into my community. Help me make those connections within Coastline, and outside as well, to make it possible for me to bring glory to your name. Jude mentions the words, "falling away." That is a scary thought. His prayer, and mine too, is that Your glory keep the possibility of falling away far from me and my Church. Let us walk in your glory. Let us share your glory. Let us bring glory to your Name. Thank you for the joy of your presence. Glory to your Name! Amen.