A Prayer

Father,

 You are a great God. And You call the nations to come and worship You as the great God that You are. Sadly, there are other gods. They are not great like You are, but they also call the nations to worship them. They entice with promises, promises that they actually can keep, promises like ‘I will give you all the kingdoms of the world and their glory if you will fall down and worship me.’ There are many who are fooled.

But the day will come when all of these gods will be exposed as the fakes that they are. On that day every creature - every human, every angel, every demon - will stand before You to give an account of their lives. That is when all will have a holy fear of You, the one true God who sits in majesty over all of creation, and who determines each one’s fate.

Father, we don’t want to wait till then to understand and express well that holy fear, that deep awareness that You are the great God, the God before whom we will stand. We want to give You the fear that is Yours. You are, after all, a great God.

And yet, Father, we know that You are also a great Father. You are a great Father who loves us. And because of that love You have deemed it right to bless us with the status of children, Your children. What You said to Jesus is true of each one of us. ‘You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.’ Father, You could have simply rescued us from sin and be done with it. But You did more. You adopted us as sons. You really do love us.

Father, it’s important that we get both of these right: holy fear before You, the majestic God, and the assurance of Your fatherly love for us, Your children. We need to understand them both and live them both. And if truth be known, we have a hard time with both.

So, we cry out to You, our Abba, Father. Teach us to fear You as the glorious God that You are. And teach us to be amazed and assured when it comes to the love You have for us, Your children.

We ask for these things, Father, because we love You. We want live in such a way that would bring You honor. Teach us how to live both of these so that we will love You to the extent that we yearn to. You are worthy. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.