To God be the Glory!

 

One day while I was visiting Goodwill, a thrift store in town, I came upon a plaque with the following prayer on it: 

Lord, may I make a difference in all I do, the words I say, and the actions I take.  Lord, may I glorify you, that you might be pleased with me.

Unfortunately, I do not know where this prayer originated. I tried to find it online to give credit to whomever wrote it, but I had no luck. This is a formidable prayer, and I keep it on the wall near the light switch. That way, I can see it every night before I turn out the lights.

For me, these are the words that I need and want to live by. I want my life to glorify God. Does it always do that? I honestly have to say that it does not, but that does not keep it from being my goal and my desire. Bringing glory to God, our Creator, is the very purpose of life, the universe, and everything.

Recently, a friend asked me, in a text, the following question: “What to God is of greater importance our service for Him or our love and devotion to Him?”

After some thought, here was my reply: “I believe the answer is both.  We glorify God by our actions that are based in love and devotion to Him. In Isaiah 1:11-17, God makes it clear that He does not want meaningless actions of worship. We are to love Him by loving others. This is why our serving is so important, but we must serve Him with fidelity and love.

I tend to think of Christians in the same way a loyal knight would serve a worthy king. In ALL we do, we do it in service of the King, and our dedication and purpose in life is to serve the King’s will for His glory.”

So, the prayer on the plaque is especially important to me. I can picture in my mind a knight swearing allegiance to his king with the words on the plaque, but I can also hear a Christian giving himself or herself to the great God Jehovah with these very words.

Have a blessed day,

Layman Ray

 

Prayer request:  Please pray for all of those impacted by hurricane Helene and for those who are reaching out to help them. If you can, both Samaritan’s Purse and Feed the Hunger are two great agencies that will be working to help those in need. You can find both organizations online.

And So, It Begins.

For years I have thought about writing.  I wanted to be a writer, but I have never had the confidence I needed to get past the starting point.  That is not entirely true.  I have written poetry, and I have the rejection letters to prove it.  I guess the biggest challenge I had writing is my lack of confidence, and that is followed quickly by my laziness.  Still, here I am writing.

And so, it begins.  I told my wife that I haven't been able to get any writing started.  Today, we start.  I am pushing doubt aside.  I am tapping on the keys of destiny.  Well, at least the keys of my keyboard.  I am starting a new adventure down a road that has been blocked by the thorns of doubt, the rocks of laziness, and a no trespassing sign I put up myself with my lack of confidence.  I am walking down a road that I hope to follow for some time, and I look forward to sharing this trip with those who are willing to follow along.  I cannot tell you exactly where this road will go, but I believe it may be a grand adventure.

Taking the first step forward.

Layman Ray