PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Exodus 4:18–23
Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.”
Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”
Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”
CONSIDER THIS
Penultimate—that’s the word of the day. It means something like “secondary” or “second to the ultimate.” And that’s the problem. We get caught up in penultimate things to the point we lose sight of the ultimate thing.
We come to a moment where we need to get some altitude over our situation. We need to remember the big picture, to see beyond the penultimate to the ultimate. There is a critical word that has gotten lost in all of the conversations back and forth between Moses and God. We see it in verse 23 as God tells Moses what to say to Pharaoh:
“Let my son go, so he may worship me.”
We saw it earlier when God told Moses the confirming sign of the whole affair would be that they would worship God on this mountain. Before it’s all said and done, we will hear this refrain over and over and over again: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.”
“Let my people go” is penultimate; “so that they may worship me” is ultimate.
The penultimate purpose of deliverance is for the good of the people. The ultimate purpose of deliverance is for the glory of God. This is why worship matters so much. We were created to worship God. You and I and every other person on the face of planet Earth were made for one thing and one thing only: to worship the one true and living God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We aren’t worshippers because we worship. We worship because we are worshippers.
Right up to the present moment, history shows us human beings will worship anything and everything under the sun, including the sun! The very essence of salvation and deliverance is to be rescued from the slavish oppression of a false god and brought into the gracious dominion of the true and living God.
When was the last time you worshipped God?
To worship God is to orient one’s entire being and life around the presence, purpose, and power of the God of heaven and earth, whom to know is to love. It is to live with an openhearted, single-minded, undivided love for God, his creation, and especially people. When we worship God, he brings our entire existence into the peace-filled, joyful life of love-governed power we were made for.
God knows our hearts will not rest until they rest in him; hence, his mission is to deliver us from our every unholy attachment, broken inclination, and involuntary bondage to worship false gods. We can think our mission is to do this good deed and give to that good cause and wrap it all up in religious garb and completely miss the point of the whole thing—more worshippers bringing more worship to God.
As John Piper famously says, “Missions exist because worship doesn’t.” When we forget the ultimate thing, it’s only a matter of time before the penultimate things become so much noise.
Deliverance is penultimate. Worship is ultimate. God saves, delivers, redeems, and blesses us so we can be burning bushes—on fire but not consumed—in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, churches, grocery stores, city centers, and everywhere else under the sun.
Christian, you were meant for glory. You are made to be on fire with the God who made you. He made you to burn brightly for his glory and for your neighbor’s gain and for your own good—indeed, for the deepest and most satisfying life you never imagined possible.
THE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE
Lord Jesus, you are my Deliverer.
I receive the exodus of your deliverance into a life of unfettered worship.
I confess I so easily get lost in the weeds of life, forgetting what it’s all for and what it all means. I want to stop right now and open my heart to worship you, to stand in awe of you, even to kneel in humble reverence. Let my every waking minute take on that posture in everything I am doing. Let the fiery glory of your love burn in me until all that is left is you, for then I will truly be myself.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end, amen! Amen!
THE JOURNAL PROMPTS
Do you find yourself caught up in penultimate matters? Do you need to be reset for ultimate matters? Will you find a quiet place, a closet, somewhere you can open up your adoration to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? And don’t forget to say, “Here I am!”
THE HYMN
Today, we will sing “Doxology” (hymn 682) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. Get your copy here.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
P.S. A Special Deal for you today.
I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to get authorization to create a brand new kind of ticket for the New Room Conference. It’s like a taster’s menu—only you are getting the main courses. The two evening sessions of New Room Conference are like the special entrees on the menu every year. I want you to taste the goodness of this event. Because I convinced them you would be all about this, the Farm Team agreed to create a single ticket for the Wake-Up Call Community (and their friends) to participate in the two evening sessions livestream (online) for a total price of $20. Yes, you read that right. And if you can’t watch them live, we will send the recorded videos to you within a month to have forever. CLICK HERE and choose the “Wednesday + Thursday Evening” option. It may be the best offer in the history of Seedbed. COME ON!!!
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8 Responses
Just something I came up with after listening to today’s WUC. It’s nothing special but it made me happy.
W – Wonderful
O – Omniscient
R – Radiant
S – Savior
H – Heavenly
I – Immense
P – Patriarch
G – Glorious
O – Offenseless
D – Divine
In Christ, the last things become the first things in all things.
Jesus, you came, conquered, was crucified, and conquered again.
Lord, I give you all of me because you gave all of you.
Now, to continually live as if that is so. To worship in spirit and truth.
Teach me, O Lord!
Staying 💪’n Christ,
Doc
Ephesians 6:10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
Three thoughts come to mind as I mediate on this morning’s Wake-up call: First of all, the true Biblical meaning for “worship “ is to prostrate or bow down oneself before God in humble reverence in His presence. Secondly, Jesus said, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth. (John 4:21-24) Thirdly, what Paul had to say about worship, “ Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.” (Romans 12:1) Therefore, true worship is not merely participating in a pre-determined, scripted event, at a particular place, but rather a lifestyle committed to active participation in the Missio Dei, the mission of God.
Here’s the big picture:
A nation’s government is temporary. If you change it, the change won’t last. Human beings are eternal. When they truly allow the living Jesus to change them from inside out, that change is forever. Seek first the change that lasts — the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of human government. To politicize Christianity is to focus on human governments and ignore the kingdom of God.
Many Christians today seem to have a hardened heart like the Pharoah in ancient Egypt. When they hear what the Lord says they refuse to obey: “Love your enemies.” “Bless those who curse you.” Where are God’s “love-governed” people who live moment by moment under the direct heart-to-heart leadership of the risen Jesus?
It is time to let God’s people go free from human control and religious manipulation so they can worship Him in spirit and in truth. Then they can go beyond routine, gather in Jesus’ name (instead of in the name of a church, a preacher, or a ministry) and be led by God’s Spirit.
Churches needs to do more than lecture people. They need to train and empower people to open their heart to God and to each other and to speak as the Spirit leads them. (See 1 Corinthians 14:26.) Don’t just find and attend a Spirit-filled conference, church service, or revival. Be one 24/7/365.
Here’s a sign of hardened hearts. Christians are supposed to be one big spiritual family. Instead, we have divided ourselves into tens of thousands of independent religious organizations each one doing our own thing. Oops!
God loves people.
You should too.
Let His love
Flow through you.
In all you say
And what you do
Speak truth with love.
If you’re unwilling
To “love your enemies”
You’re not following
The risen Jesus.
Thank you for these emails. I have benefitted so much from these daily devotionals and have shared them with many friends. I look forward to this every morning and it so often sets my out of joint heart right. JD you are a crazy blessing to we listeners. Thank you for serving us a long with your fabulous team.
I will see you at the Conference!!! I am attending your sessions. I live in Houston, attend Faithbridge and hunger and thirst for worship.
Hey everyone please Overlook my illiteracy when it comes to technology! I have a friend who started reading/listening to the wake up call this year! She gets it through her email. As you may already know the replies are not attached to the email wake up calls. She said she did not find the app in the play store. I’ve had this app for so long I don’t even remember how I got it. She has tried a couple ways but it does not give her the option for the app. Could someone please tell me how she can find it
Kelli, try sending her a text containing your link, then tell her to save it as a bookmark.