Formation to Transformation | A Worship Devotional

This psalm is three verses long, and we're going to spend the whole week in it, one line at a time. Today I want to start where the psalm starts, with the first word. It's addressed to the Lord. Everything David says about his heart and his eyes, he says to the one who can already see both.

That changes what kind of sentence it is. My heart isn't arrogant, nor my eyes lofty. If you said that to a friend over coffee, it would sound like bragging. Said to the Lord, it's an open account. He knows the heart before the sentence starts. So this is a man standing in front of God, describing his own interior out loud, and letting the Lord check it.

Formation to Transformation is a worship devotional with Ryan Loche, PhD.

https://formationtotransformation.com

There are people coming through the doors who have had a hard time getting here. Some of you serving this morning have had a hard time getting here too.

This Sunday sending receives Paul's prayer in 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17: comfort for our hearts and strength for every good work and word. The love and the grace come before the work.

A blessing for those who sing and speak, those serving in the booth and at the doors, and those whose work the room will never see.

Anchored in 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, read from the World English Bible. Before the Doors Open is a short Sunday morning sending for the whole worship team.

Paul puts injuries and necessities beside weaknesses, and then adds persecutions and distresses.

The words for Christ's sake identify the service Paul is describing. His account gives us room to examine costly responsibilities without treating every harmful situation or avoidable burden as something we must endure.

This episode asks what faithfulness looks like in what we carry, leaving room for endurance, help, repentance, and the strength Christ supplies.

Anchored in 2 Corinthians 12:10, read from the World English Bible. Part of What You Carry on Formation to Transformation.

Paul has spent part of this letter describing what people find unimpressive about him.

Now he tells the Corinthians about a painful weakness and the grace Christ has given him. He will glory in his weaknesses so the power of Christ may rest on him.

This episode considers truthful responsibility in the people we serve. We can prepare carefully, keep our promises, and admit where we need help without disclosing every private detail.

Anchored in 2 Corinthians 12:9b, read from the World English Bible. Part of What You Carry on Formation to Transformation.

I would love for that sentence to come after Paul tells us the thorn is gone.

Christ answers Paul's request with grace: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Paul is still someone who needs help, and Christ addresses him there.

This episode considers how we receive that promise and carry it carefully to someone else. Asking for help does not put us outside Christ's care.

Anchored in 2 Corinthians 12:9a, read from the World English Bible. Part of What You Carry on Formation to Transformation.

Sometimes the hardest part of asking again is remembering how sure you were the last time you asked.

Paul begged the Lord three times that the thorn might depart from him. His account gives repeated prayer its place without making three requests a formula or a promise of removal.

This episode makes room for the request we are tired of repeating, for practical help alongside prayer, and for receiving someone whose news has not improved.

Anchored in 2 Corinthians 12:8, read from the World English Bible. Part of What You Carry on Formation to Transformation.

He could tell a story that makes him look extraordinary. He tells us there is something tormenting him.

In 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul describes a thorn in the flesh without telling us exactly what it was. This episode leaves the thorn unnamed and considers how we care for people whose suffering we cannot explain.

We can sit beside a person without solving the reason they're hurting. We can ask for help and bring our questions to Christ.

Anchored in 2 Corinthians 12:7, read from the World English Bible. Part of What You Carry on Formation to Transformation.

Each of you has received a gift. Use it to serve one another as good managers of the grace of God. Peter writes that right after telling the churches to love one another earnestly and to be hospitable without grumbling.

This short Sunday sending reads 1 Peter 4:10-11 and speaks a blessing over the platform and the booth together, whoever speaks and whoever serves, with the aim Peter names: that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Anchored in 1 Peter 4:10-11.

Before the Doors Open is a short Sunday morning sending for the whole worship team.

Eldad and Medad were registered elders, but they never walked out to the Tent. The Spirit rested on them anyway, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man runs to tell Moses, and Joshua asks him to forbid them.

This episode reads Moses's answer, are you jealous for my sake, and his wish that all the Lord's people were prophets. It keeps the facts straight about who these two men were, holds onto discernment and different gifts, and asks who in your house, workplace, or team you might be tempted to stop. Includes a short story about finding a place for new musicians early in ministry.

Anchored in Numbers 11:26-29. Part of What You Carry, a Formation to Transformation series through Numbers 11.

The Lord answers Moses. Gather seventy elders you already know, bring them to the Tent, and I will take of the Spirit on you and put it on them, so you do not bear this alone.

This episode reads both halves of that answer, names the verses in between about meat and judgment, and looks at what the Lord actually does: recognized people standing with Moses, the Lord coming down himself, and his Spirit resting on more people. For anyone carrying a house, a job, or a ministry by themselves.

Anchored in Numbers 11:16-17 and 24-25. Part of What You Carry, a Formation to Transformation series through Numbers 11.