To the Praise of His Glorious Grace

I am so thankful for the amazing learning experience that this class was for me!  More than anything else, I have been stretched to see God with a greater awe and deeper love!  I started thinking about this earlier in the fall when Pastor David Epstein preached a sermon about holy awe.  I remember him saying, "If you do not have a holy awe and reverence for God, how can you expect to make an impact in ministry?"  And this really hit me hard!  As I continued to think about it (especially in our class), I realized that my life was not centered around a deep desire to serve God in everything.  This led me to prayer... and though I am still not where I need to be, I have definitely grown this semester!  My prayer is that I will continue to desire to serve God more and more in the future, and the best part is... I know this is possible with God!  The more we sanctify God's name, the more joy it will bring to our hearts!  And the more there is joy, the more we shall yearn to glorify God!

Ephesians 1:3–14 (ESV) 

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 

¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.