Who is God, who are we, what has He done for us, and what then should we do for Him?

Welcome Message It's so wonderful to be back here with you today. How many months has it been since you've been able to gather together like this? Too many for sure. My scripture today will be in Isaiah Chapter 6 so you can turn there now. Isaiah chapter 6 starting in verse 1. Now if you are anything like me, over the last several months, you have been struck with how horrible things have gotten in the world. I know I've not been around as long as some of you - and that is not me saying you are old, but me saying that I am young and inexperienced, so I know I am young, but this really is the worst year I can ever remember. Honestly, there have been times where I have felt hopeless and even sometimes angry that God has not intervened in a more powerful way to right the rampant wrongs we are seeing across our land and world. Also the strain and division that has been caused by the presidential election has been also very disheartening. In fact, over the last several days, I wrestled with what I was going to preach on this morning. I preached a couple of weeks ago about being a good citizen and voting and how Christians should look at the world and then how that should inform our decisions in the voting booth. I thought, maybe I could do something like that again - I even debated re-preaching my same sermon. But it didn't feel right to me. I was thinking and praying about everything and about you all and how this is your first Sunday back and I thought what better way to celebrate returning to gathering as a church and what better way to smash through the depression of our times than to preach on the character of God himself? Can't we always use a reminder of who God is? Especially in times such as these? Charles Spurgeon when he was 20 years old, began a sermon on the unchangeableness or "immutability" of God with the following: "The proper study of God's elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father. There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.” But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.” No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God.... But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe.... The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity. And, while humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning." Excerpted from “The Immutability of God,” A sermon by Charles H. Spurgeon at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark. J. I. Packer quotes from this message in Knowing God. With those incredible words, let me pray. Prayer Father - you are good - even when the world seems to be crumbling, you are good. Grateful Wisdom Prepare my heart and their hearts to receive the TREASURE of your word! Scripture Isaiah 6 1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” This is the word of the Lord. Purpose of the message (What's the Big Idea) I absolutely LOVE this passage of scripture. I love the incredible although brief way it describes this scene with the prophet Isaiah. I've titled my message today: Who is God, who are we, what has He done for us, and what then should we do for Him? If you want, you can write that down: Who is God, who are we, what has He done for us, and what then should we do for Him? I know that is a pretty long sermon title, but I've started using these longer titles to serve a couple of purposes, one, to help you remember what I preached about today, and also it will serve as an outline for my message today. So if someone asks you after service today what I preached on, you can say: "Who is God, who are we, what has He done for us, and what then should we do for Him?" Before we dive into the text, let me set the stage a bit here: The book of Isaiah derives its title from the author, whose name means “The LORD is salvation,” and is similar to the names Joshua, Elisha, and Jesus. Isaiah is quoted directly in the NT over 65 times, far more than any other OT prophet, and mentioned by name over 20 times. Isaiah, the son of Amoz, was a contemporary of Hosea and Micah, and he ministered in and around Jerusalem as a prophet to Judah during the reigns of 4 kings of Judah: Uzziah (called “Azariah” in 2 Kings), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (1:1), from ca. 739–686 B.C. During Uzziah’s prosperous 52 year reign (ca. 790–739 B.C.), Judah developed into a strong commercial and military state with a port for commerce on the Red Sea and the construction of walls, towers, and fortifications (2 Chr. 26:3–5, 8–10, 13–15). Yet the period witnessed a decline in Judah’s spiritual status. Uzziah’s downfall resulted from his attempt to assume the privileges of a priest and burn incense on the altar (2 Kin. 15:3, 4; 2 Chr. 26:16–19). He was judged with leprosy, from which he never recovered (2 Kin. 15:5; 2 Chr 26:20, 21). This is where we begin in our text, with the death of king Uzziah. 1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke So this leads to first question: Who is God? Like the incredible words of C. H. Spurgeon all those years ago, thinking about answering this question is in itself overwhelming. Isaiah gives us a glimpse of the awesome majesty of God - High and Exalted - the image of God being far above us both in relation physically but also in His very nature. Tim Keller describes this image of God in this way: "You’re so overwhelmed with his perfection and his purity you realize you cannot trifle with him, you cannot argue with him, you cannot complain to him, you cannot beat him, you cannot avoid him, you cannot ignore him, and you cannot question him. All of those things are things we do naturally until you see the holiness of God. The holiness of God is his superlativeness, his above aboveness and his beyond beyondness. Another way to put it is his threatening superlativeness." Seated on a throne - meaning that God is sovereign and he reigns over all. Psalm 97 describes this aspect of God in this way: 1The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! 2Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. 4His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. 5The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. 6The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. 7All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! 8Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O LORD. 9For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. 10O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 11Light is sowna for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. 12Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name! Train of his robe filled the temple - The smallest part of God's robe was large enough to fill the entire temple. This image informs us about God's unfathomable size, the technical word is "omni-present" meaning that he is "all places" or "everywhere" There is no place that God is not. 7Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139 The Seraphim flying around Him describe Him as holy, holy, holy, and that the earth is filled with His glory. John Piper describes the glory of God from this passage as: “The glory of God is the manifest beauty of his holiness. It is the going-public of his holiness.” So, essentially, we can understand the holiness of God by looking to the creation. In the same way we can learn about an artist by studying their art, so too we can learn about God by studying what he has made. 1The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge.[a] 3 There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard. 4 Their message[b] has gone out to the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun. 5 It is like a bridegroom coming from his home; it rejoices like an athlete running a course. 6 It rises from one end of the heavens and circles to their other end; nothing is hidden from its heat. Psalm 9:1-6 Now, I am a bit of Trekkie. If you don't know what that is, that's probably good, because then you would be a little nerdy like me. Anyway, a Trekkie is a fan of the show Star Trek. When I was a kid I dreamed of being in Starfleet and travelling through space - the final frontier. I loved learning about Space and even though I don't watch Star Trek anymore, I am still blown away at the awesome scale of outer space. Let's look at our solar system. Now our solar system is massive so to make this illustration a little more understandable, let's pretend that our solar system is the size of a football field. On this scale, the Sun, by far the largest thing in our solar system, is only a ball about two-thirds of an inch (17 millimeters) in diameter sitting on the goal line — that's about the width of a U.S. dime coin. The inner planets — Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars — are about the size of grains of sand on a football field scale. They would be dwarfed by a typical flea, which is about 3 millimeters long. Closest to the goal line is Mercury, just under a yard from the end zone (.8 yards to be specific). In reality, the average distance from the Sun to Mercury is roughly 35 million miles (58 million kilometers) or 0.4 AU. At this scale, Mercury's diameter would be scarcely as large as the point of a needle. Venus is next. It is 1.4 yards from the end zone. The true average distance from the Sun to Venus is about 67 million miles (108 million kilometers) or 0.7 AU. Its size on this scale is about 0.15 millimeters. On to Earth, sitting pretty on the 2-yard line. It is slightly larger than Venus at about 0.16 millimeters. The earth on average is around 93 million miles from the sun. That means that it takes the light from the sun almost 10 minutes to reach the earth. Even at that incredible distance, We are at the perfect distance from the Sun for life to flourish. That tells you how incredibly powerful the sun is. Venus is too hot. Mars is too cold. Scientists sometimes call our region of space the "Goldilocks Zone" because it appears to be just right for life. Tiny pluto - the last planet in our solar system is 79 yards away from the goal line or at real life scale, 3.7 billion with a B miles from the sun. That is just our tiny little solar system. Our galaxy is 52,850 light years in diameter. That means it would take a beam of light 52,850 years to travel the width of our solar system. Remember it only took sunlight 10 minutes to get to earth from the sun. If you really want to geek out with me, there are an estimated 2 TRILLION galaxies in the known universe. Try to wrap your head around that. So that gives you some idea about how incredibly VAST the universe is and therefore by extension, how much MORE vast is the one who simply said "let there be" and it was? Sir Isaac Newton describes the incredible design of our solar system: “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being...This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of his dominion he is wont, to be called Lord God παντοκρατωρ or Universal Ruler.” ― Isaac Newton, The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy But this Lord who speaks such inconceivable wonder into existence is not some disconnected or far away God: 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,[c] 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’;[d] as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’[e] Acts 17:24-28 So even though He is higher than we can ever fully know, God is still close to us and calls us His children. So the first question from today was Who is God? And now we go into our second question, Who are We? 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” We are sinners and are unworthy to be in the presence of God. X2 In my opinion a lack of understanding of the inherent evil or depravity of mankind is one of the leading causes for people to misunderstand the gospel message. I've been reading a biography of Johnathan Edwards and in it, the biographer describes how seriously the Puritan preachers of the time took true conversion. Timothy Edwards, Johnathan's father had a three step process: The second and apparently most important to Timothy was that "potential converts not only had to recognize their guilt deserving eternal flames, but be "truly humbled" by a total sense of their unworthiness" So this goes beyond simply understanding your guiltiness, but also accepting that even the "good things" you do are not good enough. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest issues the church in the Bible Belt south faces, everyone around here seems to think that they are Christians because they have gone to church their whole lives and have been baptized. Very few seem to truly understand their sin and unworthiness. Corrie and I lead a youth group at my church and a couple of weeks ago, we were studying through the book of Malachi. As you read through the book of Malachi (as with many of the prophetic books) the sins of Israel are recounted. It's really easy to look at the people of Israel and scoff at them and say "what wicked people" but Corrie says something to the kids all the time - that when we are reading the word of God we should use it as a mirror to reflect our own sin. She takes this from James 1:23-24 "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like." We don't have time to read the entire book of Malachi, So I'll just describe what God was saying to the Israelites in Malachi and use that as a mirror for ourselves: They were offering blemished offerings to God in violation of the law - don't we do this all the time? Don't we give God the leftovers of our time, talents, and treasure? Instead of giving him the first fruits and the best we have to offer? They were scoffing at God for calling them out for it - Isn't that so often our first response? Don't we get indignant when we are convicted of sin or confronted with a hard truth in scripture? Don't we allow our emotions to control how we respond to God's truth rather than humbly submitting to Him? The priests were leading people astray - this applies to all of us today doesn't it? Aren't we a holy priesthood and a chosen people? 1 Peter 2:9? So, Christian, who are you discipling? Are you reaching out to people who are different than you and trying to build relationships that lead to gospel conversations? Then they cried when God refused to accept their offerings because of rampant divorce - W. Bradford Wilcox, a leading sociologist at the University of Virginia and director of the National Marriage Project, finds that Nominally attending conservative Protestants are 20 percent more likely to divorce, compared to secular Americans. So your average Bible Belt Christian who claims to be a Christian but is totally disengaged from the life of the church is MORE likely to divorce than secular Americans. They blamed God for the evil in their communities (even though it was their fault) - when you heard me read the statisics above, what was your gut reaction? Did you jump to judge society or hollywood for the moral decay? The same study I reference above found that “active conservative Protestants” who regularly attend church are 35 percent less likely to divorce compared to those who have no affiliation. So I ask again Christian, who are you discipling? It's easy to blame others for the depravity of our society, but all we need to do is look in the mirror. They did not honor the tithe - I know tithing is a super touchy subject in America because of the infamous abuses by wicked men claiming to be Christians, however, this does not change the fact that God has asked us to give back to him 10% of what he has given us. Remember God is allowing us to keep 90% of the money he has entrusted us with. Maybe if we start looking at it that way, we won't be so touchy about tithing. Then they blame God for them not receiving blessing - isn't this just like us as humans? We, just like the Israelites, give God our leftovers if we give Him anything at all, fail to follow his commands, then whine and complain when God doesn't bless us! And this is just from the book of Malachi. I'm convinvced that some of the reason the Old Testament is so long and seems to repeat the same points over is because God is trying to show some things: His steadfast love and incredible patience with his people That we have NO Excuse for not understanding that we are totally depraved and apart from him we can do nothing John 15:5. So the first question from today was Who is God? Our second question was Who are We? And now we go into our third question, What has He done for us? 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” This is "gospel" this is the good news. The holiness of God makes grace real. I think I've shared with you before about the day that my need for God became real and the grace of God became real to me as well. I'll never forget how in that moment, being accused of crimes I had not committed, and confronted with the seeming insurmountable challenge of proving my innocence, I realized that I did not have the power in myself to do anything to save myself, I needed help. In that moment all of my sins, were brought to my mind and I felt truly humbled and unworthy of the Grace of God. This scripture passage has always resonated with me, because I remember feeling in that moment as though I was literally throwing myself before the feet of God and like Isaiah feeling "undone" or totally destroyed. But then, that is when God reached down to me like a father, and lifted me up. I didn't have to be afraid, and I didn't have to lie on the floor. God took me, unconditionally, I had done nothing to earn it, I had not chosen him, he chose me and cleansed me. This is another reason I believe it is so critical that we study the Old Testament. We have to understand how bad we are, how large is our debt to understand the price that has been paid. Imagine someone tells you that they have paid one of your bills without telling you which one. They could have paid your water bill. That would be nice and you should be grateful for that. But what if someone came to you and said - "I've paid off your mortgage" WOW! Until you know the actual amount of the debt, you don’t know how joyful to be. The size of the debt actually determines the magnitude of the joy. So what is the debt that we owe? Colossians 1:15-23 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by[f] him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation[g] under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. and Phil 2:5-8 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,[b] 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[c] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. So this God, the High and Exalted One, the one enthroned between the Cherubim, the one who speaks creation into existence, the one who holds all things together, the almighty God, gave his own son to die so we don't have to. Wow if that doesn't cut you to your core, then I'm not sure what will my friends Application Which leads to that last part of my message today, we discussed Who God is, who we are, what He has done for us, so, what then should we do for Him? 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Here we see Isaiah has just gone through an incredible experience where he has come face to face with the holiness of God that showed him his own unworthiness and brought him to his knees and then God lifts him up and cleanses him. How does he respond when God asks for someone to go? Isaiah jumps up and says "send me!" Remember that this isn't going to be an easy job for Isaiah, God says, “I have a job for a prophet. I need a prophet to go to a group of people who will never, ever listen to him. I need a prophet to go and spend the next 30 years preaching to people who will only despise and only ridicule him. I need a prophet who will go and take a job that will mean the rest of your life you’ll be perceived as a professional failure. Your life will continually be in danger. You’ll receive no support or affirmation of any sort. But this doesn't matter to Isaiah because he has fully grasped the size of the debt that he owes to God. He knows that he can never pay it back, but he is willing to live the rest of his life in humble sacrifice to God. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever would save his lifeg will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Matthew 16:24-26 Are you ready to do the same? Are you ready to take up your cross? If so, then I have two things you can do. Make Disciples 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[b] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt 28:18-20 How do we make disciples? I think there is a big gap in the American church in that we have no idea what it means to "make disciples". To most who claim Christianity in America, that is the pastor's job. But Jesus is very clear in what is rightfully called "The Great Commission" that it is ALL of our jobs. Now there are tons of different resources out there that you can read, but I suggest that this is not that complicated. To make disciples, first of all, you need to be a disciple. You can't give what you don't have that’s a given. Then, find people who are lost, build relationships with them, share the gospel with them, and then if they become Christians, then you walk them through what this book teaches. If you don't know the answer to a question someone asks - so what? Find your pastor and ask him, he can help - that’s part of what he is here for! So the first way we can respond to God's grace to us, is to Make Disciples, the second way is: Seek The Welfare of Your City "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." Jer 29:7 How do we seek the welfare of our city? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,[b] and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8 And Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27 There is an unfortunate division in the church today between groups who overemphasize the church's role in affecting social change or "loving people" at the expense of preaching God's word, and who downplay the church's role in society saying that all the church should do is preach the gospel. This sort of "either or" mentality is very unfortunate - when we can clearly see from God's word that God expects us to do "both and". We must be continually discipling people and being discipled ourselves, AND we must be informed and engaged in those issues that are destroying lives and dishonoring to God. I would be remiss if I didn't mention seeking the welfare of our cities within the context of the upcoming elections. As Christians, seeking the welfare of our city doesn't just stop with our own personal actions, we have a responsibility to understand the issues that are facing our cities, and our nation, understand what God has said about those issues in His word, and then vote with our well informed, scripture saturated consciences. David Platt has written a fantastic book on some of the major issues facing the world today and how Christians can respond to those issues biblically. The book is called Counter Culture and I would highly recommend you checking it out. Particularly in light of the coming election. Finally, I'd like to end where I started. I know that it can be very depressing looking around the world today. It is right and good that we lament the misery that seems to be spreading across our land. But we can take heart in knowing that one day all things will be made right. Rev 11:15-19 15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. 18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” 19 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings,[c] peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. Praise God that His eternal kingdom is coming and there will be no more war, no more injustice, no more sin, just peace and love in His presence forevermore! Prayer