How to Read the Bible, Worship, and Pray

“Please show me your glory.”

Exodus 33:18

This is how people pray when they see that lasting change begins with knowing God.

Think about the difference between Job and Esau: Esau wanted to change, but he couldn’t because he was far from God. Job changed because in all his pain he just kept on seeking after God.

The way you see the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ: God “has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). Job had a theophany when God spoke to him. You have the Incarnation—when the Son of God took on human flesh.

• Look at Jesus Christ in His compassion—embracing children, weeping with a family at the grave, touching a leper.
• Look at Jesus in His authority—confronting those who abused power in His temple, casting out demons from a distraught man, giving the Holy Spirit to His disciples.
• Look at Jesus in His greatest work—dying on the cross for your sins, rising for your everlasting life, and ascending into heaven to represent you before the Father.

This is your God! What is there about Him that you cannot trust? What is there in Him that you cannot love? Come to worship in that spirit… Please show me your glory! Read the Bible in this spirit… Help me to see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

If this becomes the pattern of your prayer, it will soon permeate your thinking and your conversations. God’s glory will begin to captivate your mind and your heart, and you will change. You will find yourself on the hidden path to a transformed life.

Have you ever prayed like this?