Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

Wow, I remember reading these verses and for the first time it clicking for me in a whole new way.

God just said to his people, when I act among you, it's not for your sake ultimately that I'm doing this.

It's what he says, God, to his people, it is not for your sake that I'm about to act.

Well, if it's not for their sake, for whose sake is it?

He says, I'm about to act for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.

I'm going to vindicate the holiness of my, not just name, my great name, which has been profaned among the nations.

And the nations are going to know, I am the Lord. Do you hear this?

This is God saying to his people, when I work in your midst, when I act, I do so ultimately for the sake of my holy name among all the nations.

This changes the way we understand our lives and God's work and our lives and God's work in the world to realize that what God does, everything God does ultimately is for the sake,

for the glory, for the exaltation of his own name, his own great name.

God is God-centered. God does what he does to exalt himself and if that rubs us wrong, we'll just ask the follow-question, who else would you rather him exalt?

You means this one? That thing? No. At whatever point God were to exalt someone or something else, he no longer be the God who is worthy of all exaltation.

There's nobody else to exalt. He's God. Of course, he exalts God.

The beauty is, this is what we see if you keep reading in Ezekiel chapter 36, how does God exalt himself, God exalts himself by sending his son as a substitute sacrifice for sinners so that we can be forgiven of our sin, have clean water sprinkled on our hearts, be cleansed from our uncleannesses, and be given a new heart, a new spirit, and restored a relationship with God.

This is the gospel. You and I can be saved from our sins. You and I can be reconciled to relationship with God to give him glory for all of eternity.

Yes, sign me up. This is Christianity. This is the gospel. God acts for our salvation for his own names, sake, among the nations.

So live like that. Live like the purpose of your life is to make the glory of the great name of your God known among all the nations. This is what we're made for.

So we pray, God, help us to live the Christian life that you've designed us to live the life in Christ, save from our sins, cleansed from all our uncleannesses.

You're a spirit in us, a new heart in relationship with you. You have to help us to love you with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind and all our strength and to live for the glory of your great name among all the nations.

Just like you taught us to pray, Jesus, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name in all the earth, cause your name, Lord God, cause your name, Jesus, to be made known as Holy.

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