Every time we gather for divine service, we express our ­desire and resolve to be with Christ.

We all experience different things during the week. But on Sunday we come together for divine service to profess, “I want to be with Jesus.”
This is what we tell ourselves, what we tell others, and what we tell the ­devil. We also testify and profess that we belong to Christ and want to model our lives on His. Many things can ­happen during the week, and the devil wants to use them to create distance between us and God. But then we come ­together for a divine service to demonstrate clearly, “No, we are always looking to be close to Him. You can do whatever you want. You will not divide us. We want to be together in Christ and enter the kingdom of God together.”

And every time God sees our desire and determination that we seek this closeness, that we want to be with Christ, He grants us a special blessing. He grants us His peace and strength.