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Daily Devotions with Dr. Josh Taylor

Make Your Face Shine on Your Servant

Published 7 days ago • 1 min read

​Make Your Face Shine on Your Servant​

Josh Taylor

Published on September 13, 2026

At Mt. Carmel we open worship by praying a psalm back to God, and what follows is that prayer as it was prayed aloud. Each prayer is written from the psalm alongside Spurgeon’s Treasury of David and Augustine’s Expositions of the Psalms. This one is from Psalm 119:129-136, the stanza that asks for steady steps and a face turned toward us.

Most holy and gracious God, eternal Father, author of every wonderful word.

Psalm 119:129-131 (CSB)
Your decrees are wondrous; therefore I obey them. The revelation of your words brings light and gives understanding to the inexperienced. I open my mouth and pant because I long for your commands.

Such wonders we would not merely admire, but long to keep with our souls. Send forth Your word and give us light, for we are inexperienced and in the dark. Make us like children panting for Your commands.

Psalm 119:132-135 (CSB)
Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your practice toward those who love your name. Make my steps steady through your promise; don’t let any sin dominate me. Redeem me from human oppression, and I will keep your precepts. Make your face shine on your servant, and teach me your statutes.

Lord, You loved us first, and so we love You. Pour out Your Spirit. Steady our steps through Your promise, and let no sin reign in us. Redeem us from oppression as Your freed servants, that we may keep Your precepts.

Psalm 119:136 (CSB)
My eyes pour out streams of tears because people do not follow your instruction.

Give us a love that weeps when Your name is dishonored, rivers from our eyes for the lost who have not kept Your law, as our Lord wept over the city He came to save. Conform us wholly until no iniquity remains. We pray this in the name of Jesus, the wonderful word and the true light. Amen.

The post Make Your Face Shine on Your Servant first appeared on Preach Well.

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Josh Taylor is an ordained minister and pastors Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Demorest, Georgia. He holds degrees in pastoral ministry from Toccoa Falls College and in Christian apologetics from Biola University, and a DMin in biblical preaching from Anderson University in South Carolina. He is married to Mandy, and they have two kids: Scottlynn and Haddon.

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Daily Devotions with Dr. Josh Taylor

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Josh Taylor is the Senior Pastor of Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Demorest, GA, and an author with degrees from Toccoa Falls College (B.A. in Pastoral Ministry), Biola University (M.A. in Christian Apologetics), and Anderson University (D.Min. in Biblical Preaching). He has published A Preach Well Church: How Churches Can Stop Burning Out Pastors (Wipf & Stock) and Mercy Mild. At PreachWell.com, Josh writes on Scripture, Christian living, and church health.

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