All in Daily Devotion
It is one thing to know what a life of prayer is, but something altogether different to actually live one. Being called to prayer and answering that call are two entirely separate things. Every Christian receives the call to prayer, but so many cripple themselves by either refusing that call, or not knowing how to answer it. Are you fully engaged in a life of prayer, or limping into it without understanding what it actually is, or involves?
God hears our prayers; He gives each of them audience and provides us with all those things we have prayed within His will. The question for us who pray is this... “Do I have confidence that God hears me as I pray and that He will answer me?” Confidence in the Word of God is of the utmost importance to he who prays. Put more simply, we must trust in the fact that God will do what His Word said He would do.
Are you satisfied with the state of your spiritual life? Does living water pour from you as Jesus said it would, or do you pray for it, and feel like your words are drawing nothing out of you? If this is true of where you are in faith, then do not be disappointed, and have patience as you divine the water that is within you.
Have you surrendered completely to God? Is everything you are, and everything you have His? So often we say these words, but when it comes time to turn those things over to Him we renege, or have second thoughts. We promise the Lord that He is first in our lives and that everything in our life is His; yet at the first sign of true sacrifice, or at His first request of us we falter. Our Father doesn’t need our possessions... He just desires that we not need them more than we need Him.
How often we view the strife and tumult of daily life as an encumbrance to our abiding in Jesus Christ, in God, but that should not be so. In the vineyard the wind blows, the leaves rustle loud, and the sound of the storm grows intense, but at the root, the vine never moves, and the nourishment continues unabated. Every storm provides rain that is drawn into us as strength from the wet ground, and what appears as a raging flood becomes the watering can of our faith.
There are times in our lives when we are self-assured and as we study the scripture we say to ourselves “Ah Ha! This is the truth, and I will base my faith on it!” but who are we to be so arrogant? Who are we to interpret scripture without the direction of He whose hand guided the pen? Yet, this is what we are inclined to do, and we build the castles of our faith out of sand on shores strewn with stone... we silence those into whose hand God has placed stone, and cover our ears.
How do you behave at home? I am not talking simply about your physical home on earth, but your spiritual home in heaven. We concentrate a great deal on what a good Father God is, but what kind of daughter or son are you? Do you love Him with all your heart? Do you serve Him and do His will? Do you honor Him, or do you expect Him to honor your prayers and requests without reciprocation? Do you feel that He is obligated to provide all your desires while you do nothing? Are you a spoiled child?
One of the questions that I am asked all of the time is about the Holy Spirit. Everyday Christian believers ask me this because they desire to know about who He is, and what He means to them and their faith, and many Pastors ask to determine what side of the fence I am on. Like Jesus He fascinates and enthralls us, brings us to a place where we feel the coolness of the inhale, and the warmth of the exhale as God Himself breathes, and yes, He scares us, and that fear often separates us from one another.
Are you suffering through something today and as a child of God find yourself wondering if it is because you have failed God in some way? Do you find yourself asking Him why He would allow you to feel such pain, humiliation, illness, deformity, grief, mourning, or other unpleasant form of distress? Well there is a mystery and a revelation in our suffering that brings us where happiness can’t, in it we find the reflection of Christ, and we find holiness.
If you recall the parable of the prodigal Son it is easy to forget that there were two sons, the one who squandered his inheritance and yet was welcomed home, and the son who remained steadfastly at his father’s side. Which one of these best describes you? The prodigal son gives us hope in our Father’s love when we are lost, or are frivolous with our faith, but the dependable son never lost his inheritance and never left his father’s side. Who would you rather be? Who would the prodigal son have wanted to be as he travelled the road home?
Our prayers don’t just fade from the memory of God, they have substance, and can be held in the hand, placed in a bowl, and offered up with incense to Jesus, and God. Have you ever thought of that simple prayer you spoke as being worthy of saving? How about the ones you prayed in anger, or heartbreak, remorse, praise, or Thanksgiving? They are all borne in the hands of angels before the throne of God, and He values each one... they are your life, and they are the heart of your relationship with Him.
Where do you spend your time each day? Do you waste it on frivolous pursuits, or in prayer? Do you read magazines about worldly subjects, or the Bible and other spiritually uplifting material? Do you seek out those places God wills you to visit, or do you wile away your time in ungodly places for no good purpose? How we apportion our time, the activities we pursue, and places we frequent, determines how our faith will grow, and the fruit it will bear. Do we waste our treasure of time, or spend it wisely?
There are many who study the Bible, and upon reading of the healings and other miracles come to the conclusion that those days must have been the “times of miracles”, and convince themselves that we are not living in such times today. Friends, there is no biblical foundation for such thought, as a matter of fact Jesus taught by using miracles, just as we see in the Old Testament, and He teaches us that we too will perform and receive miracles today.
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t recognize myself to be a sinner. If this is not a humbling realization then I am not in the presence of God, and Jesus. Are you conscious of your sinful nature as well? Do you too work daily to live a life free of sin only to pray repetitively for forgiveness? Then like millions before us you are on the road to perfection.