Spending Time With God – Day 2
The Two Most Important Requirements for Overcoming an Unhealthy Fear Based Life
Parts of this devotion are excerpt from a booklet called Spending Time With God, written by Pastor Danny Hodges. I have also added my own comments. Enjoy!
A Sincere Prayer
To get to know God, you must have a desire to know Him. That begins with a sincere prayer, "Lord, I want to know You." Moses prayed to the Lord in Exodus 33:13, "If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so that I may know you..." (NIV) You began a relationship with God by saying a simple prayer. God saved you and became your heavenly Father, and you became His child. But that relationship must deepen.
It's easy to have a very shallow relationship with someone. You can know their name, age, and where they live, but not really know them. Fellowship is what deepens a relationship. You can't have fast fellowship. In a world of fast food and fast things, you must realize that you can't have fast fellowship with God. It won't happen. If you want to really get to know somebody, you've got to spend time with them. To really get to know God, you need to spend time with Him and ask Him to teach you about Himself. It begins with a sincere prayer from your heart.
A Pure Heart
A pure heart is a cleansed heart. As a believer you've been forgiven by the grace of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His blood has cleansed you of all your sins, and God now sees you as pure and spotless. But a pure heart also means single-mindedness. The best example I've heard to illustrate this point is a particular brand of soap. I loved it as a kid. It's the soap that floats - IVORY SOAP. They say it's "99-44/100% Pure®". In other words, it has no added ingredients to make you smell better or sweat less. It's just plain soap. Now you can use Irish Spring or Imperial Leather to make you smell better. You can use Dial or Dove to keep your sweat in check. But Ivory is just pure soap with no added ingredients. The added ingredients aren't necessarily bad, but they do add to the soap.
Like Ivory Soap, a pure heart is one without other "added ingredients." It's a single-minded heart, a single-minded life. It means your number one ambition in life is the same as that of the Apostle Paul, who said in Philippians 3:8, "...I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ." And by the way, that's the definition of eternal life. Jesus said in John 17:3, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." Eternal life is not something you have to wait for until you get to heaven. You can experience it now TODAY. It's knowing the living God, and the Savior (Jesus), whom He has sent. As someone has wisely observed, knowing God on a personal basis is the privilege of all and the unceasing experience of but a few. WOW!
Father, thank you for the privilege of getting to know You. You already know us - backwards, forwards, and inside out. Now we have the privilege of knowing You. Help us today make this our life's number one ambition. Amen
Today's Promise
"Thou shalt cry, and he shall say here I Am." (Is 58:9b)
1. West Coast Prayerline - 712-451-6000. Access code 281432#. Meeting times daily@ 6am Mon – Sun and 9pm Mon – Fri. (Facilitated by Elder Michael Blue & Elder Wanda Flowers.)
2. East Coast Prayerline - 605-990-0700. Access code 503942#. Meeting times @ 6am and 9pm weekdays and 6:30am weekends. (Facilitated by Chris Brooks). You can also visit www.gracefam.org.
3. San Francisco Prayerline - 641 297 4600. Access code is 7792#. Meeting times daily @ 6:30am Mon – Sun (Facilitated by Sis. Grant and Elder Wanda Flowers)
4. CPR Prayerline - - 218 862 1000. Access
code is 996832#. Meeting times @ 9pm Sunday to Friday (Times are EST: Facilitated by Yvette Stoute.)
5. Urgent Prayer Request +0208 202 4863(London number) or text +7940443879
6. Emergency Prayer -1 888 820 8627 or visit www.pray4meinc.com .
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