How excellent is Thy loving kindness O Lord! Thank You for the breaking of another new day in Your presence in the land of the living. You are God and You liveth forever more. Gracious God, we thank You. Blessed be Thou Name.
Beloved, the psalmist said “I was glad when they said, let us go to the house the Lord” Will you say same today in midst of all social chores calling for your attention? Will you prefer to have a chat with the Lord than being in the clamour parties round the town? Will you prefer to pick up your bible and search through for new inspiration by the Holy Spirit than rather sitting down and be glued in front of television, checking out all the station or unprofitable sites in the net, alike. (1 Jn 1:3)
As good as all these things are, are you feeding your spirit man as much as you do to your flesh? The book of life which is the bible, the Living Word of God told us expressly the danger of living outside the word of God. You will be empty and will not be able to withstand the evil days.
When the enemy comes throwing fiery dart at you, you will not have any Word of life to withstand it. We often times claim that we have no time. Time is a scare commodity and must be apply wisely or else you will not achieve so much as we plan to. If you claim that you have no time to be with your Maker either in quite time, prayers or evangelizing, remember that the owner of the time can come at anything and make demand on you. What will you say then dear beloved? Let it not be said of you that all you were chasing all through your life is a passing shadows with no eternal values. You have stored nothing in heaven (Matt 6:20; Lk 12:33) God forbids.
Most of us can afford to be on queue waiting to see an acclaimed specialist doctor and cannot afford to spend a half of such time with their Manufacturer, Who have the manual of your body system in His palm to receive healing (1Pet 2:24), Do you not know that riches profit nothing in day of wrath (Prov 24:10).
Do you notice what happens when a popular football team has a match, especially on Sunday morning. Go to most acclaimed living churches, attendance will drop. In some cases, the pastors are also guilty, they rush through the services so as to also be part of it, the service will be devoid of the move of the Spirit of God. What a shame!
I wrote yesterday that the devil is smart but it will take a child of God who is Spirit filled to discern the antics of the devil. Have you giving a thought to it what if suddenly when you doing something wrong the Lord appears or the rapture takes place.
I am not anti-social but we must set our priorities right. We must live with the consciousness that Christ is coming back, when? not even Christ Himself knows except God (Mk 13:32-33).
How do we then overcome this malady that is eating away the fabric of our spiritual life. Come with me as we consider the following messages and seek the way out.
Overcoming Spiritual Dryness In Our Daily Life With God
Last night a high-energy buddy of mine who lives on airplanes and thrives on the high voltage culture of the corporate world confided in me of his long-standing sense of spiritual dryness.
Following are a few simple suggestions I made to him for overcoming dry Quiet Times:
- In approaching God, it is important to slow down, relax, and give Him adequate time to break through to the core of our encrusted, pressurized souls. God simply will not be rushed!
- In our time with God, be sure our focus is not primarily on gleaning truth from the Scriptures, but on experiencing intimacy and fellowship with Jesus. Christ cautioned the Pharisees:
- “You diligently study the Scriptures… yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.“
- Prayerful meditation over a relatively small portion of Scripture usually proves more meaningful than attempting to cover a larger portion. Scheduled readings can have a stultifying effect on us.
- Keep in mind that meditation involves visualization and application.
In focusing on Psalm 23:1, for example, our prayerful meditation might go something like this:
“THE LORD is my SHEPHERD, I shall not be in WANT”
“O God, I pray that you are THE Shepherd of my life… I belong to you alone.“
“O Father, I surrender to your LORDship: My finances, career… everything.“
“Lord, because You are my SHEPHERD, I know I shall never be in WANT.“
- Strike a balance between intercession and worship. While petition is important, we need also to understand that (1) God seeks our worship, and (2) worship touches at the core of our need for intimate communion with Him. Using worshipful music tapes and a hymnal can prove helpful.
“True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” (John 4:23)
- Keep in mind that Christ went to the Cross so that we could enjoy intimacy with Him:
“God… has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.“
What a shame it would be to miss a life of intimacy with our Savior this side of eternity! (Adapted from FOTM)
What will be your excuse for that? May God help us that the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh and pride of life will not lead us astray in Jesus Name. Amen. (1 Jn 2: 16)
We also have one of the faithful generals who did not only take a resolution to worship and serve God in the confines of his house but who rather declared it opening before the whole congregation that he and his household will serve the Lord. Beloved, in spite of the idolatrous living of the people round him, he stood for the Lord.
Come as we consider the life of Joshua a man who also enjoined God’s favour (Ps 30:5).
“But if it doesn’t please you to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.”—Joshua 24:15
Serving God was not Joshua’s only option. He could have adopted the religious beliefs and practices of his family heritage in the pagan land of Egypt. He could have accepted the idolatrous religion of his neighbors in the region where he now lived. These options probably looked like easier choices than worshiping God. But Joshua had witnessed God’s faithfulness (Josh. 23:14). He was convinced that his Lord was the only true God and that serving Him would bring victory and blessing.
Joshua decided to serve God alone. He was determined to teach his entire household to honor his Lord as well. He had trusted God for victory on the battlefield, and he knew that God could also give him spiritual victory in his home.
You, too, must decide whom you will serve. An assortment of popular religions clamors for your allegiance. If you come from a Christian heritage, you may choose to embrace the faith of your parents and grandparents. If you did not grow up in a Christian home, you can decide, as Joshua did, to reject your heritage of unbelief and begin a generation that serves the Lord.
If you set your mind wholeheartedly on serving God, your example will bring a tremendous blessing to your family. If you place your confidence in God, those around you will witness your faith, and they may decide to trust Him too. Choose, as Joshua did, to serve God unashamedly with all your heart, and then watch to see how God blesses your family.
Is someone who is taking such a decision to serve the Lord unashamedly? It is gainful to serve the Lord and I think is shameful to shy away from something that is gainful. As we pray today, may we ask God to help our prayer life, to help us to serve Him as He deserved. We may not all be pastors behind the pulpit but we are call to contribute our quota in the body of Christ to make it work.
Those we are fondly remembering today yielded themselves to be use of God, the woman we read her story on Monday’s devotional did not do anything specular but her act of giving endeared her to Jesus who declared that this her act will be forever remember in ages to come.
What will you be remembered for when your time is up. Pray for souls into the kingdom, I hope you still have your prayer list containing the names of those that must be blessed by the Lord, who knows the Lord will remember you for soul winning.
Finally beloved, give heed to this wise saying “pray continual” (Col 4:2).
Remain blessed in the Lord.
