God is Worthy of Our Affection and Devotion
There is nothing that compares to God. He is Holy. No earthly king comes close. Even the 24 elders of Revelation lay down their crowns before the throne. This is why the four living creatures in Revelation cry out day and night “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty”. If God is worthy of that, He is worthy of all the affection and devotion I have to offer.
Encountering God Through Devotional Prayer
My experience with devotional prayer began about five years ago when I began to participate in this kind of prayer at HoPE. I am also growing in devotional prayer in my private time with God.
I consider devotional prayer a call to listen to God speaking to me through the Scriptures and a call to respond to His words. Reading the Scriptures devotionally is hearing Jesus knock on the door of my heart and allowing Him to come in and have a heart to heart conversation with me.
Growing in the Fruit of the Spirit
A few years back around New Years, I was reflecting on my life and how I was doing. I was trying to figure out what my measure of success should be. As I pondered and prayed, I felt that God led me to look at the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22. As a “seasoned” Christian and leader who had been following God for years you would think that I would literally be dripping in the gloriously large and juicy fruit of the Spirit but as I really got honest with myself, I had to admit that the fruit in my life was more like shrivelled raisins!!
Being a Friend of the Bridegroom
“John calls himself “the friend of the bridegroom” in context to Jesus’ ministry increasing and thus his ministry is dissolving and about to become nothing; it is here that John’s joy is greatest. To be a friend of the bridegroom is to rejoice when Jesus may use other people more than ourselves, and yes even prefer it when Jesus choses to exalt others higher than ourselves.”
God’s Invitation to Partner with Him
One of the great truths about prayer is that God actually desires to partner with us through prayer. There are many ways in which God wants to move within the lives of people in the world and He invites us to join Him in seeing those things happen through the activity of prayer.
How Is Your Heart?
Seven years ago I had a couple experiences that lead me to a sobering encounter with God. In both situations, my heart reaction was the same. I was filled with feelings of extreme contempt, anger…maybe even hatred. It was uncomfortable and surprising to experience this as I had no reason to respond in this manner so I asked the Lord what it was that I was feeling. I felt the Lord say, “This is an evil that has been released on the Earth. It is full of haughty pride and will cause polarization and much division. I felt that it was a warning for me to guard my heart.
Choosing Faith During Hardship
How do we pray when we are in the midst of really hard and difficult times? How do we stay motivated to bother trying to pray when we feel depressed or sad and it seems that maybe God has forgotten us or has stopped “taking our calls”?
