Devotion
Knowing (Really Knowing) God
David Jacobs
There are people who have dedicated their careers to studying the life of Abraham Lincoln. They have read every speech he ever gave and they know the story of his life perhaps even better than they know their own. But do they really know Abraham Lincoln? Do they know him the way his wife would have know him? Or even the way a friend who regularly ate lunch with him would? The fact is that no amount of reading about a person can be a substitute for spending time with them.
Knowing and studying the story of Jesus helps keep us on the right path, but God offers us so much more. Through prayer, we can actually spend time with God, and know him personally. And prayer is just one way we can grow closer to God. Worship, fellowship and ministry all draw us closer to Him.
Our relationship with God is unlike any other, and what's more, it is the foundation for all of our other relationships. The more time we spend in prayer and in prayer and fellowship, the stronger and healthier our relationships with friends and family become.
Prayer
Lord, I am open to you. When I study your word, I wrestle with it, and come to know you better for it. As I come to you in prayer, I wrestle with You. As Jacob wrestled you with his body, I wrestle you with my heart and mind, so that I will be shaped by you. I pray that each day that I rise to praise your name, I will be drawn closer to you and better understand your will.
Devotion
His Loving Kindness Endures Forever
Frances Taylor
Psalm 136 is a list of all the wonders that God had done for the Israelites from creation through the deliverance from Egypt and into the land promised to them, providing them with all that they need. I challenge you to write a psalm listing all the things that God has done for you using the same format. Several years ago, I did this myself and it was a wonderful reminder of all that God had done for me. "I give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his mercy endures forever; he has provided me with a family that loved me, his mercy endures forever; he hears me when I call to him, his mercy endures forever; when I was in trouble he rescued me, his mercy endures forever." I listed all the gifts he has given me and continues to give me and I thanked him for all the times that I was in pain and he healed me, and the times when I needed to be rescued. I'm sure if you take up my challenge and compose your own psalm, you will discover ...
Morning Prayer
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
Inspiration
To reject the truths taught in God's Word, spoken by his prophets and apostles and by Jesus Christ his Son, is a grave offense. In the days when Hebrews was written, there were still true prophets in the Church, speaking from God. Today, we have his written Word as our "prophet. " If a preacher preaches truly according to the Book, we are in a grave sin if we reject it.
Prayer
Help me, O Lord, to discern when your Word is being taught correctly and when it is not. Teach me to embrace your truths and love them. Help me to walk in them and meditate on them. Let me not sin in rejecting the plain teachings of the Bible. Amen.
Night Prayer
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Inspiration
Sin rules our lives until we accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. When we invite Him into our lives, our old sinful heart dies, and God creates within us a new one, where sin no longer rules our life; God does! Our thoughts and actions begin to change because we no longer desire a sinful lifestyle. We joyfully devote our lives to serving Him and inviting others to understand His promise of salvation.
Prayer
Dear Lord, we are sinners born again and recreated to live according to Your will. We are grateful for Your love and the peace we experience by abolishing our old sinful self. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
