spending time with God

Do You Love Him?

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DO YOU LOVE HIM?

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5 New King James Version).

“Love is an action word,” I’ve heard it said, and I believe it is true. By actively choosing to love, the emotional feeling of love follows. We declare our love for many things, food, friends, jobs, ministries, churches, TV shows, books, hobbies, etc. Why is it then, when chatting with others, it becomes so tough to declare our love for God? What can be so difficult about saying “I love God?” His word clearly says we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all our souls and all our strength. It seems to me we should be shouting our love for Him in all ways possible!

Some of us believe declaring our love for God means spending Sunday morning in church, yet living contrary to our profession of faith the rest of the week. Some of us out what we want to believe are demonstrations of our love for God, but in reality, they are more for the love of ourselves. God knows our hearts; He knows who among us truly loves Him, and whose hearts, souls and strength are actively engaged.

When we really love God with all our hearts, our souls and our strength, and with His love for us, we are capable of loving those society deems unlovable, we are able to love those mean-spirited family members and we are able to love strangers. By loving God wholly and completely, all we do here on this earth is an act of worship to God and an outpouring of His love to others.

Let’s Pray:  Dear Heavenly Father, we love You, we love You, we love You!! We give You our hearts, our souls and our strength as declarations of love and adoration! We praise and bless Your holy name, we stand on the truth of Your word. Because of our love for You and Your love for us, we want to reach many, we want to be Your hands and feet; Your voice and vessel. You are holy, worthy, mighty and righteous, there is no one else like You! You are the creator of heaven and earth, by Your hands we have been formed, by Your breath we live. We cannot tell You enough how much we love You. All glory and honor is Yours. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen!

Today’s Attitude of Worship: If you are struggling with loving God,  or if you only profess love to Him infrequently and you can’t seem to live it out, I encourage you to take action and sit with Him awhile.

Additional Scriptures: Joshua 22:5; Luke 10:27

 

 

 

The Best Place To Be!

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THE BEST PLACE TO BE!

Image from: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-better-is-one-day-in-your-courts-laura-ogrodnik.html

As we spend time with God in prayer, Bible study, praise and reverent worship, we spend time in His courts. It is extremely uplifting there. There is no amount of adversity, strife, worry, burdens or even persecution which the presence of God can’t overcome. It is in His presence where we find strength to face our day, tackle our challenges, overcome fear of the unknown, and step out in obedience with faith. It is better in His courts than here in this world. In His courts we see ourselves as we truly are, and we see exactly what Jesus has done for us. We see how material things don’t matter, we find sustenance in what God provides for us. In His presence is fullness of joy! Is there anywhere in this world where we can also lay this claim to? No.

Stepping into the presence of God consistently prepares us for what He has in store for us. By spending time in His courts we learn to listen to His voice, and follow His direction. We recognize areas of our lives He is working on, and we are quick to humble ourselves in all situations. Spending time with God is imperative for the Christian. It’s what keeps us going, it’s our strength, our peace, our joy, our song, our hope, our shelter, our fortress and our very life!

If you have been lackadaisical in your communion with God, today is a new day! His mercies are new every morning and they endure forever!

Let’s pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for this blessing of another day! Thank You for the privilege of coming into Your courts and standing before Your throne. Thank You for Your glorious touch, Your healing and Your peace. Thank You for Your direction and chastisement. We know You love us, and we desire to show our love for You! Father, we ask that You continue to work in our hearts, creating hearts that are tuned to Your voice, hearts that seek to be clean and righteous, hearts that will stand firm on the ground You have stood us on, heart that will forever be grateful and humble! Father, take that which we focus on that is not of You and we ask that You remove it and turn our eyes toward You. We know that sometimes standing in Your presence, we have to face those things about ourselves that are not righteous and we ask for Your grace and endurance and courage to let those things go and seek out the heavenly things that You have for us. Father, we love You, we praise You, we lift our hands and voices up to You exalting Your beautiful name! In Your courts, in Your presence is the best place to be! In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

Today’s Attitude of Worship: Whenever thoughts of God run across your mind, grab the moment to say hello and check in with Him. Whenever you have a free moment, meditate on a scripture which resonated within your heart recently, and listen for God to share with you why the scripture spoke to you so.

Additional Scriptures: Psalm 84; Psalm 16; Psalm 42:8; Psalm 21:6; Psalm 92:13