Time With God “If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.” - E. Stanley Jones I love the quote above that gives us a picture of what “Time with God” does to us. We have a direct line of communication with God, Our Creator, and we often pass it up for more time in bed, more time at work, more time at play. When I type this out like this, I can’t help but feel guilty. How many times have I chosen to do something else rather than spend time with God? To be honest, it’s too many to count. What about you? “Time with God” can include a time of confession, praise, submission, listening, reading, and adoration. At times, you can have all of this happen during devotion, but at times, you might just need to confess to God what is on your heart. At other times, you might want to just show complete praise and adoration for your Savior. I want to cover these two topics today. Confession Confession can include telling God specific sins in your life, and in fact, this is required to experience a fulfilling time with God. In fact, K. Hughes writes, “…we must confess our sins. I would suggest making a list of our sins, for the act of writing them out helps materialize this personal reality for us.” When I thought about writing out my sins, it hit me smack in the face. It made “sin” more real. In fact, when I read this, I thought to myself, “would I read my list to someone else?” “We must lay before him what is in us, not what ought to be within us.” - C.S. Lewis In other words, C.S. Lewis is saying, we have to be real with God, and get the disgusting sin out of our hearts so we can open up fully to God. “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” Psalm 66:18 “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Proverbs 28:13 Praise and Adoration “God is good all the time, all the time God is good.” This was something that we used to say at Boiling Springs First Baptist Church. The pastor, Dr. Hank Williams Jr. (not the Hank Williams you thought of), would say, “God is good”, and the congregation would say “all the time”, and then the pastor would say “all the time” and then in response the congregation would say, “God is good.” Sometimes, we just need to devote time of Praise and Adoration to God. He is good all the time, and his will is perfect. Psalm 144 through 150 is Psalms of praises, and Psalm 150 has the word “praise” in every verse. I love the final verse of the book of Psalm, “Let everything that has breathe praise the Lord. Praise the Lord” Psalm 150:6 Today, spend some time praising the Lord, for He is deserving of all the praise we can give. Take a second and look at His creation. The trees dance with the wind as if to say, “praise you, O, great King”, and the flowers open to the sunshine to show their beauty for God. We are so blessed. “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Revelation 4:11 “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’” Revelation 5:13 Can you imagine that day? What a loud resounding voice of praise! Join me today in committing to set aside some time in our busy lives for our Creator. If you need to confess sin that is in your heart to allow your heart to be open to a deeper relationship with God, do so. If you are overflowing with love, adoration and praise for the Savior, then LET IT OUT!! Have a great day Facebook Friends, ISN’T IT GREAT???? WE SERVE A GREAT AND ALMIGHTY GOD!!!!
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 15:24:54 +0000
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