Enjoy

From one of my devotionals, enjoy.

When my friend Mary went to see her granddaughters, she took them shopping and offered to buy them each one thing they wanted. The younger girl, as usual, wanted a book. "And what do you want?" she asked the other.

"Nothing. I just wanted to be with you," she replied. 

Sometimes we need to come to God without offering requests but simply desiring to enjoy His presence.
God longs for those He loves to enjoy His fellowship. He enjoys ours. Jesus promises that if we simply open the door, He will come in and eat with us (Revelation 3:20). 
The Greek word for eat means more than just having a brief snack together; it means sharing the main meal of the day. 

Jesus encountered the woman at the well--a woman others would not have bothered to speak to--and took time to correct her concept about worship. Why? Because He knew that His Father loved her and yearned for her fellowship.
"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth," Jesus told her (John 4:24). Wanting to encourage her to approach God, He told her that God anticipates the worship of those who come in spirit and in truth. 

We grieve our Heavenly Father more than we imagine when we act as though He is a stern or even distant God only slightly interested in us. More than anything else, we need to "know and rely on the love God has for us" (1 John4:16). 

Thank You, God, that You are not an angry judge watching for my slightest faults but a loving Father longing for my fellowship. 

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16).

 

Lean on him

The text below is from my devotional this morning.  I thought it appropriate to share.

I always do what pleases Him," Jesus said in John 8:29. He believed that each moment He could be pleasing the Father. He wants us to have that same confidence. 

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse described his daily activities showing the possibility of looking to the Lord for guidance. For instance, when his secretary brings in his mail, he said, "A swift prayer must be sent heavenward....Every detail has to be done in the strength of the Lord, in a moment-by-moment looking to Him....I have come to the place where I never take one of the letters that are brought to me without a quick prayer to God for the ability to meet the need." 

The late Dr. Richard Taylor once told me, "I think most of the time I have the sense of the Holy Spirit's leading. Of course, I tend to pray about most everything." 

In 2 Chronicles 20 it was after Jehoshaphat prayed, "Our eyes are on you," that he received the word "The battle is not yours, but God's."

It is always that way. As long as our eyes are on the Lord, it is not our battle. We have to remind ourselves of that again and again. 

When confronted with a need, it just takes a moment to say, "My eyes are on you, Lord." By this we can mean, "I trust You to give me all I need. I will say and do only what you give me. I trust that the ideas that come to me are Your choice of words, attitudes, actions-not my own. I rest from my own works of trying to manipulate, to control, to strategize."

Thank You, Father, that when I look to You, You fight my battles.

"We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you" (2 Chronicles 20:15).

Peace

Today's devotional from Sarah young Jesus calling, thought it was worth sharing. 

Trust me in the midst of a messy day. Your inner calm your peace in my presence need not be shaken by what is going on around you. Though you live in this temporal world, your innermost being is rooted and grounded in eternity. When you start to feel stressed, detach yourself from the disturbances around you.  Instead of desperately striving to maintain order and control in your little world, relax and remember that circumstances cannot touch my peace. 

Seek my face and i will share my mind with you, opening your eyes to see things from my perspective.  Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not be afraid. The peace I give is sufficient for you.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NIV)

Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. (Psalm 105:4 NIV)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27 NIV)

Treasure

The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One. Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or if he must see them go, one after one, he will scarcely feel a sense of loss, for having the Source of all things he has in One all satisfaction, all pleasure, all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in One, and he has it purely, legitimately and forever. O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus' Name, Amen

Above is a selection from "the pursuit of god" by a.w. tozer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUrnwpGefDI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The pursuit of god

I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain. Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all. If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers Himself to "babes" and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond. When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the "and" lies our great woe . If we omit the "and" we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.

Above is an excerpt from "the pursuit of god" by a.w.tozer

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._W._Tozer

Reflecting God - Instigator of Peace

Below is today's devotional I receive via email.  I wanted to share, enjoy. 

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Instigator of Peace Posted: 21 Jul 2014 12:00 AM PDT RG AUDIO 072114 Genesis 13:1-18 In Genesis 13 Abram sets a pattern of behavior for us; peaceful resolutions nearly always rely on self-sacrifice. When Abram and Lot came to the place where they needed to part ways, Abram as the elder had every right to choose his land first. Instead Abram’s lack of greed was evident when he allowed Lot to choose first. Lot chose what he thought was the best option—for himself. In every domestic argument, in every conflict, there comes a moment when both or one of the parties can step back and prevent the situation from deteriorating further. This was that moment. Abram brought peace through sacrifice. It was generous of Abram to allow Lot to choose. Lot’s choice, however, landed him close to sin, and close to the consequences of it. Many of our choices are made without fully understanding the consequences. If we would take that initial moment, when the choice lies before us, and chose the interests of others, we might find our long term circumstances more conducive to our spiritual well-being. Author: Lisa Mueller

Calls to ministry

The text below is from my devotional today. I thought it was worth sharing. 

Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." He said also, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. The LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" And He said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain." Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, " I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. (Exodus 3:1-15 NASB)

Picture a football game with the coach of one team on the field, engaging the opposite team in gridiron battle. He is getting battered, bruised, and mangled. Where is his team? They are on the sidelines—cheering, clapping, and criticizing. Seem preposterous? Yes! Yet, that is how some churches operate. They hire a preacher to fight the ministry battle. While they watch, cheer, clap, and yes, criticize on the sidelines.

God’s game plan for the church puts everyone on the field. Every Christian is called to ministry. There are no exceptions. You don’t need a special “call.” God does choose some, like Moses, for special assignments. Moses wasn’t exactly thrilled to be sent back to Egypt. He tried to talk his way out of it with a variety of excuses. God, however, refused to take “no” for an answer.

When God gives orders, He supplies resources. He did for Moses; He will for you and me. Our mission is not solo. The promise is still, “I will be with you” (Exodus 3:12). Whether it’s general ministry or special assignment, we can count on Him!

Author: Wil Watson