I don’t usually do this, but I wanted to open up this blog with a prayer.
God our love for you must be sincere, so help us Lord to never be lacking, but to keep in step with you Lord. God may we connect ourselves with You so that we might be one with You, in tune with your Spirit, walking in Your promises for our lives. I pray Lord that we might live to please You and You alone. So today, reveal Your truth to us Father, show us Lord through your Word, what it means to live a life that honors You. In the power of Your name I come against the walls that we’ve placed in our lives that may keep us from hearing You. Speak to us Lord so that we may hear Your voice speaking Your truth about how we must live to honor You. In your name, amen.
A great man of God and communicator of the message of God, A.W. Tozier, was quoted as saying: “Deep inside every man there is a private sanctum where dwells the mysterious essence of his being. Man is derived from God and dependent every moment upon his creative fiat for his continued existence.”
His thoughts leave me with a few questions, like how do we make the actions of our heart honor the Lord? How does man stay dependent upon the Lord every moment of his existence?
As I looked through my questions, I came across Psalm 15.
Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart
and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,
who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,
who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things
will never be shaken.
David wants that continued existence with the Lord. And God reveals that he must walk straight, act right and tell truth. In order to honor the Lord, to be continual in step with the Spirit of God, we must never hurt others or cast a bunch of blame on them. That’s tough, eh? No gossip. Turning your check. Serving those who will never say thank you and will probably always expect it. God’s saying that we’ll find that continued to connection with (one our very being craves) is when we find ourselves living a bold life of faith and love. Psalm 15 shares that we must operate in truth, and too keep our word no matter the cost. And we are left with a promise for this chosen lifestyle: He will be honored and we’ll be connected with Him in a powerful, continual way.
Are you struggling with “feeling” God in your life and choices and actions? Does He seem distant, or silent? Well, here is another question then: do you want to walk out the call to honor God with your life and experience continual existence with your Heavenly Father? What are you doing about your connection with Him?
Purpose it in your heart to experience God more. We can experience the Lord through prayer, or music and worship. Even through others like a leader at church or a pastor. We can also experience and draw closer to the Lord through being committed to reading the Word of God, or by spending time alone with Him, and we even experience the Lord through miracles. Say you only pray quietly to yourself, well choose this week to begin to pray out loud, by yourself. Then eventually choose to pray with someone. You’ll be focused on Him, and connection with Him and you’ll do it more, and more while growing and going deeper in the spiritual discipline. That same process can be applied to any of those ways you can experience the Lord. Wherever you are, purpose to grow in it and do more.
God wants us to know that it’s all about Him, not about us. If we get to the point where we are so anxious to experience a connection with God that we forget the truth about who He is, then we miss the point. God has so created us to desire a continual connection with Him so that He can be worshiped either by us or by those around us. If I just seek God’s so I can be a better person, I have the wrong motive. If I ask God so that I can give something to the body of Christ and to the world, then I am seeking the right thing for the right reason.
So will you take more time to experience the Lord? And what will you have to sacrifice in order to accomplish this? Will something have to be silenced, or put on hold or simply destroyed? Do you desire a continual connection the Lord? I know your soul does…and I know your Creator does as well.
reflections of hope 