OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL
DATE: SUNDAY NOVEMBER 12 2023
TOPIC: BECOMING INTIMATE WITH GOD I
MEMORISE:
LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.
Psalm 26:8
READ:
PSALM 119:97-112
97 O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
98 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
101 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
102 I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.
105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
106 I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.
107 I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.
108 Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.
109 My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.
110The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.
111 Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.
112 I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.
MESSAGE:
To become intimate with God, the major thing you will need to sacrifice is time. The more time you spend with someone, the more you will become like that fellow. God loves it when we spend quality time with Him, so much so that He prefers that you spend more of your time with Him than you do for Him. The difference between spending your time for Him and with Him is in Luke 10:38-42. Martha was spending her time serving Jesus and that is good, but He said Mary had chosen what was needful by sitting at His feet to hear His word. The time you spend doing the work of God is good, but what is more needful is the time you spend at His feet, hearing His word.
There are many Church workers and pastors who only read and study their Bibles, pray or hear the word of God when they come to Church. You cannot become intimate with God that way. God wants people who love spending quality time with Him, whether in Church or alone, just because they love Him. As dutiful as David was, he just loved to spend time in the presence of God (Psalm 26:8). That is why God said in 1 Samuel 13:14 that David was a man after His heart.
To become intimate with God, you must never be satisfied with how close you are to Him now. You must constantly remain hungry for His word and His presence. Those who will be intimate with God will never be satisfied with how much of Him they know; they will keep studying more, praying more, fasting more, all in a bid to know Him more. Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:10, "That I may know Him...". You begin to wonder, with all the revelations and encounters that Apostle Paul had gotten, he was still saying he wanted to know God. Believe me honestly, the day you feel as if you already know enough of God is the day you begin to draw further from Him. You will no longer know the things you thought you knew before. If you stop growing, you start dying. If you decide not to get closer to God, you will start getting closer to the devil. This is a racetrack you are on, not a highway with bus stops. Once you stop moving, you are taken off the racetrack.
KEY POINT:
How much time you are willing to spend in fellowship with Christ will determine how intimate you will be with Him.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
ACTS 4-5
AUTHOR:
PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE
HYMN 22
SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER
1. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father's throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter's snare
By the return, sweet hour of prayer.
2. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
The joy I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer.
3. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless,
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His word, and trust His grace,
I'll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer.
Amen and Amen🙏🙌
ReplyDelete