It's Day 4, and I hope you are experiencing a renewal and a greater love for Jesus so far. I really believe that God wants to bless you abundantly. Today's Devotional is simple. Seek God every morning and every day of your life to discover His plans for your life. Notice how God encourages us to seek Him and to make this our main task each day:
" You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
Why does God want us to seek Him with our whole heart? Simple, so that we may find Him. Imagine? God's presence in your life. Amazing! If God's presence weren't enough, God also promises something extra. He tells us in verse 11-12:
" For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Since God know that His plans for our life are better than our plans (God usually knows what will ultimately make us happy and content, better than we do), He invites us to pray. Notice verse 13:
"Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you."
It's pretty easy. God has plans of prosperity and blessing for our life, but in order for us to have those plans fulfilled in our life, we must go to Him in prayer, and seek His Presence more than life itself. It must not be a superficial seeking, but a wholehearted seeking after God's presence, plans, and blessings.
One of my favorite Christian writers puts it this way:
"Consecrate yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, "Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee." This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ." (Steps to Christ, p. 70).
So there it is. How important that we seek God every morning. It's hard sometimes, with the pressing demands of work and family, but this is in fact our most important duty and task each day. Without God's blessing and presence, we just go on our own each day trying to accomplish our own goals, dreams, and aspirations. While those may be good ones, God's plans for us each day are even greater.
The apostle Paul writes,
"He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"
God's blessings in your life are unlimited. Along with salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, God promises to give us everything we need. We just need to ask God for those blessings in prayer. He will answer many of our petitions only in response to prayer. Notice this amazing statement by a Christian writer.
"It is a part of God's plan to grant us, in answer to the prayer of faith, that which He would not bestow did we not thus ask." (Great Controversy, 525).
So there you have it. There are somethings God will give us only in answer to prayer. When we pray, we give God permission to move in our life and in the life of others in a way that He could not before, because of His great respect for human free will! So pray, pray, and pray more because through prayer God can do the impossible!
ACTS
So how about it. Why not take the next 20 minutes and seek God in Bible study and prayer. If you need something to help you structure your prayers, how about using the acronym ACTS. It stands for the following:
A - Adoracion
C - Confession
T - Thanksgiving
S - Supplication
Spend some time praying and reflecting on what God desires to tell you in the Bible, and see what a difference it will make in your day today! You will have a renewal of God's presence in your life to help you overcome whatever you encounter today! Be blessed in Jesus!
~ Pastor Salvador Garcia
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