* Day 6 this week will be a review/reflect day. If you would like to share some of your personal reflections email me at ejmushlock@gmail.com
Galatians 4-6
*Click here to read this passage:
“You can tell for
sure that you are now fully adopted as His own children because God sent the
Spirit of His Son into our lives crying out, Papa! Father!” (Galatians 4:6 MSG)
“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”
(Galatians 5:25 NIV)
After I read this passage, and these two verses in particularly
today, I was reminded of something I had written a while back to share on our
church’s worship blog, and I wanted to share it here today as well:
“Lord, I’m desperate for
your presence”….I’ve prayed probably several times before, and again just
recently. Since I’ve been a
Christian there have been times that I feel very close to the Lord, I hear from
Him while I’m reading the Bible, I pray with faith that God will answer, and
feel like I’m in a constant conversation with Him. But there are also times that I feel like I’m at a brick
wall and God is somewhere on the other side of it. I know He’s there, but I don’t really feel like He’s hearing
me and I’m not hearing Him.
And I know how wonderful it is to be in His presence, so I ask Him to
come near…again…and He does…again.
The thing is, and I’ve heard
people say this many times, that He’s not the one who goes anywhere. If you are a believer, He’s always
there. “Lord, I’m desperate for
your presence,” are not words I
want to say lightly. I want to
truly desire His presence always, to be connected with the God of the Universe
who loves me, who has covered me with His mercy through Jesus, and given me His
Spirit to live in me.
I recently read a book and
was really challenged in a way I didn’t expect. The book is called “I Dared to Call Him Father,” and is
about a Muslim woman who becomes a Christian. I expected to learn more about a Muslim’s perception of the
Bible and how they came to believe in Jesus. That is all in there, but I was surprised at how much I was
challenged in my own personal relationship with Jesus.
After this woman came to
know Jesus, she knew how precious it was to be in His presence. She also was able to recognize when she
didn’t feel the Lord’s presence as strongly…when she skipped out on her time
reading the Bible and praying, when she spoke rudely to someone, when she
missed the time she normally met with other believers, when she didn’t do
something she felt He was calling her to do. She knew that if she was in disobedience to God she wouldn’t
feel His presence, and that was something she couldn’t stand. So she was willing to sacrifice
everything knowing that to stay in His presence would be worth it.
When I seek Him first, when
I’m reading the Bible (not just to check it off my to-do list, but to really
gain something from it and listen for what He wants to show me), when I pray
and keep praying throughout the day…this is when I can really feel His presence
the most. It’s also when it is
easier to resist temptations and have a better attitude. It is when I can hear His voice the
loudest, and there is nothing better than hearing from my Father.
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