Devoted

In my last discipleship post, I wrote that being a disciple is about letting go of the love affairs we have in our lives that can and will keep us from having the real thing with God if we let them. The point of ending a love affair in God’s economy is simple: it allows us to return to our true Love—Him.

But letting go of a love affair is not the last step we take in being devoted to someone; it’s one of the very first.

Our aim is to better know Who God IS—to have an intimate relationship with God in which we experience Him on a moment-by-moment basis...to love God with all of ourselves…to worship Him and no one else—not ourselves, our favorite sports players or musicians, our bf/gf/h/w, our career, and/or our hobbies.

You can’t have a relationship with someone you’ve never met…and you can’t have an intimate relationship with someone you have met but don’t spend a significant amount of spend time with.

Can you imagine trying to maintain a solid relationship with someone you only talk to via fb chat for 10 minutes once a week? Not going to happen! Long distance relationships are tough for a reason. Nothing is better than being with someone, face-to-face, sharing who you are and receiving who he/she is back.

If we want to have a real relationship with God, we need to let go of the things that are holding us back. Maybe we haven’t really accepted Christ and the forgiveness that He gave by shedding His own blood. Or maybe we’ve forgotten, slipped into the person we used to be. Or maybe we have gotten so caught up in the daily things of life (homework/work, responsibilities and the like) that we haven’t taken the time to be with God.

But once we let go of whatever affairs we have, we need to get serious about our devotion to Christ.

We need to make time for Him.

*Set aside a time to pray.

• This can be walking and talking or kneeling—the important part is setting aside time just for you and God to have a meaningful conversation.
• If you’re new to having extended prayer time, start small. 5 minutes daily for a week or two. Then 10 minutes, 15 minutes...in time you’ll not only grow accustomed to having this time with God, you’ll begin to enjoy it so much you’ll never want to miss out.

*Set aside a time to read Scripture.

• I can’t stress how important it is to read the Bible on a consistent basis as a Christian. Aside from praying, reading the Word of God is the best way that you can get to know Who He really is. We learn Who He considers Himself to be—a great King, a wonderful Counselor, Redeemer, Savior, Teacher.
• Start small and build up. Try reading 15 minutes a day to start and work your way up to an hour (or more, if you like).

I guarantee being faithful to God in at least these two areas will change your life.  

*And here are two other suggestions I have:

• Listen to podcasts/radio sermons. 

When I first became a Christian, I listened to a 30 minute sermon (I think it was M-F, but it’s been a while) that came on at night from Living On The Edge with Chip Ingram. Find one that works for you—maybe with video as well—and tune in.

• Try a devotional and/or study. 

There are loads to choose from both online and offline. I highly recommend anything from David Nasser to guys and girls (especially A Call to Die), and anything from Beth Moore to girls, having done studies from both.

I also recommend looking at something like Devozine (daily devotional for teens by teens).

        

**If you aren’t a follower of Christ, but are interested in learning about Him, you might be wondering what’s so great about being devoted to God. If this is you and you’re interested in testing the water, message me via fb (Lynanne Carroll, Axel white mushroom pic), youtube (DaybreakInAutumn) or email (akariautumnkurai <at> yahoo.com). More than happy to answer q’s, chat, etc.**