We MUST seek the Lord.
"Go to bed seasonably, and rise early. Redeem your precious time: pick up the fragments of it, that not one moment of it may be lost. Be much in secret prayer. Converse less with man, and more with God." George Whitefield
What Whitefield is talking about here is basic spiritual discipline. Without having discipline in your spiritual life, you will get no where with God. This is of the utmost importance here. We will not survive the onslaught of the flesh, the world and the devil if we are not abiding under the shadow of the almighty! There is no middle ground when it comes to our personal prayer and devotional life. If we ease up we go backwards. If we shift into neutral we do not stay still, we end up going backwards. The hill of the Lord is always going upward. We are on this walk toward God, toward that gate of salvation at the top. If we stop for a moment seeking the Lord we go backward, down the hill toward carnality and worldliness and if gone far enough, even death.
One not so secret of my life to success in ministry and in doing what God has called me to do is my personal devotional life. I have determined that if I do not do anything else with success in my life, I will, I will, I will seek the face of the Lord. I will be in His presence on a regular basis. I will be in prayer and in the word. We must put aside every single other pursuit in our life in comparison with being with Christ and fellowshipping with our loving God! Ministry, family, our spouse, job, hobbies, sports and every other thing all must all be put aside when compared with Jesus Christ and personal devotion to Him!
Paul said in Phillipeans 3:8,"What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ." Other things in life are very important, such as loving our wife and taking care of our families. But if we are not abiding in the vine of Christ we will fail in all other areas of our life. What good are we to God to teach and encourage and help others to know the Lord if we ourselves are not with Him daily? It will do no Heavenly good to converse with men while we have neglected to first and foremost converse with our Father God. Let us have that determination, that if we have to put our efforts and energy in one thing, let us put it in seeking the Lord and daily spending time with Him praying and reading His holy Word.
Scripture of the day: Psalm 84:1,2,10
"How lovely is Your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness."
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