Daily I receive a devotional in my email from Ransomed Heart Ministries. Tonite I was perusing through devotionals past. Though this writing came earlier in the year, I am reminded in this season of the "Great Shopping Conspiracy" to connect with God - it's vital for my life! Ransomed Heart is a great ministry - my dear friend S and I attended two of the Captivating women's retreats in Colorado. Both of the retreats impacted me in very specific ways. The book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge is wonderful. To date - I've given all my copies away! May you be encouraged and reminded...Do Whatever Brings You Back to Your Heart and the Heart of God
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Against the flesh, the traitor within, a warrior uses discipline. We have a two-dimensional version of this now, which we call a “quiet time.” But most men have a hard time sustaining any sort of devotional life because it has no vital connection to recovering and protecting their strength; it feels about as important as flossing. But if you saw your life as a great battle and you knew you needed time with God for your very survival, you would do it. Maybe not perfectly—nobody ever does and that’s not the point anyway—but you would have a reason to seek him. We give a halfhearted attempt at the spiritual disciplines when the only reason we have is that we “ought” to. But we’ll find a way to make it work when we are convinced we’re history if we don’t.
Time with God each day is not about academic study or getting through a certain amount of Scripture or any of that. It’s about connecting with God. We’ve got to keep those lines of communication open, so use whatever helps. Sometimes I’ll listen to music; other times I’ll read Scripture or a passage from a book; often I will journal; maybe I’ll go for a run; then there are days when all I need is silence and solitude and the rising sun. The point is simply to do whatever brings me back to my heart and the heart of God.
The discipline, by the way, is never the point. The whole point of a “devotional life” is connecting with God. This is our primary antidote to the counterfeits the world holds out to us.
(Wild at Heart , 171–72)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To subscribe to this devotional, create a profile at http://www.ransomedheart.com/
See also the Ransomed Heart Podcast at www.ransomedheart.com/podcast
A's notes: Some of the ways I enjoy connecting with God are through creating, baking, listening to music, running, an outing at the park swinging as high as I can in the air, and enjoying the company of those dearest to my heart. On occassion HE will surprise me by showing up in unexpected places - I love surprises! What are some of the ways you connect with God?
Posts
