Scripture tells us that Jesus only did what His Father told Him to do. We are really no different. It’s absolutely essential for us to know what the Father has in mind for us. Because, you see, there is a vast difference between being a slave and a son. A slave never knows the plans of his master, only the tasks he’s expected to do. He has no future, and no inheritance. However, a son will one day inherit everything his father owns, so when he is commissioned to do something for his father, he joyfully does it because he knows it will benefit the kingdom that also belongs to him. Ownership brings with it a deep and abiding sense of fulfillment and purpose.
Relationship with God
Max Lucado
Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference.
Priscilla Shirer
Stop frantically searching for God’s will; start frantically searching for God Himself.
James Goll
Our prayers should be simple—there is no need to instruct the Father. This lack of complexity should be just as true for our minor personal requests as for sweeping global needs. In both cases, we are echoing the prayer of Jesus, “Your Kingdom come on earth as it is currently being manifested in heaven” (see Matt. 6:10). We do not need to tell Him how to handle everything. He is God; He knows already. We just need to present the needs to Him.
Katherine Walden
Making resolutions to spend more time praying will not prove lastingly effective unless there is a measure of trust or faith that God is nearby and is actively listening.
Brian Hardin
Are we social believers who, in the privacy of our own hearts, have no relationship with God? That is what happened to the world in Jesus’ time, and these questions are no less important today. God wants to set us apart so that we can be in the divine dance of life together with Him. Obedience isn’t about ritual enslavement. It’s about the persistent reminder in all things that He is near, and He’s leading us on the narrow path that leads to life.
Sharon Jaynes
Our limited vision doesn’t allow us to see how God is working behind the questionable scenes in our lives, but we can trust He is. In fact, it may be precisely in the moments we understand Him the least that He is working the most.
Paul Wilcox
Once I was praying and asked God to tell me about myself. He said you are like an oil lamp. Your body is the vessel, filled with oil, and the oil is the Holy Spirit. The wick is the Word. Trim the wick each day, cut off the old ashes of yesterday, pull up the wick (read some more to meditate on) for a bright flame. The flame is the Light of Christ, The Living Word, Jesus Himself. You are alive in me, and I am alive in you. Fire. Holy Fire. Illumination, warmth, joy, discernment, driving away darkness, yes, let there be Light.
Ted Dekker
What wife or husband among us would say that the point of marriage is the legal contract, rather than a living, breathing, life-giving union experienced each day in relationship? In as much we are the bride of Christ, it seems that some are more interested in their marriage certificate than in communion with (knowing) the One who is in us and whom we are in.
Harold Eberle
Abraham was not being blindly obedient. The most obvious message of the Abrahamic story is that he knew God. Abraham had walked with God for many years. Before preparing his son Isaac for the sacrifice, Abraham confidently stated, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering….” (Gen. 22:8). Abraham knew that God would intervene. He knew that God would somehow provide a sacrifice or even raise Isaac from the dead if necessary. Therefore, he was not taking a blind leap of faith. Abraham was acting based on his knowledge of God.