Have you ever had a gaping hole in an area of your Christian walk? If you’re anything like me, you’re aware of the hole, but you intentionally ignore it and don’t make it a priority in your life. However, you know deep within that you need to figure out how to fix it.
My gaping hole was having a personal relationship with God. What I mean by that is spending time talking to Him, hearing what He has to say, and implementing the wisdom He has given. I knew if God were truly going to be first in my life above everything else, I needed to find a way to change my relationship with Him. That change has come through intentional, daily devotional time each morning.
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The only way to build a relationship with God is to have a conversation with Him. That two-way conversation begins with prayer. This is how we talk to Him. The second part of the conversation comes from reading the Bible. This is how He talks to us.
To step into this change, I decided to use a devotional book. It has the same format every day. You begin with a specific scripture reading, followed by reading a short commentary about the scripture and finish with a prayer about the topic. The entire devotional time takes less than 10 minutes each morning.
I typically make my prayer time separate and use the prayer given in the daily devotion as part of a much larger conversation. I do my best to include the specific needs of family and friends that I know about. I pray for folks who are struggling with health issues, who have recently lost a loved one, or have other major things going on.
I choose to take this time with God first thing in the morning because it gives me a positive start to my day. After I have this focused, relationship-building time with God, I’m energized and ready to take on the world! I encourage you to give this start to your day a try. I’d love to hear how it works for you in the comments below.
This is a really great chapter