Life can be an up and down affair. Our walk with Christ should not be. God is calling us to live in consistent communion with Him. He does not want our relationship with Him to fluctuate depending on our moods and emotions. There is a move away from emotion based worship because He wants relationship based worship. Relationship based worship worship far exceeds our emotional state and is born out of a love and passion for Christ. This love and passion is not affected by how we feel at a particular moment.

The only way this can be a reality is if we are transferred out of the kingdom of this world into the kingdom that Christ purchased with His own Blood. To truly be part of a kingdom you must be a resident, not just a visitor. Residents of a kingdom live with the privileges and protections that come from residing in the kingdom under the rule of THE KING!

Leonard Ravenhill said “Prayer is not a preparation for the battle; it is the battle!” To ignore the battle, is a folly that has dire consequences.  Sticking our head in the sand hoping that when we pull it out things will be different, is not only ignorant but also deadly. As the body of Christ we must realize that we are in a battle, and we have an enemy that seeks to destroy us mind, soul, body, and spirit.

Paul told the Church at Corinth “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 (NKJV)

You can almost hear the frustration in Paul’s word’s as he explains to believers that the battle that they are fighting cannot be won by the flesh, but only by the Spirit. Paul understood, we are fighting a battle, and there is definitely an enemy. But the weapons of this world are not the weapons we should use.

Twitter and Facebook post’s have never changed anything, arguing one with another over our differences, has never accomplished anything. We have been given the greatest weapon on Earth…….. PRAYER! If only we would come to the realization that talking to God accomplishes more than talking to, or attacking those that have different views than we do. Seeking the presence of God will help us to walk, talk, see, and hear in the Spirit.

So the next time you are tempted to shout your views to the World via Facebook or Twitter; before you hit post, hit your knees and pray that your heart is right and your weapons are His.

How many times have you said, “I wish I could hear the voice of God”?  If you’re anything like me the answer is, too many times to count.  While reflecting on this question, I have come to the conclusion that He speaks more than we realize and the sweet sound of His eternal voice is constantly searching through the earth, trying to find ears that will listen. So if God is looking for ears that will listen to His voice, why are so many frustrated at the lack of answers? Here are just a few of the things I believe hinder us from clearly hearing what The Lord is saying.

• We don’t want to hear the truth: Sometimes it’s not that God is not speaking, it is that we do not want to hear what He’s saying. He has made the answer clear on many occasions but we ignore Him hoping that the answer will change. As humans sometimes we want what we want, not His perfect will. So we assume that if we act as though we don’t hear Him, we can continue in disobedience, while pleading ignorance.
• His voice is covered up by all the other voices we listen to: It is near impossible to give your full attention to someone when trying to listen to more than one voice at a time. There are times when we are listening to so many voices; God’s voice is drowned out. Opinions are something that most folks are not short on. Everyone has an opinion about everything, and in the social media soaked world we live in, there are plenty of outlets and platforms to give them. Sometimes people have the best of intentions when telling you what you should do, but there are times we need to shut off all sources of media and other voices and listen to what God is saying.
• We only listen for the loud booming voice: God speaks to us in many ways. It’s not that I don’t think God can audibly speak to us, (He’s God, He can do whatever He wants) but that is not the norm. Sometimes while we are waiting for that booming voice, that obvious answer, He is speaking to us in a still small voice.
• We don’t read His Word: The greatest way God speaks to us is through His Word. The Bible has answers to every question that we could possibly have. It has lasted through the ages; it is living and relevant to every person, no matter our age, race, or social status, the Word of God applies and gives us direction in every situation. We should not wait to have an out of body experience or have a preacher give us a prophetic word. We should hear God’s voice through His word, and not only hear it, but be obedient to it.

In a world where there is so much emphasis put on religious activity and church growth, I am of the belief that we have left behind the most important stone in the foundation of our walk with Christ; personal devotion.  We have come to a dangerous place where we know how to do “church” and we have seminars on how to best “evangelize” the lost. The problem is many times we do these things without knowing the one we are talking about. Church does us no good if we don’t know Him ourselves.

God has been dealing with me for the last few months about personal devotion.  The importance of this has been lost throughout the years. We put more emphasis on how great our pastor is, or how awesome our church is then we do on how devoted we are to Christ and His work. We chase ministry and we chase opportunity, but we fail to chase Him.  If we desired personal relationship as much as we desired position, we would find ourselves turning the world upside down for Christ.  We expect the preacher to study The Word of God and have an awesome prayer life, so that we can show up and receive what he received from God.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

Paul said …

^“ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death”  Philippians 3:10 (NKJV)

Notice, Paul didn’t say He wanted to know about Him, but know Him. You can’t get to know Him through listening to preachers or reading books. Knowing Him only comes through personal devotion to Him.

I pray today that we all find ourselves longing for Christ more than we long for anything else.