I have recently become acutely aware of how much God loves true, deep, sincere, and SIMPLE devotion.  I so desire to be a man of prayer, fasting, and study of the Word, but so many times I don’t live up to the standard I set for myself.  My natural reaction to this shortcoming is condemnation.  I beat myself up while listening to the lies of my fleshly attitude which has a tendency to correlate good works with achieving spiritual success.  I find myself disappointed!

In recent months, I have been learning so much about my Father.  He is not nearly as interested in the good works I try to place before Him as I am.  Rather, I feel His smile towards my life when I am continually thinking about Him.  Maybe I reach the goal I set before myself for that day or maybe I don’t; but, He is more interested in the constant, consistent attention of my heart.  It seems as though He is more pleased with a heart that sincerely loves Him, rather than a heart that justifies itself before Him.  He takes sincere love seriously.  I am now learning to offer my life to Him, not only to hours of prayer or study of the Word.  I am learning to walk in the Spirit, not just visit it to be refreshed or revived, but to live continually joined to the Lover of my soul.  I have come to enjoy this beautiful devotion above everything else in my life.  This constant relationship has become the most valuable gift God has ever given me!

I can’t tell you how many times a day I find myself smiling, because just for a moment, I heard my Father say, “I love you, son”.  I can’t recall how many times during the day I simply say, “Father I love you—thank you for being so good to me”.  I would not trade this constant dialogue for anything in the world.  He is closer to me than my closest friend.  He knows the deepest parts of my heart, and the joy, is that, I am learning the deepest parts of His heart – daily! 

My heart breaks because many Christians will never learn to live in this type of devotion, and they will spend most of their lives without the fullness of His relationship.  I encourage you to find this beautiful devotion.  Search for it as silver and gold, for it truly is a hidden treasure, and it is life to those that find it!  It’s available to all!

I want to guard your heart against thinking you don’t have to set aside private times of prayer, because that is not what I am saying.  Private times of prayer and study of the Word are vital!  I set aside times for devotion daily.  I wrote this blog to encourage you not to limit your devotion to prayer times or study times, but to live in devotion.  You are called to walk in the Spirit.  Walking in the Spirit is learning to never leave your devotion with God, but to live in it!  This is true, simple, and beautiful devotion.

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