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A Glory Seed Devotional planted for the Greater Glory of God
Conversations with God…
“Oh, Emmanuel, "God-with-Us," You have touched me; you are God-with-Me. Thank you for these weeks of prayer. In the spirit of the season my waiting, my patience, feels sacred. Refine and purify my heart with the hottest flame of your love. Give me the courage of your prophets and let me do what is right even when others don't understand.”**
I can’t speak for you but I certainly can for me and there were times when my thoughts on prayer went something like this… “I don’t understand why I need to ask God to fulfill my needs, doesn’t he already know them? And if he does why doesn’t he just give them to me rather than waste my time asking for something he knows I already need?” And my usually response went something like this… “Well, if I have to then let’s get it over with...”
One day (probably) out of frustration I prayed, “God, it sure would be nice to hear your voice.” Instantly in my mind I heard, “And I yours.” Suddenly I knew God longs to hear my voice not just my spoken voice or my written voice but the voice of my heart as well. God wants conversation with me! With me Gary Piper! With you! With us! Christmas and the birth of Jesus is about God wanting and having a relationship with us. Christmas and Jesus’ birth is God’s voice from His Heart to our heart. Prayer is sacred time with God.
This morning during my quiet/private time with God I read two Blogs one focused on the theology/intellectual side of Christmas the other focused on the intimate relationship side of Christmas. The first one helped me understand the reason for Christmas the second helped me understand Christmas. While it is important to know the reason, for me it is the intimacy of Christmas I need a little more while the reason forms the foundation for our lives it is our understanding upon which we build our lives. Here is some good advice…
“I would, therefore, say to you, spend as much time in prayer as you can. Without prayer, the changing you need to do will be minimized. It is through prayer—time with God—that you get to know his ways, plus things you need to know about yourself. God could change you apart from prayer, yes. But he probably won’t. He likes your company. The reward for spending as much time with him as you possibly can is greater than you can imagine. But I must lovingly warn you, this ongoing changing of mind, heart, will, and life will not likely happen apart from faithful prayer… Consider God’s bold move from heaven to earth as a baby in Bethlehem and be changed. Take advantage of the gift of prayer—do it now. Make it a habit to go to God in prayer with joyous anticipation and wait expectantly for him to move.” (By R. T. Kendall, quoted from Advent Reflections Vyrso.com)
Anticipate! Experience! Believe! Be transformed!
Grace and PEACE, Amen!
Gary
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“Those who wait for perfect weather will never plant seeds; those who look at every cloud will never harvest crops.” (Ecclesiastes 11:4, NCV)
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"Scriptures quoted from The Holy Bible, New Century Version, copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, Dallas, Texas 75039. Used by permission."
**“Taken from Praying Advent, on Creighton University's Online Ministries web site:
http://onlineministries.creighton.ed...ry/online.html
Used with permission.”