Seize the Moment – Day 1284
Relationship with God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, September 22.
Religion is man’s efforts to know God, whereas Christianity is God’s effort to be in relationship with humanity. God didn’t send His Son into the world to form a new world religion, to be one way amongst many ways for man to know God; rather, Jesus Christ came into the world to give us His relationship with the Father, as He said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
You are invited to relate to God through His Word and in prayer, to experience Him and to know Him in a personal way. David related to God in an intimate way, as described in Psalm 144:2, “My lovingkindness and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and He in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me.” You feel David’s intimacy with God in how He talks to Him in prayer – my lovingkindness, my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield, and He in whom I take refuge. David’s words emphasize to us the invitation to know God personally.
A beautiful illustration of this movement from religion to relationship is when Jesus, after His resurrection, personally approached Thomas who was struggling with doubt and fear. In John 20:27-28, Jesus invited Thomas, “‘Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” It was at this moment of personal intimacy that Thomas publicly confessed Jesus in front of the other disciples, “My Lord and my God!”
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 144, meditating upon the privilege of knowing God through an intimate relationship with Jesus. As David proclaimed in verse 15, “How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!”
God bless you!
If you would like to receive a personal phone call today, all you have to do is dial the phone number below right now and one of us will call you soon.
YOUTUBE:
If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.