Weekly Overview:
Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus we have been afforded an opportunity to live an incredibly abundant life here on earth. Our God is nearer, more tangible, and has a greater ability to make his presence known than we’ve yet realized. He longs to make his children more in tune and aware of the depths of his love, guidance, empowerment, and nearness. He longs for our days here on earth to be marked by unveiled communion with him. As we look at what it is to live an abundant life here on earth, I pray that your heart will be awakened to the reality of God’s presence and affection in your life.
Scripture:“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
Devotional:
There is a wealth of glorious relationship available to us on earth that we have yet to fully experience. Jesus has made a way for us to have restored relationship with our heavenly Father again, not only in heaven, but right now. We have been washed clean by the blood of the pure and spotless Lamb so that the presence of the living God now resides with us. God is here, and he is ready for you and me to experience the fullness of life only found in continual communion with him.
Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” God is continually knocking on the doors of our hearts, ready and willing to come in and meet with us in every part of our lives. Each of us are created for intimacy, free from shame and rejection. We live unsatisfied until our hearts find their home with our loving and present Father.
God is knocking on the door of your heart today and asking you to allow him to come in and fill you with the life of glorious relationship. He longs to breathe into your frame of dust so that the dry and weary places of your heart are filled to overflowing with the living waters of his love. Psalm 139:1-6 says,
O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
God is always available, always ready, and always willing to guide you into an encounter with him. All that is required of you is an open heart. True life here on earth finds its roots solely in restored relationship with the Creator. There is no good apart from the Lord (Psalm 16:2). There is no love like the one we have found in God. There is no friend like the Holy Spirit. There is no purpose like wholeheartedly pursuing the fullness of relationship available with God.
Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” Take time to allow God to rejoice over you. Allow him to quiet the stress and cares of this life with his loving presence. Ask him to reveal to you just how near he is. And live today in light of the glorious relationship with your heavenly Father made available to you by the powerful sacrifice of Jesus.
Guided Prayer:
1. Meditate on the wealth of relationship available to you with God. Allow Scripture to fill you with a desire to have more consistent encounters with your heavenly Father.
“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.” Psalm 139:17-18
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” Isaiah 49:15
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
2. In what ways are you not experiencing the fullness of life available to you in God? Where do you need more encounters with God’s presence and love?
3. Take time to simply let God love you. Open the door of your heart to your heavenly Father, and let him come meet with you. Have faith that he will guide you into an encounter with himself today and give you exactly what you need. May you find refreshment and revitalization in the loving embrace of your Father.
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8
“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
May the words of Jesus in John 15:4-6 fill you with a desire to stay in communion with your heavenly Father throughout everything you do today:
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Extended Reading: Psalm 139
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