Walking with God

This was part of one of my devotions today:

It is so easy to lose perspective. How effortless it can be to place our emphasis on actions! We can feel that our success in the Kingdom of God is based on the deeds we’ve done. Sometimes we even feel guilty and inadequate if we haven’t received attention.Yes, God wants us to be kind and compassionate, to demonstrate His power and participate in ministry, to receive His blessing. But we must never lose sight of this fact: God first wants our personal, intimate fellowship. He wants us to walk with Him, not just once in a while, but every day.

It really touched me. I read it in the wake of some powerful teaching out of a Merlin Carothers book - Power in Praise - that I read last night. That teaching spoke also about being liberated from "works" or specific actions to gain merit in our Father's eyes. It's something that I continuously wrestle with -- it's the main reason why I started this blog: to be a regular place to relate my struggles with walking in the Grace and Mercy of God vs my striving to please Him through my own efforts.

Merlin spoke about how those of us who have received Christ AND asked for the in-filling of the Holy Spirit (to be saturated by the Spirit so that our lives are fully and completely surrendered to Jesus Christ - to do His will as He directs) should live in faith that we indeed HAVE this eternal salvation, this infilling, this eternal forgiveness, this eternal power through the Holy Sprit, this eternal authority in the name of Jesus, this eternal love - we have everything we need in Christ.

He encouraged praying in tongues, i.e., our personal prayer language, reiterating some former teaching I've received about how when we pray this way, the Holy Spriti is able to communicate directly to the Father things we could never utter on our own -- things not in our conscience minds, but deep in our subconscience. Also, we're able to intercede for others about things that we're not even aware of. In a nutshell, so much healing can take place in the life of an individual who exercises his/her prayer language, as well as in the lives of those near and dear to them.

There are so many people around me in need of prayer and I've been struggling to stay on track with those prayers or, when I remember, to know what to pray. So, I'm endeavoring to be consistent with my praying in tongues. To start the day and end the day in this manner. I expect to see some drastic and amazing changes taking place - in my work, my family, in the lives of my co-workers and friends, in my spirit and mind. I believe strongly that my neglecting to do so is the reason why I've been feeling so powerless and confused and discouraged lately.

Oh, Holy Spirit, how much I need for You to interecede for me and others with moanings and groanings only you can express!

Please have Your way - have Your way!!