Bible Study Post  2

Our Relationship with God

In our last Bible study, we looked at developing a heart devoted to God. In this study, I want to look at a couple of practical areas to help us as we strive to draw closer to Him.  

As Christian women, we know that our number one priority is to be our relationship with God. This is to be our highest priority, before anything or anyone else.

Matthew 6:33

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;

and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 22:37-38

 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.

In these verses we see the importance of putting God first. These are commands of scripture, not optional extras. God must come first. We need God’s direction in every area of our lives. We need to put him first and put our relationship with him first.

We need to spend time with him to get to know him and learn from him.

As we learned from the story of Mary and Martha, serving is important but all the activity in the world will never bring the peace and joy that a relationship with Christ will bring.

Don’t substitute activity FOR God, for a relationship WITH God

Two areas that I feel are very important in our Christian walk, are prayer and quiet time.

1.    Prayer

Why is prayer so important in our walk with God? Well, first of all, it is commanded in scripture. Also, we have many examples of Godly men and women in the Bible praying and we see its importance spelled out very clearly in the Word of God. It is the way we communicate with God.

When you pray, not only do you honour and worship God, but you enter fully into one of the privileges you have as his child – that of communing with the God of the universe! What an awesome privilege that is!

Not only is it commanded as a duty of the Christian, but prayer is so beneficial and it helps deepen our relationship with God. And that is the focus of this lesson and the goal of our Ladies Bible studies. To deepen our relationship with the Lord and to find ways that help us to grow stronger spiritually, as Christian women.

There are many things that prayer does.

Prayer increases our faith – as our prayers are answered, we have more faith and trust in God. Our faith grows each time we have an answer to prayer. We put our trust more fully in God.

Prayer gives us a place to unload our burdens – on someone who truly cares and will not be overwhelmed with it all. When we unload on our husband or friends and family, sometimes it’s all too much. God tells us to bring our cares to him. He is big enough to handle them.

1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Prayer teaches us that God is always near

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Oswald Chambers said, “The purpose of prayer is to reveal the presence of God equally present all the time in every condition”

We know that God is always listening and his ears are always open to our cry.

Psalm 34:15

The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

Prayer trains us not to panic – turning to God as your default move helps replace the tendency to panic, with God’s strength. In Luke it tells us always to pray and not to faint.

Luke 18:1

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

Prayer changes lives – prayer will change us. This will have a flow on effect and help to change others lives. God gets all the glory for this. People say ‘prayer changes things’, but it’s not entirely accurate, prayer changes lives, it changes us, but ultimately, GOD changes things!

Prayer brings God’s power. God’s peace. God’s perspective.

Prayer is basically talking to God. If I only talked with my husband between 7 and 8 pm on a Wednesday night and maybe a few minutes on a Sunday morning, how well would I know him? What kind of a relationship would I have? Prayer is vital in building a relationship with Christ.

I fear that sometimes our relationship with God survives on as little communication as this. We expect to grow spiritually, while only talking to God a few minutes a week.

In I Thessalonians 5:17, we are told to pray without ceasing. This doesn’t mean we are to pray every minute of the day, as that wouldn’t be practical, but it means to have a continual attitude of prayer. A prayerful spirit.

“When prayer becomes your immediate reflex instead of your last resort, the whole battlefield begins to tilt your direction”

When our minds are disengaged, like when we’re cleaning the bathtub or sweeping the house, or folding the washing, our thoughts can go to prayer instead of frustration or anxiety. We can praise God and talk to him at these times. We can continually be lifting up our prayer to God all the day long.  Warning: be careful not to only ever ‘pray on the fly’. Don’t just have a ‘squeezed in’ prayer life. A little here a little there, never really focused.

Not only do we need an attitude of prayer, we need to set aside specific times of prayer. We read many verses in scripture about making time to pray.

In the morning - Mark 1:35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day

he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

In the evening, morning and at noon - Psalm 55:17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

In addition to the short prayers we lift up throughout the day, we should make time to come to God in prayer with our prayer lists in hand. It’s not easy. It’s hard work to set aside time. Look for the quiet times and use these times to focus and pray. My favourite times are early in the morning and also throughout the night when I wake up and can’t sleep.

“When you can’t sleep at night, have you ever thought maybe it’s God saying “we need to talk and now you have time”

It’s also easy to fall into the “I’ll pray later” ditch. We tell ourselves we’ll pray about it later. How good a memory do you have? Because I know mine is shocking and life gets in the way, and all too soon, the prayer request is forgotten.

One way to avoid the “I’ll pray later” syndrome, is to make a time to pray with others. Find a prayer partner or group. Someone who you can meet with on a regular basis to pray with. It holds you accountable to someone and you are more likely to seriously pray when you actually have to make time in your day to meet with someone to pray.

The great thing about prayer is that we will never run out of things to pray for. There is always something or someone to pray for, it’s just that we run out of time to pray for it all.

2.    Quiet  Time

The 2^nd area I want to look at is that of bible study and devotional or quiet time. We not only need to pray but we need to spend time in God’s word. We need to listen to the Lord as he speaks to us through his Word. We need to have a desire for the word of God

1 Peter 2:2

 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

We need to desire God’s word just as a baby desires milk. Hungrily. Impatient. Always wanting more. There are so many bible study books, commentaries, handbooks, apps etc to help us in the study of God’s word. These are only tools to use and should not replace digging into the Word ourselves and searching for answers. But they can be very useful. I have learnt a lot over the years from others study of the Word of God and their insight into passages of scripture.

The best time to study the bible is during your own personal quiet time with the Lord. A time set aside where you just spend time with the Lord, letting him speak to you and talking to him.

Our effectiveness for God requires times of solitude. “The impact you have on you family and on others will be in direct proportion to the time you spend away from people and with God.” Time alone with God is so important for our spiritual development.

As well as saying ‘no’ to things that are wrong and sinful, we have to learn how to say ‘no’ to pleasant, profitable and good things that may hinder our time alone with God.

And when we talk of quiet time we are talking of a state of rest or calm, free from noise or disturbance, still, hushed, not turbulent, not excited, anxious or wrought up, calm, peaceful. Yes, all words that are usually the opposite of our days, but not impossible.

It’s so easy to fail at a regular quiet time with the Lord. For years I struggled with making time for bible study and devotional time, but seasons of life change and quiet times change. We need to remember that it’s the relationship we are working on. Not a strict schedule. It’s a time to draw apart with God. A time to talk with him, learn of him, grow in him. A time to deepen our knowledge of the Lord. To fellowship. To worship. Your quiet time is a time for your own personal growth. This is not family devotion time. This is a time for you and the Lord only. It may have to be several small snippets throughout the day or one large chunk if you are blessed with being able to do that.

When we take time to be with God, we receive. We are nurtured and fed. We ensure our spiritual health and growth. He supplies us with strength and encourages us in following his ways. In a book by Elizabeth George she talks about this time as the Great Exchange. Away from the world, hidden from public view:

I exchange my weariness
For His Strength.
My darkness for His Light.
My problems for His Solutions.
My burdens for His Freedom.
My frustrations for His Peace.
My turmoil for His Calm.
My hopes for His Promises.
My afflictions for His Balm of Comfort.
My questions for His Answers.
My confusion for His Knowledge.
My doubt for His Assurance.
My nothingness for His Awesomeness
The temporal for The Eternal.
And the impossible for The Possible

Making a consistent time each day or at least a little each day at different times will help you in your spiritual walk. It doesn’t really matter where or when, just that you do it.

 “Something is better than nothing, and always aim for more”

It’s up to you whether you decide to be a flower that appears for a little while but when the heat comes, you shrivel up or whether you become an oak tree that lasts and lasts, becoming stronger and mightier with each passing year. An oak tree spreads it branches and shades things around it. We can be like an oak tree and influence those around us, especially our families and those closest to us. Or we can be a flower that only lasts a little while.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

When we put our roots down in the Word of God and feed on what He has to say to us, we will be blessed and we will not be afraid of the drought because we have His blessed promises to cling to. Our roots are nourished by the river of His Word.

As mothers and wives and women who want to deepen our relationship with the Lord, we have to get creative with how we arrange our time in order to put God highest on the priority list. My grandmother always had an open bible on her bread bin in the kitchen and every time she had a spare moment or was working on that particular kitchen counter, she would read a few verses. She was before the time of audible bibles and apps.

Then you have Susanna Wesley who used to throw her apron up over her head and sit in her chair to get time alone with God. Her family knew better than to interrupt her at this time.

When I was a teenager, I used to climb onto the roof of our house and pray and spend time alone with God, or I would take a long walk through a beautiful pine forest below our house, talking with God and listening to what he wanted to say to me. So, it doesn’t really matter where or when you spend your time alone with God, but it does matter that you do it if you want to grow spiritually.

We’ve talked about having hearts devoted to God. The word devotion means ardent affection or zealous attachment. We should have a zealous attachment and an affection for God’s word.

Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

Spiritual food is so much more important than physical food. We should see God’s Word as something we can’t live without.

“We can hinder the time that should be spent with God by remembering we have other things to do. I haven’t time. Of course, you have not time! Take time! Strangle some other interest and make time to realise that the centre of power in your life is the Lord Jesus Christ!”           Oswald Chambers

For us to really grow, we have to be determined to spend time in prayer and study. We have to make an effort to put God at the top of our priority list. As I’ve said before, give him your ‘to do’ lists and let him order them.  

“It's one thing to have a goal, but it's quite another thing to actually accept the challenge, develop a strategy to press for the goal, make the sacrifices, pay the price to move forward, and blessing of blessing, to realize some part of it.”
― Elizabeth George, A Woman After God's Own Heart

Take Time to Sit

Mark 6:39 

And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.

In this passage in Mark, we read the story of the Lord Jesus feeding the five thousand. I have always thought of this passage not only as a good example of God’s almighty power, but also as proof that God is a God of order.

The Lord Jesus had  the disciples sit the people down in groups before the loaves and fishes were broken up and handed out.

But this morning, in reading on this subject, I discovered something interesting. The people needed to sit down in order to be fed.

There is a parallel here for us. If we are desirous of feeding on the Word of God, we need to take time to sit. God will feed us when we sit still and be quiet before him.

We need to sit still and quiet our hearts and minds in order for God to properly feed us from his Word.  There needs to be a time of sitting, each an every day. A time to sit still before the Lord and listen to Him speak to us. 

We read of King David sitting before the Lord.

1 Chronicles 17:16

 And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?

We also read of the Israelites sitting before the Lord.

Judges 20:26

 Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. 

Here, the Israelites sat and wept and fasted before the Lord for a whole day! 

Mark 6:31

 And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

The Lord even told his disciples to take time to rest. 

Sitting is not easy in our all too busy lives. For me, sitting still is sometimes harder than trying to baptize a cat! But God would have us sit and be still before him.

I have been doing a lot of reading on rest. True rest. Resting in the Lord. We can’t look to the world for rest and relaxation. A change of location doesn’t bring rest. It may bring a short break and a little rest for our weary bodies, but all too soon, the busyness will crowd in and life’s realities will take over with breakneck speed.

True rest is found when we sit before the Lord and listen to Him. We are often guilty, like those found in the book of Isaiah, who refused to rest. 

Isaiah 28:12 

To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

They would not hear when God said that he was the rest and the refreshing. God truly is our rest. He is the one we should run to when we are overwhelmed. 

Psalm 61:2

 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

So, today, I would like to encourage you to sit still. Stop thinking about your to do lists, just for a moment. Sit before the Lord. Dwell on his holiness. Listen to his whispers to your heart. Ask for a heavenly perspective. Focus on his presence. Set your mind on things above. 

Colossians 3:2 

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Feed on God’s Word by first sitting down and getting quiet before him. Take a moment of time each day, however long it may be, and quiet your mind and focus on him. Take time to sit still. 

Matthew 11:28-30 

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

“It’s much harder to follow God’s call if I’m running too fast to hear him speak”

Do the Next Thing 

Bible Study Post

A Heart Devoted to God

Just this past Friday night, I started a monthly Ladies Bible Study here in Katherine. I’ve decided to post the lessons I teach on the blog in hopes that it may encourage others.

The aim of the Bible Study is to help us as women to develop a closer relationship with the Lord and to get serious about God and growing spiritually. I want to be able to share the lessons God has taught me and encourage other women to share God’s blessings with those around them.

The lesson posts are not written in my usual style and a lot is added in the course of teaching, but thankfully, you’re getting the shortened version!

The Lord has brought me through some pretty hard trials and taught me many lessons along the way. These lessons, though hard at the time, have helped me to grow and draw closer to the Lord than ever before. God never said life would be easy, but he did say that he would never forsake us. What a comfort that is to my soul.

So, I pray that you will gain something from my Bible Study Lesson posts and that you will share what God teaches you with others. You never know when something God has brought you through will be what someone else is facing and you may have just the verses and words of encouragement they need. 

Lesson #1

A Heart Devoted to God

I thought that a good place to start is with the story of Mary and Martha in the Bible. These ladies are relatable.  I think that we can easily relate to Martha’s busyness. Her hospitality. And we can also relate to Mary’s desire for fellowship with Christ. But it’s easy to get our priorities out of whack and put one in front of the other.

How do we develop a heart that is devoted to God? How do we become women who sit at Jesus’ feet and receive his praise as Mary did?

Let’s read the passage in the Bible and see what we can learn together

Luke 10:38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

Luke 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.

Luke 10:40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

Luke 10:41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

Luke 10:42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

DESIRE

The first thing we need to do in becoming a woman devoted to God, is to have a desire. We need to desire to become Godly women. We have to make a choice to learn more about God and learn more about His Word. So, we have to have a desire. It’s no good trying to do something when you have no desire to do it. Like dieting, if you have no desire, you’re going to fail. You need to want to do it. You need a desire.

When we look at Mary, we see her desire to be near Jesus. She wanted to sit at his feet.

If we don’t have a desire, it all stops right there. It’s a matter of our priorities. And the definition of priority is ‘a preference based on urgency or importance’. You order your priorities in order of importance to you.

But besides having a desire, we need to have a teachable heart. We need to be willing to be taught and willing to learn from God and from others.

Psalm 42:1-2 As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

Psalm 25:4-5 Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Psalm 27:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

Psalm 86:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

Psalm 119:12 Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.

Psalm 119:26 I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.

We read over and over in the Psalms of David’s desire to be taught. He continually asks the Lord to teach him. He had a teachable heart and wanted to learn. I don’t have to explain what that means to you. If you homeschool, you know all about teachable hearts and how difficult it is to teach a child something that they don’t want to learn.

But as women wanting to grow in our spiritual walk, we have to be teachable.

DISCERN

The second thing we need in order to become women devoted to God, is discernment. We need to discern what is needed. In the passage in Luke, in verse 42, we see mentioned the ‘one thing’ that is needful. We need to discern what is important. What is the one thing that’s needed? We see Jesus rebuking Martha for not doing the one thing. The most important thing. The needed thing.

The one thing that was needed was to sit at Jesus feet. To listen. To worship. To draw close to the Lord. To spend time with the Lord.

Martha had chosen the many things. She was troubled and busy doing the many things when Jesus wanted her to do the one thing.

This word ‘many’ in the Bible has a few definitions, but one of the definitions, is ‘common’. As in the common things. Not as important. But the word “one” means the only one. The primary one. The first. So, although the many things we do may not be wrong, they become a problem when we put them before the one thing that’s needed.

Unfortunately, Martha crossed the line between being a gracious hostess to being an overwhelmed, overworked, unthankful servant. She neglected to distinguish between the urgent and the important.

So often in life, we choose the urgent over the important. Something urgent is something that calls for immediate attention. It’s screams out loudly. But something important, is something significant. Something weighty.

The serving that Martha did called for attention. It was urgent. Visitors. Food. Preparations. But the sitting was significant and held a deeper importance. There would be time for serving later, but right then, at that time, it was time for sitting. Sitting at Jesus feet.

Mary was able to discern the importance of ceasing her busyness and stopping all activity and putting aside some things to focus wholly on the Lord.

We need to work out of rest. Meaning, we have to rest first, before we can work efficiently. In our physical bodies, we know the importance of rest. If we won’t get enough sleep, we can’t be as productive.

In the Lord’s work, we have to take time to rest, at Jesus’ feet, spending time in his word and talking to him in prayer. Only then can we be effective in our ministries and our callings.

So, we work out of rest. We sit, then serve.

The three times we see Mary in scripture, she is at Jesus feet. Here in Luke and again in John, at Lazarus tomb

John 11:2  (tells us which Mary)

(It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair,

whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

John 11:32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

John 12:3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

Our dishes and washing and sweeping will always be there. But those times of quiet will not. When we have those moments to sit and be quiet before the Lord, we need to make the most of them. Time spent at Jesus feet is never wasted time.

Martha was busy doing things FOR the Lord, but she failed to spend time WITH the Lord.

Too much serving. Not enough sitting.

We have to discern the one thing and then we have to choose to do that one thing. How do we find that balance? Often, we feel torn between the 2. Serving and sitting. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing to feel torn. It shows that we understand the importance of them both. It shows that we have a desire to serve others and also a desire to spend time with the Lord. But we know that there has to be a balance.

Martha in the kitchen, serving with her hands;
Occupied for Jesus, with her pots and pans.
Loving Him, yet fevered, burdened to the brim.
Careful, troubled Martha, occupied for Him.

Mary on the footstool, eyes upon her Lord;
Occupied with Jesus, drinking in His Word.
This the one thing needful, all else strangely dim:
Loving, resting Mary, occupied with Him.

So may we, like Mary, choose the better part:
Resting in His presence--hands and feet and heart;
Drinking in His wisdom, strengthened with His grace;
Waiting for the summons, eyes upon His face.

When it comes, we're ready--spirit, will, and nerve;
Mary's heart to worship, Martha's hands to serve;
This the rightful order, as our lamps we trim--
Occupied with Jesus, then occupied for Him!

--Lois Reynolds Carpenter

I have 3 things I want to share with you regarding this desire of becoming women whose hearts are devoted to God. How do we become women who follow God’s leading and heed his calling upon our lives?

One of the ways is to

1.    Choose God and His ways, at every opportunity.

Proverbs 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

We know this passage well. We can see in this verse 2 parts. Our part and God’s part.

It is our job to acknowledge God. To consider him. To consult with him. And then it is his part to direct our paths. We do our part and he does his. We listen to him and he shows us the way to go.

When something comes up, a decision, an offense against us, STOP! And pray first. Ask God to show you what you should do. Sit mentally in his presence. If you have to, sit down bodily too. Pause. Listen. Acknowledge him. Obey him. Then watch God take over. He directs our paths. When we stop and ask him for guidance, often the very next thought we have comes from him and it is clear what we should do and what we should say.

Isaiah 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

I love this verse in Isaiah. It says that I’ll hear a word behind me that tells me what to do. THIS is the way. WALK in it. How clear is that? We acknowledge and obey God and he directs our steps.

When we choose God’s way, we are choosing the best way. The one thing. The good part. The needful thing. The best thing.

It can be as simple as choosing to listen to or watch something edifying. Something that will help us grow spiritually. It might even be choosing NOT to listen to something. It could be choosing to speak to someone on the street about the Lord.

We are to edify one another and I pray that as we meet together we will encourage each other and build each other up and grow together and draw closer to the Lord together.

We all know the Proverbs 31 woman. We often look at her and marvel at her productiveness. We see that her serving is not judged. It is important too.

Proverbs 31:15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.

She is a servant and productive and busy, but the one thing I see about her that I want to imitate, is to have her fear of the Lord. It says in verse 30

Proverbs 31:30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.

Ok, so this verse doesn’t say directly that SHE feared the Lord. But in all the verses previous to this one, we see all her works and how she excels. So, we can only assume that she has a healthy fear of the Lord too.

This fear spoken of in this verse, is the reverential fear. It has the meaning of ‘a profound respect mingled with love and awe’. I like that definition.  We need to stand in awe of God.

Psalm 4:4

 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart

 upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

We need to have a healthy fear of God. Are we in awe of God and what he wants to do in us and for us and through us?  I don’t want to miss what God has for me in this life. I don’t want to be robbed of any of God’s blessings by not taking time to let him direct me and lead me.

I want to choose God and his way at every opportunity.

2. Commit yourself daily to God

The second thing I want to bring out is that of committing yourself to God.

Psalm 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

I find a good way to do this, is every morning, often even before I get out of bed, I commit myself to God in prayer. I pray to the Lord and offer myself to him to use as he pleases. If we give him our day, and our priorities, and our to do lists, it’s amazing to see how God chooses to arrange it. Much better than we ever could with all our great planning strategies.

If we choose to hold onto things too tightly, it’s hurts when God has to pry our fingers open to get what we won’t give.  It’s a whole lot simpler to hold everything he gives us lightly, with open hands and let him take and let him give as he pleases.

I have a little saying on my wall that I like to read each day to remind me to keep an open hand.

All that I am

All that I have

All that I do

All that I suffer

I give it all to God!

In the verse in Psalms it tells us to commit our way to the Lord. Our way being a course of life, a mode of action, a road. Many things. Our way is basically our life. Our daily activities. Committing them to the Lord each and every day and asking the Lord to order our days and direct our steps is the best way to walk in his will.

3. Cultivate a hot heart

The third thing I want to discuss is cultivating a hot heart.

We need to get excited about the things of the Lord. We need hot hearts. In Revelation, the Laodicean church is accused of being lukewarm.

Revelation 3:15-16 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

One of my favourite Christian movies is War Room.  There is a scene in the movie where Miss Clara offers Elizabeth a lukewarm cup of coffee.  After asking her what her prayer life is like, Elizabeth tells her that it’s not cold but it’s not hot either. Somewhere in the middle. Lukewarm.

Nobody likes luke warmness. God says he will spew it out of his mouth.

We don’t want to be cold-hearted, we all know that that’s wrong. To be cold hearted is to be below normal, to be unemotional, to be unaware, to be unconscious of God. Unconcerned.

And to be luke warm is to only be moderately warm, to be indifferent towards God and others.

But to be hot, is to have a high temperature. To be characterized by violent activity. To have emotion or passion, fiery and excited. That’s not to say that we need to run around crazily, always smiling and laughing and excited. But that our hearts need to be that way towards God. To be on fire. Like a new Christian that has been saved from the pits of hell and is so excited about the things of the Lord that he can’t stop shouting about it.

If we are hot, we are like a boiling pot. We have an intense passion for the Lord.

Just like a boiling pot, it sputters and steams. It jiggles from side to side. It is hot to touch. It shares its heat. You can’t ignore it.

I want to be like that in the spiritual sense. I want to be excited about God and the things of God. I want to boast about what God has done for me. I want to share the heat.

Luke 1:49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.

Psalm 96:3 Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.

Don’t be afraid to tell others of God’s blessings. And not just in testimony time at church, but on the street, in the shop, wherever God gives you opportunity and with whoever God brings you in contact with.

Psalm 107:2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

We are redeemed. We have something to shout about. Something to be hot about.

And if we truly want to become women with hearts devoted to God, we need to choose him and to commit to him and to develop a hot heart.

But it all starts with that first decision. The decision to desire what God wants. The decision to want to grow spiritually. To not be comfortable with our mediocracy, but to be always striving to grow and mature and learn and share.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.