“Homily Grits Devotional”   http://www.homilygrits.com/

The opening scripture was written by David, who wrote half of the Book of Psalms…  We would do well to live our lives the way David did… David was far from perfect…just as God’s redeemed children will be far from perfect, until the day we pass on from this life…  But David was still a man after God’s own heart, because David sooner or later would always do the will of God…Acts 13:22…

We see David meditating before the Lord in many of the Psalms that he wrote…  And Dr. Charles Stanley believes that meditation before the Lord is the key to living a successful life in God’s eyes, which should be first priority in every Christian’s life… 

Dr. Stanley spent 5 days explaining the importance of meditation in the Christian’s life…as the key, beginning on 10/07/2013…  He preached the essentials of effective meditation on 10/08 & 10/09…  And Dr. Stanley gave us his thoughts on the rewards of meditation on 10/10 & 10/11/2013… One just has to believe that spending 5 days on one topic, should impress upon us how important meditation before the Lord should be in the life of all of God’s redeemed children…  Here is the link to InTouch Ministries audio archives for Dr. Stanley’s teaching…    http://www.intouch.org/broadcast/audio-archives  (Listen to at least the audio for 10/09/2013)

And yet, how many of us truly spend time every day, just seeking personal time before the Lord…and then listening to His response to our questions and concerns ??  God wants us to come before Him, involving Him in all things…  God wants to know when we are hurting…  God wants to know when we are anxious or afraid…  God wants to help us make the right decisions in life… 

And yet, though God never makes any mistakes, we still in our own mortal minds believe that we can get along fine without involving Him…  Our pride gets in the way of humbly coming before God, when we make important decisions without asking for God’s guidance first…  

Friends, I am here to tell you through my own personal life experiences…that both David, God’s chosen king (2 Samuel 7:8), and Dr. Stanley, are both right on target with the need for all Christians to spend time meditating before the Lord; if they want to remain in a close personal relationship with Him…  I came across this discussion of “relational” and “positional” forgiveness of sins…with the need of confessing our sins, which will block or hinder the Christian’s relationship with the Lord…because unconfessed sins offend God, and grieve the Holy Spirit…Ephesians 4:30… http://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-sin.html    

In his 10/08 & 10/09/2013 audio sermons, Dr. Charles Stanley gives us a list of 6 essentials to help Christians develop a lifestyle of meditation…in order to maintain an intimate personal relationship with the Lord…  He uses the life of David, and how David was able to please the Lord, in order to establish these essentials for us to follow…

First, Dr. Stanley tells us we MUST make time for the Lord, every day…  Anyone too busy to find time to read their Bible, and pray, and meditate before the Lord, is really not interested in finding the joy, the peace, the wisdom, and the prosperity that the Lord wants for all of His obedient children…Joshua 1:8…

To properly pray, and meditate upon the Lord, we must find a secluded place, without the distractions of TV, noisy kids, or anything else that will take our full attention away from the Lord…  I pray in the morning, before starting my day…sometimes during the day, if needed…and at bedtime…  I find that meditation for me, is best found in the morning when I first open my eyes and am at my freshest…  But after listening to Dr. Stanley, I am also trying to make time for meditation with the Lord when I crawl into bed before going to sleep… 

Another essential is stillness…Psalm 46:10… Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!  (NKJV)   When we pray to the Lord, if we really want to seek forgiveness for all of our sins…we should pray like David did, and ask the Lord to search our hearts…Psalm 139:23-24…   After our prayer, we must be still, as we meditate…listening for the Lord’s response to our prayers… 

But we must be ready to respond positively to whatever God will reveal to us…  We may not like what God tells us…  It may not be our first choice for a decision we must make…  There may be unconfessed sins that God will reveal to us in our time of meditation…  But the key to always pleasing the Lord, is to obey Him, no matter how difficult or challenging the Lord’s instructions seem to us… 

To obey the Lord takes discipline and self-control…  But in that stillness, we just might find ourselves remembering what Christ did for us…the promise that the Lord will never leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5-6)…and the courage to tackle any situation or trial the Lord puts before us…

Friends, this is where “the rubber meets the road”, so to speak…  It can be painful…it can be scary…it can be daunting…  But the Christian who is lacking a submissive, humbled spirit…will never be able to grow in their intimate relationship with the Lord…  Un-confessed sins, and not following the urging of the Holy Spirit, will leave the Christian with a rebellious spirit that will separate them from the sweet fellowship that walking in the Spirit will provide…Galatians 5:16…

Heavenly Father, I pray that Your Word, and those of Your humble servant Dr. Charles Stanley, if listened to…would urge us through the power and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, to see how important it is to find the time to be still with You…  I pray Lord, that You would cut right to the very core like a two-edged sword, of the soul of those in need of making You the priority in their lives…Hebrews 4:12-13… I pray for this fullness of Christ in all of our lives, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

Blessings in Christ,  bruce r mills