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Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the Law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep His statutes and seek Him with all their heart. — Psalm 119:1-2
Against the flesh, the traitor within, a warrior uses discipline.
We have a two-dimensional version of this now, which we call a “quiet time.” But most men have a hard time sustaining any sort of devotional life because it has no vital connection to recovering and protecting their strength; it feels about as important as flossing.
But if you saw your life as a great battle and you knew you needed time with God for your very survival, you would do it.
Maybe not perfectly — nobody ever does and that’s not the point anyway — but you would have a reason to seek Him. We give a half-hearted attempt at the spiritual disciplines when the only reason we have is that we “ought” to. But we’ll find a way to make it work when we are convinced we’re history if we don’t.
Time with God each day is not about academic study or getting through a certain amount of Scripture or any of that.
It’s about connecting with God.
We’ve got to keep those lines of communication open, so use whatever helps.
Sometimes I’ll listen to music; other times I’ll read Scripture or a passage from a book; often I will journal; maybe I’ll go for a run; then there are days when all I need is silence and solitude and the rising sun.
The point is simply to do whatever brings me back to my heart and the heart of God.
The discipline, by the way, is never the point. The whole point of a “devotional life” is connecting with God. This is our primary antidote to the counterfeits the world holds out to us.
Excerpted with permission from Knowing the Heart of God: A Year of Devotional Readings to Help You Abide in Him by John Eldredge, copyright Thomas Nelson.
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Your Turn
Do you (men and women) see your life as a great battle in which you desperately need communication with God in order to survive? How do you connect with God every day? How do you get back in daily touch with your heart and the heart of God? Come join the conversation on our blog. We want to hear from you! ~ Devotionals Daily
