God And Christian Life Essays - Christian Soteriology,

God And Christian Life A healthy, vibrant, growing and happy Christian life requires a regular routine of communion with God through prayer, study His Word, and in Christian service to mankind. Like eating, sleeping, and exercising, it demands daily attention. And like our bodies, our spiritual life quickly withers and dies without spiritual food. I. Communicating Your Mind with Him The story of Enoch is a great example of a man who spent much time in prayer and communion with God. In fact He kept his mind in tune with God in every respect of his daily living?in thought, in word and in deed. To him prayer was as the breath of the soul; he lived in the very atmosphere of heaven. Because he lived so close to God, he was translated to heaven without seeing death. How can we achieve in our individual life the same holiness that characterized his, a state that will enable God to place us among the 144,000, to seal us, and to take us home with him without seeing death? Friends, only Time Alone With God will give us the experience of Enoch. The disciples had worked hard fulfilling Christ's commitment. But now after their return from their missionary journey. He invited them to retire to a quiet place with Him. They needed to enjoy not only a little rest but also a period of close communion with the Saviour. "And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while" (Mark 6:31). In the close and private setting with the future apostles, Jesus could communicate freely with them, correct their mistakes, encourage them, strengthen them for the great task they were soon to do. As did the disciples, we too require the refreshing company of the source of all power, comfort, and wisdom. Every child of God vitally needs precious moments of private communion with Him. In our hurries and worries of life, even in the work of God, every Christian must have time dedicated to his private devotions. The Master's loving reproach to the busy and concerned Martha also illustrates this point. "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41,42) Every one of us needs "that good part, which shall not be taken away"?to sit quietly at the feet of Jesus, like Mary, and commune with Him. But the time factor is extremely important. As Enoch spent hours alone with God, we need to devote enough time with Him. We live in an age of hurry. Many voices require our attention. And we try to do everything briefly. Our meetings, our presentations, our articles, our interviews, are short. But one thing still takes time, even in our day. To develop a love relationship we must invest time. The young man who falls in love with a girl wants to spend as much time as possible with her. As he courts her, he does not count time by the watch. Neither does she. And the more time they take to be together, to communicate with each other, the more they know each other, the more they appreciate each other, the more intense their love becomes. Friends, our private hour of devotion alone with God is an absolutely vital need. Every Christian must meditate alone and talk with his Father alone. It was during his hour of seclusion with God when Jacob won his victory, when his character received the needed divine touch and he consequently received his new name. Paul really changed the whole aim and direction of his life during the three days he spent by himself with God after his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road. Without sight, he had enough time to mediate on the scriptures that referred to the first advent of Christ. And there he yielded completely to the Spirit's voice. During his hour of solitude with God Elijah heard the "still small voice" of the Holy Spirit speaking to his heart and bringing him courage and hope. The Spirit can communicate with us much better when everything is quiet. If we are not constant and regular in our devotional life, we are not safe. May God give us the willingness to cut out the superfluous and secondary things of life in order to dedicate more time to daily communion with God. Only then will we have the strength to win life's battles