Luke 6:12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
Have you ever noticed that most of our phone conversations go something like this? You call, say a word or two, they'll say a short thing or two in reply and then something like "Ok, in the middle of something, gotta run, talk to you later"! That's a good example of most of our telephone conversations with people when we were living in the United States.
Now that we're living in Israel however, it's a slightly different story. When we call America now, people are always making time to talk to us. In fact, usually, they excuse themselves and go into a separate room so they can hear us loud and clear! And vice versa when they call us! But that got us thinking.
If we make some time and excuse ourselves from a room to talk to someone important on the telephone, how much more should we do these things for the Lord of Glory?!
William Wilberforce, a Christian statesman of Great Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, once said, "I must secure more time for private devotions. I have been living far too public for me. The shortening of private devotions starves the soul. It grows lean and faint."
We don't starve our bodies, do we? Then why do we starve our souls? We would never dream of not eating for a month or two, but how long has it been since we've gotten to a quiet room to nourish our souls with the Lord? Seems ironic, doesn't it? Our bodies are only temporary -- they will be buried six feet under someday, along with our belongings eventually. Our soul, though, is what we should be nourishing daily, what we should be guarding as our most prized possession because it will always be around!
Let's make sure our priorities are straight. Let's be sure to excuse ourselves from the hustle and bustle -- so we can hear from the Lord -- loud and clear!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]My wife and I are celebrating our 20-year wedding anniversary tomorrow and it would seem that I know her pretty well. But every once in a while, she says or does something that surprises me -- and I think to myself "Wow, I guess I didn't know her as well as I thought!" The more time I spend with her, the more I get to know her -- her heart, her character -- the more we become intimate.
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Pregnancy in a woman involves the intimate, meticulous development of a human life in her womb. The Hebrew word for womb is "rechem". The verb, "rachem" (with the same root letters) means to love, to love deeply, to have mercy and to be compassionate. The connection in Hebrew between "womb" and "love" or "compassion" is literally visceral. A mother's love for her baby, so natural, deep, tender and compassionate, beautifully exemplifies our Father’s love for us. He is compassionate and merciful toward his human creatures.
Last night, my wife decided to stay up late to watch the opening night of the Messiah Conference by live stream Internet (a huge gathering of Messianic Jews and Israel loving Christians from all over the world, taking place annually in Harrisburg Pa). Low and behold, who's voice came through the loudspeakers but Riv's, as a dance troupe danced beautifully to her song "Kes Harachamim" (Mercy Seat). How cool!
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