Devions for 7th Jan 2017

Psalm 145: 18
The Lord is near to all who call on him.

Again this is David who is expressing his personal experiences with God who has been a faithful God to him. David was more than just an ordinary man, firstly because he was a man after God’s heart. He delights in worshiping and fellow-shipping with God and there is no other worshiper like him.

It was recorded that he worshiped and danced before God he gave his whole heart to it, he even removed his outer garments so that he would not be hindered in his expressive way of worship. In the same manner God also delights in receiving David’s worship and has always him for it. It is always recorded in scriptures that God loves David’s worship.

Worship has been a practice of David from his young days and it has been a lifestyle for him. He knew the heart of God and the promises of God just as the prophet Jeremiah wrote in  Jer 33: 3 call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. God had always wanted to bless His children and this is an open invitation to His children to call to Him in their times of need.

To be able to receive a response from God, we need to build our relationship with Him; we must not come to Him only when we are in need. Instead we must come to Him on a daily basis and build that communication line with God just as David did. When we have that in place, we would be able to call to our Abba Father at any time and He will surely delight in receiving or prayers and answering them.

This is God promise to us, first we draw near to Him and then He will draw near to us. Again he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah in Jer 29: 12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will harken unto you. Here is the secret to answered prayers. We must call out to God, not only during our times of need but even when times are good, offering our adoration and thanksgiving, praising Him for all His goodness and blessing.

Again we learn from David who has built a close and personal relationship with God that he could even call to God like a friend. He could talk to God like he would talk to his earthly father or an earthly friend. He could express his words in earthly terms that we would normally use as we talk to our friend.

Look at the example of how David speaks to God in Psalm 103: Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily. David is asking God not to hide His face from him and ignore him when he is in trouble. Who else can speak to God like that on a personal one to one basis unless they have a mutual respect for each other?

Would we be able to do that? The answer is no because we have yet to build up the relationship with God the Father, and to do that we need to do what David had done. We need to spend time talking to God and hearing from Him throughout the day and night. David said that he would worship God when he wakes up and also when he lay down to sleep.

Throughout his waking hours David worshiped God. We can also do this as we walk, as we do our work, even as we engage in our sports and hobbies. A good example is some of the devoted Christians who are Olympians and professional sportsmen and sportswomen. We see that they are not ashamed to thank God and worship Him after achieving every victory in the sport. Right in front of the TV cameras they worship God and let the whole world know that it is God who had helped them to win.

In the same manner we musts never be ashamed to thank God publicly for all the goodness and blessing He has showered upon us.