Good morning and welcome to Daily Devo, the best way to start your day in the Word of
God! My name is Whitney Meade, and welcome to the show. Not only “Welcome to the show,”
but welcome to Season 2 of Daily Devo! I am so thankful that you’ve joined me for another
season and I have some exciting things planned for us in 2020.
I love Januaries. We have a new, fresh, clean slate of a year ahead. As I pondered Season
2 of Daily Devo with the Lord, 4 words bubbled up in my heart: Refresh, Renew, Revive, and
Reclaim.
One more time: Refresh, Renew, Revive, and Reclaim.
January is always a month where, in the Spirit, we take some time to evaluate our plans for
the year. As we enter into season 2 of Daily Devo, I’d like to guide you through the
process that I do personally at the start of a New Year to make sure that I’m stepping
out with my best foot forward with the Lord. I *love* this stuff! So this month, we’re
going to start with refreshment.
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to take a real-life look at how we can bring
refreshment to our lives in a practical, tangible way. I don’t like the self-help talk of
concepts with no real action. We’re going to take REAL action this month!
So today, let’s talk about one of the core areas of our spiritual walk with God that
can bring the MOST impact to our lives: prayer.
When I first started walking with the Lord, prayer was on my radar, but not *that* vital.
I didn’t understand how people could talk about spending 30 minutes or an hour in prayer…
that seemed like an eternity!
It wasn’t until I started to experience God talking “back” to me in my prayer
time that I fell in love with the practice. Did you know that God still communicates with
us through the Holy Spirit during our prayer time? He does, and you can experience it too!
I’d like to share a practice with you called contemplative prayer. It may seem a little
weird the first few times you try it, but once you get going, you’re going to be absolutely
hooked. I promise!
The way I practice contemplative prayer is to find a tranquil place and sit still before
God. I will usually start by reading some scripture to myself and then close my eyes
and open my heart to the Presence of God. I will say to the Lord, “Lord, here I am.
Speak to my heart today.” I will continue to sit quietly and wait for a “knowing”
to come to my spirit. Sometimes, I’ll get a picture like a movie playing on the movie
screen of my heart. Sometimes, it’s words that will come into my innermost core. I’ve
only heard the audible voice of God once, but others have mentioned hearing God’s
voice in their prayer time.
When you experience this communion with God, you open the door to what it’s like to communicate
with God all day long. For me, it has made the practice of talking to Jesus all day a
reality. There is a divine mystery to our relationship with God - this is one of those
practices. When Jesus left this earth, He said to His disciples in John 14: “15 “If
you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept
him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you
and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before
long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also
will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me,
and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The
one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to
them.”
Let’s skip to Verse 25: “25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But
the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things
and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace
I give you.”
If the Holy Spirit doesn’t communicate with us in the present day, through prayer and
through the Word of God, why would Jesus say that He will teach us all things and remind
us of all the things Jesus said to the Disciples?
He does still communicate with us if only we will get still and listen. Refresh your
mind and heart today, and give contemplative prayer a try.
Thanks for watching, don’t forget to subscribe to the channel, and I’ll see you bright
and early tomorrow morning!