Daily Devotional for Wednesday December 5, 2018

Have you thought about the fact that God wants to be your friend?

(1 Corinthians 1:9)

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***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, help me to get through this day and the challenges that I will be facing today. Guide me, strengthen me, and give me wisdom as I make choices throughout this day. Please watch over my family and those I love in this world, and keep them safe. I love you Lord, and depend upon you each moment of each day. Bless me as I go through the day, living my life for your glory. In the name of Jesus I pray...AMEN!

I often refer in these Devotionals and in many responses to the prayer requests we receive, that your daily walk with Christ is the most important thing in your life. You can not minimize how important that daily time in prayer and the Word is to your life. In that time of fellowship with Christ, He speaks to you, you share the struggles and joys of your current situations, you gain strength, and you stay focused on what this life is all about.

When a person "backslides" or gets caught up in things that go against what God wants, having that daily time with the Lord usually stops. Why? Because in your rebellion you know you are not doing what the Lord wants. When Adam sinned, He hid from the God he use to fellowship with. When we disobey our parents, we try to avoid them. When we do something wrong at work, we try to cover it up. When we violate the trust with our spouse, we try to avoid them. Why? Because we know we are rebelling, we have allowed sin to control us and we are ashamed and guilty.

As difficult as it may be, when you sin, that is the time to run TO the Lord. We have that special promise in 1 John 1:9 that assures us if we confess our sins, He will forgive us. The problem is, we don't want to stop sinning. We enjoy it. As destructive as sin is, we love it. We play games with ourselves that we will never do it again, but let a little time pass, and we aren't looking at solving the problem, but doing it some more.

Again, deep down we know that it will hurt us, hurt others, possibly even destroy us and many others, but it doesn't matter. Let me say something very clear. SIN IS SELFISH!. The reason it is selfish is that you don't sin in a vacuum. Your sin not only affects you and God, but it affects others. Adultery is one of the most selfish acts you can partake in. For that little pleasure, you destroy so much. There is always a cost to sin, and it is always very expensive.

One of the most important things we can do for our health is preventative...exercise, good nutrition, and regular check-ups. All of these things help us to stay healthy and avoid getting sick. However when we do get sick, do we run from the doctor? Likewise, our daily time with the Lord is our preventative spiritual medicine; however, when we get "sick" we need to run TO the "doctor".

Your personal relationship with the Lord each day will not guarantee you don't make a bad decision or sin, since we all sin and fall short of God's glory. The random sins that we commit are not really what I am talking about. I am focusing more on the habitual sins. Those are the sins, and that is the behavior we can overcome through a real daily walk with Christ, since we will be under such conviction, we will be motivated to overcome our sin.

I love you, and I care about you a great deal. Don't ever underestimate that everything you are and everything you do, flows from your walk with Christ. AS I have said on numerous occasions, that relationship with Him is the only thing you will take from this life into eternity. It is a very special relationship. Like all friendships, it must be nurtured. There is no substitute for time.

A friendship grows day by day, as does our walk with Christ. Not only should it be your top priority each day, but eventually, as your love for Him grows, something you look forward to. We often take for granted that the one who walked this earth 2,000 years ago, the one who gave us the example of how to live life, the one who went to a cross and died a horrible death for OUR sins...wants to be our friend.

I remember growing up becoming friends with Joe Valenzuela. He was my best friend. I was so glad he wanted to be my friend, and I worked hard to be a good friend to him. We did everything together. We played together, hung out, shared so many great times together. 35 years later we are still close. That is the type of friendship I am talking about, and Jesus Christ, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings wants to be your friend and share that type of intimate relationship!

I will be praying for you today. Make your personal, intimate, daily relationship with Christ the very foundation of your life. It will sustain you during the difficult times. It will give you joy in the good times. It will give you strength when you are under attack. It will keep you from falling into many of the traps the enemy has set for you. Jesus loves you, and your relationship with Him must be the very foundation of your life.

In His love and service,

Your friend, brother, and co-laborer in Christ,

Bill Keller