Becoming Strong in the Lord: Part 5 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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All this week, John North is focusing on becoming strong in the Lord, and shares from the apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus:

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22

Transcript

I’m here to help you start your day right as we look at God’s word together and spend some time with God.

God wants to meet with us. I’m sure of it. Are you ready to listen and receive what He has to say to you? We’re looking this week at the theme of becoming strong in the Lord.

And today I want to look at a one-line verse in the New Testament, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, where Paul simply says in this verse, pray without ceasing.

Pray without ceasing.

It’s sandwiched in among some other things that he’s challenging them to do for their spiritual health.

Rejoice always, he says, and then pray without ceasing, and then in everything give thanks.

You see, he’s talking about a way of life that changes us.

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Praying without ceasing makes your relationship with God healthy.

You know, it’s difficult to, as they say, fall out of love with your spouse if you’re constantly in touch with him, constantly in touch with her, communicating, expressing your feelings, listening, acknowledging what they’re saying to you, well, in the same way in your relationship with God.

It’s difficult to fall out of touch with God, to give in to sin in your life if you are constantly in touch with the Lord.

That doesn’t mean that all the time you are constantly chattering, constantly talking to God. No, it means there’s this constant attitude of communication, an attitude of openness.

Quite often, along with my nephew, I open up a chat on my computer, a chat line. And every now and then one of us will type a little message to the other and some time later there’ll come a message back. The line is always open. We can always chat with each other. It doesn’t mean we’re talking all the time, but there is communication there in the same way.

Learn to be in-line with God all the time. Having open communication, any relationship that you value will grow in strength, in line with the amount of time that you spend in communication with that person.

Have you learned the secret of growing strong in the Lord? That is – Praying without ceasing.

I’m John North.

To go deeper in your faith, visit AFCI.com.au.

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