devotions

I've recently started doing my quiet time (bible study). Despite being a Christian my entire life, I didn't actually start doing my quiet time until now. After sharing about the lack in spiritual growth, and under the encouragement of my leader, I finally decided to do it.

For one month, I'll persist in doing it and if it doesn't work out, well, who knows? I'm using material from Joyce Meyer that has been recommended to me countless times. I came in with a heart filled with dread but wow today's devotion blew my mind away.

It spoke to me.

I did not want to continue at first for yesterday's devotion was about listening to the church leaders for leaders supposingly know best about you. As mentioned in my blog entry here, I have problems with my church leader so I really didn't like yesterday's devotion material, but a chat with my Crusade (my christian cca in NTU) leader made me realised how wrong it was.

I thought the 'leader' in question referred to my church leader but it wasn't really. It's my crusade leader that God or the Holy Spirit was probably referring to.

She told me this, "I really encourage you to pray about being intentional in wanting to know God more because that's the first step to hearing what God has to say about the dilemmas you're facing... Like we mentioned during dg that day, spiritual knowledge doesn't just come suddenly but it's a whole long process. Keep doing it for a month as a start and evaluate deeper after that?"

And I realised that it's probably true. If I don't help myself now, no one will. So, I started today's devotion...

Listen to and obey My voice, and I will be your God and you will be My people…But they would not listen to and obey Me or bend their ear [to Me], but followed the counsels and the stubborn promptings of their own evil hearts and minds, and they turned their backs and went in reverse instead of forward. 

—Jeremiah 7:23-24

I believe you are going to act on these devotional readings and begin living boldly and fearlessly as a confident woman. It doesn’t matter how you lived before now; this is a new beginning. Every day God’s mercy is new, and it is available for all of us today. Don’t look back; look forward!

Don’t live constantly comparing yourself with others; be your unique self. (See 2 Corinthians 10:12.) Celebrate who God has made you to be. There is only one who has the unique traits and skills that make up who you are. Enjoy the fact that God knew what He was doing, and rely on the thought that surely God said the same thing about you as He did when He called the world into creation: “And it was good.”

Lord, I will look forward today, and I will follow Your voice and obey. I take hold of Your mercy and rejoice in who You’ve made me to be. Amen.

...and it was awesome.

So I don't know if this devotion thing will really work out for me, but I'll try for a month and I guess I'll see? For now, I'm optimistic about it. ><

Note: There will be more Christian stuff in the future since my religion, again, is closely linked with my thoughts and I too, really want to use this blog as a tracker and marker for my quiet time sessions. Ignore such posts if you're uncomfortable with that.