“Finding the new life of love, joy, and peace the Bible promises requires less obsession and more devotion. I can’t possibly overstate that truth. . . . obsessions cannot do what we want them to; they can’t deliver us from the old life and move us into the new. We have to put God at the center of our souls.”- Bob Merritt (emphasis author’s)
As Bob Merritt continues Chapter 12 of Done With That, he stresses the need to invite God into every part of your day. Therefore, invite God to walk with you the entire day. Ask Him to lead you, fill you with His Spirit, encourage and protect you.
However, Pastor Merritt has learned not to rush headlong into his daily activities without placing God at the center to guide him. Because otherwise he gets soul sick with anxiety, emptiness, and loneliness. As a result, the author offers four nonnegotiables to help reduce our obsessions and increase our devotion. He covers the first two today.
1. Take charge of your spiritual health. A live devoted to God occurs through intentionality, not accidentally. Hence, going with the flow “always pushes us onto the banks of our obsessions and into the land of sin.”
Thus, you need to take charge. You build automatic structures into your life. Then, you know exactly where you’re headed so God can meet you there.
2. Commit to daily devotion. Daily devotion can sound boring. However, Pastor Merritt notes, when pain gets so loud and painful, that boring feeling dissipates. When not earthly fix exists, the soothing calm of God’s Spirit becomes something you want to live with every day. Pastor Merritt exhorts:
“It’s time to be done with starving our souls and begin connecting to the Vine, who gives and sustains life. Remain in Him every day, and I know He’ll fill spaces in your soul with things you never knew about and soon won’t be able to live without.”
Today’s question: What Scriptures help you in finding the new life? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Unnecessary additions to your life”
