By Bill Gaultiere © 2010
Is your heart smiling? Are you appreciating that God is with you? The risen Christ is beside you as you read these words and he breathes his Spirit into you. So take a deep breath to behold Christ… Smile as you breathe out!
What joy it is to pause and appreciate Christ in our hearts! What grace comes to us and others as we pray the name of Jesus Christ! Try praying with me the name of Jesus in Psalm 73:26:
Lord Jesus Christ
Be the strength of my heart
And my portion forever.
Try praying for God’s [...]
Continue reading Smile with Jesus in your Heart!
“[The Lord] raised up for his people [the Christ], the praise of… the people close to his heart” (Psalm 148:14).
“People close to his heart.” I am close to the Lord’s heart! You are close to the Lord’s heart! Doesn’t this make your heart skip with joy? If you join me in this meditation and prayer it will!
Remember John at the Last Supper? He reclined on Jesus’ chest and later he told the whole world again and again: “I am the disciple Jesus loves!” (John 13:23, 26; 20:2; 21:7; 21:20).
What a blessing it is when I’m meditating on Scripture and the Holy Spirit [...]
Continue reading Come Close to Christ
You long to be pursued in love. So do I.
“How are you… really? What do you need? What are you hoping for? How can I pray for you?” When someone expresses genuine personal interest in you it is healing. When you open up to grace it is life-giving.
But somewhere along the line we all have felt rejected… devalued… unknown… lost…
And we have learned to deny our hurts… not have emotional needs… distract ourselves from our inner pain… isolate…
We must come to the point where we cry out to God with the Psalmist: “May my cry come before you, O Lord… May [...]
Continue reading Good Shepherd is Looking for You!
On Palm Sunday Jesus wept over Jerusalem because the people didn’t recognize him (Luke 19:41). Later in Holy Week Jesus cried out for us all: “O how I have longed to gather you as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings!” (Matthew 23:37, paraphrase).
Do you desire to be that close to Christ? David sought to take refuge under the wings of the Lord, snuggled up to his chest. We can “take heart” from him.
In Psalm 61:1-4 David is in a desert wilderness and he prays: “Hear my cry, O God… From the ends of the earth I call to you… Lead me to [...]
Continue reading Jesus is My Refuge
In the Bible David is called a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). What does it mean that David had a heart for God?
David longed to draw closer to the Lord. He devoted his whole heart to God. His Psalms are filled with this holy longing of his soul for more of God.
We know that sometimes David strayed from his devotion to the Lord. He had an affair with Bathsheba and then arranged for her husband Uriah to be killed in battle! He neglected his children. He had issues with pride and anger, particularly in his reign as king. But the difficulties that David [...]
Continue reading One Thing (Psalm 27 Prayer)
Try coming to Jesus as a child
Is Jesus enough for you? Really? Is being close to Jesus what is most important to you?
One way important way to connect with Jesus is by being child-like with him. Even responsible adults have an “inner child” that longs to know the “Abba” (Hebrew for “Papa”) that Jesus showed us. Cultivating child-like trust in God is pretty important! Jesus said, “Unless you become as a child you will never enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 18:3).
So imagine yourself as a child in Jesus’ arms…
What do you feel if you think of [...]
Continue reading Is Jesus Enough for You?
Let your hunger pangs be as church bells
I have written that Fasting is Feasting on God’s Word…
A ministry leader said to me: “It’s hard enough for me to quiet my mind when I’m not hungry! How can I learn to enjoy meditating on Scripture when I’m hungry? And why would I want to do this?”
I use fasting (from food, but drinking plenty of water) as part of my own rhythm of life. I learned this years ago from reading Thomas a Kempis’ classic devotional book, “The Imitation of Christ.”
Continue reading How Fasting Could Help You
When the shepherds in our churches and Christian organizations are depressed, overstressed, or struggling with compulsive behavior then the sheep they care for suffer.
If pastors are not growing in their own intimacy with Jesus then their ministry to others is diminished. If Christian leaders are distracted from setting aside ministry demands to be still with God and open up their hearts to him then they probably are having trouble hearing his voice and relying on his Spirit in their ministry.
Recent statistics…
