#lovedevotion

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Carlos Santana - Love Devotion Surrender 1973 July 20 #carlossantana #johnmclaughlin #lovedevotion #jazz #rock #fusion #onthisdayinmusic #vinylcollectionpost https://www.instagram.com/p/CC45Pj3J_Jh/?igshid=1dplncb7frkhn

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Do you know what God really wants from you?

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

+ Micah 6:8

  Are we really aware of the answer to the question? Usually, we simply tend to believe that God would be okay and satisfied if we only just focus ourselves on church work, have the Bible read throughout the year and probably do a couple few good deeds. Now I am not saying these are bad things and infact I encourage you to continue to do them since all good works is a Blessing but there are those times where even though we do them, we sometimes tend to miss out on what God really wants from us and things that God thinks are important for our Christian walk of faith. 

Some of the attributes that God really wants us to have basically is how we treat everyone around us and as the verse in Micah 6:8 says- we are to do what is right, to make kindness a passion and last but not least be humble in our walk with God.

There are so many people around us in our world who have never seen the face of kindness- always mistreated, abused and taken advantage of. This is where we should step in and it is our opportunity to show justice to these people and most of all share with them the joy that Jesus died for them to have. There are so many women out there who are feeling helpless and lost and without a voice to cry out. As Christians we need to step out and bridge these gaps and be the voice for those who do not have the strength to cry out. We should be the light that wipes out their darkness so that their lives may be restored to the knowledge of our beautiful God and His enduring love for them. This is no different to men and we should do the same of all of them.

Our modern society is one that pressures perfection on all of us and as a result most of us carry around this weight of wanting to achieve perfection so that we would be accepted by our peers. But Christ did not call the perfect to carry out His mission and neither did He ever ask anyone to be but instead demonstrated acceptance and love- He showed mercy to everyone alike. Just as God shows us kindness and mercy all the days of our lives, we need to be the same with those around us as well- show everyone kindness and mercy. 

Lastly God wants us all to be Humble. Being the people that we are, we sometimes love showing ourselves off as being better compared to others around us. We love to set ourselves on a pedestal and create a gap between ourselves and others when it comes to being better. We are all made equal and create equally and therefore we should avoid viewing ourselves as better than anyone else. Humility is such an important facet in our Christian walk.

Therefore I encourage all of you today to exercise all the attributes that God really wants you to have- Be just, love kindness and show mercy, and to be humble.

  > During His ministry, Jesus walked amongst us demonstrating His character of being just, being merciful to everyone and by being humble. Just as 1 John 2:6 says, my Prayer to you today is that as a child of God, you would walk the same a Jesus did and be a shining light that dispels the darkness out of this world. Amen.

Many Blessings,

+ Jude / www.walkthesame.com

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Seeking the Presence of God

“O my God, since thou art with me, and i must now, in obedience to thy commands, apply my mind to these outward things, i beseech thee to grant me the grace to continue in thy presence; and to this end do thou prosper me with thy assistance, receive all my works, and possess all my affections."

+ Brother Lawrence

  When it comes to God we always are eager to find out all that He can do for us but one of the most important things that we should learn in our Christian walk of faith is that it is just as important to seek the face of God and come into personal union with Him and forge this intimate relationship with Him. Just like you would take the time to bond and form and close and tight knit relationship with a member of your family or a dear friend whom you love, it is no different with God and I believe that this is a vital ingredient in all of our lives.

Personally it was a huge lesson for me to learn because I tended to take focus on what God was doing or not doing for me and my attitude towards Him just depended around that area. But as I learnt to enjoy the Presence of God, my life changed gradually and I've started to enjoy my days much better than I used to. It just simply renovated my spiritual life. No more did I find anything missing in my walk with the Lord. 

During my early years, the Lord was doing so much for me and yet I found myself always grumpy since I just couldn't recognize all the Blessings that He had gifted me with. True I was enjoying what I had but I simply wanted more. I was merely enjoying what God was doing for me but I realized that I was so grumpy like I was because I had never found myself taking the time to enjoy God's presence with me. I decided that it was time to stop being the baby christian that I was and realized that it was time to step forward and become a mature one by seeking to do His will.

Ofcourse seeking His presence isn't going to be a joy ride or as enjoyable as that yummy slice of chocolatey cake. The journey to seek the face of God can be a huge time of testing and it was a challenge that I decided to take on. I decided that I should avoid asking Him for things altogether and instead ask Him to give me the strength to spend more time with Him as much as possible, everyday so that I could build up an intimate relationship with my Father. Ever since that day, my prayers have changed drastically. I used to ask things from God all the time- Give me this and give me that. That was just about this. I still do ask Him to provide me with His blessings but, these days I praise and thank Him more for what He has already blessed me with in my life and nothing feels good to thank Him for providing for me. 

God knows what we desire even before we ask Him of it so I figured that I would rather use up all of my energy in me to Praise and Thank Him instead. 

> Love God for His Presence and not His Presents. Pray to God and tell Him that you would seek His presence more than you would anything else.

  Many Blessings,

+ Jude / www.walkthesame.com