12-30-18 The First 15

The Weekly Overview As this year comes to a close, it’s vital that we take time to both reflect on what God has done and allow him to prepare us for what’s to come. A new year marks a fresh opportunity to center our lives around the goodness of God. I pray that as you begin looking toward what is to come you will make space to gain God’s perspective, ground your hopes and pursuits on his grace, and celebrate all that God has done and is doing. May your time with God this week be filled with the loving presence of your heavenly Father. The Scripture “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” - Psalm 37:4 The Worship Experience Artist: United Pursuit ft. Andrea Marie Song: Let It Happen The Devotional God longs for his children to dream. He longs for us to set aside time with him to wish and wonder about what life could be. I fear that many Christians have lost the art of dreaming with God out of a misunderstanding of his heart. While God most definitely has a will for our lives, he also longs for us to dream with him so that his desires become our own. While he most definitely has perfect plans for us, he longs for us to want his plans that we might co-labor with him rather than being dragged by him like an ill-tempered child into what’s best. May we make time today as the new year approaches to dream with God that our hearts may be filled with his longings and desires. The chief way in which God wants to lead you is by planting dreams in your heart and then satisfying those dreams. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Our Father longs for us to be so delighted in him that we would want what he wants. He longs to fill us with right desires and then satisfy those desires in his perfect timing and in his perfect way. He longs for us to trust him as our good Shepherd to such a depth that we joyfully follow him wherever he leads. You see, Psalm 37:4 is more about delighting ourselves in God than getting what we currently think we want most. It’s more about the pursuit of him as our chief joy than anything we could receive from him. God alone knows what’s best for us. He alone has the perspective and wisdom to shepherd us to a truly abundant life. And we will never follow someone we don’t trust has our best will at heart. To make God our chief joy is to surrender our lives to the overwhelming goodness and grace of an omnipotent, omnipresent, and fully loving Father. God is both willing and able to lead us into the fullness of abundant life. He is both willing and able to fill us with right longings and desires if we will simply open our hearts and trust him. Until we center our hearts, and therefore our lives, totally and completely around the goodness and will of our heavenly Father, we will never experience all this life has to offer. The gateway to living filled and satisfied is simply enjoying God and allowing our hearts to become like his. Know today that your heavenly Father longs to dream with you. He longs to hear what it is you most desire. He longs to have conversation with you about what’s best. And he longs to be your chief joy, that the greatest cry of your heart is to delight yourself in him and receive whatever comes with fully restored, unbridled relationship with him. May your day be marked by a filling of new desires from your loving Father. The Prayer 1. Meditate on God’s heart to be your chief joy and to dream with you. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 2. In what ways do you need to make God your chief joy? What have you placed above him in your heart? What are you looking to for joy, security, and fulfillment above God? 3. Take time to enjoy God and ask him to fill you with dreams and desires. In his presence take note of what you long for. Ask him to transform your heart that you may desire what he wants. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Matthew 7:11 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Psalm 84:11 “For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.” Psalm 33:21 Psalm 37:23-24 says, “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.” There is no greater pursuit than simply delighting in the Lord. When we delight ourselves in him, life becomes incredibly simple. It’s in the mixing of God and the world that our hearts feel burdened and confused. Assess the status of your heart today. To what level are you delighting in God? Will the chief pursuit of your life be God or the world? Get lost in the love of your heavenly Father today and allow your life to become swept up in his overwhelming goodness. Extended Reading: Psalm 37 CRAIG DENISON is the author and founder of First15, a daily devotional guiding tens of thousands of believers into a fresh experience with God's presence every day. He writes, speaks, and he and his wife, Rachel lead worship to help believers establish a more tangible, meaningful connection with God.