Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty! Proverbs 14:23
IF YOU DON’T MAKE IT A PRIORITY IT WILL NEVER BE A REALITY
I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. Philippians 3:12
Anybody can have a desire but growth doesn't happen until that desire shifts into discipline.
And you must love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, ALL your soul, ALL your mind, and ALL your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Mark 12:30-31
“If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” Matthew 10:37-39
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. John 10:10
When you are intimately connected with someone you have a deep desire to do what they love.
1. DO I DESIRE TO SPEND TIME WITH GOD?
Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. Romans 12:1 GNT
“Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.” Mark 1:35
“After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.” Matthew 14:23
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33
2. DO I HUNGER TO READ GODS WORD?
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
“ The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” John 6:63
Faith happens and your heart changes when we read not out of obligation but out of expectation.
3. DO I HAVE A HEART FOR OTHERS
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” 1 John 4:8-9
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10
TAKE HOME
Intimacy is a result of consistency
“Let our prayer be that when we stand before God one day that we won't have one ounce of talent, creativity, or energy left, simply because we gave God everything we had…”