Day 7 - God is With You (Review of week 1)

Every seventh day, we're going to hit the pause button and reflect on the readings and thoughts of the previous week.

During this first week of "Dear God," we had Scripture readings and reflected on the fact that God is with us.

God is always with us. You can choose to admit and embrace that, or you are free to ignore Him. Either option comes with a level of risk, doesn't it.

Embracing the presence of God should remind you of the glory, the opportunity, and the power He has in every moment.

Rejecting the presence of God means you ignore the care, the love, and the guidance God offers for every moment.

That's a huge decision, and we face it every single day.

So, three questions...

(1) What has God taught you over the past week?
Personally, I was reminded about how God's presence with us, and His intentions for a relationship with us - these thoughts are clear throughout the entire Bible. Psalms is a great place to see the conversations between a man and his God, but relationship with God is a priority from Genesis to Revelation.

God has taught me - again - about the value, need, priority - for me to spend time with him personally. Just God and Gary. With my job, I get lots of time as "Pastor Gary" and God... but this has been a great time to set aside even more time to think, reflect, pray, journal, and just be myself with Him.

What has God taught you? I'd love to hear any thoughts if you want to post a comment...

(2) How do you hope to get to know Him better in the next few weeks?
I hope to develop a more balanced prayer life. To pray words of praise that develop the practice of humbly approaching God and acknowledging His leadership over my life and circumstances. To expose sin or problem areas that I need to bring before God in prayer. To learn to ask God for the needs and desires of my heart, rather than try to attain them for myself.

I hope to strengthen my consistent conversation of prayer throughout the day, and that His Spirit will help me remember the things I too easily forget.

(3) What are some more things you would like to pray about?
I am praying about our neighborhood and community. Delaware (Ohio) is a great place to live, but there are a lot of needs here. The challenging economy has been tough on many families in our country. In some cases, people are starting to seek God for the first time.

I want to pray every day for Jennie, Allie, Luke, and Julie. Our family is a huge blessing to me, and I want to do my best to love them and encourage them to love God too.

Some people want me to pray for the Steelers to win tonight. I'm not sure if I'll pray for that one. =)

I am also praying for you, as you read through these "Dear God" prayer notes... I pray that God will help you get to know Him, to interact with Him, to learn about Him, and reap the benefits of that Father-child relationship you have with God.