The Takeaway-Giveaway

‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. Acts 2:17 (NLT)

For years, my bedtime habit before falling asleep every night was to pray and ask God to visit me in my dreams. Some of my favorite Bible stories are those that include God speaking to His people through dreams, visions or unusual outlets (think burning bushes, donkeys, clouds or pillars of fire).

God was very faithful in answering my prayers for nightly visitations and spiritual dreams for a long period of time. Lately however … not so much. The fault lies with me, not God. I stopped asking God for nightly visitations. Life’s been busy and since I started babysitting my grand-baby earlier this year, I fall into bed every night exhausted. My head barely hits the pillow before I pass out, leaving no time to pray for anything.

Now that we’ve put a little time between us and the church-wide campaign, “What on Earth Am I Here For?” I’ve been anxious to hear from God again. Rick Warren’s book both spoke to me and challenged me at the same time. Daily reading of the devotions in his book only highlighted the fact that I’ve become a little lax in my prayer time and Scripture reading in the past few months.

Rick Warren concludes that in order for us to hear from God, we have to be willing and available to hear from God. We’ve got to want conversations with God. As much as I want to talk to God and have Him talk to me, I’ve wanted sleep more.

Since finishing Pastor Warren’s book, I’ve been making a concerted effort to be in the Word daily. I’m rereading Rick’s book before bed each night and praying for those spiritual dreams again.

I often struggle with the knowledge of the very basic principle that God loves me. With so many people on the planet, why would He want to visit me? If I’m being honest, there are times I’ve purposely chosen to ignore God because I’ve felt too unworthy to talk to Him. I’ve not always felt God’s love.

Rick Warren’s book pointed out repeatedly that not only does God really love us, but he specifically created us exactly as we are in spite of our flaws and failures. Every ounce of our DNA was purposely designed by Him and for Him.

The greatest takeaway for me from the campaign was the assurance that in spite of what my parents may have felt about my birth, — God loves me. I am not an accident. I’m not unworthy. God wants to talk to me. God wants ME to talk to Him. God dreams of me – even when I don’t dream of Him.

It seems elementary, but Jesus Loves Me, THIS I KNOW. I pray you rest in that knowledge as well. We are never too old to be reminded of the basics such as God’s love for us. Now it’s my job to giveaway my takeaway and remind YOU that it’s no accident that God created you for His pleasure and JESUS LOVES YOU!

Blessings in Christ,
Kathy K.