Fresh Start - Real Devotion

As we begin the new year, we have to go back to the basics again

• We are laying a foundation to build on this year

• One of the things that we will be doing this year is REPEATING ideas

  • Not sermons

  • Not the same thing weekly, but theoretically:

    • Real devotion

    • Real community

    • Real response

    • Making the goodness of Jesus unavoidable

    • Being disciples who make friends, and being friends who make disciples

One of the things that we are striving to develop here is REAL DEVOTIONAL LIFE

That means that I have a consistent, vibrant walk with God

John 15:4–5,8 (NKJV)

4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

I want to go back and read a portion of scripture that (to me) is a picture of a REAL devotional life: DANIEL

• We don't have time to go into the whole story, but  we will pull out some excerpts of his life

  • This was the same guy who they threw into a pit for lions to eat and found his alive and well the next morning!

Israel here is in Babylonian Exile

Daniel 6:7–10 (ESV)

7 All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction. 10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.

ONE - His time was structured but it was not a routine!

Do not misunderstand what I said last week - we need structure in our time spent with God

• Here are some ways to add structure to your time spent with Jesus:

• Bible reading plans

  • Start off in the NT, read it sequentially

  • Read one chapter of Proverbs for every day of the month

  • YouVersion has a ton - give yourself something that you can handle, don't be a hero

• Guided prayers

  • Use Psalms or other Scriptural prayers and walk through them personally:

    • FOR EXAMPLE: Colossians 1:9–11 (ESV) 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;

• Again, youVersion has a resource here

• Have a time and place

  • Turn your work commute into a prayer time!

    • Listen to a worship song and then respond in your own words!

We want to create habits, not checklists!

• This year: my responses will condition my reactions

So that bill that the king had put into law, was the very thing that they used against Daniel (because he was one of the King's main guys)

Daniel 6:16–22 (ESV)

16 Then the king commanded, and Daniel was brought and cast into the den of lions. The king declared to Daniel, “May your God, whom you serve continually, deliver you!” 17 And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. 18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him. 19 Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. 20 As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”

Learning to build structure into your time spent with God will pay dividends in the supernatural!

Daniel 9:20–23 (ESV)

20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, 21 while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. 23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.

TWO - His HABIT of prayer was the key to revelation

• In times of prayer he was having visions

• In OTHER times of prayer he was receiving understanding

In other words - one prayer moment wasn't the key to it all!

• Time spent in the word and in prayer BUILDS upon itself

One of the things that we have to be mindful of is CONSISTENCY - I want to be faithful to my appointments with Jesus.

• Revelation comes from persistence - one experience is not enough.

Daniel 10:10–14 (ESV)

10 And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. 11 And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. 12 Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. 13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, 14 and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”

His prayers were heard, but his answers were delayed

• When you can't feel it, doesn't mean that it's not working

• There is a war happening in the supernatural realm

DON'T STOP PRAYING!

I love what Gabriel told Daniel in 9:23

23 At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out

Sometimes I have to remind myself that I'm praying prayers that may have already been answered - I just don't know it yet!

James 5:16 (NKJV)

16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.