Over the past year, advertisements for "5-minute devotions" kept coming up in my Facebook feed. I kept thinking to myself...
Really?! Only 5 minutes in God's Word?!
I didn't know how much time in God's Word was acceptable, but I knew 5 minutes wasn't enough. Then something happened.
There were days where I didn't plan accordingly, and it seemed I didn't have even 5 minutes to study the Bible. On those days, and even on other days where I planned accordingly to study, I found that, while I was being spiritually filled studying God's Word, many of the impacting things God showed me would happen in less than 5 minutes.
I don't recommend only studying or reading your Bible for 5 minutes a day. What I am saying is that 5 minutes of God's Word is more LIFE CHANGING than an hour doing the things of this world.
Hebrews 4:12 says this:
“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” (New Living Translation)
At face value, that verse is POWERFUL! If we spent 5 minutes dissecting just this verse, we would be edified.
Make time to study your Bible, even if it's only 5 minutes.
Alright, let's get down to business...track one of my worship mix has got to be Everything and Nothing Less, by Chris McClarney.
I spent so much of my life in the world living for myself. Let's be real. Even growing up in the church didn’t really make a difference. I mean, I wasn’t heavily into drugs, I didn’t physically hurt people, and I wasn’t a violent person. Yet I did hurt people, I broke people’s hearts, I took advantage of people, I manipulated people.
I was a mess, but God had a plan for me!
In 2005, I started to realize what God had done for me, and my heart was opened. I realized there was so much more that God wanted to show me, and I longed to grow in my relationship with Him! Simply longing for a relationship with God wasn’t enough though. I really struggled with who I was in the Lord and what I needed to do to live for Him. For the next few years, I lived a life in and out of the church, a life of mediocrity, a life of words saying, “Yes, I’m a Christian and I love God,” but actions saying, "I have no confidence in Christ." I knew I was saved, but really had a hard time walking in it.
And then…in 2013, I was unlocked!
We came to C4 after moving to Colorado, and this fellowship welcomed us in with open arms and showed us the love that God intended for His people. Through all of this, I finally knew what God wanted. He wanted all of me! Romans 12 says:
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
I finally realized that God wanted my heart, my mind, my soul, my body, my life, my family, my work. He wanted to be in and of everything!
He wanted me to surrender everything over to Him and let Him guide me. Giving God everything was a reasonable service to Him, because He gave everything for me through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Last year (I don’t remember exactly when), I was at my desk at work, listening to music and knocking out some work when this song started playing over my headphones. I literally stopped what I was doing, hung my head and worshiped, right there at my desk.
It was the first time I had heard this song, and it literally brought me to tears-- yup, right there at my desk! The song is all about coming humbly before God and giving Him everything, exactly what God wants from us.
When we humble ourselves to the point where we truly give God everything, when we fork it over and put it in His hands, when we say, “This is for You, God-- my life, the way I treat my friends, the way I treat my family, the way that I conduct myself at work, the way that I carry on my life, the way that I encourage people, the way that I do anything that I’m doing.” -- When we can honestly say, “This is for you God,” and when we have given Him everything…not most things…not some things…but truly everything and nothing less, then our lives will be unlocked for the Lord!
I have a ton of work to do in this part of my life, I am NOWHERE near perfect, but God is! And I've come to realize that as long as I place my life in His hands, I will be able to surge forward with Him, and you will too! So here it is, the first song on my mix tape, hit "Play"...and scream it out (Don't mind the people next to you).
