Day 82: Communication to Grow

Reading: Psalm 37:1-9

Communication is a necessary tool in growing any relationship. The same goes for growing in our relationship with God. In Psalms today, we read that when we open up before God, and put our delight in Him, He'll give us the desires of our hearts. God promises many things when we are open and allow Him to give to us.
He promises faith in fear. When we face the the hard and unknown things in life, we can know that our faith in God will provide us a way. Having an open communication with God will help us to place our faith and trust in Him in those hard times.
He promises guidance. When we commit our hearts to God, He'll make a way for us. We may be facing hard decisions in life, and have no clue which path to take. When we give it to God though, as this Psalm suggests, we will have guidance and wisdom that comes from Him. He will open the right doors and close the wrong ones. We can have faith that He intends good in our lives.
He promises to give us peace. When we commit to being quiet before God on a regular basis, it will grow our faith and communication with Him. This causes us to have peace of mind in all situations and to turn to God instead of fretting.


Reading: Luke 4:38-5:16

We can see how busy and tiring Jesus' ministry was as the crowds of people would hunt Him down to be healed, to hear Him, or to bring their loved ones to Him. This ministry was the biggest one that existed, ever. How did Jesus stay so energized and not burn out? In a parable He has the fishermen act out, we see how He does it:
Knowing the Need. Just like there are tons of fish in the Sea of Galilee to be caught, there are tons of people that need to know God. Mission is the primary task of the church. We are called to cast our nets in deep waters.
Knowing that nothing is impossible with Jesus. When Jesus first asks the men to cast their nets, the initial reaction is negative, insisting that they'll catch nothing, as it has been that way all night. But once they realize Jesus is asking them to, they do it, and catch a great amount. Though we may think things are impossible, especially the ones we've already tried over and over, we need to remember that Jesus makes all things possible.
Having partnership. A very important part of ministry is having partnership and unity. When the men catch the huge load of fish, they summon their partners to come help them. We were never meant to carry out the mission alone. When we go on mission trips with a team of people, the last thing we want is disunity and not getting along. It is very unattractive to those you witness to, and causes unsettled issues in the group. The purpose of unity is to build up and to display the love of God.
A worthy vision. When Jesus asks the men to follow Him and to fish for people, they drop everything to follow Him. Could you imagine the though their minds? This was a vision these men believed in. They wanted to be apart of it, so much so that they leave everything to follow it.
Find alone time with God. Everyday, we need to be renewed by Him. When we try to do a day without focus on Him, it makes for a hard day.


Reading: Numbers 15:1-16:35

After reading this shocking section, there is now doubt that God takes communication and relationship with Him seriously. The Sabbath day, though not taken so seriously now, is set aside for us to stop and meet with God. In a culture that continually moves and keeps us busy, it is hard to take a day to just rest and be with God. However, this is vital for our relationships to grow in Him. We saw the penalty in Moses' day for working on the Sabbath. Though death may not stand now, it can sure be bad on our relationship with God when we put our busy schedules before Him.
We also see what happens when we rebel against God's plan. Though these men thought they were doing right by trying to overthrow Moses and Aaron, they were obviously very out of tune with what God's plan was. When we fail to spend time with God and communicate with Him, we run the risk of not knowing His plan too. Though the earth may not swallow us up, we can sure find ourselves down a dark road when we don't follow Him.


Communication is the basis of any relationship. When we fail to communicate, we fail to grow that relationship. Communication keeps us in tune with God's will and plan for us. We can hold passion for His vision when we know His direction. Make it priority to spend time with God, despite our busy lives and schedules. Where do your priorities lie anyways?