Disciples' Devotion

This post comes as a sort of confession and conviction. In my teenage years, I remember praying every night to God, usually asking for salvation, to affirm I was a Christian, and then I would start the cycle of sinning afresh each day. Constant disobedience to my parents, looking at porn for hours on end, any evil inclination of the heart can imagine was pretty much what mine looked like.

Years later, after I decided to start a life of repentance thanks to the kindness of God (Romans 2:4), I can remember how joyful I was to pray! I would lie in bed at night and smile and thank God for His sweet mercy, started going to the weekly prayer meetings on campus I'd avoided for years (who could wake up at 6:30am to pray?!), and would spout of quick prayers during the day. I neglected, however, to read the Bible. And while I was kept from sin for a time, only by the grace of God, I soon noticed just how difficult it would be to crucify those fleshly desires.

While serving overseas, I gave into temptation and started viewing websites I hadn't been to in nearly four years. Soon after that, I was withdrawn from my local fellowship. I blamed it on culture shock, but really it was sin. I stopped praying. I couldn't even think to pick up my Bible. And that's what sin does: it separates, uproots, and destroys. It took three years for me to find my way again.

Looking at the devotion of the early disciples, I was heavily convicted. They seem to always be praying. The first few chapters of Acts constantly show the disciples in prayer, asking for boldness to proclaim the Gospel, praying for others, praying over people being sent out, and praying for things we are unaware of. The point is, they devoted themselves to prayer. May we, as followers of the Lord Jesus, be as devoted as they were and expect Him to work as gloriously as He did in the first century.

His mercies are new each day; His love is steadfast; He is slow to anger; He is righteous; He is holy, holy, holy; He is Judge; He is King; He is Redeemer; and He is my friend! May the glory and honor of Jesus Christ be shone to all who cross our paths today, by word and deed. Amen.