Full Devotion

040908
1 Samuel 7: 3 And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, "If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.

2 Corinthians 9: 6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

Samuel was definitely hearing the voice of God. He tells the Israelites that if they truly are returning and repenting with all their hearts, they will rid themselves of the false idols in their lives. Instead of listening to Samuel, the people simply put away the idols. It seems that they just put them in a closet somewhere so that they can pull them out later. They are not fully dedicated to the Lord. Also, Paul speaks to the Corinthians about sowing generously. If people give generously, then they will reap generously. God is essentially giving back. If we give God 100% He will multiply what we have given Him. But if we give him only half of our effort, dedication, and heart, then we will be the ones who will come up short handed.

God is calling me to step it up. I’ve been a zombie lately, only doing things because they are the minimum to get by. I do my share of Christian things to do, then I frump along during the rest of the time. Also, I can feel that there are things I’m holding on to. Things from the past that are bubbling up again and I thought I let it go. I thought I had rid myself of them, but really, I just put it away. I swept it under a rug. I want to be authentic, sincere, and pure. To be all these things, I need to step up my commitment to the Lord. He is my God, my one and only. I want to give Him my all. He is all I need.

Heavenly Father, the one and only Lord of all Creation, I love You with all my heart. Please forgive me for only giving a percentage of my devotion. I want to love You with reckless abandon. I want to be passionate about serving You. Lord, I give You my troubles. I give my wandering thoughts to You. I want to be rid of them. I only want and need You. Cleanse me and purify me to the core. I trust in You. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, Amen.