Our reading plans will come from the YouVersion Bible app. If you do not have the app, click HERE. But, if you already have the app, and want to follow the reading plan, click HERE. For those who don't have the app or are unable to do so, I will post the devotions and Scripture here within the post so you are able to follow along with us!

The Weight of Life

Sometimes we’re able to focus in the secret place and genuinely connect with God. Sometimes our thoughts jump erratically or our emotions pile us with so much heaviness we just lie on the floor in “prayer,” crushed under the weight of life.

Thankfully, God knew we would struggle. He made a way for us to have relationship with Him. It’s a relationship that God Himself has initiated with us. He has purchased us through the steep price of the Cross and it’s on His shoulders to finish the work of salvation in our life.

But that doesn’t mean He leaves us alone and never puts us to work. Like any loving Father, He wants His children to be strong and mature. He wants us to become like Him and willingly venture down that road of transformation. We should not judge our “success” on how we feel at the end of our time in the secret place. We must walk with faith that God is using all of our efforts to draw near to Him for good, even when we can’t see evidence of it.

How to Act on This

Success in the secret place is not reaching a certain emotional epiphany every time we are with God. Success is not walking away with a sense of righteousness and patting ourselves on the back because we did all the right things. Success is simply showing up. The moment you’ve taken that first step to spend time with God, to be alone with Him, your time in the secret place is already a success.

C. S. Lewis Quote of the Day, from Mere Christianity:

"It is not a question of a good man who died two thousand years ago. It is a living Man, still as much a man as you, and still as much God as He was when He created the world, really coming and interfering with your very self; killing the old natural self in you and replacing it with the kind of self He has."

Shadowlands and Songs of Light Quote of the Day:

"The more of Jesus we perceive, the easier it is to put him on. We can imitate him with that childlike simplicity that keeps pretending until the pretending becomes true."

Romans 13:14 (ESV) -

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.