What are you doing in your life to develop the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ?
In 1 Corinthians 11:3 the Apostle Paul says:
“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”
According to this Scripture God is concerned that we NOT be led astray from simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
In recent years the Lord has been drawing my heart ever closer to His.
It started a number of years ago when I spent 17 days as an on-site prayer warrior for one-year mission teams that were preparing for service in Russia.
During those 17 days my main responsibility was to spend time in God’s presence (reading His Word, worshipping Him, and praying for prayer requests coming from these teams as they prepared for their mission).
Can you imagine, my actual job was to spend time with God?
One day, as I was walking across the university campus, I asked the Lord a question: “Lord, where do You want me to go?” I was just learning to attune my “spiritual ears” to hear His still small voice as He spoke to me.
Right after I asked the question, the next thought that came to my mind was to head to a certain place on the campus.
Since I was just beginning to discern His voice, I prayed, “Lord is that you?” I asked again, “Lord, where do You want me to go? Again, it was the same response!
So, I walked to that location on the campus, and for the next few hours the Lord brought people who had prayer needs to another intercessor and myself. It was very interesting, that as we prayed for these people, sometimes the Lord gave us immediate answers to prayer!
One man had issues with running a PowerPoint presentation. We had him turn off his computer; all three of us placed our hands on the computer and prayed. After turning the computer back on, he had no problems with running the presentation.
These 17 days had a huge impact on my life as I started a journey engaging in a deeper walk with God!
Not long ago a friend shared something with me that I found I could not get out of my thoughts. It concerned helping others to engage in a deeper walk with the Lord. They called it a 3G Life. They were not talking about the next generation of digital technology. It was related to three things about our relationship with God:
Being God-attentive is focused on how we learn to have a lifestyle that is spiritually sensitive to His leading in our lives. John chapter 10 refers to God as the Good Shepherd and describes His sheep as knowing His voice and following Him.
How are you doing with hearing His voice?
There are so many voices to listen to in this age of technology. We do well to ask ourselves honestly: “Just how am I seeking to focus on the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ?”
Being God-dependent is focused on how we are learning to walk in the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5 Paul writes about the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Near the end of the chapter, it reads: “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” Another version speaks of “keeping in step with the Spirit.”
How are you doing in following the Spirit’s leading in every part of your life?
God-dependence is all about keeping in step with the Holy Spirit’s leading in our daily lives.
Being God-responsive is focused on how we are growing to walk by faith – to follow those leadings and promptings and learn to hear His voice clearly. 2 Corinthians 5:7 reminds us, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
How easy it is not to walk by faith! It is much easier to fall into walking by what we can see, trusting our eyes and physical senses more than we trust what God reveals to us.
Allow me to mention two final things critical to remember, as we seek God to develop in us a 3G way of life.
Recently I came upon relevant words from Dr. Bill Bright, co-founder of Cru:
“Someone has wisely said, ‘Satan laughs at our toiling, mocks our wisdom, but trembles when he sees the weakest saint on his knees!’ Prayer is God’s appointed way of doing God’s work.”
Prayer is at the heart of living a 3G life! Prayer is as much about listening to the Lord as it is talking to Him!
I encourage you to seek to learn to live out a 3G life. Seek to be attentive to His voice as He leads you. Seek to be in step with the Holy Spirit and learn to take steps of faith and obedience to respond to His leadings.
As you do, you may be surprised at how the Lord will use you to impact people’s lives with the Gospel.
Enjoy 3G as a way of life!
Milt Monell serves as the team leader of Global Prayer, a prayer ministry of Cru.
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