Many times when we first give our lives to the Lord we are on fire for Him. We begin seeking Him in every area of our lives and everything else takes a back seat to Him. We want to learn about what pleases Him and how He wants us to live our lives. It is like when we start a brand new relationship with anyone. It is all new and exciting. We spend time with the other person just getting to know them. It is all fresh, new, and so exciting. We dig into the Bible just to know God more and understand who we are in Him and what our new lives are going to look like.

It was definitely like that for me when I first gave my life to the Lord. I was on fire for God, but then I allowed life, distractions, and my past to quench that fire. It wasn’t that I stopped loving God or wanting to be in a relationship with HIm. I was not out in the world living life, but I did allow distractions, hurt, disappointment, lack of trust, and pain to build a wall between God and me. In the beginning nothing could have gotten in the way of me reading my Bible and praying, but several years into my walk with Him I grew complacent and was no longer disciplining myself to pray and read His Word consistently and my relationship with Him suffered.

I continued that way for many years. In May 2020 I completely sold out to God and laid my life down at His feet, but I quickly found that it is something that has to be worked at every single day because everything around us (circumstances, demons, distractions, and our flesh/carnal nature) tries to pull us away from God. It is a constant battle that we have to pay close attention to or it is so easy to find ourselves drifting away from Him. It requires time, dedication, and discipline. I am not talking about legalism and just checking off a box. I am talking about a relationship.

Relationships take communication to grow and strengthen. I think about couples who get married and they are so in love, but then they have kids. They start focusing on the kids and all of the distractions of life. Once the kids are grown and out of the house the parents look at each other and don’t even know who they are anymore because they did not spend time cultivating a real relationship. It can be the same way with God if we do not maintain our relationship with Him.

Personal Reflection

I want to encourage you to take a real look at your life and your relationship with God. As you take a look at your life are there any areas that you have drifted away from Him? Are you as surrendered to Him as you would like to be? Do you seek Him? Is He the most important person in your life? Does anything else take the number one spot in your life, other than Him? Do you spend time reading the Bible and praying?

If you are not where you want to be what are you willing to do about it?

Blessings,

Nichole Henson

Fullness of Joy Ministry