It’s important to learn the Word so your relationship becomes more vivid. God speaks to us in many ways, but I find it most comforting when He teaches me through the Word. Memorize a daily devotional scripture each day and watch it strengthen your faith and emotional stamina.
Hearts, not lips. How many of us are Christians but feel forced to hold daily communication with our Lord. You know what I mean, praying becomes mechanical and routine. You don’t open up to Him, you hold back in shame, and choose to put on your professional Christian attitude when praying, much like we do among people. We have a public face and a private face. We have a heartfelt spirit we share with our Lord, and we have a mechanical spirit when we simply recite prayers in a mono fashion. We do not operate from our heart. We do not allow our inner spirit to live in victory. Our communication with the Lord suffers, as does our outward man who operates in fear of being judged.
Our Lord cries, why do my people say they honor me with their lips, but their practices 
are not heart driven? Why do they treat me with anguish? Why is our relationship so impersonal? The fact is, we are God’s children (wayward or not), or we are not God’s children. We either have a strong relationship with Him, or we do not. The way we treat God, the way we treat others, the way that we exhibit His love determines who we are in Christ. If we fail to show our love in practice and live a heartfelt life, then we are giving lip service to all that we do, including communion with our Lord and Savior.
Our life begins with our relationship with our Lord. It encompasses all that we are and all that we do. Is this an easy process, not necessarily. Often, we, I, stay in communication only to become comfortable and then complacent. My daily time becomes a coffee break, rushed through and checked off. Does this sound familiar?
God never fails. He sees our tears, our anguish, our anxiety. He also sees our compassion, love, empathy, kindness, trustworthiness, patience, and self-control whether we display it to Him or the outside world. He is our witness to all that we do. He is the recipient of all that we hold in or share with Him. He is our Father. He created us and delivered a divine plan nestled deep in our heart. He is our promise keeper.
It is time to free ourselves, from our banality, our public selves, and go deeper. It is time to risk opening our hearts. It is time to strip off the façade and welcome our God-self 
into the world, and most importantly in our cherished moments with our Lord and Savior in prayer. Our God-self is the Holy Spirit who projects 
light through our being into the world. Our relationship rests in part on our prayers being aligned with our lips. Our heart and our lips must project the same things, they cannot work effectively (if at all) if they are not in sync with the Word, and our relationship with the Lord.
No parent should cry, why do my children’s hearts and lips seem disjointed, disconnected, and artificial? Why do they fail to honor our relationship, why are they so far from me?
Jesus wants us to come home. He wants our hearts to be full. He wants us to commit or re-commit our relationship to Him with honest heartfelt prayer, praise, and worship.
December is the month that focuses on Christ’s birth. Our gift to Him is our heart and 
our love. Speak to God through our hearts, express it with our lips. It is time to open our hearts and not just our lips.
Other Related Posts:
Images – Google Images
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Repeat this phrase throughout your day. “The Lord, my God, is with me wherever I go.” There is strength in the knowing.
ReBlog – https://wp.me/p98Coa-G7
Image – LAB Photos
Our God is amazing. He commands us to live a Godly life and be free. He has given us the ability to free ourselves from our sinful ways. He asks us to fight our flesh that desires: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, jealousy, quarreling, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, envy, drunkenness, and wild parties.
His command is for us to fear Him and be obedient, as Ecclesiastes states:
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: fear God and keep his commandments, this is the duty of all mankind.” Eccl. 12:13
Fear, in this case, means being respectful, obedient, and followers of His Word. Live a holy life, meaning, employing the Fruit of the Spirit in all that we do. What is the fruit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
And, since we live by the Spirit let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envious of each other. When we live like this, we will not gratify the desires of our flesh but will be obedient and fulfilled by God’s Word.
At the end of life, God will bring every deed to judgment, including those proclivities we think we so cleverly hid, whether good or evil. When we are obedient, we think before we act. It causes us to question our next step, our next word, and our next deed. The question is, do our actions align with His Word, do they direct our path?
Obedience leads to freedom. Solomon, the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes, wrote, (paraphrased) Stand firm, do not let yourselves be controlled by the slavery of sin and wrongdoing.
Do not allow your sinful cravings to keep you in chains. Christ died on the Cross for us. Our sins were nailed to the Cross, and we are now free. Our charge is to believe and live in our freedom.
Re-Blog – https://wp.me/p98Coa-Cg
Scripture – Bible.com/YouVerison,Galatians 5, NIV, NLT
Images – YouVersion, Google Images
Resources/References – Hayford’s Bible Handbook
Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com.
God gave us the power and authority to pray for ourselves and others.
Jude 1:20 reads, build each other up in prayer. It is our responsibility as Christians to cover our friends and family in prayer every day. It is also our responsibility to stand with them in times of need. God created a family to support one another. The family can be blood relatives or extended members of your circle of friends.
God does not discriminate, nor should we. If He discriminated, the Gentiles would not have been adopted into the family, and we would not be given the opportunity to be part of the Christian Faith through adoption. 
How do we become strong? We build ourselves up internally with the Holy Spirit who dwells in us and makes us strong. Our strength then translates into how we perceive and react to the world. Our doctrine of faith is the foundation to build our faith, increase our knowledge, and improve our relationships with others in and out of the faith. Our internal knowledge unleashes how we build up one another.
The scripture continues and teaches us how to pray. It informs us to pray through the Holy Spirit. Praying gives the Holy Spirit the ability to guide our prayers to accomplish the fullness of their intent. The Holy Spirit directs our petitions. The only effective way to pray is in the Spirit. Some believe we must pray in tongues; others believe that it ended when they crucified Christ, ending the Old Testament dispensation. Regardless, for those who pray in tongues, praying in the Holy Spirit bypasses Satan’s listening ears. For those who do not, pray for the intervention of the Holy Spirit in praying to God, the Father. There is an expression that indicates our intent, ‘Prayers go up, and blessings come down.’
Our role of Christians is to abide by God’s Word. Jude 1:20 calls us to build each other up in faith, not to tear them down, demean them, or ostracize them in any way. We are to pray for them in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Re-Blog – https://wp.me/p98Coa-Br
Scripture – Biblegateway.com
Images – Bible.com, YouVersion; Google Images
Resources/References – Bible.com: Barnes Notes, Ellicott’s Commentary, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown’s Bible Commentary; BibleStudyTools.com: John Gills Exposition of the Bible
Daily Inspiration - Lisa's Thoughts 