One of the things I love most about watching my children is how all-in they are: they don’t kind-of play sports, kind-of play in the dirt, kind-of swim; they are all sweaty, all dirty, all wet. It’s so fun to watch them love wildly, to see them throw themselves into whatever they are doing. It’s with that same wholehearted devotion that we should approach God’s throne. We aren’t supposed to fit God into our lives; He is to be our everything. It’s His name and no other that we honor.
I once read that there are so few people with their hands raised in the classroom of life that when the Lord needs to pick someone, He just goes to the same ones over and over. I remember thinking when I read that, “Pick me! Pick me!” Don’t we all want to be someone the Lord picks over and over for His assignments?
How can we hear Him when He says our names? We can hear him when we are listening, worshipping, and tuning our hearts in to His voice. When we place His name and our worship to Him above all else, we get to be engaged in His story. His story might mean opening our mouths to share our faith on the soccer field, reaching out to someone on our streets, or serving someone in our classrooms; but when we put God’s name first, the courage comes for whatever He asks:
“Whether we like it or not, we’ll do it. We’ll obey whatever our God tells us. Yes, count on us. We’ll do it.”
Jeremiah 42:6 msg
When we worship, our hearts are open and we are surrendered to His will. I want the stories God has for us, do you? The Lord has stories for our families—stories filled with wild characters and fantastic plot twists, stories that involve suspense and exhilaration, stories that are far more interesting than what happens when we put our name above His.
There is a sweet devotion to Jesus that is formed when we over and over again say to him, “You are my Savior. You are my Lord. You are my Healer. Your Word is my sword.” The gaze is upward, not around. The posture is hands up in the air, believing that
“Even in the bad times I will sing
Cause Jesus is the name that’s above all things.”
This devotional was written by:
Beth Guckenberger
Beth and her husband, Todd, live with their family in Monterrey, Mexico, where they serve with Back2Back Ministries, an international orphan-care ministry with operations in Mexico, India, and Nigeria. Beth is the author of Reckless Faith (Zondervan), Relentless Hope, Tales of the Not Forgotten, and Tales of the Defended Ones (Standard Publishing). Her style is storytelling, and she draws inspiration for illustrations to biblical concepts from her field experience as a missionary and as a parent of nine children.