A LIFE ABOVE THE ORDINARY

The secret of drawing closer to God is prayer and communion with Him through
meditating on His Word. But it’s not just quickly opening your Bible. I’m sure that the
failure of many Christians to gain much from meditation arises far more often from
opening their Bibles too quickly than from shutting them too quickly!

When opening your Bible, ask God to reveal to you the riches of what you’re going to
read. Your prayer can be very simple, such as, “Holy Spirit, help me to get in touch
with God,” but it has to be a sincere cry from the heart, a real hungering and thirsting.
You can’t survive spiritually on just a few sips of the milk of the Word on Sunday
morning or an occasional nibble of a verse or two from the Bible. In order to grow
morally and spiritually, you also need full meals; you need to chew on and assimilate
the meat of God’s Word. That’s how you can come to know the joys, the benefits, the
comfort, the peace and rest that can be found in Jesus—and the closer the walk with
Him, the greater the revelations of His power and glory.

Jesus wants you to have the things He has to give. He wants to give you His best,
and He longs for you to have peace and rest and joy. He says, “My peace I give to
you,” and “Ask and you will receive so that your joy will be complete.” He even
desires for you to succeed in all that you do!

He wants His children to have all this because He loves us. He wants you to draw
closer to Him so you’ll know the life He comes to give: a life above the common, a life
above the mediocre, a life above the ordinary. “God is the strength of my heart and all
I need forever.”

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea.
I am weak, but Thou art strong
Jesus, keep me from all wrong.
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.
—Traditional gospel song, author unknown

Divine Scripture is the feast of wisdom, and the single books are the various
dishes.—Saint Ambrose (c. 339–397)