Our Daily Bread Devotional 27 August 2018
Topic: Serve Continually
Read: Daniel 6:10–22 Bible in a Year: Psalms 120–122; 1 Corinthians 9
Scripture: Has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you? Daniel 6:20
Message: When educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom, researching how to develop talent in young people, examined the childhoods of 120 elite performers—athletes, artists, scholars—he found that all of them had one thing in common: they had practiced intensively for long periods of time.
Bloom’s research suggests that growing in any area of our lives requires discipline. In our walk with God, too, cultivating the spiritual discipline of regularly spending time with Him is one way we can grow in our trust in Him.
Daniel is a good example of someone who prioritized a disciplined walk with God. As a young person, Daniel started making careful and wise decisions (1:8). He also was committed to praying regularly, “giving thanks to God” (6:10). His frequent seeking of God resulted in a life in which his faith was easily recognized by those around him. In fact, King Darius described Daniel as a “servant of the living God” (v. 20) and twice described him as a person who served God “continually” (vv. 16, 20).
Like Daniel, we desperately need God. How good to know that God works in us so that we long to spend time with Him! (Philippians 2:13). So let us come every day before God, trusting that our time with Him will result in a love that will overflow more and more and in a growing knowledge and understanding of our Savior (1:9–11).
Prayer: Father, I thank You for the privilege of serving You. Help me to spend regular time with You in order to grow in my knowledge of You.
Thought for the Day: Time with God transforms us.
Our Daily Bread Devotional 27 August 2018 was written by Keila Ochoa (Our Daily Bread Ministries)