Closer to God Each Day Devotional

365 Devotions for Everyday Living

Joyce Meyer

• Publisher: Hodder Faith
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781444785739
• eBook ISBN: 9781444785722
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Mental Health & Wellbeing

Everyday life can be demanding; it's easy to become distracted by so many things that seem important. But in order to achieve the life God has planned for you, you have to make time daily for what's most important - and the building block of a fulfilling life - your relationship with Him. In Closer to God Each Day, Joyce Meyer, #1 New York Times bestselling author, offers a practical way to grow in your intimacy with God. Joyce shares powerful Scripture and personal illustrations that will help you experience the joy and peace that is gained through closeness with Him. You'll begin to navigate life more effectively, make better decisions, and claim the wonderful life you were meant to lead, day by day.

October 1

---

Is It Worth It?

… Therefore love truth and peace.

ZECHARIAH 8:19 NKJV

It is God’s sincere desire for you to live a life full of peace. The closer you get to the Lord—the more you depend on Him—the more peace you will have.

No position or possession is worthwhile if you don’t have peace. Money, status, popularity—it’s all meaningless if you don’t have peace. You simply cannot put a price on the value of peace.

Many people spend their lives trying to climb the ladder of success, but every time they go up one more rung, they lose more of their peace, joy, and time to spend with their family. Their whole life is consumed with the pressure and stress of trying to keep what they’ve gained. But we are never truly successful unless we have peace.

Some even work several jobs to acquire what the world dangles in front of them, saying, “You must have this to be truly happy.” They get those “things,” but they still don’t have any peace.

Romans 14:17 tells us, “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink”—it is not things that money or status can secure—but it is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (KJV). The kingdom of God is found in knowing who we are in Christ and having “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7 NKJV).

_______________________

God wants you to have your needs met abundantly and be in a position to bless others. Never doubt that God wants to bless you, but don’t seek to have anything if you cannot have it peacefully.

October 2

---

Love Shows Respect

Let all men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness (your considerateness, your forbearing spirit.) The Lord is near [He is coming soon].

PHILIPPIANS 4:5

Love is a generous, selfless act. A selfish person expects everyone to be just the way he is and to like whatever he likes, but love respects the differences in other people.

Respecting individual rights is very important. If God had wanted us to all be alike, He would not have given each of us a different set of fingerprints. I think that one fact alone proves that we are created equal, but different. We all have fingerprints, but they are all different!

We all have different abilities, different likes and dislikes, different goals in life, different motivations, and the list goes on and on. We look different, we come in all sizes and shapes, and each of us is unique.

Love respectfully frees others to be who they were created to be. Freedom is one of the greatest gifts we can give. It was what Jesus came to give us, and it is what love allows us to give to others.

God’s love for us is unconditional, and we should learn to love others the same way. Be generous with mercy and always believe the best.

_______________________

Unconditional love unselfishly loves selfish people, generously gives to stingy people, and continually blesses unappreciative people.

October 3

---

No Matter Where You Go … You’re There

… You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself.

MATTHEW 19:19

I believe one of the greatest problems people have today concerns the way they feel about themselves. Many people go through life carrying a poor self-image and a low opinion of themselves. Oftentimes, people have had these negative thoughts so long they don’t even realize they have them.

What do you think of yourself? What kind of relationship do you have with yourself? I ask because no matter where you go, or what you do in this life, you are always going to have to deal with you. There is no escaping from you.

The Lord commanded us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, but what happens if we don’t love ourselves? We cannot give away what we do not have. God loves us, and that gives us permission to receive His love and love ourselves in a balanced way. Many of us think we have worn God out with our failures and sins, but that is impossible to do. God never gives up on us! The closer we come to God in our daily lives, the more we realize how dearly we are loved, and the easier it is to begin to love ourselves.

_______________________

Receive God’s love for you. Meditate on it. Let it change and strengthen you. Then give it away.

October 4

---

The True Source of Confidence

For we [Christians] are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit and by the Spirit of God and exult and glory and pride ourselves in Jesus Christ, and put no confidence or dependence [on what we are] in the flesh and on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances.

PHILIPPIANS 3:3

The most important key to becoming spiritually stronger and more secure is to discover the true source of confidence.

In what do you place your confidence today? Is it your level of education, your social group, the amount of money you have, or the position you hold at work—or is it rooted in God? That question must be settled for every believer who desires to draw closer to God each day.

If we place all our confidence in our education, our looks, our position, our gifts, our talents, or in other people’s opinions, we are going to end up disappointed and miserable due to being insecure. Our heavenly Father is saying to us, “Though people and things may eventually fail you, I never will. You can put your trust and confidence in Me.”

I encourage you to come to the place where your confidence is not in the flesh or the things of this world, but in Christ Jesus. He is the only One Who will strengthen you, always stand by you, and never let you down.

_______________________

Honestly evaluate what your confidence is in, and if it is anything other than God, repent (change your mind for the better), and be ready to do things differently.

October 5

---

The Wisdom in Waiting Quietly

But Mary was keeping within herself all these things (sayings), weighing and pondering them in her heart.

LUKE 2:19

There is great wisdom in learning to quietly ponder what you feel the Lord has spoken to you, especially when you’re not sure exactly how it will work out.

You may feel that God has promised something for your children, spoken a new direction for your career, instructed you to make some changes in your character—whatever it is, if you’ll trust God, wait patiently, and ponder what the Lord has spoken, He will show you exactly how to cooperate with His plan.

Mary had some pretty amazing things happen in her life. She was just a teenage girl who loved God when an angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her she was going to be the mother of the Son of God. But whatever Mary may have thought or felt, she trusted God, saying, “May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38 NASB).

When God speaks something to us, many times we need to keep it to ourselves. If He tells us things we don’t really understand, things that seem to make no sense, we can follow the example of Mary. We can do a little more pondering instead of running to others for advice. The doubt of others can ruin your faith. Sometimes the best thing you can do is quietly hold on to God’s promise and ask Him to make it clearer to you in His perfect timing.

_______________________

When God calls you to do something, He also gives you the faith to do it.

October 6

---

The Best Time You Can Spend

… Let everyone who is godly pray—pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely when the great waters [of trial] overflow, they shall not reach [the spirit in] him.

PSALM 32:6

It’s simple: The more time you spend with God, the more you connect yourself to His power. David tells us that it is in the secret place of the presence of God that we are protected (Psalm 91:1). When we spend time in God’s presence, in prayer, and in His Word, we are in the secret place. The secret place is a wonderful place of peace and rest!

It’s powerful to think that the awesomeness of God’s presence is available to us as believers. With this in mind, why in the world would we not want to spend time with God? Even Jesus would get up early in the morning to be alone with God. He knew the value of being in the presence of God. We draw strength and wisdom merely from being with God!

The best thing to do is dedicate a portion of your time to spend with God. Try not to be legalistic about it, but do try to be as regular with it as you can. Talk to God about anything and everything that is on your heart—He is interested in everything that interests or concerns you. Sometimes you may want to listen to music and worship; other times you may just want to sit still and enjoy silence. Set aside time to be with God and let the Holy Spirit lead you in the amazing journey of becoming closer to God!

_______________________

Spending time in the secret place of His presence changes you from what you are to what ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December
• About the Author
• Copyright
• Other Books by Joyce Meyer