Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave. – Psalm 86:11-13

This psalm is interesting to me because of the way it frames our relationship with God.  It spells out many things that a believer will do to praise God – walking in truth, fearing and glorifying His name, etc…  But when you look at it more closely, you can see that before anything can come from us to Him, there must first be a gift given by Him to us.  “Teach me your way, O LORD, and…”

Before we can do anything in the Kingdom, before we can offer our lives in service and praise, we must first come to know God – who He is, what He has done for us, and how much He loves us.  Thankfully this isn’t a difficult thing to do.  Because God’s love for us is so great, He makes Himself available to us continually.  God has opened Himself up to us so that we might know Him and have Him be a part of our lives.  His involvement opens doors that would prevent us from having the fullest possible measure of peace and blessings in our lives.  God’s desire is fill us with these gifts, and He does so through His word living in our lives.

But what then should we do with this?  Many Christians hear it, receive it, and then simply go about their lives with a passing knowledge of what God is about – kind of like a factoid they picked up on a TV show or website.  But for those people who take this on and live out what God directs each day – they experience amazing, life changing situations that will fill their lives completely with the awesome power of the Spirit of the Lord.

I know this to be true because I have seen it first hand in you – the men and women of faith in my life.  Over time, you have shared with me many things that have happened in your lives.  As we’ve talked about these things, I have found a common theme – God is at the center of every part of your life.  He is the source – the center around which everything you do, say, think, and feel revolves (even if you don’t know it or believe it at the time).  God has taught you His ways and you have done more than simply listen – you’ve embraced it, you’ve applied it, and now you live it fully and completely.  And because of this change in your life, God has kept His word.  The love of God in you is evident.  It’s unmistakable because He has done and continues to do things that are nothing short of miraculous.  In you, He has developed character, strength, wisdom, and fortitude.  He has a plan for you, one that He has begun to set into motion.  And what’s most exciting about this from my vantage point is simply this:  with the collection of gifts and abilities that He has assembled in you, it is obvious that what is coming for you will be nothing short of magnificent.  May every day of your life bring deliberate training for that day when God opens up His floodgates and presents you with that great gift.