Have you been feeling the 'tug' at your spiritual heart to draw close to God and deepen your intimate relationship with Him as of late? I know I have. And oh! How the enemy of my soul hates that I am hearing that call. Satan knows that the Christian sho stays close to Father God through intimate times of prayer and quiet times is always a danger to his work on the earth. Distractions have been popping out left right and center. Worries eat away at my peace until the Lord reminds me He alone is my source of peace. His peace is not the absence of difficult circumstances but his peace gifts me with inner strength, allowing me to stay calm in the midst of such circumstances. The Lord is challenging me to beware of counterfeit intimacy. When I try to fill that God shaped void in my heart with anything that is not from His hands, I settle for an intimacy far less satisfying than a heart relationship with Him. As Augustine said, "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You." I can find no real heart comfort outside of God; there is none but Him that can meet my deepest needs. Yet, something in me tries to fill that need with anything but Him. Working for Him, performing charitable acts, having fellowship with other believers, reading a good book - all of these are good disciplines and blessed by God but they are not meant to be substitutes for that inward, intimate relationship with my Heavenly Father. Oh wretched me, I am so easily distracted by the telephone, the television, the internet, a song blaring on a distant stereo, the birds outside of my window, an annoying drip of my kitchen sink faucet - all trying to woo me away from the task at hand. In my own power, it's hopeless. In Christ, it is not. I cry out to Him and say,"I cannot do this on my own, I cannot draw near to you without you first drawing near to me. I am helpless without your spirit" In response, he reminds me that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. May we press in to know the Lord and truly know him. May we know him in the way that is only possible through time spent with the One we love. May we move from head knowledge and knowing him only through the tales told to us by others. May we enter into that personal one-on-one relationship with our Lord and King, given to us freely through the death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection power. Until next week, © 2010 Katherine Walden A reminder: I Lift My Eyes has partnered with "Christianbook.com" to provide you with deep discounts of books, gifts, church supplies, music DVDs, pastoral helps, Sunday School programs and a whole lot more. http://psalm121.ca/books/books.html Your purchases help offset some of the online costs of this ministry. You may also make a donation through paypal by sending funds to our paypal account ps121ilme@... ------------- If you would prefer to receive the quotes below (without the newsletter portion above) on a daily basis rather than in a weekly summary, please go to http://dailychristianquote.com/subscribe.html and join the daily quote mailing list. ------------- DCQ Archive July 21 - 28, 2010 July 21, 2010 Many people are afraid to forgive because they feel they must remember the wrong or they will not learn from it. The opposite is true. Through forgiveness, the wrong is released from its emotional stranglehold on us so that we can learn from it. Through the power and intelligence of the heart, the release of forgiveness brings expanded intelligence to work with the situation more effectively. David McArthur July 22, 2010 God is waiting anxiously to lead each of us in the dance of praise. God is on a mission - a quest. He is looking for worshipers. As he constantly draws each of us into a deeper and more intimate friendship with himself, he is creating within us hearts that will praise him. Claire Cloninger http://www.answers.com/topic/claire-cloninger Biography and Bibliography July 23 - 28, 2010 The first mark of maturity is the ability to deal constructively with reality to face facts, to not cover up reality or call it something else, but to deal with it as it is. Mature people do not kid themselves. The second mark is, adapting quickly to change. We all experience change, whether it be physical, at work, in the family, or whatever. I am amazed at how much some of you have changed through the years while I remain exactly the same! Immature people resist change. It ma Kes them nervous. But the mark of maturity is to adapt to change because change is inevitable. The third mark is freedom from the symptoms of tension and anxiety. The worried look, the frown, the ulcers, the palpitations of the heart - come because you are upset, anxious and worried. Maturing means you have begun to see that God is in control of this world. He is working out purposes that you do not always understand, but you accept it. He will take you through the deep water, not drown you in it. Maturity means you are learning to trust. Fourth, it means to be satisfied more with giving than receiving. Some of you have recently learned that the joy of Christmas is not getting presents but giving them. To see the joy in someone else's face when they get something they either need or want. That is a sign you are growing up. You are discovering the true values of life. The fifth mark is, to relate to others with consistency, helpfulness and mutual satisfaction. Maturity is learning to get along with other people, to be a help, not a hindrance, to contribute to the solution and not to be always a part of the problem. Finally, maturity is sublimating and redirecting anger to constructive ends. Maturity is the ability to use the adrenaline that anger creates, not to lose your temper and add to the problem, but to correct a situation or to contribute to changing the nature of the difficulty. James I (J. I.) Packer http://www.founders.org/FJ16/interview.html Brief Online Interview Important addresses: http://psalm121.ca/home.html I Lift My Eyes Web Ministries Site Index - please take note of this address To change your address for receiving this list, please unsubcribe from your old address and subscribe with your new address © 2010 All articles written by Katherine Walden are copyrighted and as such, please do not send them on to others without including all the contact information that is included in every newsletter you receive from this ministry. Feel free to pass on the "Daily Christian Quotes" themselves, no permission is needed to do so.