The NIV 365 Day Devotional
Intimacy with God
One of our greatest needs is to know that we are loved. Each one of us has to feel certain, deep down in our hearts, that someone loves us, cares for us and has our best interests at heart.
That is how God designed us. He wants us to know that he loves every one of us with a passionate intensity too deep for words.
God created human beings with fellowship in mind—first with himself and then with others. But we cannot fully love one another until we have ourselves experienced the love of God. We experience his love when we willingly surrender to his call to be our Savior, Lord and Friend.
There are at least three reasons God seeks our surrender:
- He loves us and desires our fellowship and worship.
- He wants our service for him to be effective and fruitful.
- He waits for the freedom to bless us.
So why do we resist? With all this in mind, why does anyone resist surrendering to God?
Pride is the key reason most people resist surrender. They think they know better than God and that they can handle their lives better than he can, so they keep him at a distance.
Others do not surrender because they fear what God will do (or not do) for them. They think that if they give him control, he’ll make them do exactly what will make them most miserable.
Still others refuse to surrender to Christ because they believe Satan’s lie, which tells them that God is judgmental and will punish them for their mistakes.
All of this is completely false! God always has our best in mind. He will refuse us no good thing when we gladly submit to his will (Ro 8:32). He tells us, “‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jer 29:11).
It only makes sense to surrender to God, because when we do, we grow close to him—his highest priority for us—and we begin to have an impact on our world.
Taken from The NIV Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible.