Giving Ourselves to God Devotion - by Andrew Murray

"It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord" Lamentations 3:26 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength" Mark 12:30. In this great command, the Lord our God has tried to teach us how greatly He wants us wholly for Himself. Our love, prayers, consecration, trust, obedience- in all these, there must be an unreserved surrender to God’s will and service. "With all your heart",-with longings, affections, attachments and all its desires. "With all your soul" - with all its vital powers and the will as royal master in the soul. "With all your mind" - with its faculties of thought, knowledge, reasoning, memory and imagination. "With all your strength" –with complete energy and exertion given over to God’s purposes. What a wonderful God it is who has such a right to expect so much from us! Is He not the perfect and glorious one, who is so worthy that we should forsake all to follow Him? Is He not the everlasting love and goodness and mercy, always desirous of pouring out blessings on us? Is He not so deserving of praise that we ought to love and honour Him with all our strength and all our heart? Take this commandment into your heart; make it the rule of your life, and try to realize that God must have all of you. Reflection Praise God for all that He has done for you. Ask Him to teach you what this type of love for Him is all about.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; Romans 8:16-17 (KJV)

Growing Up Into Christ (1) (pg 91-94) Taken From Steps To Christ By Ellen G White

As with life, so it is with growth. It is God who brings the bud to bloom and the flower to fruit. It is by his power that the seed develops, "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." (Mark 4:28). And the prophet Hosea says of Israel, that "he shall grow as the lily." "They shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine."(Hosea 14:5,7). And Jesus bids us "consider the lilies, how they grow." (Luke 12:27). The plants and flowers grow not by their own care or anxiety or effort, but by receiving that which God has furnished to minister to their life. The child cannot, by any anxiety or power of its own, add to its stature. No more can you, by anxiety or effort of yourself, secure spiritual growth...more

Promise of the Month	"Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." Psalm 34:3-5, NIV