How do you feel when you spend time with your favorite person?

Doesn’t it leave you with a feeling of satisfaction?

We know we can be ourselves sharing successes, shortcomings, joys, sorrows, and the mundane. At the same time, the encouragement we receive leaves us feeling challenged to be our best self. In this friendship we feel safe, because we know that we are heard and loved.

What about when you spend time with God, the one who truly satisfies?

Amazingly, God is always with us.

The question is, do we recognize him with us?

Since we cannot physically see God, we may be apt to forget that this is the case. It is hard to comprehend that the presence of the Holy Spirit, God, indwells those who accept Jesus as Savior and surrender to him as Lord. This very presence within us comforts, directs, matures, and challenges us. The Holy Spirit challenges us to be the person God created us to be in him – he convicts us of our sins, leading us to confess them and turn from them. Obedience to God offers a blessed communion with him.

As with our closest friend, we can feel safe in God’s presence.

Remember, God hears us. As believers, we know God hears us when we talk to him: “The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth” (Psalm 145:18 NIV, letter N in Follow and Lead).

Remember, God loves us. There are so many reasons we can be assured of God’s love for us. God created each one of us for his pleasure and, because sin broke our relationship with him, he provided Jesus to restore us to himself. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 NIV).

Remember, better than our closest friend, God is enough for us. As the one we worship and love, God meets all our needs and he never fails us. The apostle Peter begins his second letter with this greeting: “… to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and Jesus as Lord” (NIV). We can have peace in our troubled lives because we receive God’s grace to live in him, through him, and for him! “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19 ESV, letter E in Follow and Lead).

Let’s be sure to spend quality time with the Lord each day. He satisfies our souls.

To focus more on God’s character, why not use Follow and Lead for your daily devotional?  

Get a second copy for a friend and talk about God’s goodness with each other!