"Thy Testimonies Are Very Sure" Psalms 93:5

Have you ever wondered; How big our God is? Have you ever tried to just sit and meditate on that subject? How about this; Have you even sat before Him and just started declaring to Him how great and awesome He is? If you have ever wondered why King David was called, "A man after God's own heart"; the answer may be in the fact that he was able to seek out God, and to have fellowship with Him. One of the ways David was able to do this was by praising God's handiwork, and the spectacular ways God has created everything. I can only imagine, that for hours upon hours, as David watched the sheep at night, he would just sit there gazing up into heaven, declaring how great and awesome God is. I know from personal experience that this is so important in my daily devotions; to sit before God and just praise Him. James declares in chapter 4:8, that if we draw nigh to God, that He will draw nigh to us. I encourage anyone who may read this blog, to take this to heart: Seek to draw nigh to God! Here are some simple ways that I have come to know, and that works for me; whether or not they work for you, will determine on if you really try them or not; but for me, they work. First, I determine in my heart to rise up early in the morning to direct my voice to God, (Psalms 63:1); Secondly, I commit in my heart to devote at least one full hour to pray; (Matthew 26:40); these two things are first and foremost. No matter how I pray, or what I pray, the most important thing I must do is set a time to spend at least one hour with God in prayer. It just so happens that 4:00 in the morning is the time I have determined to be that time; one reason has been, that nobody else is up at that hour of the morning; another is that because it is so early, I actually feel I am devoting that time to God; but that's just me, you may choose 9:00 in the morning, or 9:00 at night; good luck getting alone with God at those times. You could get in your car and drive to a secluded area and just sit there and pray; but I will bet that some real weirdness will disturb your alone time, once in a while. Four in the morning works best for me, because the only thing that usually will disrupt my time with God, is my tired flesh. After I have prepared a time for prayer, the next thing that is vital for my own personal prayer life; I ask God to cleanse my heart, purify my mind and to pour out His Spirit into my life. I keep on asking Him for these things, until I feel comfortable to approach Him. That might sound a little strange, but I want to make sure that there is nothing hindering my ability to communicate openly with my Heavenly Father; so I start my prayer time with confession and cleansing. After getting my heart right before God, I can focus on Him; and start seeking to be in His presence; to just sit before Him and praise Him and His marvelous works. This really takes up most of my prayer time, because once I feel His glory surrounding me, I do not want to retreat. It is very hard to describe some of the things I have experienced while drawing close to God; but here is one, try to imagine that you are a shirt being turned inside out. Finally, I begin knocking at doors of intersession; praying for those I know and love; and with power I can not even begin to put into words. I am so amazed sometimes by the things that come out of my mouth; and every prayer, for everyone, is always in the positive. Sometimes, when I do not know specifically what to pray, then God will speak it through me in a language that I do not know or understand, but always I am assured in my heart that it was specific to that persons needs; what ever they are. This is just a prayer ritual that works for me, and is not intended to be a blueprint; but for one good reference to this manner of prayer, you could turn to Luke chapter 11:1-13, and specifically in verses 9 & 10; "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened". Actually, from what I have understood, the ask, seek and knock in verse 9 are plural; so it would be better interpreted; "Keep on Asking; Keep on Seeking; Keep on Knocking".