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When you pray, 'Make me a better
person,' what specific areas would you
like God to work on? Are you honest in
your financial dealings; do you give God
a tithe of your income? Do you put
yourself in sexually inappropriate
situations? Do you tell the truth even
when it costs you? Are you spending
enough time with your family? Do you
find it easy to say, 'I was wrong, I'm
genuinely sorry,' or do you make
excuses? Have you formed habits that are
detrimental to your health, your job, or
your walk with Christ? We will travel
half way around the world for a personal
'word,' yet we won't spend an hour with
God, or deal with our doubt, anger and
selfishness. Yet that's what separates
us from Him. In God's presence things
that never bothered you before, begin to
bother you now. Things like words; words
that wound others, exalt self and
contradict God. Sometimes God withdraws
His discernable presence to make us
reach for Him harder. Seeking God is
what keeps our hearts tender. Without
realizing it we become set in our
methods of ministry, set in our ideas
about prayer, and set in our attitudes
toward others. We take a past experience
we've had with God, reduce it to a
formula and feel like we don't need to
seek Him afresh. You can be seemingly
doing all the right things, yet your
love has grown cold. Ponder these words:
'He did what was right in the eyes of
the Lord, but not wholeheartedly' (2
Chronicles 25:2 NIV). There it is; your
whole heart! Does God have it?
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