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Few of us enter into our relationship with God understanding of the spectrum of emotion and experiences awaiting us. We trust that in the end the journey Christ is about to take us on will be worth it. And while it definitely is, that doesn’t mean it isn’t at times painful.

The end result, however, is that we steadily become the sort of man or woman God truly wants us to be. The devotional below from Lifetime Guarantee calls this process, “grinding.” It’s the idea that God is shaping us like a puzzlemaker might shape a puzzle piece. He steadily cuts away and smooths our rough edges so that we fit perfectly into his beautiful plan:

He has determined where we will fit into His “puzzle,” what is going to be necessary to bring that about, and He will persevere until He gets it done! Romans 8: 29 gives us the plan He is determined to complete: …we are ‘predestined’ to become conformed to the image of His Son.

There it is! His mind is made up and He will not stop “grinding” until the job is finished just the way He has planned. Philippians 1:6 says it this way: I am very confident of this one thing. Jesus began this work and He will complete it perfectly (my paraphrase). So God has to sand off—or perhaps grind off if the edges are really rough—so we will eventually “fit” into the design He has planned for us. That’s a wonderful thing not a scary thing.

So we pray, “Lord, I want to be like Jesus. I know there’s going to be a lot of heavy sanding to do. That’s okay. The finished product will fit beautifully into Your plan and that’s worth the ‘grinding.’ So I place myself in Your hands and I see that determination in Your eyes. Thank You, precious Lord Jesus.”

Read the entire devotional at lifetime.org.

How is God “grinding” and shaping you today? How has He shaped you in the past?

If we’re not careful we can find ourselves just going through the motions when it comes to our relationship with God. We might say the right words and do the right things, but if the focus of our heart isn’t on God we’re selling our relationship with Him short.

In this devotional written by Julie Ackerman for Our Daily Bread gives us a perfect example of how it’s possible to be emotionally far away from a situation even while we’re physically present:

Everything was quiet in our yard. While I worked at the patio table, our dog, Maggie, lay nearby in the grass. A slight rustling of dry leaves changed everything. Maggie made her move, and suddenly she was circling a tree, where a woodchuck clung tightly to the trunk.

Maggie came when I called, but I couldnt get her to look at me. Her neck was in a rigidly fixed position. Although she was near me physically, her thoughts and desires were with that woodchuck.

Maggie and the woodchuck remind me of how quickly I become preoccupied with things that take my eyes off Jesus. Old temptations, new responsibilities, or ongoing desires for possessions or pleasure can quickly divert my attention from the One who knows and wants what is best for me.

A similar spiritual condition afflicted the Pharisees (Matt. 15:8-9). They were serving in the temple and instructing others, but their hearts were far from God.

We too can teach and serve at church but be far from God. Even our religious activity becomes meaningless when our focus is not on Jesus. But if we stop being stiff-necked (Acts 7:51), the Lord can turn our eyes away from worthless things and revive our hearts.

Have you ever found yourself not fully present when you’re supposed to be spending time with God? How do you refocus?

Do you feel distant from God?

Chances are good that feeling of distance didn’t develop overnight. When we drift away from God, it’s a slow and steady process. It might happen over a period of months or years, but all of the sudden we realize that we’ve been pushing God away rather than running towards Him. The devotional today from Strength for the Journey describes how we fall into this pattern and also gives us great advice for avoiding it in the future:

Satans opening volley was not a blistering attack on God; it was a simply a question that he wanted Eve to think about. Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden? (Genesis 3:1). Actually, God had said that she could eat of every tree but one. But Satan twisted the facts to suit his purposes and to lead Eves mind to the conclusion that God was not the generous God she had known Him to be, but rather a stingy, restrictive, joy killer. Once she had let her heart drift to the wrong conclusion, it was easy for her to believe Satans lie that God just wanted to keep her from being as knowledgeable as He is and that the threat of them dying was just Gods way of scaring them into compliance with His stingy ways.

Satan still sets us adrift by planting doubt about Gods Word and spinning the facts to his own evil advantage.

Once we begin to suspect God instead of trusting Him, we inevitably drift away from Him. So, beware! Your life is full of scenarios where Satan can put his deceitful twist on your experiences. He is the spin-doctor of hell, and as Jesus said, When [Satan] lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).

Read the rest of the devotional at RBC.org.

Have you recently found yourself becoming distant with God? What’s stopping you from moving back towards Him?

Do you ever feel like you can’t keep pace with the change going on around you? Consider your life just ten years ago—before 9/11, before the iPod, before Lost and 24. What has changed in your life in that time? What has remained the same? Has anything remained the same?

In the last decade, I’ve gotten married, had a kid, bought a house, and seen almost every part of my life change in some way. I see the effects of change everyday at work in the publishing industry, which is struggling to cope with rapidly-evolving technology. What, in all of this change, can we truly rely on?

That’s the question being asked at this Daily Encounter devotional, which offers an encouraging reminder that there is one thing that won’t change with the times:

Change, rapid change—some for good and some for bad—has become the order of the day. They say that today’s average worker will need to be retrained at least three times during his working career to keep up with all the changes. Changes in technology, our manner of living, relationships, beliefs, philosophy, morals, and so on are happening so fast it is difficult to keep up with it all. It can leave us reeling and stressed to the max.

And while we have learned how to put a man on the moon and talk to him while he is there, we hardly know how to communicate to one another in a meaningful manner when we are in the same room! Much of our modern education (with access to almost unlimited knowledge) has taught us how to make a living but has failed miserably in teaching us how to live.

And without an anchor for the soul we can be left floating on a restless changing sea of uncertainty and insecurity. But for those who have faith in God, of this one thing we can be absolutely sure: God changes not! His love is from everlasting to everlasting and he is still in control of the world and universe no matter what.

What in your life is truly changeless? Do you lean on God, the only perfectly reliable constant in a world of continual, bewildering change?

This devotional from Lifetime Guarantee challenges us to consider Psalm 73:23-24(a): “Yet I am always with You; You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel.”

Each of the three phrases in this passage details a different part of God’s relationship to us. He is near; He holds our hand; and He guides us with His counsel. When life is going well, these are comforting promises, but what about during the ugly times, when we let sin dominate us? Wouldn’t it actually feel better if God wasn’t there when we were actively sinning?

Taking this passage seriously means recognizing that God is with us in everything we do. How then should our lives reflect this knowledge? Anabel Gillham writes:

“I am always with You”

Do I really believe this? Do I walk in this? Am I consciously aware that everywhere I go I am in His presence-in the car on the way to town; walking the dog; sitting at my desk; at the supper table? I am always with You. If I accept this as truth, then I won’t ever, ever consider Him to be not listening, not interested, somewhere far away where I have to concentrate to get in touch with Him or isolate myself to be with Him. Never will I have to do this. The teaching that tells me I have to implore God to listen, to beg God to intercede, to inform Him of my problems pales in the light of His constant presence with me-always.

Read the rest of the devotional at Lifetime.org.

Is it hard for you to think of God as always near you? How does knowing that God is holding your hand influence your actions? Do you seek God’s counsel on your decisions?

Is God the “number 1 priority” in your life? Christians are accustomed to hearing this question leveled at them in sermons, books, and retreats. Most of us have the general sense that God isn’t as high a priority in our lives as He should be. But what does it mean to make God our top priority?

In this devotional from the Delve Into Jesus archives, Michael Lane writes about what it means to make God a priority in your life… but it’s not what you think. Making God your “top priority” isn’t a matter of increasing your time spent in prayer, Bible study, and church. It means allowing God to guide and direct you in everything you do during the day, whether you’re memorizing the book of Ephesians or changing the oil in your Subaru.

Spending time with God in prayer, reading His word and worshiping with other believers are all extremely important, but you must be aware of your intentions when you engage in these activities. If you read a chapter of the Gospel before bed, does it feel like you can now scratch “read the Bible” off your list of chores? During daily prayer time, do you feel a nagging urge to rush through it so that you can move on to other things?

Consider that if you set God as one among many priorities in your life, then obviously you are the one setting priorities, not God. As contrary as it may sound, God does not want to be a priority in our lives. He does not even want to be our first priority. He wants to be the One who sets the priorities.

“Is God a priority in your life?” is a good question. But more important is the question, “Does God set the priorities in your life?” How would you answer?

Have you ever acquired a taste for something you now can’t imagine living without?

When you’re teaching yourself to appreciate a certain food or drink you have to commit to the process. Sometimes your first few experiences are terrible, but by persevering, you notice subtitle flavors and sensations that you had previously missed.

For me, drinking coffee is a chore; I have to load it down with sugar and cream just to make it palatable. But for those that have acquired the taste for coffee, a perfectly brewed cup can be the highlight of their day.

In Psalm 34, the psalmist writes that we should “Taste and see that the LORD is good.” Our devotional this morning from Day by Day urges us to take the psalmists advice and set about on the journey of acquiring a taste for the LORD:

Now, would we say that our “taste” for the Lord is an acquired taste? I would say so. For it is only through the contact with the Holy Spirit that we even begin to discover what the Psalmist is talking about when he writes, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

So how does one taste of the Lord? In Psalms 119, we read, “I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” To taste of the Lord, simply means to walk with Him and according to His word. It means meditating on the things of God–chewing on them, if you will. And it means experiencing God in an up close and personal way as we keep our feet from evil and purposely set our hearts on the purposes of our Maker.

In time, our acquired taste is one that we cannot hardly go a day without. We enjoy the pleasantry of His company. We enjoy the warmth of His filling. We enjoy the aroma of His sweet Spirit as He embraces us in all His goodness. We have grown so accustomed to tasting the Lord on a daily basis that, when we do not spend time with Him, we soon feel the effects thereof.

Do you feel like you’ve “acquired a taste” for the Lord?

In Job 29:6, a nostalgic Job pines for the days that his “path was drenched with cream.” This devotional from Today points out how this odd phrase is a fantastic descriptor of good things God gives us, and how we need to be careful that we don’t take the “cream” in our life for granted:

Jesus warns, though, that sometimes “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). And it’s true. Sometimes we worry, asking, Do I have enough cream? or What will all this cream do to my cholesterol level? or Is the cream as good as it used to be? And we get taken in by the deceitfulness of riches and extras that cater to our desires as we wonder, Why can’t I have strawberries with my cream? or Why doesn’t God give me flavored cream?

When we focus on the cream—on the extra things, we soon become dissatisfied. How much better to be content with basic milk and daily bread, and if God chooses to drench us with cream, to say heartily, “Thank you, Lord.” Then, as an old catechism puts it, “we can be patient when things go against us, [and] thankful when things go well.”

Are you content with the basic milk and bread that God gives you? Is there anything in your life that you’ve been taking for granted that you shouldn’t be?

One of the most intriguing moments in the story of the Exodus is when God identifies himself to Moses as “I AM.” Much ink has been spilled on the significance of this name. While there is certainly much to be gleaned from God’s choice of names in this passage, this devotional from Words of Hope suggests a simple lesson to draw:

Some people have suggested that this name is not meant to be cryptic but serves as a reminder to live in the present. Jesus told us that being anxious about tomorrow is futile, since tomorrow has enough worries of its own. […]

God continues to stress the importance of living in the present because doing so displays our complete trust in him as our provider. When you say “give us this day,” trust God enough to not need to know exactly what tomorrow holds. When you awake each morning, believe that you will have all you need to make it through that particular day.

Christians spend a lot of time praying and pondering God’s will and future plans for us. But have you also learned to listen for God’s guidance right now, today? God promises to lead us not only into the unknown future, but through our daily trials and struggles. Do you trust God to provide for you today?

What did you wake up thinking about this morning?

Normally, when I wake up it’s with a random song lyric stuck in my head, or the first thing I need to do at work. But sometimes it’s more weighty than that. I’ve woken up thinking of friends I haven’t talked to for months or a problem in my life that needs resolution. Those mornings feel different, and those half-formed thoughts will linger until I act on them.

A recent Daily Encounter devotional discussed the importance of listening to those niggling ideas and thoughts we have when we wake up. They might be more than a passing notion—they could be a nudge from God:

Melody Beattie in her book, The Language of Letting Go, emphasizes the importance of contemplating what is on your mind first thing when you wake up in the morning? What is it in that half-asleep, half-awake place? Are you troubled about something? Is there some responsibility you have neglected and is bothering you? Is it a project you’ve wanted to start but have kept putting it off? Is it an unhealthy relationship you are in and you know that you need to either resolve or end it? Is it a destructive habit or sin that you feel convicted about?

Whatever is on your mind at this time is coming from your inner self, your unconscious mind, or it may be from God’s Spirit. It may be revealing an issue you need to deal with, or a project you’ve been thinking about starting for months. Listen to that voice and do what you know you need to do about it. Don’t put it off. Take care of it each day.

Have you ever realized something important in that half-awake/half-dreaming state?