Hearing from God Each Morning (July 6)

This blog is about today's devotion in the book Hearing from God Each Morning by Joyce Meyer.

I love today's devotion! It talks about focusing on our relationship with God instead of religion and doing "religious" things. This has been my theme, more or less, this past month or so. I've been really focusing on God and what He is trying to tell me instead of keeping up that image of being a strong Christian.

The funny thing is, when we start to focus on God instead of doing all of those good works, the good works come naturally and we don't even realize it. And when the body of Christ is focused on God instead of the walls they've built up, that opens the doors for God to do some amazing things!

For me personally, my "religious acts" weren't so much doing good deeds with the wrong motive, but it was going through the motions at church--including pretending to be happy when I am not. By changing my focus from pleasing the church to pleasing God and being real with Him, the way I act in church has changed completely. When I'm around believers, those walls that used to be there are gone. I'm not afraid to tell people what's going on, because I also have such overwhelming praises in my heart to share with them, too. Instead of saying, "I'm fine," I tell them what's wrong, but then I get the chance to share all of the things that are right. I may cry, but I may also sing and laugh and share that joy with someone else.

God opens doors when we're focused on Him.