Here I am telling you about goals again. How not to quit. How to keep going no matter what. This is day 3 of our 3 days closer to God. The third day can be one of the hardest though. it is just like me going to the gym to swim and work out. On the first day you are psyched and ready to go. You are even up before the alarm. You almost race out of the house and to the gym. The second day is about the same. Your zeal is tempered by the fact you hurt a bit. Things are sore that haven’t been sore in years. But still you go. You manage to get there and get your work out done. The third day is when it all starts to unravel. The best laid plans go awry. You thought you had every contingency planned for. Well, all except this one. So you deal with that problem and now you are behind schedule. You are sore from two days of new workouts. Your unmade bed calls out to you. You stop and longingly consider it. Then somehow you surge with inner strength and make it out the door to the gym. You have conquered. You have mastered yourself. At least part of you.

That’s the temptation when we start something like this 3 days closer to God. Day one is easy. Pumped and ready. You take the time. You make the time for Him. Day two is almost as easy. You are a little tired but you push on anyway. Day three is the day when plans can fail. Day three is the day when you need to pray the most. Satan does not like you becoming closer to God. Satan will do anything to keep that from happening. So commit yourself to finishing, to go all the way and test God. Find out what He is really like.

Day three, I start where I left off my Bible reading, II Samuel chapter 18. You can always start at the beginning or at a favorite verse or two. Read the texts. Meditate on them. Think about them. Apply them to your life. Then take time to have a conversation with your Father. Maybe I should say a conversation with your Dad. We don’t use Father much anymore. Dad seems to be the norm. Maybe if we reverently call God Dad God would seem more personal to us. I will leave that decision up to you. Remember a conversation is a two-way street. You talk as in prayer and you also listen. Take the time to listen to what God has to say. Sometimes I forget to do this too. It’s easy to get caught up in the “I needs”. God, I need this and I need that. It should be: let’s get closer by spending some quality time together.

There is another benefit of doing this for three days. It is the beginning of a new habit. What do you need more? God or money? God or food? I think we should need Him just like we need food. We should need God to live the same as we eat. That was no accident He is called the Bread of Life. He should be our bread, our first and most important need of each and every day.

Here is your challenge for today. Have a chat with Dad. He loves you, cares for you and wants what is best for you. Listen to what He has to say. And make this a daily happening!