Today’s Key Scripture (all references NKJV unless otherwise noted:

“Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts.

—Malachi 3:7

Once, when the stress of administering a large ministry seemed overwhelming and I was caught up in all the details that I needed to do, I fell asleep from sheer exhaustion and had a dream. I saw Jesus walking, and a large crowd was following Him. Then I heard His voice calling to me. He said, “Benny, you have some catching up to do.” I saw myself running, getting closer to Jesus.

When I awoke I thought, “Lord, what does that mean?” God spoke to me and said, “Get back to your calling. Get back to prayer.”

That morning, I reaffirmed my commitment to obey God’s mandate on my life: to take the message of God’s saving and healing power to the world. I promised the Lord that I wouldn’t let the details of the ministry distract me and keep me from doing what He had called me to do. And I have been faithful to that commitment.

As Paul the Apostle said, we must be “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16).

Have you spent time with Jesus today, or is there a need for some “catching up?” If you have not been in His presence lately, hear His voice saying “Return to Me!”

A Prayer for Today:

Precious Lord, show me anything in my life that is holding me back from an intimate, personal communion with You. I want more of You today. I desire to be used in Your service to reach others. May every stronghold of the enemy that seeks to enslave and destroy be barricaded from the unsaved. I thank You for every door that You are opening, and I surrender myself to You, even as I desire to become closer with You every day. I pray that the harvest fields will be filled with people of all ages and cultures who feel Your Holy Spirit drawing them to you. Return me to my highest calling. I pray all this in the name of Jesus.