Know Him.... Seek Him...

I was reading in the book The Perfect Love by Ruth Myers some things about Knowing God today that just really spoke to my heart...

"... to know God is not just to accumulate facts about Him, but also to experience who He is in our daily living."

"E.M.Bounds wrote that God does not reveal Himself to the 'hasty comer and goer.' If we settle for a casual relationship we won't experience His love deeply.  It's not that anything about His love changes when we neglect Him. His love is still just as full and flowing, just as wonderful and powerful.  But we're blocking it out when we don't pursue a deeper, more constant relationship with Him."

When I read this, I immediately thought of Jeremiah 29:13... I cannot tell you how many times this verse has come before my eyes in the last week and a half.. and from vastly different sources!  The NIV says:  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  

I recently saw it in the NLT and love how it is worded:  If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

I love that word... WHOLEHEARTEDLY

Brought me to a couple more verses this morning..

Deut 4:29  But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul.  

From there.. from where ever I am at that MOMENT... whatever my situation and circumstance.. I am to seek Him with ALL my heart!

And Ps. 86:11b... which is a wonderful verse to pray for yourself and those you love... Teach me your way, O LORD,  and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.

Finally --if you know me personally, then you have heard me say over and over say Be In The Word... it is a soapbox I proudly stand on and shout from and once again I am there urging anyone reading this to be in the Word. My family has had a huge upset this week.. great turmoil that will be with us for a while... I would never lie and say we have had total peace... no anger.. no hurt.. no worry... please, we are human!  BUT in the midst of it all God has used His Word.. either from others who text a verse or devotional emails that come in my inbox... or most importantly and most often through the Holy Spirit who reminds me what HE has shown me in His Word... John 14:26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  He teaches and He will remind us at just the right time.. but we MUST be in the Word learning to have something for Him to remind us!

We must seek to have a FULL relationship with the Lord.. not just a casual one. He should be you absolute most intimate friend.  Seek Him with ALL your heart today!

Jeremiah 29:11-14

Recently I read an idea where you are challenged to read the same passage of Scripture each day for a week.  I like to change things up in my Daily Time with the Lord every now and then, so I thought I would do this and see how it goes.

After praying, I felt led to settle this week on a familiar passage...   Jeremiah 29:11-14

Here are some of the things I learned along the way this week....

10/18/10
The first line of this passage starts out "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord."

I like to know "the plan." It is a real hang-up with me and yet I rarely do know God's plan!  But I realized as I read this that it is Okay.  I may not know the plan He has for me, but He does and I am to trust Him fully knowing that His plans are always perfect and always the best thing for us.

10/19/10
This passage was written to Israel and God tells them He sent them into exile -- into captivity with Babylon because they had lost sight of Him.  And He promises in verse 14 that He "will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."

God carried them there -- He did not send them alone.  He went with them -- carried them.

I am reminded of when a child is small and is sent to his/her room or the corner of some such place to sit because they are misbehaving and cannot be allowed to play until they settle down.  Often I had to physically pick my child up and take him/her to the place of "exile" and even though it might have seemed like I wasn't with them, I was. I did not leave the hour or leave them all alone.  Often I was in the room waiting for him/her to settle down.  It may have seemed mean to them, but I placed them their for their own good -- to teach them proper behavior-- to protect them from my "wrath" -- to give them a safe place and time to right themselves -- to refocus and get calm.

I think this is what God does. He carries me into exile - a spiritual time out - where I might feel dry and alone, but He is right there with me - teaching me -- giving me an opportunity to avoid His "wrath" -- letting me refocus and quiet myself and when I do I will seek Him with all my heart and He will be found by me. (v. 13)

10/20/10

Back to the beginning words.. "I know the plans I have for you" (v. 11) -- "for YOU"  That's the thing that hit me this day.. He has plans for me.  It isn't about me figuring out what to do or making a plan, it's about me surrendering to His plan for me.

There is a verse in the Psalms which essentially says Man makes plans but God directs His steps.

Throughout the Word we see that we are not here by accident -- God picked this time and place and He has a plan for us and for our lives. (See Eph 2:10. Ps. 139, Acts 17:26)

It's time to turn loose of my plans and seek after His!

10/21/10

Not sure I learned anything new this day... it was a bit more like being a lab and testing what I had learned!  I am living in the midst of a trial... not that unusual for a Believer.  Things escalated on this day. I felt the enemy pressing down... doing His best to pull me into despair, dread and doubt.  As I was dealing with this.. struggling... I thought of the words of this passage -- again reminded that if I am in exile, God carried me there and is with me and He promises He will bring me back from captivity, BUT it is conditional.  He will do this when I seek Hum with all my heart.  I chose that day to stand with shaky legs on the promise that He Knows the plan and it is a plan for me and it will give me a Hope and a Future!

10/22/10

"You will see me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (v. 13)

All means ALL -- total -- complete -- Every bit of my heart!

Ps. 86:11 "Teach me Your way, Lord, and I will walk in Your truth; give me an undivided heart that I may fear Your name."

Eze. 11:19 "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them, I will remove from them their heart of stone and give the a heart of flesh."

If I want to find God - to truly know Him - I have to set my heart fully - squarely -- on Him and seek after Him with ALL my heart - an undivided Heart... and I get that heart from Him!

So He equips me to have all I need to seek after Him with all my heart because He wants to be found by me!

I enjoyed focusing on one passage a bit each day.  Plan on continuing this type of meditation for a bit.

Psalm 60 - 64

When I started reading Psalm 60, I thought here is another whiny Psalm where the author feels God has rejected him… and in a way that is true… but then I saw how timely and pertinent this Psalm is. 

So many feel God rejected our nation with election of Barak Obama.  They fail to acknowledge that God establishes authority (Rom. 13:1) or that he has a plan in all this (Hab. 1) 

This Psalm sounds like the “cries” I’ve heard recently. 

Verses 1- 3 “You have rejected us, O God, and burst forth upon us; You have been angry – now restore us!  You have shaken the land and torn it open… you have shown your people desperate times…” 

Certainly we are seeing desperate times and our land has been shaken and I personally feel more is to come. 

Verse 4 proclaims hope and truth “But for those who fear You, You have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow.” 

Jesus is our banner – our faith in Him – we must cling to Him … walk in faith no matter our circumstances. 

God is at work. We need to seek Him and trust Him always… for “the help of man is worthless. With God we will gain the victory.” (v. 11 & 12) 

Psalm 61 follows as a prayer crying out to God in time of need. 

“… lead me the rock that is higher than I .  For You have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe.”  (v. 2 & 3) 

Jesus is the Rock and He is most definitely higher. 

Psalm 62 is a familiar friend. 

“My sould finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”  (v. 1 & 2) 

What verses to pray and promises to stand on! 

And the Psalmist reminds us again of who God is… 

“Find rest, O my soul,. In God alone; my hope comes from Him.  He alone is my fortress, I will not be shaken.  My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge.  Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.”  (v. 5-8) 

Psalm 63 is another familiar friend... one of the most wonderful Psalms David wrote. 

“I God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my body longs for You in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (v. 1) 

How I want to always long for and seek God in this way. 

“Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.  I will praise You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands.  My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise You.”  (v. 3-5) 

This should be my heart… my life… each day… to praise God because He is good.. He is better than life! 

And for David it is 24 / 7… in Verse 1, earnestly can also be translated early… so early will I seek you. 

Then in verse 6 He says “on my bed I remember You; I think of You throughout the watches of the night.” 

For David, seeking God … praising Him… worshipping… was all day and night… every moment. 

Psalm 64 again finds the Psalmist crying out to God, but not in a whiny way… it is more of an “OK, God, here are the problem in my life.. take care of them.”  In a way the Psalmist is doing what Ps. 55:22 says to do. “Cast your cares on the Lord…” and he knows God will take care of Him.  Verse 10 “Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in Him; let all the upright in heart praise Him.” 

Psalm 26 & 27

from September 17, 2008

Psalm 26 is a bit difficult for me. David is telling God why He should vindicate him... how he (David) is blameless.. has unwavering trust in the Lord.. avoids evil... etc.

Now I'm not doubting David or saying he is a liar, but I cannot claim to be blameless.. to have unwavering trust etc. So for me, this Psalms is a list of things I want to be, but because of my humanness I can't. But I can pray these verses and ask God to strengthen my trust that it might not waver... to help me avoid evil... to praise Him that through the blood of Jesus I am blameless.

The scariest verse to me is verse 2 "Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind." It takes courage and fortitude to pray that and mean it, but WOW the growth that comes from a time of testing is priceless.

Psalm 27 is an old friend. I struggled with a stronghold of fear for a number of years and Psalm 27:1 was one of my "fear" verses. I clung to these verses, praying them over and over.

Ps. 27:1 "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?"

Today as I read, I was struck by 2 verses.. the end of verse 4 "to gave upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple" and verse 8 "My heart says of You, 'seek His face!' Your face, Lord, I will seek."

Jer. 29:13 assures us that when we seek the Lord, he will be found.

These verses contain a great goal...the ultimate goal for a believer... to seek God, to seek that deep personal intimate relationship with Him. What more could we want or need?