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!

Exodus 33 reading...

Exodus 33:11 "The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend."

God still does that today. Maybe not physically face to face, but He communes with us -- is with us -- His Spirit in me!  All the time!

Moses said to God in verse 13.. "If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you."  This is my prayer today.

Phil. 3:8 & 10 "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things .... I want to know Jesus Christ and the power of His resurrection."

Know.... not just head knowledge... heart knowledge that brings change in my life and is walked out day by day.

"Then the Lord replied, 'My Presence will go with you and I will give you rest.'"  (v. 14)

God's presence is always with me as the Holy Spirit resides in me.  So there is no reason for me not to have rest -- His rest -- peace.

And in verse 16 Moses replied at the thought of God not going with them... "what else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"

Jesus in my life is what distinguishes me from the world... nothing else... He is the difference.

What if?

What is you woke up tomorrow with only the things you thanked the Lord for today?

Read that online... a stop and ponder thought for sure!

My Utmost....

One of my favorite devotionals is My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Here are some things I have read over the past few weeks:

"God will never reveal more truth about Himself until you have obeyed what you know already."

"Sin is a fundamental relationship it is not wrong doing, it is wrong being, deliberate and emphatic independence of God."

"We slander God by our very eagerness to work for Him without knowing Him."

"The one who says 'Yes, Lord, but...' is the one who is fiercely ready, but never goes."

Everlasting....

Read this today in The Perfect Love by Ruth Myers and just had to share! (Please Note: None of this is my original writing.. this is all quoted from Myers' book.)

"The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him" (Ps. 103:17 RSV).  From everlasting to everlasting. 

From everlasting, way back before I ever existed, God loved me.  Long before I was born He looked ahead and fastened His affection upon me. His love for me began in His foreknowledge of me. That means He didn't love me because I earned it, for when He decided to love me I did not yet even exist.  His love is not mine because I merit it, for He fastened His love upon me before I ever did one thing good or bad, before I merited anything.

Therefore in the midst of my failure and struggles when I feel so undeserving, I never have to think, Oh dear, does He still love me? He never started loving me in the first place because I deserve it. He just loves me. His love for each of us is never rooted in our worthiness, but rather in His own nature.

God is saying to us, "Its not because you earned it or worked so hard for it that I have loved you. I don't continue loving you because you manage to maintain a high enough standard in my eyes. No, I simply made a permanent choice to love you." 

That choice will never change. He loved me from everlasting and will love me to everlasting. His love for me -- and for you -- will never end.

God has always known all things.  Before we were born He already knew the worst about us and nothing that happens now can surprise or disillusion Him. He has never had any illusions about anyone or anything.  He doesn't suddenly discover some truth about one of us and think, "Oh, why did I ever choose to love him or her?"

Choose the better thing....

This morning I was reading in Acts 6.  I didn't get far before the Lord stopped me. The beginning of this chapter deals with setting up church leadership... but there is a phrase in verse 4 that jumped out at me and applies even not only to church leadership, but also to our day to day lives.

"give attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word."

Isn't this what the Lord wants each of us to do? To give attention... make time... priority time... to pray and be in the Word and pour the Word into others?

I am busy... as most everyone of you are too... and if I am not careful, the busyness of my life takes over and causes me to either not give attention to prayer and the Word or to do so rapidly as if to get it done and off my to-do list for the day... a task, not a delight.  As I pondered this phrase, I was taken back to a familiar story in Luke 10. Jesus has come to the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus.  Martha is rushing about making sure everything is done... not bad things.. things that need to be dealt with, but that don't have to take priority right then.... they will still be there to do once Jesus has left the house.  Mary, on the other hand, has stopped all her activity and is sitting at the feet of Jesus taking in all He says (Luke 10:39).  Martha continues to work and work and get more frazzled as she has a pity party in her mind about all she is doing and all Mary is not.  She decides to make Jesus aware of the injustice of the situation, but is, no doubt, taken back by His reply:

"Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41-42)

Today, I want to choose what is better... I want to give attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word.  I pray to have ears that hear and a heart that responds to whatever the Lord calls me to.  I want to be a sheep that knows the Shepherd's voice and responds when He calls.

What will you choose today?

To Know God's Love...

I love the book of Ephesians... and the prayer found in chapter 3 is one of my favorite Biblical prayers.  As I was reading The Perfect Love by Ruth Myers this morning I read that lovely prayer from The Living Bible (TLB). Remember The Living Bible? My mother had one. It was shaped like a hardback dictionary, but covered with a dark green padded leathery material on the outside.  She loved that Bible and read it daily.

TLB is a transliteration... like The Message. Both are fine to read, but should not be your main Bible.  Those who wrote these versions took the main thoughts in the Bible and put them down in common day language.  I love to compare verses in various Bibles and The Message is one I look at often, but again.. not as my main source. You need a solid translation and there are many to choose from.... my personal favorites are the New American Standard Bible and the English Standard Version. I read the New Internation Version also as it is what my church uses.

Back to this morning's reading... as I said, I love this prayer and I really love the way it reads in TLB.  I hope you like it too and will pray this for yourselves and others.

Eph. 3:17-21 TLB

"May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God's children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high His love really is, and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it.  And so at last you will be filled up with God Himself.  Now glory be to God who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of -- infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes."