Seeking

On November 4, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Psalm 34: 10

But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.

Matthew 6: 33 says, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” Christians do not have to run around seeking after “things,” even things they need. In Philippians 4: 19 God promises us he will provide for our needs. Our role and function in this relationship we have with Him is to seek Him. It is His responsibility to provide for our needs as well as everything else. The above verse says we will not lack any good thing.

I do not say this is always an easy thing to do though. The cares of the world come and choke out the Word that was planted in our hearts (Matthew 13: 22). But take a care. Put your effort and energy into reviving that Word in you and sow the Word of the living God into your heart and He will be able to move on your behalf to meet your needs and your desires. Seek Him! Seek Him and don’t worry about the things of this world. You will choke on the cares of this world. And there is no point when it is His good pleasure to give you those things you want. Seek the Lord. Seek His face continually. Let your energy go into seeking him. “I will be found by you” says the Lord as written in Jeremiah 29: 14. Seek him and you will find him and every good thing will be added to you in His name.

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Pathways Disclosed

On September 23, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Jeremiah 29: 11 – 14a

“For I know the plans that I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found by you,” declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 29: 11 is a pretty familiar passage and certainly good news. We want to know that God has good plans for us. He knows the plans He has for us, He hasn’t forgotten. Those plans are not of calamity but of good things.

That is all great encouragement from the master encourager. That was not enough for me today though. It is great that God has good plans for us but, speaking for myself, we need to know those plans. We need to hear His ideas for our lives. That is why God didn’t hang up the phone after verse 11. He kept speaking. He knows the rest of the story too, that we need to hear of these plans. So He says, “Call Me, come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you” (v. 12). That is a good answer to our questioning Him about these good plans He has for us but for many of us even as we hear His words our hearts descend into doubt.

Maybe, I will call upon Him and maybe I will pray to Him, but will He really listen to me and more importantly, will I hear Him? He assures us that when we seek Him with our entire heart, He will be found by us. “‘I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord” (v. 14).

These words are meant to give us assurance. First of all understand that praying to Him is not meant to be a religious activity. It is meant to be a conversation. It isn’t all about laying a petition at His feet. The best prayer is pouring out your heart into His lap. Just get real. Tell Dad exactly what you are feeling; exactly what you are going through. Tell Him where your doubt lies and ask Him to shine light on those areas for you. 

When I read verse 11 I always picture a path. I understand that His plans for me, His goodness and provision, lie on the path which He has ordained for me. You need to know where your path lies. Therefore, you must also seek Him and not only in a global fashion but also as to specifics in your life. Which road are you to take? What is your vehicle? He has a path all laid out for you that will take you to the land of your dreams and ambitions. We’ve just got to get on the right road. Seek Him, inquire of Him. He has big and great plans for you.

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Hearty Seeking

On February 13, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 Chronicles 22: 19

Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God.

If you want to know the secret to living victoriously in Christ I believe this is it. I remember how dramatically my life changed when I resolutely and determinedly sought God. Now I have entered a new phase of seeking where all of me is more fully engaged in seeking Him.

It is interesting to me that the scripture says to set our hearts and souls to seeking God. I spent many, many years seeking Him with my mind. That was not a completely empty pursuit but it sure was not fulfilling. I loved God and sought His wisdom but when I began to pursue Him with all of me, life changed.

For me the big difference was getting out of my intellect and into my heart. I found this difficult because I interfaced with the world through intellect and reasoning. I didn’t “feel” my way through life. I listened to people talk about connecting with God in their hearts and honestly, I couldn’t even feel my heart when I meditated. It was pretty humbling. And I don’t claim to have laid hold of the prize yet but I do know that an intellectual relationship with God is not what He sent His son to the cross for. Intellectual relationships are what we have with professors and with books. It is not the basis for a relationship with our resurrected Lord, he who gave his life for us. We are intended to be as close to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as we are to our spouses and children. It really is a matter of the heart. How satisfied would your spouse be if your relationship was solely intellectual? Boring!

Here is a bit of good news though. Father says that if we will seek Him, He will be found by us (2 Chronicles 15: 2). But what does this really mean, to seek Him with our heart and soul? It seems that we must not only abandon the pursuit of our minds but that we must also turn our perspective in so that we connect first with our own hearts and souls. Then as an exercise of our inner person we engage the Father. When we were born again the Father, Son and Holy Spirit came to live inside of us. They have taken up residence in us. Therefore, if we wish to find the Father we need not search the heavens or the air about us. We need only turn our attention inward. Unfortunately, many of us have divorced ourselves from an internal life. We were either deceived about the primacy of the intellect or we closed off our hearts because we had not the strength to endure. Often it might have been a bit of both. But we are not cowards. There is nothing in our hearts that Jesus can’t handle. In fact, he has already healed all of our wounds. He is the salve that coats and heals. Therefore, we needn’t be afraid any longer. Our Lord is bigger than our fear, bigger than any past injuries. No matter how badly we may have been injured nor how long we have made it a practice to cordon off our hearts, he is greater than those obstacles. He can restore to us a tender heart which is our divine right and our divine construction. We were made to be tender and when we really understand who we are in Christ we will also appreciate that there is no weakness in tenderness. A tender and compassionate heart is what gave Jesus the strength to go to the cross.

If we want to live in Christian victory; if we want to have all that Jesus came to give us; then we must live our lives integrated with him. We must set our hearts and souls to seeking him and he will be found by us. We must have an impressionable and open heart in order to succeed. Jesus is our perfect way and He has provided for us strength and security. Fear not! Seek the Lord with all that you are and you will find great joy and victory in him.

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I Have The Power

On November 25, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Chronicles 15: 2

“Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the LORD is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.”

You are in charge of your relationship with God. Did you realize that? You can be as close as you want or as distant. It is your call. In fact, did you know that God cannot breakup with you? What power that is. If you decide you do not wish to have a relationship with God then that is your call but He cannot make the same election. He has given all power over your union with Him to you.

In the verse for today we see Asa, King of Judah, being given this same message. The Lord is with you when you choose to be with Him and have Him with you. He is found when you Seek Him and His face will only be hidden from you when your turn away. God has given us power and a free will. He will even let you go to hell if you choose to. In fact, He cannot prevent it if you so choose. He has given us ultimate power in choosing how to live our lives because He wanted children, not robots. He wants to have a meaningful relationship with beings He could actually even call “friend.”

But as Spiderman says, “With great power comes great responsibility.” That is the part which some of us struggle with because if we do not have the relationship with God that we want the responsibility lies with us. Now, that is not what I wanted to hear; still don’t sometimes, but there is something very empowering in that statement because it also means that I can affect the relationship. I can choose whether God will be found by me or not. All I have to do is seek. He has no choice but to be found. I like that. If I choose to be with God, or if you choose to be with Him, then He has no choice but to be with us. You see, God is omnipotent but that does not actually mean He can do all things. He has hemmed Himself in by His own rules. He actually hasn’t the power in some things because He has given that power away. It was His choice. We certainly didn’t make Him do anything He didn’t want to do but once He makes a rule it binds Him as much as it does anyone else. He will not violate His laws. So, if you want to kick Him out of your life, then you are fully able. On the other hand, if you seek Him He cannot help but be found by you.

From my personal experience I can also testify that this is true. I did blame God for our relationship not being all that I wanted and I put Him on notice that I was going to hunt Him down. And hunt Him I did. After years and years of living in the desert I found that there was an oasis right over the near dune and that it was He. He was calling to me, “Come; come to the cool water and drink. I am here. I am awaiting you. He was there all along, right in front of my face but the noise in my head was too loud for me to hear. My heart was anesthetized and unable to hear. But brother when I opened my eyes and ears and went searching for Him He exploded on the scene. He was waiting for me and met me with such vibrancy that my body, soul and spirit have been pulsating ever since. And I know that I will never live in the desert again. I think about all those wasted years roaming around in the desert lost when He was right there all along trying to be seen by me.

Don’t be a fool like I was. Open your ears and eyes right now. Let God know that you intend to find Him and when you open your eyes you will find Him standing right in front of you. The power is yours. Determine what kind of relationship you want with God and make it so.

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Snakes and Stones or Fish and Bread

On July 29, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 7: 7 – 11

“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or what if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

I know this is a very familiar passage of scripture but it bears looking at again and again. And even though it is well known I am unconvinced that it has really sunk into the hearts of believers.

We begin with the entreaty of Christ himself telling us to ask the Father for those things we seek. He would have no need to tell the people to make requests to God if they were already doing it. Moreover, Jesus knew well that the words he spoke while on the earth were not only for the people of that era but also for us. There is an emphatic plea in Jesus’ tone as he tried to encourage the Jews of then and us today to take our petitions to the Lord, our God. 

Ask, he says, and you will receive. Clearly the people were not asking but the important underlying point is that they did not ask because they did not believe God would answer. That is why Jesus went on to explain God’s willingness to answer prayer by comparing Him to an earthly parent. Surely, even a half-way decent parent would not give a child a snake in response to a request for a fish or a stone in place of bread and yet followers of Yahweh don’t even give Him that much credit. We have failed to recognize Him as a loving parent. Jesus calls us to look at ourselves and compare ourselves with the God and Father who created us. If we are virtuous enough to give our children that which is good how is it that we do not believe that our heavenly Father is virtuous enough to care for us? In our comparison somehow we subconsciously arrive at the conclusion that God is not a good parent. The result is that we don’t bother to ask because we do not believe that He will answer.

As I read this I am forced to ask myself if I believe Jesus. What was Jesus’ purpose in speaking these words? Is this just theology or is he trying to compel us to really treat God as a father? Does Jesus think that the comparison of God to an earthly parent is rational? And does he really believe that if you and I ask God for something that God will actually provide for us? Will God provide for me as He provided for Jesus?

As I sit here I invite you to join me in thinking about what you really want and what you really need. What is in your heart today? Is it something in the physical realm or something intangible? Can you imagine yourself seated at the kitchen table with your father God? What would you say to Him about this need or desire you have? Can you see Him as a loving parent who wishes to meet your needs and who also loves to bless you with gifts?

So much theology is put to right when we receive a revelation of God’s love. When we come to understand His heart and His deep love for us then all the pieces begin to fall into place. We have to shake off this idea of Him as a distant and removed God and get a revelation of Him as a loving parent. That is what Jesus tried to reveal to us and he is emphatic that we should treat God as a parent by asking, seeking and knocking. We have Jesus’ word that we will receive, the door will be opened and we will find that which we seek. Move outside of your experience and your philosophy today and attempt to hear what Jesus is saying. Sit with him and let him minister the nuance and implications of the words as well as their literal meaning. There is something important in this passage that Jesus is trying to convey to you today. Require him to give you the fullness of its meaning.

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