Chasing God

On January 22, 2024   /   Word of the Day   /   2 Comments

1 Chronicles 28: 9           New Living Bible

If you seek him, you will find him.

What do you want from Christianity? Is your main purpose to avoid hell? That’s not hard. Do you perhaps expect and desire more? What is it that draws you to Christ and to Christianity?

I hope your answer is that you want to know Yahweh, Jesus and the Holy Spirit personally; you want to be their friend; to have a personal relationship with the God of Divine Creation. To my way of thinking, those of you who answer in this way are true Christians. There are many people who sit on a pew on Sundays and who even go through many of the forms and rituals of a Christians existence, but who are missing the critical piece, a life with Christ. This is what matters.

What does this look like? Well maybe it is church on Sunday and Wednesday, but it is definitely washing dishes with Jesus, riding a bike with Yahweh, walking with the Holy Spirit. Relationship with the Triple Crown of Divinity is living a life with them. Hopefully Sunday school and Bible study are done together with the Father, Son and Spirit, but there are tons of folks who are not engaged with Jesus even in those “spiritual” things.

One of the reasons bicycle riding became so important to me was because it was time Father and I spent together. It became a large part of my spiritual and emotional health regime. To this day I even get jealous with my time when I have been riding with friends because, although I enjoy riding with friends very much, I sometimes just want to get out there alone with Dad.

The best way to develop a personal friendship with any of the members of the Trinity is to seek them. You know my story how, I wanted a deeper, closer relationship with God, so I chased Him all the way out to California from North Carolina. I like to say, “I chased Him until He caught me!” It is so true, and that is how I can tell you that this verse is absolutely true. If you seek Him, you will find Him.

So, what do you want from Christianity. Do want to go to church and have friends? Do you want to learn Bible Scriptures and be knowledgeable about the Bible? Or, do you want to know God? Please answer the latter and seek Him. I promise, you do not have to chase Him all the way across the country. You can chase Him to your backyard or your spare bedroom. You can chase until you find Him in your kitchen. Start your prayer this way, “Father, Dad, I am seeking you. I am searching for you and a closer relationship with you. Reveal yourself to me. Teach me how to seek you.” Be still, be quiet and feel your heart. Have a Bible near in case He wants to speak through it, but listen in your heart, not your brain. You will learn other ways to seek Him and then it would be great for you to share them with the class, so to speak. Use the comments section in any Word of the Day to share with all of us the things the Lord is teaching you. Let’s start the best possible kind of revolution – one of determined purpose to know Jesus and Yahweh better, as our very best friends.

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It’s For You!

On June 19, 2023   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment


Psalm 27: 7 – 9

Hear me as I pray, O Lord.
Be merciful and answer me!
8 My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”
And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”
9 Do not turn your back on me.
Do not reject your servant in anger.
You have always been my helper.
Don’t leave me now; don’t abandon me,
O God of my salvation!

I take such comfort from David’s writings because he wrote what I feel. His experiences, though so different in many ways, caused within him the same responses, dilemmas and hopes that we have. Look within your own heart. Can you feel his cry for God to hear him as he prayed and to be responsive? As you cry for help, you want to know that God hears you, that He is sympathetic to your plight and that He will help.

Likewise, David revealed that Father is calling out to us. Is that not a comfort of its own? Think about that for a moment. The God of the universe, the Almighty, the creator of the heavens the earth and us, has nothing better to do but to call out to you inviting you to go and talk with Him. That is really amazing if you think about it. Yahweh God wants you to sit and chat with Him. David touches my heart in his response, “Lord, I am coming,” because it sounds young and eager. God called and David turned to Him. Sometimes God calls to us too, truly every day He is calling out to us, but I don’t always answer. Why not? Why don’t we run to His call? It sounds a little insane, doesn’t it? In reality, do we actually hear His call? How come David heard God invite him to conversation and we do not? Does this trouble you as it does me?

David said that God had always been his helper. Don’t you want to have the same testimony? Above all, though, I think it is the familiarity in David’s tone that ministers to me most. He entreats the Lord not to abandon him, but between the lines you understand that David is confident that the Father will, again, answer his call.

David seems to have had a personal relationship with the Lord, even a friendship. The good news is that he didn’t have anything we cannot have, especially since we are on this side of calvary. I think that is why I like reading David. He gives me hope of the kind of relationship I can have with the Lord, and don’t we all need that? Isn’t that what draws us?

I am encouraged and hope you are as well. The Father God is calling out to you right now; calling you to come and have a chat? The Almighty wants to spend His time just speaking with you and hearing what is on your mind. The Lord is calling! Answer the phone!

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Rest and Comfort

On January 10, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Proverb 3: 32

For the crooked man is an abomination to the Lord; but He is intimate with the upright.

I cannot think of anything more wonderful nor anything more satisfying than an intimate relationship with God the Father, His son and His Spirit. No matter what else goes right or wrong in life, a close, personal relationship with them, where you know them and have time with them, really anchors all of life. Your brokenness, or other people’s, is no longer the master of your life when you have your Dad to turn to and to talk to. Just being in His presence is joy itself, and life abundant. It is better than the best day at Disney World or even raising the championship trophy over your head. And when you are broken and defeated, He will breathe air into your lungs. He is everything and knowing Him as your friend and as your Father is all things. So many things become easy when He is your constant companion. I am not saying that there are not still challenges in the world. As long as there is a devil he is going to try to find some way to upset you but when you have God as a Father and Jesus as a big brother, believe me, they can do some real damage to your enemies. Just keep your eyes and attention on them and allow the Holy Spirit to completely fill you up. You will find the rest and comfort you need.

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Banner of Love

On April 19, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Song of Solomon 2: 4

He has brought me to his banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.

Have you ever read the Song of Solomon? Would you believe that in the 2500 Word of the Day devotionals I have written, this is the first time I have chosen a passage from this book? Do you wonder why this is the first time? Me too! Well, frankly, it is a little bit of an awkward book. If you have read it you might have felt the same way. The book is a very intimate dialogue between two lovers. As you read it you may feel that you are violating the lovers’ privacy. I think there may be an additional and deeper reason this book disquiets some of us. As I said, it is very intimate and many of us are uncomfortable with intimacy. Ultimately, this underlies a hindrance we have in developing our relationship with the Father.

Let’s go one step further. Why do you suppose this book is in the Bible? Why did Father choose to include it? This book is a love letter from the Father to you, from Jesus to his bride. It is an expression of God’s deep, deep affection for you. Knowing that may make the book harder to read instead of easier. All of the expressions of adoration, affection and longing are the Father’s feelings towards you. He sees you as beautiful and flawless. Sometimes I wonder why He loves us so but reading this book moves you beyond denial.

As I said, many of us are uncomfortable with such outspoken endearments. We are challenged by such intimacy. It embarrasses us. Because intimate thoughts, feelings and expressions are awkward for us, we find it very arduous to allow our heavenly Father to express the intensity of his devotion to us. Subsequently, we never really develop a true love relationship with Him. Most of us just walk in some sort of religious construct with Him. We are lost somewhere between God and Father. We know He is more than a far removed deity and thus we move our thoughts towards relating to Him in a more personal manner. However, most of us cannot reach into our hearts and receive the relationship He has designed for us. We labor to believe we are worthy of His love and so we stretch our minds to a picture of us in a close, personal relationship with Him. We reach longingly but reluctantly for the love our hearts crave. Here is where we enter into limbo. We are caught between service to our God and loving our intimate friend. Should we dare engage with this book of Solomon then we are forced to see ourselves so beloved that we shy away like a spooked horse.

In July of 2005 Yahweh interrupted my life with what I call a prophetic dream. This dream was clearly the Father speaking to me. I now find it interesting to note the topic of this dream. If God is going to completely arrest your life for a day what would you expect Him to want to show you or talk with you about. I would think perhaps His plan for our lives or a new calling on your life. Interestingly, He used that whole dream, which was pages long when I wrote it out, to show me how I resist intimacy with Him. All I wanted to do was serve Him but He wanted to bless and honor me. In the dream, I couldn’t and wouldn’t let Him. He commandeered my sleep to communicate with me because I could not hear Him in my waking life. This message was so important to Him that He insinuated Himself into my dream so we could connect on a level which I was consistently foreclosing to Him. Now He wants to speak to you.

He has brought you to His banquet hall so He can honor you. The sign hanging above the head table has your name on it and the message is love. You have been designated as the one He loves. What will you do with His outpouring of affection? What will you say in return? Will you receive the adoration from His heart? I hope so.

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Family

On October 27, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Corinthians 6: 18

And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me.”

This is a deep and important message but it is difficult for many of us to really fathom. The relationship that God wants to have with you is central to all His thoughts. Every other promise He has made us is here in this simple statement. And He made this statement many times throughout history and is still saying today that He wants to be a father to you and He wants you to be, to choose to be, His child. This relationship is so important to Him that it formed the basis of His covenant with David. Of all the things He could give to David or promise David, God chose this relationship of father and child to be the most important thing He could give. David was well loved by God. The bible says that David was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13: 14). In other words David was precious and dear to God and David’s behaviors pleased and blessed God’s heart. God could have given David anything in all of creation. He could have promised him anything. What God did do was to promise David everything. Within the covenant He made with David was every need met, the desires of his heart fulfilled and David was made a king to boot. Everything you need or will ever need or want is in this relationship and it is God’s covenant promise to you. Be his kid and let him be your father.

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Nearby

On October 26, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Jeremiah 23: 23

“Am I a God who is near,” declares the Lord, “and not a God far off?’

God wants you to know that he is a close God rather than a faraway deity. He is a personal, close friend and confidant. Sometimes people perceive God as sitting far away in some distant space. He says that he fills the heavens and the earth (Jeremiah 23: 24). He is as close as your breath. He lives in you and all around you. Look at something near you at this moment. God is in that space between you and the item at which you looked. He is in your present moment. He is completely filling the earth. His presence is so close that when you inhale, you breathe Him in. When your heart beats, He hears the sound of it. He has filled all of the space of this earth. Everywhere you go, there He is. He is a very present God because He is in love with you. He wants to be with you all of the time and help you with everything you do. He wants to do things for you so that you can enjoy your life. You have a very close friend. He is ever present so you will never be alone. What do you want to do today? How would it be if you carried the creator of the whole universe with you? Wouldn’t that be awesome? There is nothing He would like more than to go to work with you today and go to lunch with you.

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My People

On September 14, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   1 Comment

Jeremiah 31: 33

I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Relationship; that is what this whole Christianity thing is about. At a very basic level Christianity is not a religion. Religion is what happens after people believe in our Father but the fundamental desire of our Father is not to be worshiped and served. His fundamental purpose is to be in relationship with us and to provide the means by which we can be in relationship with Him. The reason Jesus came to the earth was to restore that “way” to the Father for us. Jesus is “the way” (John 14: 6). By and through him we travel back into a close, personal relationship with the Lord, our God.

A relationship of any kind requires input by more than one person. In other words, relationships require two-way communication; give and take. Many Christians have a very one dimensional connection with the Lord. We can have so much more and it is God’s desire that we do. As we open our minds to what it means to develop a good relationship with another person, we begin to also open our hearts to what it means to do the same with our Father God. As we open our hearts and minds to Him, He is better able to direct us and thus lead us into a deep and meaningful relationship with Him. He really will teach you all kinds of things about walking with Him like Adam and Eve walked with Him in the Garden of Eden. As we treat him as a person of value rather than as a distant God, we will really move into an intimate place with Him and I can think of nothing greater than that.

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