January 29, 2016 NO SHORTCUTS
Proverbs 8:17: “I love those who love Me; And those who diligently seek Me will find Me.”
In a general sense, God has revealed Himself through history in various ways, making Himself known to His creation. Nature itself declares the greatness of God. Even though God has revealed Himself, He nonetheless “hides” Himself-this is not a contradiction, but a mystery. There has been so much written and so much said about “finding” God, one could conclude that finding God is a complicated task. God has only one requirement when it comes to finding Him, and that is that the one who wants to find Him, must seek Him. The seemingly simplicity of having one thing to do in order to find God may cause some to overlook this one requirement. There is one thing that precedes seeking, and that is a hunger or desire to find or know God. We seek after what we desire. For example; if someone loves model trains, he will find himself reading about model trains, going to model train shows, joining model train clubs, and buying a model train. Some may ask the valid question of how one is to seek God. As just stated, the first and foremost issue is whether or not there is a longing in our heart to find-to know God. I don’t know of any five easy steps to finding God, but there are some basic things that put us on the right track of finding Him. As a good starting point, we must know that God desires that we find Him, and He will even tell us when we are getting “hot” or getting “cold”. We should view the written word as a book in which God reveals Himself to us, and if we have been born again, we have been given the Holy Spirit to help us understand the word. It is certainly helpful to spend time meditating on what is said in the scriptures and to apply what is said to us-make it personal-“God so loved (me), that He gave His only begotten Son.” Realize that our minds need to be renewed; let us start speaking the truth of the scriptures to ourselves-build our thoughts on what God says in His word. Engage in worship-worship is simply telling God how great and wonderful He is. Commit to obeying the plain teachings of scripture and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. God loves an obedient heart, and as we obey, He reveals more of Himself to us. Don’t think that what has been said or suggested is a list of things to do-but see these things as what happens when we have a desire to find Him. God could make Himself illusive, but He has not done so; rather, He desires that we find Him. It is another mystery, but we can find Him, and yet we can spend a lifetime finding and discovering more and more about the God that calls us to Himself. So for us, let us examine ourselves to determine if it is our heart’s desire to find Him. There is no greater treasure greater than the treasure of treasures-Jesus Himself. If we find that in all honesty, it is not our hearts desire to find Him, let us ask God to help us change our heart so that it may become our desire to find Him. There is a key word in the verse above that we must not overlook; those who “diligently” seek Him, will find Him.
Psalms 27:8: “When you said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.”
Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exist and that He rewards those who seek Him.”
Blessings,
Buddy
Proverbs 8:17: “I love those who love Me; And those who diligently seek Me will find Me.”
In a general sense, God has revealed Himself through history in various ways, making Himself known to His creation. Nature itself declares the greatness of God. Even though God has revealed Himself, He nonetheless “hides” Himself-this is not a contradiction, but a mystery. There has been so much written and so much said about “finding” God, one could conclude that finding God is a complicated task. God has only one requirement when it comes to finding Him, and that is that the one who wants to find Him, must seek Him. The seemingly simplicity of having one thing to do in order to find God may cause some to overlook this one requirement. There is one thing that precedes seeking, and that is a hunger or desire to find or know God. We seek after what we desire. For example; if someone loves model trains, he will find himself reading about model trains, going to model train shows, joining model train clubs, and buying a model train. Some may ask the valid question of how one is to seek God. As just stated, the first and foremost issue is whether or not there is a longing in our heart to find-to know God. I don’t know of any five easy steps to finding God, but there are some basic things that put us on the right track of finding Him. As a good starting point, we must know that God desires that we find Him, and He will even tell us when we are getting “hot” or getting “cold”. We should view the written word as a book in which God reveals Himself to us, and if we have been born again, we have been given the Holy Spirit to help us understand the word. It is certainly helpful to spend time meditating on what is said in the scriptures and to apply what is said to us-make it personal-“God so loved (me), that He gave His only begotten Son.” Realize that our minds need to be renewed; let us start speaking the truth of the scriptures to ourselves-build our thoughts on what God says in His word. Engage in worship-worship is simply telling God how great and wonderful He is. Commit to obeying the plain teachings of scripture and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. God loves an obedient heart, and as we obey, He reveals more of Himself to us. Don’t think that what has been said or suggested is a list of things to do-but see these things as what happens when we have a desire to find Him. God could make Himself illusive, but He has not done so; rather, He desires that we find Him. It is another mystery, but we can find Him, and yet we can spend a lifetime finding and discovering more and more about the God that calls us to Himself. So for us, let us examine ourselves to determine if it is our heart’s desire to find Him. There is no greater treasure greater than the treasure of treasures-Jesus Himself. If we find that in all honesty, it is not our hearts desire to find Him, let us ask God to help us change our heart so that it may become our desire to find Him. There is a key word in the verse above that we must not overlook; those who “diligently” seek Him, will find Him.
Psalms 27:8: “When you said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.”
Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exist and that He rewards those who seek Him.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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