Hosea 6:3(NLT) Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.”
This was one of the earliest verses I learned as a child (of course in KJV)and has been one my husband and I have used many times in preaching, teaching and counseling. There is encouragement, instruction and hope in that verse that we need to remember daily. Hundreds of years after Hosea spoke these words, the writer to the Hebrews said to persevere. Hebrews 10:35-38(NLT) 35 So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! 36 Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. 37 “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. 38 And my righteous one will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”
It is vital that we do two things in seeking: keep on seeking and believe you are receiving. No matter how much we learn, know and receive, we never come to the end, or the total, of what God has for us. We have no idea of the vast change God has in mind for us. So keep on seeking. But do not become discouraged. Keep your confidence that He Who has begun a good work in you will complete it!
The more I seek, the more I know I have to learn. The closer you get to Him in your relationship, the easier it is to be humble. Isaiah saw the Lord, high and lifted up, and he fell to the ground and said, "Woe is me!" He will come to you, bless and refresh you, but it is not a prideful thing. His coming in revelation and manifestation only makes you want more! Seeking is a lifetime occupation.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Learning to Seek by Hearing
Mark 4:24-25(NIV) 24"Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. 25Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him." What you hear is going to depend on two things, the speaker and the listener. Jesus was speaking what He had heard from the Father but He was speaking to a mixed crowd. Some were listening to the Word of God and some were listening to hear a man. Some of these had different motives for listening. They might have wanted to be entertained and some might have wanted to judge him for their own purposes.
How often Jesus said, "Take heed..." I have fed on the parables of Jesus often. In them is buried so much truth to guide us. In the eleventh verse of this chapter, Jesus said to the Twelve, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you." This statement alone must have boggled their minds. It still makes those who hear wonder. It is God's intent that you know Him. Most are willing to know about Him but Jesus said to KNOW Him is eternal life (John 17:3). Paul prayed often that the hearer would be filled with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. This knowledge is hidden only to those who do not respond to Him.
Humility is an essential response. The humility of a child asking questions because they want to know and are seeking answers. The child understands they do not know. The disciples knew they did not know. They came to Jesus to seek understanding. This humble state is the foundation of our relationship to Truth. (Adam and Eve were forsaking that foundation when they started listening to Lucifer. He was offering them a different approach to knowledge they could control.) Jesus said they had the secret of the kingdom of God. The Word of God is given to us to reveal, to change, and mature us. Only by the Holy Spirit, our Teacher and Guide, does Truth become this to us.
Be a little child, ask the Holy Spirit to show you, reveal to you, and to guide you.
How often Jesus said, "Take heed..." I have fed on the parables of Jesus often. In them is buried so much truth to guide us. In the eleventh verse of this chapter, Jesus said to the Twelve, "The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you." This statement alone must have boggled their minds. It still makes those who hear wonder. It is God's intent that you know Him. Most are willing to know about Him but Jesus said to KNOW Him is eternal life (John 17:3). Paul prayed often that the hearer would be filled with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. This knowledge is hidden only to those who do not respond to Him.
Humility is an essential response. The humility of a child asking questions because they want to know and are seeking answers. The child understands they do not know. The disciples knew they did not know. They came to Jesus to seek understanding. This humble state is the foundation of our relationship to Truth. (Adam and Eve were forsaking that foundation when they started listening to Lucifer. He was offering them a different approach to knowledge they could control.) Jesus said they had the secret of the kingdom of God. The Word of God is given to us to reveal, to change, and mature us. Only by the Holy Spirit, our Teacher and Guide, does Truth become this to us.
Be a little child, ask the Holy Spirit to show you, reveal to you, and to guide you.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Learning to seek
I often say the phrase "learning to seek", for it reminds me that this realm and its circumstances automatically distract us to seek "things" on this level. Only the Holy Spirit leads us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and reveals how to do this.
My own experience in this has been (and still is!) a gradual unveiling of the Word of God and a learning to identify with Jesus through His Word. The Holy Spirit is a great teacher. He reveals a lesson and then demands action to express faith in what is learned. The "action" is usually a response to a circumstance that comes to test what we think we "learned". I have found that identification with Jesus is far more difficult than learning a "factual knowledge", even if it is something in the Word revealed by the Holy Spirit. We rejoice in a passage that comes alive to us. We have a tendency to think we have "learned" when we can meditate on and even pass it on with a degree of anointing. We have not learned it until, in our identification with Jesus, it becomes a part of our being.
Jesus came into our realm as the Son of Man, One with the Father and filled with the Holy Spirit. He kept that oneness with the Father by the Holy Spirit and His identification with the Father. In His humble obedience to the Holy Spirit's work in Him, He did only what He saw the Father doing and said only what He heard the Father saying.
We have the same Holy Spirit in us, revealing Jesus to us through the Word and through our identification with Him. We are born anew in our spirit when we identify with Jesus' death on the cross as our own punishment for our sin. We identify with Jesus in all the ways that the Spirit reveals Truth to us. But it isn't until we begin to act like Jesus that we begin to seek to know Him on a higher level than just being redeemed. We begin to see the purpose God has for us. We begin to do His works. But most important, we begin to change into His image. It is no longer that we "know" but now we "become". Old reactions fall away and we react to the circumstances around us with His peace, His compassion, His mercy and the Spirit's perception of the "truth" found in people and circumstances. This perception is the grace of the Holy Spirit we call the discerning of spirit. Jesus walked in this. He knew what was in the heart of a person and what was motivating them. He had laid aside His Omniscience to rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal to Him. He did this so that in every way we can follow Him! Don't deny the right to the Holy Spirit to lead you to follow Jesus and manifest into you what belongs to Jesus, our Savior.
My own experience in this has been (and still is!) a gradual unveiling of the Word of God and a learning to identify with Jesus through His Word. The Holy Spirit is a great teacher. He reveals a lesson and then demands action to express faith in what is learned. The "action" is usually a response to a circumstance that comes to test what we think we "learned". I have found that identification with Jesus is far more difficult than learning a "factual knowledge", even if it is something in the Word revealed by the Holy Spirit. We rejoice in a passage that comes alive to us. We have a tendency to think we have "learned" when we can meditate on and even pass it on with a degree of anointing. We have not learned it until, in our identification with Jesus, it becomes a part of our being.
Jesus came into our realm as the Son of Man, One with the Father and filled with the Holy Spirit. He kept that oneness with the Father by the Holy Spirit and His identification with the Father. In His humble obedience to the Holy Spirit's work in Him, He did only what He saw the Father doing and said only what He heard the Father saying.
We have the same Holy Spirit in us, revealing Jesus to us through the Word and through our identification with Him. We are born anew in our spirit when we identify with Jesus' death on the cross as our own punishment for our sin. We identify with Jesus in all the ways that the Spirit reveals Truth to us. But it isn't until we begin to act like Jesus that we begin to seek to know Him on a higher level than just being redeemed. We begin to see the purpose God has for us. We begin to do His works. But most important, we begin to change into His image. It is no longer that we "know" but now we "become". Old reactions fall away and we react to the circumstances around us with His peace, His compassion, His mercy and the Spirit's perception of the "truth" found in people and circumstances. This perception is the grace of the Holy Spirit we call the discerning of spirit. Jesus walked in this. He knew what was in the heart of a person and what was motivating them. He had laid aside His Omniscience to rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal to Him. He did this so that in every way we can follow Him! Don't deny the right to the Holy Spirit to lead you to follow Jesus and manifest into you what belongs to Jesus, our Savior.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
A Closed Door
I have been meditating on the word "enter" (Matthew 7:13) we were considering last time. It includes not only the command to do so, but shows our responsibility of taking an action. God reaches out to us, providing through His Love an access to Him. But we have to take the next step and, unless we do, for us in that passisve state, there might as well be no provision at all. God is so awesome in His Being. His love and mercy, holiness and power, wisdom and knowledge are so complete we cannot perceive in our limited capacity such Light that in Him is no darkness at all. He fills all space and is ever present, all knowing, and from Him we cannot hide. Yet we live our lives as though we, and our circumstances, actions and dreams, are everything. Most people in your own city don't even know you and couldn't care less about your circumstances. In five years you won't even have full memory recall of your circumstances and actions. But we still ignore God's extended invitation to "enter" His realm.
Jesus outlines the path of our responsibility in taking a step toward God. It is a progressive path, leading onward and upward, toward His complete provision for us. Matthew 7:7-12(NLT) 7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. 12 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.
This passages reveals the progressive growth in our approach to God and in God's response to us at each level. We don't start out "knocking" because we do not know how to do so. "Asking" is on our human level of achieving. Many do not go beyond that stage. Only the Spirit of God can teach us how to seek. Many of our opinions and "hang-ups" have to be dealt with and overcome before we can learn to seek. How much more so with learning to "knock". Many never even realize there is a door on which to knock, but being earnest to seek God's ways and being obedient to walk in the way revealed, will lead you to the door and it will be opened.
Jesus outlines the path of our responsibility in taking a step toward God. It is a progressive path, leading onward and upward, toward His complete provision for us. Matthew 7:7-12(NLT) 7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. 12 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.
This passages reveals the progressive growth in our approach to God and in God's response to us at each level. We don't start out "knocking" because we do not know how to do so. "Asking" is on our human level of achieving. Many do not go beyond that stage. Only the Spirit of God can teach us how to seek. Many of our opinions and "hang-ups" have to be dealt with and overcome before we can learn to seek. How much more so with learning to "knock". Many never even realize there is a door on which to knock, but being earnest to seek God's ways and being obedient to walk in the way revealed, will lead you to the door and it will be opened.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Taking Heed
My apologies for the long delay in the blogs. Will be keeping these up now and hope you are able to follow with me.
There has been a thought that has been with me for several weeks and I know it is something that needs to be considered here. Jesus often said, "Take heed," and it must not be ignored for it is a covenant response. We live in a realm that is a constant distraction from the pursuit of righteousness. God gives us the commands, or His covenant expectations, that will produce His goal to make you in His image.
I Peter 1:16(NIV)for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
Matthew 5:48(NASB)"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
To the human nature, this would seem to be impossible and I have often heard the excuse that only when we are in heaven can we be perfect. It is common to hear "only God is perfect", and it is comfortable to say "we are only human!" But all through the Scriptures in both the Old and New Testament, the word "perfect" is applied to man in both description and command to become.
In Ephesians 4 the provision Jesus made for His Church is defined and the result of the five-fold ministry is described. One facet is "a perfect man".
Ephesians 4:13(KJV) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: Most translations substitute "mature" for "perfect", but the meaning is the same. Our spiritual maturity is to become just like Jesus Who was perfect in all His ways, manifesting the Father and doing His Will.
All action has consequence. Paul says it so well in His letter to the Galatians. Galatians 6:7-8(NLT) 7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. I am most familiar with the King James' "Be not deceived!" Human deception is a part of all of us. We have to resist it and overcome it with the Word of God. Only in God is Truth and in every way deception "dogs our path". In the smallest action there is choice, and, either our nature or God's is going to be expressed. If you "sow" to the human nature, you reap darkness and death. We either give to God a covenant response or we ignore Him.
Matthew 7:13(NIV) "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."
The key word in this passage is "enter". This is not speaking of sinners choosing but those who desire to "enter". We who call ourselves "Christian", are the ones to whom Jesus is speaking! We seek to "enter" the Kingdom of God. There are two gates. One is of our own devising and placates the human nature, (broad), and the other, (narrow), is God's way that means death to our nature and a life pursuing His righteousness by His Spirit living in us and controlling our actions. Every day, in every way, we are making this choice. EVERY action has consequence!!
There has been a thought that has been with me for several weeks and I know it is something that needs to be considered here. Jesus often said, "Take heed," and it must not be ignored for it is a covenant response. We live in a realm that is a constant distraction from the pursuit of righteousness. God gives us the commands, or His covenant expectations, that will produce His goal to make you in His image.
I Peter 1:16(NIV)for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
Matthew 5:48(NASB)"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
To the human nature, this would seem to be impossible and I have often heard the excuse that only when we are in heaven can we be perfect. It is common to hear "only God is perfect", and it is comfortable to say "we are only human!" But all through the Scriptures in both the Old and New Testament, the word "perfect" is applied to man in both description and command to become.
In Ephesians 4 the provision Jesus made for His Church is defined and the result of the five-fold ministry is described. One facet is "a perfect man".
Ephesians 4:13(KJV) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: Most translations substitute "mature" for "perfect", but the meaning is the same. Our spiritual maturity is to become just like Jesus Who was perfect in all His ways, manifesting the Father and doing His Will.
All action has consequence. Paul says it so well in His letter to the Galatians. Galatians 6:7-8(NLT) 7 Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. 8 Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. I am most familiar with the King James' "Be not deceived!" Human deception is a part of all of us. We have to resist it and overcome it with the Word of God. Only in God is Truth and in every way deception "dogs our path". In the smallest action there is choice, and, either our nature or God's is going to be expressed. If you "sow" to the human nature, you reap darkness and death. We either give to God a covenant response or we ignore Him.
Matthew 7:13(NIV) "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."
The key word in this passage is "enter". This is not speaking of sinners choosing but those who desire to "enter". We who call ourselves "Christian", are the ones to whom Jesus is speaking! We seek to "enter" the Kingdom of God. There are two gates. One is of our own devising and placates the human nature, (broad), and the other, (narrow), is God's way that means death to our nature and a life pursuing His righteousness by His Spirit living in us and controlling our actions. Every day, in every way, we are making this choice. EVERY action has consequence!!
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