November 23, 2024

Welcoming People

September 16, 2014 by

SeekingHimLogo

Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise You.
You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
Psalms 51:15-17

My sacrifice [the sacrifice acceptable] to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and a contrite heart [broken down with sorrow for sin
and humbly and thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 51:17 AMP

I have yet to meet a person that Christ has rejected.  There is no such thing as too sinful, too perfect, too young, or too old.  Not one person who comes to Christ broken and humble is turned away.  He never said, “Oh…that’s too much for me to handle.”  He has never turned His back saying, “Not today…I’m too busy.  Try again tomorrow.”  He is never off limits.  He has never said, “Ha! You puny human. I am God. You are too beneath Me to help.”  And He is always emotionally available.  He has never said, “I’m too bored or tired or angry.”

Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.
Romans 15:7

Jesus is always available to the willing heart.  He was even available to those who didn’t know they needed Him.  So, why aren’t we the same way?  The easy response to this question is: ‘He was God and I am only human.’   Even though this is very true, I think there are other reasons why we aren’t as accepting or available as Christ, and it all comes down to motives.

We can never truly know a person’s heart.  We can see their actions and listen to what they say, but even so, there is no way for us to know what is going through their minds or the motives they have or what they do behind closed doors.  How could we possibly know the internal struggles another goes through?  For example, you encounter a rude person and it’s easy to assume that person is just rude; but is that really true?  What’s happening on the surface is not always an adequate overall summary of the situation.  This is what the Holy Spirit is for!  (As well as it helps to remember to view situations in a “this is not about me” manner.)

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Lord, help me to welcome those around me the way You welcomed those to Yourself, so that I may be a light for others.  Please, help me to remember the big picture, and stay focused on You, so I can love people like You did.  Amen.

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Our Good God

September 9, 2014 by

SeekingHimLogo

He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
Psalm 103:5

God is and will always be good. One of the most common phrases I hear well-meaning Christians say to one another is “Everything happens for a reason.” and “God always has a plan.”

First and foremost, we must always remember the character of God—God is good. So, if your friend gets into a car accident it wasn’t because God had a plan, it was because somebody forgot to hit their brakes (perhaps because they were too busy talking on the phone).  That wasn’t God’s plan. However, God can use moments like these to reach and teach others.

I definitely believe that God can take horrible situations and stupid mistakes and turn them into something good.  Does He always?  Nope.  But that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love us.  There is a certain thing in this world known as ’cause- and-effect’.  Because you did not pay your electric bill, your lights got turned off. Because you did not buy groceries, you don’t have any food at home.  Because you decided to stay out all night, you slept through your 5 a.m. alarm.

God is in control…no doubt about it.  But just because you are in control of something doesn’t mean that you caused something to happen.  For instance, a manager of the store is in control of the store, but if an associate steals that does not mean he caused that to happen.  Same goes for God.  We have this thing called…yep...free-will.  I have mine and you have yours; everybody else has theirs.  Think about it!  That’s a lot of free-will that’s floating around.

Does God intercede and stop bad things from happening…of course.  Why He does or does not is His business. My job is to remember what Jesus said…

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.
My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
John 10:10

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Thank You for being good to me, God. Amidst all that is happening in the world, help me to see things through Your eyes and remember that You are good and You always will be. Amen.

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Those Days

September 5, 2014 by

SeekingHimLogo

 

Since You are my Rock and my Fortress, for the sake of Your name lead and guide me.
Keep me free from the trap that is set for me, for You are my Refuge.
Into Your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.
Psalms 31:3-5

Those days.  You’ve had those days—the ones where everything that could go wrong, does goes wrong.  You leave for a trip—get a flat tire, forget your debit card at home, the bank is closed for some secret holiday, get a call and it’s some sort of family emergency—and all you wanted was a nice relaxing day. Those days, or just those moments when things just aren’t working in your favor.

I’ve had those days and moments.  They used to rock my world and send me into a funk that felt like it would never end.  But, as I’ve progressed in my relationship with Christ, I have learned to lean on Him instead of freaking out.  God is our Refuge and if we go to Him, He will help us.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7

Prayer has definitely helped keep me sane and I believe that, the better my prayer life becomes, the more leveled I can be when things do not go as planned.

For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
1 Corinthians 14:33

Another thing to keep in mind is that You can trust the Lord in those situations, because if anyone can bring order to them, it’s the God of order.

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Lord, thank You for being the God of order.  Thank You for giving me the opportunity to trust You in all situations.  You are amazing.  Amen.

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My Strength for the “Impossible”

August 25, 2014 by

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Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob.
Psalm 81:1

How?  That’s a question I ask myself often when reading the Word of God.  I want to know exactly how things are going to work…down to the tiniest detail…and then, if it makes sense to me, then I’ll trust.  However, God is Almighty and Sovereign, therefore He make promises that seem impossible to the natural part of us.  And I don’t always have the luxury of knowing every detail.  I simply have to trust God’s Word, regardless of how things seem in the natural.

How am I supposed to trust in something that makes no sense to me?  How do I keep up the momentum to do something that defies what I know to be possible? How did Peter walk on the water? How did Jesus face the cross?

Let’s take a look at Peter,

“But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s You,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to You on the water.” “Come,” He said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.
“You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14:27-31

Peter was able to walk on water because of his focus and trust in Jesus.  God is our strength; nothing else can sustain us like the Father.  God is the spiritual version of caffeine—except there’s no type of crash afterwards and you can’t build up a tolerance for Him.

Jesus relied on the Father to strengthen Him during, what I feel, is the most challenging and seemingly impossible thing God could ask a person to do. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that Jesus died for me, but one man to die for ALL mankind…that doesn’t make sense.

“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him.
Luke 22:42-43

If Jesus saw it fitting to lean on God as His strength, then we should, too!  If God would strengthen Jesus, then He will do it for us, too.

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Lord, thank You so much for being my strength in good times and bad. Amen.

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Glory! Glory be to…Wait, Who is glory for?

August 18, 2014 by

SeekingHimLogo

Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your love and faithfulness.

Psalm 115:1

A few days ago, I finally re-enrolled in college. I came up with quite a few reasons why I couldn’t go back; but overall, every one of my excuses were fear based. Even now, some of the logistics of this new endeavor have yet to be worked out. But (as I had to remind myself going in)—trust God and He will guide you.

Now, that I’m re-enrolled, I’m kind of excited! I’ve told the news to many of the closest people in my life, and heard plenty of “I’m proud of you!” Which, of course, is easy for me to soak up. Yes, I do feel good about accomplishing something that I’ve said I was going to do and, oh, how easy it would be for me to feel self-accomplished. But without the Lord’s favor I wouldn’t be going back to school at all…so glory be to Him!

For years I’ve been denied free financial aid. This year out, of the blue and at the very last minute, I received a grant…finally. I practically talked myself out of taking the grant, until a random comment to the most unlikely person turned into a handshake and a promise that I’d at least go to the school and talk with an advisor. So first I had to wait for a letter that came 3 days before I had to have everything done. Then I was told I had to take a 3 hour-long test (3 hours before I had to be to work), and then I was sent on a scavenger hunt all around campus trying to finish things up.

Every bit of the way, I had a voice in my head trying to give me excuse after excuse for why I should not be doing this. But, with every excuse, that little voice gave, I heard a louder voice give me reason after reason to trust in God. And thank God for that! All I did was take the steps the Lord placed before me and for that He deserves all the glory.

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Thank You, Lord, for being glorious beyond all measure.  Amen.

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A Friendly Reminder About Guidance

August 11, 2014 by

SeekingHimLogo

The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who weighed down.
The Lord loves the godly.
Psalm 146:8

Life can be burdensome.  As I step forth into this new season of my life, I find myself making the classic mistake of not taking everything to God.  I find myself trying to decide what I should do or what I shouldn’t do.  Making life choices can be difficult when done alone.  My pastor has said that when you say ‘yes’ to something, you are saying ‘no’ to something, as well.  Right now my major concerns in life are career choices.  Do I want to go back to school, or do I want to get a second job…again.  Do I want to do both?  Can I do both?  Do I want to go back to being so exhausted and never having time to do anything but work and work.

When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild.
But whoever obeys the law is joyful.
Proverbs 29:18

Getting advice from parents, friends, mentors, or an advisor is a smart choice; but ultimately their advice is just that—advice.  The true Decider and Decision maker is the Lord Almighty.  He has a plan.  He has a purpose for you.  He knows where you would fit best.  Yes, He places people around us to help guide us, but we need to do so prayerfully.  You don’t exactly want to take financial advice from someone who is not a good steward of their own money, for example.

When we spend daily time with God we can bring Him the concerns of our hearts and the decisions we have to make. God knows. He knows what we are supposed to do and He promises in Psalm 32:8,

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you and watch over you.

No matter what you are facing today—how big or small, how easy or hard—remember that you have a God who wants to help and lead you down the correct path.

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Lord, thank You for Your ever ready and never-ending guidance through life.  We have a tendency to make our lives harder than they need to be.  Help me to constantly pause and remember that I serve a God who loves me dearly and knows every step I need to take to fulfill the purpose set before me.  Help me to lean on You instead of myself, and to never stop trusting in Your awesome plans for me.  Amen.

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Thankful For the Past

August 5, 2014 by

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Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
Psalm 100:4

Recently, while sitting in my room, I began to do a reflection of my current life—the relationships I have, the job(s), the decisions that need to be made, and the character flaws that need fixing.  I found myself wishing that I could go back in time and deal with the problems of previous times; you know the problems that I now know exactly how to deal with.  In that moment I laughed at myself.  Every season we enter has its benefits and its trials and seasons are constantly changing. What’s important to remember about each season of our lives is to “Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name.”

I was informed that this devotional is the one year anniversary of the Seeking Him devotional blog.  I’m actually very surprised…it doesn’t seem like a year has passed.  Looking back, I can see how I’ve grown and changed.  I can see things in me that are still the same that I would love to change but, overall, I’m moving forward.  And I think this is what God wants us to do—move forward and be thankful while doing so.  I find it difficult to move forward when I am regretting or disappointed about something in the past. When I address the situation and let God shed light on it, I find that I am more capable of thanking Him for the learning experience.  Paul said it like this in Philippians 3:13 and 14,

But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.
I press toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

We have so much going on around us and so much that we want to accomplish or to make different.  We have lives we want to live and dreams we want to come to pass.  If done correctly, the past is a good place for us to learn how to improve our present and our future.  For this reason I feel we should be thankful to God that we have a past to say that we made it through.  Without a past there is no present.  Nobody’s past is perfect.  There are things in my past that I don’t feel I should have ever had to deal with, but God says, “… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

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Lord, thank You for where I have been, because I would not be the person I am today without my past. You are an all-knowing God and You guide my future. Thank You for being so amazing!  Amen.

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Confidence in the Lord

July 27, 2014 by

SeekingHimLogo

My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident.
No wonder I can sing your praises.
Psalm 57:7

Confidence means:

  • faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way;
  • a feeling or consciousness of one’s power;
  • a quality or state of being certain

God can place some crazy dreams in our hearts and minds.  Those subtle desires that we think are impossible and even stop to wonder “Where did that come from?”  God is amazing.  Therefore, as His followers we really shouldn’t be surprised when He approaches us with some grand plan and wants to use us to make it come to pass.  What an honor!  But how often do we let us get in the way of God’s grand plan?  He says “Soar!” and, yet, we are too afraid to spread our wings.  God pushes us out of our comfort zone.  He wants to show us what He can do when we follow His lead.

What does any of this have to do with the word confidence?  Let me tell you.  The best part of God’s plan is that we can have full confidence that God will do as He says He will.  Philippians 1:6 says,

And I am certain [confident] that God, Who began the good work within you,
will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

So…has God called you to do something grand?  Something that requires your complete confidence in Him and not your own ability?  Do you have the confidence in Him to do it?

Noah did.  In the book of Genesis, we find Noah, the only one who found favor with the Lord during his time.

Noah was a righteous man,
blameless among the people of his time,
and he walked with God.
Genesis 6:9b

Noah walked with God..meaning Noah had a viable relationship with the Lord. Noah knew God and, because Noah spent time with Him and invested in his relationship with the Lord, he was able to have confidence in the Lord. So, when God told Noah to build an ark, Noah was able to build the ark certain that God would do as He said.

How’s your confidence in the Lord?  Enough to walk out on water like Peter? Rebuild the Jerusalem walls like Nehemiah?  Uproot yourself and not know where you’re going like Abraham?  To slay a giant with just a sling and stones like David? To give birth to the Savior of the world like Mary?  To hang on the cross and give your life for all mankind like Jesus?

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Lord, I pray that my confidence in You would grow.  That I would get to know You more intimately, so that when the time comes I won’t hesitate, or look back, but move forward with You.  Thank you for showing Yourself to me.  Amen.

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What Does God Think Of You?

July 22, 2014 by

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When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
    the moon and the stars you set in place—
what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
    human beings that you should care for them?

Psalms 8:3 and 4

Have you ever wondered how valuable you really are to the Almighty God?  When you truly understand His Majesty—how extraordinarily phenomenal He is—then fathoming how our God could find us worthy has the potential of being unimaginable.  The beauty of God is He loves us and His word says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins,” (1 John 4:10).  The Bible has much more to say on how important and worthy we are to Him.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “…for we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  We are handiwork…not sloppy work, not an afterthought of work…but His handiwork!  And He has good works for us.  God thought of us, planned our lives and, then, made sure we had purposes.

Matthew 10:30-31 says, “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”  God numbered the very hairs on our heads. Each one!  Every single one!  That’s far too detailed to be perceived as unworthy.

Psalms 139:13-16 says, “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”  Worthy, worthy, worthy!  Oh, so very worthy.  Look at such the delicate detail taken on both you and I.  A God of majesty took all His majesty and used it to create us.

The last verse I have to show how important we are to God is Genesis 1:27.  This verse should leave no doubt in your mind that you are important to God.  This verse is at the very beginning of His love letter to us and it says, “So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.”  In His own image.  Nothing says important like making one like you.

Are you valuable to God?  Do you know your worth in Him?  Do you believe you are worthy in His eyes?  Because you are!

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Lord, help me to see me like You see me. I pray that Your words be louder than those around me and that I never forget who I am to You. Amen.

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Stay On Course

July 16, 2014 by

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You’re blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God.
You’re blessed when you follow His directions, doing your best to find Him.
That’s right – you don’t go off on your own; you walk straight along the road He set.
You, God, prescribed the right way to live; now you expect us to live it.
Oh, that my steps might be steady, keeping to the course you set.
Psalms 119: 1-5

I am human. I have freewill to do what I please and I’m imperfect when I stand alone. Psalms 119:1-5 talks about ‘staying on course’; some translations use the word ‘blameless.’   Thinking about being blameless can be overwhelming—depending on how you decide to look at it. If I try to be blameless with no help then, yes, I am going to cry. If my blamelessness is dependent on a perfect God then, He’s got it taken care of.

I prefer the translation using “stay on course” because this deals directly with my freewill. I can choose whether I will tithe or help a person in need when I have the means or listen to the beckoning of the Holy Spirit. I can choose to read my Bible or not.

It’s not always easy to stay on course. Life happens even with the best of our intentions. Do not be discouraged by your “humanness” though (we all have some). Even some of our favorite people in the bible had to deal with their “humanness:”

  • The disciples were tired at Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46)
  • David was bored and ended up with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11)
  • Moses got frustrated and disobeyed God by striking the rock (Numbers 23:1-13)
  • Cain got angry and killed Able (Genesis 4:1-16)
  • Abraham and Sarah got impatient with God (Genesis 16:1-4)
  • Peter was scared and denied Jesus (Matthew 26:69-75)
  • Peter got distracted on the water (Matthew 14:30)

Oh, how thankful I am that I serve a God who is perfect in all that He does! He even came up with the perfect plan to make me perfect in His eyes through Jesus Christ. “Humanness” is nothing compared to the Cross. Don’t get me wrong, we still have self-control that needs to be exhibited when our “humanness” rears its ugly head, but to know that we don’t have to strive for perfection lightens the load of living significantly.  Stay on course.

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Lord, help me to stay on the path that you set out for me.  Amen.

 

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