God Wants to be Known.. Greg Denison Ministries

 

God Wants to be Known

Greg Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

To know God is to experience God. Just as we experience aspects of one another as we grow in friendship, we experience the wonders of God as we seek to simply know him. God is calling us to a life of seeking him with all we are. He is calling us to value relationship with him above all else that we would love no other but him. May you encounter wonderful aspects of relationship with your heavenly Father this week as we wholeheartedly seek to know him with all we are.

Scripture:“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10

Devotional:

The single greatest privilege in life is to know God. The God who formed you, provides for you and sent his Son to die for you longs to have real relationship with you. He longs to be known by you. And through the powerful sacrifice of Jesus, we truly can know him like any other person. And in fact, in some respects he is infinitely more knowable than any other person. Jeremiah 31:33-34 says,

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

“From the least of them to the greatest,” says the living God. No matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, you can know the God of love. Knowing God is no longer reserved for those individually appointed as his leaders. Knowing God is no longer reserved for those like David, Isaiah, Peter, or the clergy. All of us have equal access to the living God.

And from the place of knowing God, we are granted the ability to experience his incredible attributes and be blessed by a greater awareness of our union with him. When we seek to know God, the Bible is clear that we begin to experience his love (Romans 5:5), hear his voice (John 10:27), and feel his peace (2 Thessalonians 3:16). We can partner in his purposes (1 Peter 2:9), experience his freedom (Romans 6:4), and rest in his presence (Psalm 16:11).

When we center our lives around knowing God, we gain experience with him like we do any other person. I don’t seek to hear my wife’s voice, rather I seek to know her and have conversation with her as a byproduct of that. I don’t seek just the emotion of love from my wife; rather, in getting to know her and walking in relationship with her, I experience her affections for me. So it is with God. When we simply seek to know him we gain experience in return.

I pray that as we look at the individual aspects of experiencing God this week your heart is stirred to simply seek deeper relationship with your heavenly Father, whatever may come as the result. Your Father loves you enough to pay the ultimate price to have relationship with you. Seek him and discover the wealth of his affections for you.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the availability of knowing the living God. Allow Scripture to stir up your desire to seek him with all your heart.

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10

“You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek.’” Psalm 27:8

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:33-34

2. Is your life centered around the pursuit of knowing God? Check the posture of your heart today. Look at the way you spend your time, your emotions, your thoughts, and your actions. What seems to be your greatest pursuit?

3. Spend some time centering your heart around true relationship with a knowable God. Ask him to help guide your heart through your day toward this pursuit. Ask him to give you a check in your heart when something takes his place as the greatest desire in your life. Live today with him as your highest priority.

“With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” Psalm 119:10

Jeremiah 9:23-24 says,

Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.

May we be those who boast solely in our relationship with God. May his love and nearness be our highest joy. And may it be said of us at the end of our days that we sought the Lord above all else.

Extended Reading: Psalm 46

Justice and Mercy..Dr. Charles Stanley

 Justice and Mercy

Dr. Charles Stanley

Romans 3:21-26

The sinful condition of mankind presents us with a dilemma: How can a holy, righteous God forgive our sins? If He deals with us only on the basis of His justice, every human being would suffer the eternal punishment of His wrath, which their sins deserve. But if He extends mercy instead of justice, no one would pay the penalty for sin, and God would then cease to be just.

There was only one way the Lord could stay true to His nature and at the same time forgive our sins. The solution was to satisfy His justice by pouring out His wrath on a substitute. Then the penalty for sin would be paid, and He would be free to extend mercy to sinners. This is the only plan that accommodates both aspects of His divine nature. So Christ came as our substitute; He took the punishment for our sin, enabling us to experience the Father’s mercy. Now, by placing faith in Jesus, anyone can be justified—that is, declared legally righteous.

God’s plan of salvation is simple enough for a child to understand. Yet at the same time, the complexities of the transaction that occurred at Calvary are far beyond human comprehension. Although we may not fully grasp what transpired there, we can know that the cross is the greatest possible display of the Lord’s love for us.

Can you even imagine the cost of your salvation? The magnificent plan of the Father and the willing cooperation of the Son prove your tremendous value in God’s eyes. From His perspective, you are worth all the pain and suffering that was necessary to secure your eternal presence with Him in heaven.

A Prayer for Times of Uncertainty..Ashley Moore

 A Prayer for Times of Uncertainty

By Ashley Moore 

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and do not lean on your own understanding.” - Proverbs 3:5, NLT

I like my schedule to be predictable, my kitchen to be tidy, and my days to go exactly the way I planned. Unfortunately, we live in a less-than-perfect world, so these desires are often met with disillusionment and disappointment. The laundry is heaped on the couch midweek because we traveled over a long weekend. My to-do list for my afternoon at work gets hijacked because someone needs my assistance with something else. One of the kids has a fever and needs to miss school, so I have to rearrange my schedule for the day and fit in a visit with the pediatrician. 

Can you relate to the chaos that regularly occurs on ordinary days in my life?

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the desire to have a neat and orderly life. We are called to be good stewards of our time, talents, and treasures. But where things can get sideways is when we begin to worship an orderly and predictable life to the point where we come unglued when something threatens our plans. For some of us, uncertainty is a stumbling block to joyfully submitting to God’s divine interruptions.

And what about when uncertainty encroaches on our health, family, or finances?

Some friends of our family are currently on their way to meet a child for adoption. Everything about their situation is uncertain, the length of time they will be away, the guarantee of a child, and the long-term relationship with the birth mother. Yet, they decided through the uncertainty to move forward to what God called them to do. Another friend from church shared with me recently that for several months she experienced swelling and redness on her face and neck from an unknown illness. The mysterious symptoms paired with high fever kept her in and out of doctor’s offices and racked up medical bills from the various testing. But despite not knowing what twists and turns lay ahead for her, she continued to trust the Lord.

Life experience and the scenarios above prove that sometimes things don’t go as planned. And many times for reasons beyond what we can understand. This is why it’s so important to remember where to place our hope in times of uncertainty. Our focus verse reminds us that our trust is not to be placed in our circumstances, predictable or not, instead, our trust is meant for the Lord. And the Bible is clear that it is safe for us to place our trust in the Lord even when it doesn’t make sense to us. We can do this because, unlike our ever-changing circumstances, our God remains the same (Hebrews 13:8). 

For those in Christ, we can safely build our entire lives upon the promises of God’s Word knowing He has secured our lives for eternity (Isaiah 33:6). And as for the temporary things that happen in this life, we can trust Him to use those for our benefit too. He takes everything that happens to us, both good and bad, and uses it for our good, the good of others, and His glory (Romans 8:28). 

The good news for those dreaded times of uncertainty is that our understanding and God’s ability to work all things for our good and His glory are not mutually exclusive, meaning one does not depend upon the other. We don’t have to understand our situations to know that God is holding every detail of our lives together in His trustworthy hands. And praise God, He does not wait for us to understand to accomplish His plans and purposes in and through us.

Let’s pray:

Dear Lord,
You know how much my heart desires predictability and security. But Lord, so often I hope to find it in my circumstances, instead of you. Lord, forgive me when I don’t trust you. When fear wells up inside of me, God, let it prompt me to acknowledge your presence and your sovereignty over every detail of my life. Thank you that you are faithful, completely dependable, and trustworthy because you never change. Unlike the unpredictable circumstances that daily let me down, God you never fail me (Joshua 21:45)
In Jesus’ name, amen.

 

Navigating through the Seasons of Life..Lynette Kittle

 Navigating through the Seasons of Life

By Lynette Kittle

“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease”—Genesis 8:22

Growing up, Fall used to be my favorite season of the year. I love the warm colors of the changing leaves; the autumn smells in the air, and the cooler, milder warm temperatures. But over the years, we’ve lived in a variety of climates, from tropical Hawaii to tundra-filled Alaska, where seasons seem quite different. Adapting to different seasons can be challenging when it’s not what we expect it to be, just like in life where what occurs in times of our lives may seem very different from what we were expecting.

The following are four ways to open our hearts to look positively toward seasons that haven’t brought us what we were hoping.

1. Remember God’s Goodness
Like the seedtime of Spring and the harvest of Fall each year, God’s goodness is evident in the new life He gives and produces in us year after year. It’s good to take time to remember how He has cared for us through the years, providing for us and more than meeting our needs.

2. Look Past the Devastation
Sometimes our seasons are impacted in ways we weren’t expecting or wanted to experience. In the Summer of 2013, we lived in Colorado and experienced major wildfires in our area, so close they were just outside our neighborhood. Needless to say, our summer enjoyment was darkened by smoke ash-filled skies, along with fire debris and carnage, looking more like Armageddon than Colorado.

Still, even during unexpected dry, fiery times, God reminds us in Isaiah 58:11 that He will satisfy our souls, promising, “The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”

3. See the Beauty In Change
When God brings changes in our lives, there is beauty that comes with these changes, just like we see the natural changing of each season of the year from new growth to times of bareness. Interestingly scientists don’t all agree on the purpose of Fall changes and loss of leaves but do seem to agree that these changes help to prepare plants and trees to survive throughout the colder months and to bring forth new growth in the Spring.

It’s comforting to know that changes happen in order to bring new things to life. Although change can be hard to experience, like unexpected losses of loved ones, jobs, dreams, and more, these losses often make way for beautiful transformation within our hearts. Even though tough to recognize while going through them, God’s words assure us that He is working all of it together for our good (Romans 8:28), to strengthen and build us up to not only survive through the winters of our lives but to thrive through life’s ups-and-downs.

As well, like Isaiah 41:10 encourages, we’re not going through them alone. “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

4. See through the Darkness to Light
Winter can seem like the longest and dreariest time of the year with less sunlight and warmth. Yet as seeds go through a time of being hidden, where their hard seed coat is softened up by the weathering processes, so do we, too, at times go through similar times in our spiritual lives. Times like a seed’s stratification process, where the seed is hidden away and something deep within is triggered to grow, expand, and break through to experience and see the sunlight. During these hidden, dark times in our lives is where our hearts, too, are being put through the softening process.

Sometimes we forget God is at work in our lives to bring new growth just like He does in the natural world. He is cultivating the seeds planted within us, so even during dormant times, where growth doesn’t appear to be taking place, we can be confident He is bringing new things to life in us, too. As 1 Corinthians 3:7 explains, God is the one who causes the growth in our lives.

Intersecting Faith and Life:
No matter what season of life we find ourselves as believers in Jesus Christ or what conditions we are currently enjoying or enduring, God is faithful and is with us. We are not alone. Whether life is going as planned or has taken unexpected directions, we have the comfort and confidence in knowing God is navigating our way through each one.