Fully Known..Craig Denison Ministries

 Fully Known

Craig Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

Honesty is more than the words we say. It’s a posture of the heart. We weren’t made to try and be something we’re not. God never asks us to keep up appearances. He longs for us to have the courage to be vulnerable. He longs for us to be so founded in his unconditional love that we live honestly. May you experience new levels of peace and joy this week as we discover God’s heart for honesty.

Scripture:

“But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” 1 Corinthians 8:3

Devotional:    

While we absolutely serve an all-knowing, omnipotent, omnipresent God, there is a stark difference between God’s knowledge of everything and allowing ourselves to be known by him. To be known by God is a two-way street. It’s a conscious decision to open our hearts to this all-knowing God that we might experience him in even the deepest, most secret places of our lives. Galatians 4:8-9 says,

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

Being known by God is the birthplace of freedom. When we allow our Creator and Savior to truly know us he brings with him all his power, love, and deliverance. Only when we allow him to know the wounds of our past do we position ourselves to receive his healing. Only when we discover that he cries, mourns, laughs, and celebrates with us will our hearts be founded on the reality of true relationship with him.

Your God doesn’t just want to teach you, lead you, empower you, or use you—he wants to know you. You don’t have to go through this life on your own. You don’t have to process decisions, pains, relationships, or doubts on your own. You can be known by your Creator and know him. Unhindered relationship with your perfect, loving Father can be your source.

It is entirely possible to go through this life as a believer without letting God fully know you. As tragic as it may be, many Christians do it every day. We live as if God is distant from us. We live as if we don’t have full access to his heart, will, love, and presence in the Holy Spirit. We live as if all Christ came to do was give us a “get out of Hell free card” rather than restore us to right relationship with the Father. And when you live fully known by God you will experience a love more sure, more real, and more transcendent than any love you’ve experienced.

Take time as you enter into guided prayer to truly let God know you. Open up the secret places of your heart. Tell him about your insecurities, fears, doubts, and wounds. May you find a deeper level of intimacy with your loving Father than you thought possible.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the importance of being known by God. 

“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?” Galatians 4:8-9

“But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” 1 Corinthians 8:3

2. Are you living your life known? Or are you hiding pieces of your life from your heavenly Father? 

3. Tell God about anything in your life that’s stayed in the dark. Bring it to the light with him. Allow him to fully know you. And experience powerful freedom as he reveals the depths of his love for you.

“The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.” Proverbs 20:27

Ephesians 5:8 says, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.” You can live with confidence and joy today. When you are fully known by God and still fully accepted and loved, your heart is unshakable. God will not reject you. He has loved you at your worst. Trust in him today and experience life in the light of his presence. 

Extended Reading: 1 Corinthians 13

Hope for the Overlooked Heart..WHITNEY AKIN

 Hope for the Overlooked Heart

WHITNEY AKIN 

“So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.’” Genesis 16:13 (ESV)

I remember the moment as if it were in slow motion. Every syllable of the word made me shrink a little smaller as he called me invisible.

It happened years ago when my husband was in a ministry that traveled to churches to lead worship. We spent a week at a small church in south Georgia. One of the members opened his home for a hamburger dinner after the last service on Wednesday night. We ate and laughed with his family. We listened to him tell vivid stories with a thick Southern accent.

When it was time to go, I stood by my husband as our host offered a boisterous goodbye to the other guests. But when he approached me, he looked confused, as if he’d never met me before.

“Well, you’re just invisible back there, aren’t ya?” he told me.

It wasn’t said with malice. It was just a matter-of-fact statement. After a week at his church and an evening in his home, I was as forgettable as a stranger.

I felt embarrassed, insignificant and so alone that night, surrounded by all those people.

Feeling invisible hurts. If we could sit down together and swap stories, you could probably share a moment when you felt deeply unseen. Every heart longs to be noticed. Simply open up Facebook or Instagram for proof that people everywhere will do just about anything to be seen.

But for most of us, being seen isn’t an empty ploy for attention. It’s a deep and abiding desire to be truly known. In our attempt to fulfill this desire, we desperately turn to the distracted world around us and wonder, Does anybody really see my heart?

The hard truth is that people aren’t always great at seeing each other. Only when something is loud, exciting, shiny or new are we prompted to lift our heads and notice. That means for most of us — the average women — we feel the sting of being overlooked.

Our key verse comes from a woman who must have felt much like I did that day in south Georgia — invisible. Hagar was an Egyptian servant who was pregnant with Abraham’s illegitimate child and was fleeing the harsh words of her mistress, Sarah, in Genesis 16. All alone in her wilderness, she encountered a life-changing truth: There is a God who sees the overlooked.

“So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.’” (Genesis 16:13)

This is the first time in Scripture we hear this name: El Roi, the God Who Sees.

The name is sweeter because Hagar spoke it first. It isn’t just that God sees but that God saw her. Hagar’s story shows us that God doesn’t just see and love the key players, the ones from the right storyline and bloodline and family line, the called and set apart, the covenantal children — He sees and loves the overlooked too.

This name, the God Who Sees, doesn’t simply describe what God does; it reveals His character. God is omnipresent, everywhere all at once. He’s also omniscient, knowing everything all the time. So God, by His very nature, cannot overlook us.

When we feel invisible to the world around us, we do not go unnoticed by our Father. We can be sure He sees every heartache, every unspoken word, every sacrifice and every longing. When we lift our eyes to Him, like Hagar, we can declare, “I have seen Him who looks after me.”

El Roi, thank You for seeing and knowing my heart today. Give me confidence in Your love when I feel overlooked by others. In Jesus᾿ Name, Amen.

A Heart for God A Vision for the World..Dr. Charles Stanley

 A Heart for God A Vision for the World

Dr. Charles Stanley

Acts 13:16-22

I sometimes like to walk through a cemetery and read the epitaphs on the tombstones. It's interesting to see what words are used to sum up a person's life. This may seem like a morbid pastime, but it's actually a great way to reassess our own lives. We're each going to leave a testimony of some kind when we die. Have you ever wondered what your loved ones will write on your gravestone? What words do you want inscribed there?

In our passage today, the apostle Paul tells us God's evaluation of David: He described him as "a man after My heart, who will do all My will" (v. 22). What an awesome testimony of a life well lived! The Lord wasn't describing a perfect man, but one whose life was centered on God's interests and desires.

David's many psalms attest to the fact that his relationship with the Lord was the most important aspect of his life. His passion was to obey God and carry out His will. However, that doesn't mean he was always obedient. Who can forget his failure with Bathsheba? But even when he sinned by committing adultery and murder, his heart was still bent toward God. The conviction he felt and his humble repentance afterward proved that his relationship with the Lord was still his top priority.

If God was writing a summary of your life, how would He describe you? Does your heart align with His, or have you let it follow the pleasures and pursuits of this world? Unless we diligently pursue our relationship with the Lord, we will drift away from Him. Maybe it's time for a course correction.

Trusting the Good Shepherd..Jessica Van Roekel

 Trusting the Good Shepherd

Jessica Van Roekel

“The Lord is My Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Psalm 23:1-3

The other day I found myself in a tailspin of negative thoughts. Nothing I had was enough, nothing I did was sufficient, and everything I did was a failure. I know the truth—that God is enough, that he is sufficient, and that he is my success, but I struggled to believe it. I tend to compare myself to others, which leads to discontent and discouragement. I look at someone’s strengths and compare them to my weaknesses. Maybe they look the way I wish I looked. Or their family discussions are rich and varied. And maybe they have the success in ministry that I want.

Comparing myself to others is like a sheep looking with longing at another field and missing the bounty of the field its shepherd brought her to. Life circumstances don’t have to be devastating to lead us away from our Shepherd, but they do reveal our belief system. At times what we believe in our heart does not match what we say and think. I can trust the Good Shepherd because he is my shepherd, but sometimes I don’t act like it, especially when I fall into the comparison trap. When we begin to compare, we begin to shepherd ourselves, telling the Good Shepherd he can take a back seat because it’s our hand on the wheel and foot on the gas. But shepherding ourselves leads to our needing rescue. Will we allow ourselves to be rescued or will we continue to run away from him?

In Psalm 23, David compares God to a shepherd to create a picture in our mind of God’s great love and care for us. Jesus uses the same metaphor in John 10 to reveal a similar picture. The depth of God’s love causes him to provide, protect, and guide his children. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is our beautiful picture of how far God goes to guide us to him. “To not want” means we will have everything we need to accomplish God’s purpose in our lives whether that’s parenting our children, providing for our family, or serving in our church. It also means we can be content with how God cares and provides for us even in times of hardship because we can trust his love and commitment to us. He is our shepherd and we do not need to want anything more.

Fear rages rampant in our world and can steal our peace. When we live with a heightened awareness of what might go wrong or what has gone wrong, rest can feel impossible. Yet, the Good Shepherd makes us lie down and comforts us with his nearness. Fear may spread around us, but we can be at rest because of the promised presence of the Holy Spirit. Even during life storms, we can have peace, life, and refreshment, not because of our own willpower, but because of a surrendered heart to the Shepherd.

Discouragement sets in when we compare our story with someone else’s story. We look at our life through a “why not me?” viewfinder and wonder why we can’t have their storybook life. Yet, God promises restoration for the broken heart. He revives and re-energizes our souls through his power and goodness. We follow him and he leads. If that seems to lead us where we do not want to go, we can trust God to fulfill his perfect purpose in our lives because he has our good in mind for his glory. Our life is his story for his glory. This viewfinder leads us to greater trust in his heart for us.

Intersecting Life and Faith:
It’s tempting to look across someone else’s life and wish we could have what they have. We press against the boundaries in our lives, walking as far from our Shepherd as we can because we are not content with where he’s placed us. Comparison and jealousy toward others rise within us. Doubt in God’s goodness takes root in our hearts. Yet, our Good Shepherd, Jesus, calls our name. He calls us to turn and look at him. He calls us to draw near and see the goodness he has for us in our lives as they are. He is worthy of your trust. He won’t lead you where he won’t go with you, and he has refreshment waiting for you when you draw near to him.

Further Reading: 

• John 10:11-16

Seeking the Living Among the Dead – He Is Risen!..Jason Soroski

 Seeking the Living Among the Dead – He Is Risen! 

By Jason Soroski

Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’” - Luke 24:5-7

"Why do you seek the living among the dead?"

Within the wonder, glory and excitement that surrounds the resurrection of Christ, this question is the heart of the Gospel. It is what drives our faith and gives us hope in a dark world.

Resurrection Sunday celebrates the most important moment in all of history - the moment death was defeated and hope became alive. The day that those seeking death found life eternal.

For me, it also holds a personal significance.

I was baptized on an Easter morning at the age of seven. Although many memories from that time are fuzzy, that memory remains vibrant and real.

I remember being enveloped by the water, and experiencing the rush of air as I emerged, raised to new life. I remember knowing full well what it all meant - that just as Jesus rose from the dead, I was now being raised to a new and fulfilling life.

At the age of seven, I understood all that.

What I didn't yet understand was the true fullness of that ancient question, "why do you seek the living among the dead?". I didn't grasp all that it meant to the women who heard it, what it meant to seven-year-old me, and what it means to all of us.

The question occurs in Luke 24, which begins on a down note. At the end of chapter 23, Jesus was dead. Which meant that hope was dead.

A group of women had come to his tomb to anoint the body for a proper burial. Their friend had died an undeserved, agonizing death, and had not even been buried properly.

They were now seeking to give a dead man that one last honor.

They were not seeking a miracle. They were not seeking a fulfillment of prophecy. They were not seeking to hear from angels, or to be the first on earth to proclaim the Gospel of a risen Savior.

They were merely in a cemetery seeking a dead man.

As things turned out, they never anointed the body as there was no body to anoint. Just as angels appeared to proclaim his birth, an angel now appeared to proclaim his resurrection.

Yet this proclamation came in the form of a question, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?". Jesus was alive, and all of Heaven already knew what the earth did not.

While we wept, Heaven rejoiced.

Yet we still make the same, horrible mistake. Instead of seeking the living, instead of trusting and following the risen Savior and the abundant life He alone can deliver, we seek truth and life and hope among what is dead and decaying.

The angelic words proclaimed: "He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’”

Then they remembered his words" (Luke 24:6-8).

Like them, we often forget his words and have to be reminded.

We trust in those who say "peace peace" when there is no peace.  We trust in luck, we trust in governments and ideas and our own flawed logic when the truth of God is staring us in the face telling us we are in the wrong spot, seeking the wrong thing.

We wander around tombs of failed human wisdom when the Son of God is alive and working in our midst.

To this day, no one can say with complete certainty where the angel met these women with this question. No one can point to a spot with unwavering certainty and say, 'this is where it happened’.  There are two spots that claim to be the place, but no one really, truly knows.

There is a reason for this - Jesus wasn't there for very long. After the women came away from the tomb rejoicing, celebrating, bringing the greatest news that has ever been brought to anyone anywhere, it simply didn't matter.

Death had been defeated, and Jesus is forever alive.

A Prayer for Every Broken Heart..Kristine Brown

 A Prayer for Every Broken Heart

By Kristine Brown

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18 NIV

So many of life’s trials can lead to a broken heart. Losing a family member unexpectedly. A dear friend moving away. A relationship ends abruptly. Or simply feeling alone, without a community for support. Does God see our hurt when hard circumstances leave us with broken hearts? Does he care? We use the word brokenhearted to describe the intense pain we carry in our chests when we go through deep loss. Sometimes it feels like an emptiness that can’t be filled. God knew the difficulties we would face in this life, so he gave us comforting words to tell us how much he cared about our broken hearts. Each of us will experience the pain of brokenheartedness, but we can rest assured; God sees our tears. He is near. 

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) 

Isn’t knowing Jesus stays close to us when our hearts have broken a relief? He knows what it’s like to have a broken heart. Even as “he was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities,” Jesus was concerned about us. (Isaiah 53:5) Before giving his life for us, he gave his disciples hope for their broken hearts, as well. What heartbreak they must’ve felt when Jesus endured the cross. Yet, Jesus comforted them with these words, “...Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27 NIV) and His faithful followers would be saying goodbye to their Lord, but they had hope for his promised return. Those same words bring hope to us right now. Jesus has risen, and we can experience his presence anew each day. If you’re feeling brokenhearted today, let this promise from Jesus begin to fill the emptiness inside. 

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.” (John 14:1) 

Yes, God sees our broken hearts, and he cares so much that he gave us the hope of eternal life with him through his son. Let’s bring every broken heart before our Savior in prayer. Nothing comforts a broken heart quite like God’s love.

Let’s pray:
Dear Jesus,
You know what it’s like to have a broken heart. You understand how I feel when no one else does. You understand loneliness, hurt, and disappointment and never leave me alone. I am calling on you now, Jesus, amid my pain. Soothe every broken heart. You are the source of all comfort.

Lord, help me hold on to the truth that you are near me always. Your Word says in Psalm 145:18, “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” In my brokenheartedness, you are comforting me and speaking peace in my life. Thank you for that reassurance. I know you are here right now— listening, loving, and caring about everything happening in my life. I can cling to you through every trial because of that truth. Thank you for inviting me to bring my broken heart to you. Fill me with your love, peace, and joy. In your name, I pray, Amen.