God Longs to be Encountered..Craig Denison Ministries

 God Longs to be Encountered

Craig Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview:

One of the most scandalous truths of the gospel is that our Creator longs to be encountered by his creation. God longs to meet with us. His greatest desire is for relationship with us. I can’t fathom why God in all his holiness and goodness makes himself available to us, but it is the powerful truth of Scripture. God is pursuing each of us with his relentless love, seeking out those who might respond to his open invitation by opening the door of their hearts to him. My prayer is that in response to God’s desire to meet with his people we would be those who say yes to centering our lives around his nearness. May your week be marked by the reality of God’s presence and love.

Scripture:“The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.” Psalm 14:2

Devotional:

We serve a God who longs to be encountered. Our God is not distant. He is not a recluse. Every morning there is an open invitation set before us to encounter the peaceful, tangible presence of the living God. In fact, it’s because of God’s desire to be encountered that Scripture so often commands us to seek him. He is not a God who hides, but he is also not a God who forces himself on us. He quietly beckons us to a life marked by his nearness, asking us to seek him that our heart might be open and receptive to him.

1 Chronicles 16:11 commands us, “Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!” And Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” May we be a people who center our lives around God’s longing to be encountered. May we seek him with all we are.

I’ve lived so much of my life as if I’m on my own. I was without a true revelation of just how close God is to me. I was without a true knowledge that the God I serve longs to be known by me. You see, the foundation for my spending time with God was that I should, not that he actually desired relationship with me. As soon as I got a glimpse into the heart of my heavenly Father to simply love me and enjoy me, I was hooked.

No matter who you are or what you’ve done, you serve a God who longs to meet with you. He is knocking on the door of your heart today, asking you to simply let him come in. He is quietly beckoning you with his love, simply speaking to you, “Don’t shut me out.” God has an incredible life filled with an ever-increasing awareness of his love for you. He longs for your heart to be wrapped up in his presence when the world rejects you, speaks lies to you, or tries to pull you away from the comfort of his love and peace.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Seek the presence of your heavenly Father today in faith that he longs to be encountered. Trust him at his word that he will reward your seeking with the wonders of his nearness. Seek a deeper, more intimate relationship with him in light of the truth that he is always fully available to you. May your life be ever filled with communion with your loving heavenly Father.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on God’s desire to be encountered. Allow Scripture to stir up your faith to meet with God.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.” 1 Chronicles 28:9

2. What have you believed about encountering God that doesn’t line up with his heart and his word? Where do you feel like you can’t encounter God? What parts of your life are absent of his presence and the fruit of his nearness?

3. Seek the presence of God today. Take time to open your heart and in faith trust that you can encounter God. Commit yourself to centering your day around his presence and doing nothing apart from an awareness of his nearness.

“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” Lamentations 3:25

“The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.” Psalm 14:2

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8

How amazing is the heart of our heavenly Father that he longs to be encountered! Through the powerful sacrifice of Jesus we can live in communion with God. Jesus paid the highest price for us to simply have close relationship with our Creator. Let us not be a people who forsake the sacrifice of Jesus. If God would send his only Son to die that we might live in relationship with him, it must be absolutely the best thing in this life. Taste and see how good your God is today. Let him into all you do. May your life be filled with the presence of God as you open the door of your heart to the reality of his nearness.

Extended Reading: Revelation 3:14-4:11

What Really Matters..Meg Bucher

 What Really Matters

By Meg Bucher 

“For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.” - Phil 1:10 NLT

Motherhood pushes the fleetness of time into overdrive. When the fall rolls around and my daughters get ready to go back to school, my social media feed is flooded with memories from all the other first-day-of-school pics over the years. How can time go so fast? How can we love other little humans so much? With each passing year, I become more aware of the pressing urgency to pass wisdom down to them. My instinct is to prepare and protect them. I understand the urgency in Paul’s prose. I want my daughters to understand what really matters and to live pure and blameless lives. I do the best I can to articulate love into every area of their lives, but I know as surely as my days are numbered on this earth, my words fall short. The author of Hebrews wrote:

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:23-25 NLT) 

Just because we don’t always get it right doesn’t mean we should give up. Persistent faith in the Lord will carry us through the days which break our hearts and give us words when ours our depleted. “I want you to understand what really matters,” Paul said. What really matters? “We ought to pray for moral discernment so we can maintain Christ’s perspective on what really matters,” The Life Application Bible says, “In every situation, consistently choosing the best course of action will yield tremendous benefits for us and those around us. Always think about what will be of lasting value.”

Intersecting Faith and Life:
The pit in my stomach starts to swirl when the Lord is convicting me to be cautious or alerting me to take action. The decisions we make in our everyday lives can either lead to pure and blameless lives or be heaped in the consequences of incorrect choices. Paul’s adamant to get his message across. Every decision matters. We cannot walk through life without pausing to perceive what is happening around us. To know what really matters takes mature discernment. Discernment is the acuteness of judgment and understanding. To discern is to “perceive by the sight or some other sense or by the intellect.” 

Our decisions affect the people God has purposefully placed in our lives to love. When we consider the effect our decision will have upon others, we are more cautious than if we were just thinking about ourselves. The author of Hebrews wrote: 

“You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” (Hebrews 5:11-14 NLT) 

When my daughters were young, I read a devotional book with them every night. I cherished the conversations we would have and loved hearing their little voices pray to their big God. Over time, though, I knew they needed to grow beyond just a devotional at bedtime. The next step for them became the kids' program at our local church. They looked forward to going every Sunday and eventually jumped into volunteering and serving as they got older. Now they are teens, and they are active in their local youth group. I miss bedtime devotions with their tiny voices praying to their great big God. But I love watching them grow into their faith on their own accord. This past year, my oldest daughter went on her first mission trip. 

In our everyday lives, God is faithful to meet us where we are at. He wants us to understand what really matters.   

Further Reading:

• 1 Samuel 2:26
• Jeremiah 12:2

God Hates a Lying Tongue..Amanda Idleman

God Hates a Lying Tongue 
By: Amanda Idleman

Today’s Bible Verse is  Proverbs 6:16-19: “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”

Truth is a central part of the Christian faith. We are to be truth-seekers, truth-tellers, and truth believers. As Christ-followers we are called to follow Jesus who is described as the way, truth, and the life (John 14:6). Truth is central to our quest to follow and honor God.

The enemy of our souls is described as the “father of lies” (John 8:44). The Devil pulls us away from Jesus by distorting our realities in order to steal, kill, and destroy our lives. When our lives are stuck in the mire of falsehoods we cannot experience all of who God is. We need the truth of the Gospel at work in our lives to live as free people. Freedom and the piercing power of God’s truth go hand in hand.

If truth is a fundamental part of who God is, it follows that lying is naturally something that he is against. God desires us to see the world clearly. He does not want us to get ensnared by wrong thinking and the brokenness that comes when falsehoods enter our relationships.

The Bible uses strong language around God’s stance on lying. Proverbs 6:16-19 says, “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” The Bible leaves very little wiggle room to debate on how God feels about lying. The language of Proverbs is black and white… God hates a lying tongue. 

God’s Word goes even further to emphasize how lying is something that God is against. Psalm 101:7 adds, “No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.” Deceit keeps us from being a part of God’s house. Honest living is central to being part of God’s eternal family.

Ultimately, truth is so important because God cares most about the state of our hearts. If we are willing to deceive for our own gain, we know that our hearts are sick. Matthew 15:18-20 says, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” God wants to set us free from the evil that keeps us chained up so we can live free lives. Freedom is found when we live with integrity. This occurs when our insides and our outsides match.

While God offers his abundant grace and forgiveness for all our missteps, that does not mean that there are no consequences for our actions. Proverbs 19:5 says, “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape.” Lying comes with consequences. The most natural and obvious one is that it breaks trust with those we are in a relationship with. It is hard and often heartbreaking work when we must repair the bridges that get burned when we choose to deceive the people around us.

None of the brokenness we all must work through in our lives is too great for God to repair. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If you have struggled with telling the truth or are navigating a situation where trust has been broken, we have the hope of God's miraculous restorative power to lean on.

God is faithful to make a straight path for us when we trust in him (Proverbs 3:5-6). Surrender your thinking, relationships, and worldview to the Lord. Allow him to bring freedom from deceit through the gentle power of the Holy Spirit at work in your life! God’s word boldly proclaims that the truth will set us free (John 8:31-32). This is a promise you can cling to with confidence.

A Prayer for the Holiday Season..Molly Law

 A Prayer for the Holiday Season

By Molly Law

“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” - Luke 2:10

When the calendar hit October 1, my soul filled with glee as I realized the sweep of holidays was in full effect: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. I love this time of year! Everything feels so festive, people come together more easily, and as the crisp autumn breeze blows the varying color of the leaves that turn into a winter wonderland, it feels almost magical — like anything could happen.

But on that first day of October, other feelings were intermingling with my joy. A sliver of stress shot through my body at the mere thought of all that needs to be done: make sure to have candy at the ready for trick-or-treaters, make a list and prepare all that food for Thanksgiving, and set aside money for all of the Christmas gifts I will need to buy for my friends and family. 

As I move through these two emotions in quick succession, I remember what or, more accurately, who will be missing. I know this is a very common feeling that comes with the holidays. For my family, we lost our beloved grandfather on December 8, 2011. As Christmas Day was also his birthday, we did not celebrate Christmas that year in the same way. In the years following, Christmas has felt like a piece of it was missing. 

Time passes, and the pain eases slightly; new family members are born, new ones are added through marriage, and joy slowly infiltrates the celebrations that were once so painful to endure. Even though their memory and the pain of not having them during the holidays never goes away, there is One who comforts us no matter the time of year.

How beautiful it is that at Thanksgiving we can sing praises to our Lord for all the many blessings we have received and for His grace and mercy. And at Christmas, we can celebrate the birth of our Savior, who humbled himself and came as a vulnerable baby to grow as fully human and fully God to suffer and die on a cross and be raised to life, all so that we can have salvation and be united with Him in heaven. 

Let’s Pray:

Dear Lord,
Thank you for this time of year, full of laughter, fun, and celebration. Thank you for the time to reflect on you and your many blessings and celebrate the birth of your only Son as your long-fulfilled promise of love for us. Although the world depicts a time of year full of laughter and joy, I pray for those who feel alone, for those who are grieving. I pray as they look around and see nothing but happiness that they do not feel like something is wrong with them. Why they cannot seem to just choose happiness in the most wonderful time of the year, as the Christmas song depicts. 

My Father, I pray for those who have lost a loved one or several loved ones and feel nothing but pain and sadness during the holidays. I pray that we do not forget them — I pray we show them kindness and understanding. I pray we can let them know that any and all feelings can be felt during the holidays, and that is okay. I pray that this year, we enjoy the family we do have around us. I pray we remember the good times we had with a loved one now lost and that only good memories abound in our minds. I pray that the holidays bring love, joy, and kindness to us all and that we show it to a world that is broken and hurting. 

Thank you for coming to earth and living among us until it was time for you to die and rise again for us. Thank you for taking away our sins and offering us the gift of salvation. I pray that the focus of the holidays this year be about you and your love for us — that we keep Jesus at the heart of our celebrations.

We love and trust you with all of our hearts, our Lord and Savior.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.