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CPR with God.020619

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man holding baby s breath flower in front of woman standing near marble wall

CPR = Close Personal Relationship with GOD

Had a meeting with Garrett and Ava this morning, and we were discussing how to develop a relationship with God, and I asked them, ‘What is the first and great commandment?” and they said, “Love the Lord with all your heart . . .” and the second, “love your neighbor as yourself.”

And I said, apparently never having thought of it before, “So how do you love the Lord with all your heart?  How do you DO it?”  And they said, “Develop a relationship with Him.”

And I said, “And how do you do that?”  And they said, “Spend time with Him.”

We had already discussed how we develop relationships with other people: we spend time with them.  Not necessarily because we have to, but often because we want to; we just can’t wait to get to spend time with them, talking to them, listening to them, sometimes nobody saying anything, just experiencing their presence.

Did  you get that?  If you want to develop a relationship with God, you have to spend time with Him.  Sometimes, you reach a certain point in your life when being with God is like being with that special person that you’ve been thinking about falling in love with; that person who makes you feel like heaven, at least for a little while.

That’s what it means to ‘love the Lord with all your heart’.  That’s when we really begin to develop a Close Personal Relationship with God.

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JOINED AT THE HEART.052418

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What happens when you are really in a bind, you don’t know what to do, and there’s actually nowhere to go?  I guess the right answer is to do what you learned in church, to do what your momma and your daddy taught you about God.  But many questions are subject to interpretation.  There are a lot of gray areas.  In the meantime there’s a lot about what you believe, and who you can trust: God, the church, people who claim to be Christians, and those who really ACT like it.  Often there is nothing you can do except to lean on God, and hope to goodness that all that stuff you said you believed is really true.

So what do you really believe?  Well, I believe in leaning on God, trusting in Him.  Like Solomon said, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding . . .”  (Proverbs 3:5-6) Like the story about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, where they said, right before they were thrown into the fiery furnace, “The God we serve will deliver us, . . . but even if He doesn’t, we’re not going to bow down and worship the image you made.” (Daniel 3:1-30)  Talk about leaning on Jesus.  Whoa!  To get to that level of trust in God, you have to spend a lot of time getting connected to Him, joined at the heart, so when the time comes you’ll be ready.

SEEK MY FACE.112716

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change your life

2 Chronicles 7:14: [God says to Solomon, before the dedication of the Temple], “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, and forgive their sins, and heal their land.”

Had a little discussion in Sunday school with a bunch of high school kids; talking about prayer.  The question was, “What do you pray about?”  Right out of the chute, Kelli says, “I pray to know God.”  I was astounded.  I didn’t think we’d even get around to that part of prayer for a long time, maybe not even touch it that day.  I said so.  I asked, “What do you mean?”  She said, “I want to know what God thinks; what He wants for my life; to understand who He really is. I want to know what it means to really trust Him.”

You know it’s like Oswald Chambers said, “When you stop seeking what God can do for you, you have time to seek Him for Himself.”  I think that’s what the verse means when it says, “Seek My face.”  We talked about ‘listening to God’.  Maybe not an audible voice, but that clear feeling you get in your heart about what God thinks, after you seek God’s face.

Later I had a revelation about this little episode.  Never understood it this way before.  When you start to seek God’s face; seeking to know Him for Himself; you enter a whole different dimension of knowing God.  It’s like the difference between ‘believing in God’ with your head and trusting God with your heart.  It changes your whole relationship with Him.  This is the same way (maybe the same thing in different form), when you seek to know God, to develop a relationship with Him as a Father and a friend, it changes the whole complexion of your relationship with each other.  When you really start to listen to Him for understanding, and not just for provision, you really are changed in your heart.  It’s just like it says in James 4:8, “Draw near to God, and He’ll draw near to you.”

Galatians 2-20. 031415

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Open graveOne day I was reading Luke 9:23, where it says, “If anyone would be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me;”  and I was thinking about what that means, “Take up your cross daily”.  I heard a number of preachers and teachers say that it means 1 We all have our burdens (problems, troubles, sacrifices) to bear, and each of us has to trust God to bear those burdens in a Christ-like way.  2 Or some say your cross is whatever job or career or ‘calling’ God has called you to, and to be a disciple, you must focus your attention on doing that calling well and properly for the glory of God. Continue reading →