God Is Not Lost

"I've been played. This is a set up." I said yesterday as I sat on the floor rooting through the kitchen trash. 

Yeah, yeah I get: If I can dig through the trash to find a coupon, I can "diligently seek" God who is much more important. I'm sure this is a coincidence that when I am going to write about seeking God I have to dig through rubbish. Yeah right. God has a sense of humor. :-)

About a year ago, I was watching a movie that was kind of lame. At one point one character asked another, "Have you found Jesus?" To which the other answered, "I didn't know He was lost."

I laughed. That was a stupid line, but I'm going to admit that I laughed. Why? Because He's not lost! I guess when I read the scriptures about seeking God and finding Him, I had never thought about it in those terms. That's a surprise because I usually think about things in goofy ways.

So what does it mean to seek God? Not everything we seek is something that is lost. Sometimes when we seek we are making something our goal or it is our desire. We can seek fame and fortune. We can seek an audience with the King.

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV

The Amplified Bible explains "seek."

If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 AMP

When we crave, we usually try to satisfy our cravings with that desire. "Require as necessity" makes me think of my next breath. I don't think about my next breath unless it's not there. I have to have it. God should be like our breath: if He's not there, we'll die. I have to have You or I die.

¹²Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you.

¹³Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

¹⁴I will be found by you, says the Lord, Jeremiah 29:12-14 AMP

One definition of find is "to meet; encounter." That's what we're looking for: an encounter with God. It's up-close, real-life, and personal. He wants us to make an effort to meet Him. We're not going to meet Him by accidentally tripping over Him. We have to seek Him.

Father, I thank You that when we seek You, we don't have to dig through garbage. But sometimes we have to dig through the clutter in our minds and hearts and through all the worthless things that distract us. I pray that we will say like the psalmist:

When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.” Psalm 27:8 NKJV

Next: God Rewards

This is where we separate the men from the boys or the true believers from the (demons?). Yikes! We believe God is; now we have to prove it.

We look back at Hebrews 11:6

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

We prove our faith by seeking God. For me, the first part is easy. Of course I believe God is. I believe He rewards and blesses those who diligently seek Him, too. But I have room for improvement on the "diligently seek Him" part. Yes I seek God by reading the scriptures and by praying, but my actions aren't up to the level of faith where I think they should be because I don't seek Him as much as I should.

¹⁹ You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. ²⁰ How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? James 2:19-20

The smart aleck Denise version would be: You say you have faith because you believe in God. Big deal! That puts you right up there with the demons. But they tremble in fear and awe of God (do you even do that?) If you really believed, your life would prove it or what's the point?

Wow! That was kind of painful to write. It was like slapping myself upside the head.  In James, the scriptures talk about good deeds as in charitable acts and helping those in need. Good deeds include seeking God and obeying Him.

This is the fruit I expect as a result of planting seed in my heart about who God is. I expect my desire to spend more time with Him to increase.

¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. Jeremiah 29:12-14a NIV

First: God Is

No excuses! You have to know that God exists. Creation is not a coincidence. Here's what God's word says about it.

¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:19-20 NIV

When we look at the beauty of creation, it is God's hint to us that He exists.  You would have to work too hard to deny it. That's the first step of faith—knowing/believing that God exists.

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 NKJV

Those who acknowledge God's existence are on the right path. Think about the most beautiful thing you've ever seen in nature. Does it make your mouth drop open with awe? For me it's stars. When I look at the night sky, sometimes I just have to sing How Great Thou Art.

Step one accomplished. I believe God is.

Narrowing God Down

How can you describe God in a few words? How can you carry the ocean in a bucket? There's just too much!

It's exciting to write God Is; at the same time, it can be overwhelming.  My best word is "awesome." I usually reserve that word for something that leaves me speechless—as in I'm in awe of God. I can't say the right word for Him.

We learn God's character and attributes through what people in the Bible said about Him. But more importantly, we learn who He is by what He says about Himself, the kinds of things He said to others, and what He has done. There's just so much that it has been difficult to narrow Him down for a booklet you can read daily in less than 10 minutes.

It's like I heard a preacher humorously "explaining" a degree in theology. He said, "You have a degree in God." He drew a large circle in the air with his finger and said, "Here's all there is to know about God." Then he held his thumb and index finger close and said, "And you have a degree." It was a cute illustration. If God is 360 degrees, one degree leaves so much more to learn about him. I may only have a minute of arc (1/60th of a degree) of knowledge of God.

God Is cannot scratch the surface of how great the Creator, Mighty God, Heavenly Father, El Shaddai, Elohim is. I pray that it is enough to whet your appetite for Him.

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Psalm 34:8

Pray for the Lights to Come On--Ephesians 1:17-20

This next life story is so dumb I can't believe I'm sharing it. After you read it, we can act like it never happened.

I was riding in the car with my brother at dusk one summer evening. He was driving and I was trying to read something. Panic started creeping upon me when I realized I could not see what I was reading. I mean I could see it . . . but it was difficult . . . it was dark. I'm going blind. Man, what's up with my ey . . .

Hmmm, I'm not used to wearing sunglasses. They must have felt very comfortable on my face since I didn't notice I was wearing them. *blush*

Of course spiritual sight can be darkened as well. Many years ago I read how someone prayed scripture about the "eyes of your understanding." I began praying those scriptures daily. I still pray them today, but not as much as I need to. But I saw God answer that prayer. I began to understand the scriptures better—like taking off the sunglasses—or like the light being turned on.

This prayer fits perfectly with the reading scriptures about who God is. In Ephesians 1:17-20, the apostle Paul was writing to let the church at Ephesus know how he was praying for them. I've rewritten it as a personal prayer. And here I have used two versions of the Bible so you can choose whichever works best for you.

Father, I pray that You will give me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of who You are, the eyes of my understanding being enlightened; that I may know what is the hope of Your calling, what are the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of Your power toward us who believe, according to the working of Your mighty power which You worked in Christ when You raised Him from the dead and seated Him at Your right hand in the heavenly places,                                                                         -from Ephesians 1:17-20 NKJV

I am asking You, God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give me spiritual wisdom and insight so that I might grow in my knowledge of You.  I pray that my heart will be flooded with light so that I can understand the confident hope You have given to those You called—Your holy people who are Your rich and glorious inheritance.

I also pray that I will understand the incredible greatness of Your power for us who believe You. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at Your right hand in the heavenly realms.                                                               -from Ephesians 1:17-20 NLT

I'm going to try to remember to pray these scriptures each time before I read God Is. My prayer is that as we read the booklet, the light will come on for us and we will have a better understanding of Him. Amen.

God Is

One person I would love to have met is George Washington Carver. He created many things from a peanut or a sweet potato. He helped the economy of the South. According to biographical accounts, he asked God why He created the universe and God told GWC that was too much for him to understanding. So Carver tried something easier; he asked God why He created the peanut. From that, God showed Carver 300 uses of this legume. That amazes me that the man could do so much with so little. I wish I had known him. But you know what is better? Oh yeah, you know what I'm going to say. It would be better to know the God who shared the secret of the peanut with Carver, than to know Carver. Right. . . cut out the middle man. How awesome would it be for God to share such secrets with us?

Learning about joy has been fun and interesting. But now our focus is changing: less about us and more about our Creator. Let's take 30 days to learn who God is. In the first 30 days we planted seeds of joy with the expectation that we would receive a harvest of joy. What kind of harvest, or fruit of change, should we expect during God Is?

If we read about God daily, we should expect to learn about Him. Maybe our relationship with Him will grow. Maybe we will learn how to trust Him. Maybe we will understand Him better. So the harvest is a better relationship with your heavenly father. In turn, that will probably translate to a better relationship with yourself and others.

Moses told God,

Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” Exodus 33:13

"show me now Your way, that I may know You." If you watch what a person does, you will know more about that person. If we know what God says and watch what He does and does not do, we will understand who He is. Let's see who He is.

Fast Forward – My Story Part 5

God! Why did you send me to Alabama? I hate it here! Please get me out of here.

How many times did I say that? It started out okay. I liked my new job. I met friends. I found a church where I felt God wanted me to be. But it wasn't long before I started losing joy. Most of it was related to my job. Then I kept having weird problems with my car. Not that the car problems were weird. Getting a new car was weird. It just wasn't happening. I hated being here with no support. No family. No friends that I knew well enough to depend on like I was used to.

It was strange sitting all day at a desk instead of teaching. Did I mention that I'm fat now? For the first few months, I sat in a make-shift cubicle. There was only enough room to back my chair up so I could stand. I didn't care. It was a new start for me and I felt God had sent me there. Unfortunately I did not continue reading my anti-depression scriptures. I knew that I should have continued doing what I done to get rid of depression to maintain joy, but I thought I was going to be okay. Meanwhile it had gotten to the point where I felt like I had to fight with someone every week about what I was doing on my job.

I work on an educational website for Pete's sake; it's not that deep. But I was new there. I didn't do things the way they had been done. I tried to be creative and initiate new ideas. I was met with resistance. Every week it was something. It finally got to the point where I bought the CD, the book, and even the cassettes (to give to my friend) of T.D. Jakes' The 10 Commandments of Working in a Hostile Environment. The words that slapped me upside my head were, "The only thing that has to change is you." Not what I wanted to hear. True . . . but not what I wanted to hear. I changed some. I just dealt with it with God's help.

After some time, maybe years, some one might pray for me about "heaviness" on me. This happened at least twice. I would think, "Where did that come from?" Situations were weighing me down.

Last year was a real struggle. I would take off work for a couple days because I just couldn't stand to be there. Of course it affected my work. Because I didn't want to argue with people, I would just acquiesce. That's not what I'm paid for though. I am paid to do my best and use my knowledge of education. But I don't like to argue. I like to fuss because I think it's funny and I tease and fuss. But I'm probably not going to try to prove my point or make someone know that I am right. I even try to do things to help make the workplace more enjoyable. But I do not work with excellence because I don't want to argue.

Fast forward to Monday March 14, 2011. I was talking to my friend telling her that I didn't know why it was so difficult to go to work. For the most, the people are nice enough; the pay is okay; the work is not too difficult. I just don't know what the problem is. I hate being there.

Friday March 18, 2011. A friend invited me to hear a woman minister. I called the first friend and told her that I have to run an errand, I'll be late; save me a seat; not in the front row because I don't want the minister to "peep me out;" and sit me by a cute single guy. Afterwards, I found out she had a place for me between to teen boys. *eyeroll*

So when I arrived, I couldn't see my friend. She's short and she was in the front. But I did see a friend in the second to last row, so I sat beside her. The church wasn't that big so there may have been 10-12 rows. Well the lady ministered to different people. She prayed with them and also gave them prophetic words. I had never heard of her until a couple of days before.

She found her way back to me. She said things to me like, "When you walk into that office building, you intercede (pray) . . . God put you there for a reason. . .  It's going to be the weight of His glory on you." Wow!

I have a reason to be at that job. This humbles me to know that God can use me there. Those words gave me purpose and courage to go in everyday. I can do this thing. I can go to work and pray for the workplace and the people. And instead of the heaviness, God is going to put the weight of His glory on me. I am going to know God is with me. Yay!

When I first began the joy adventure, I didn't realize how much I needed joy. I'm getting back to normal, now. That was one thing I hated about work—I wasn't myself there. Example: at Christmas time, people were receiving awards. Every time someone's name was called, I cheered for that person. A co-worker commented on that. I told her that this is how I usually am when I'm not here. That wasn't the first time I had made a statement like that. And anyone who knows me outside of work probably knows that I am usually enthusiastically loud. Not that I wanted to be loud at work; I just want to be myself.

I haven't been as desperate for joy as I was that first time around, but I'm working on it. I am looking forward to the harvest. And I know that joy is coming. And I want to move.