I received an email from a dear friend of mine that I cherish very close to my heart. When I read it, I thought “This needs to be shared with as many people as possible.” Why? Because as Christians, we need to be reminded of God’s Unfailing Love and that we need to love Him with everything we have. So, I asked my friend if I could share this with all of you. The below will change your heart if you allow it.
Kim Checkeye
Last Sunday I finished "Breaking Free" by Beth Moore. You would think that when someone finishes a Bible study that they would finish with the last lesson, but not me. You see, I had done all the lessons in the workbook but I had not listened to all the tapes. So on Sunday I listened to two tapes that I still needed to hear and finished the study.
I know now that this was “no mistake” on my part that I listened to the tapes out of order, but a greater part of God’s plan for me. The last tape was on “God’s Unfailing Love.” I had to confess to myself and to God after listening to it that I don’t love Him as I should, I don’t find joy in Him as I should, I don’t find satisfaction in Him as I should and because I don’t then there are strongholds in my life that are preventing me from doing this. What are these strongholds? It struck me, I have been a Christian for most of my life and yet I am still not fulfilling God’s chief end for my life which is “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever” on a consistent basis. This is not the deepest desire of my heart if I was going to be honest with myself and more importantly with God. It brought me to tears. I cried out, “Why don’t I love You, LORD, with all my heart, soul, mind and strength? Do I even want to? How do I begin as I don’t even know what an intimate relationship “looks like?”
I learned from the video that God wants our love for three reason:
1. Love motivates obedience
2. Love motivates perseverance
3. Love motivates safety
If I don’t love God first with all my being, then how do I expect to live a life pleasing to Him? How do I obey, persevere and remain in His safe keeping daily if I don’t first love Him with my all. How do I overcome strongholds in my life? It’s impossible.
These questions struck home to me again at Bible study on Tuesday night during the video, “God is the Gospel” by John Piper. Piper quoted Psalm 73:25, "Whom have I in heaven but You and on earth there is nothing I desire than You" again...I couldn't say, "God you are all I desire on the earth" and be honest with Him and myself, there are material things, activities and relationships that my heart are drawn to more than Him, in other words, IDOLS...how can this be? I was challenged by another passage in the video, Habakkuk 3:17-18, “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” Piper commented, many Christians love what Jesus offers (blessings and gifts) but not Jesus Himself. That smacked me in the face…that was me. I loved what Jesus did for me, but I did not fully love Jesus with my heart, mind, soul and strength.
So I asked myself, “If God never did another thing in my life, if He never blessed me with another thing, would I still seek Him, would I still want to know Him, would I find enjoyment in Him, would I find satisfaction in Him, would I love Him?”
I was challenged by this concept, “to love the Giver and not the gifts or the blessings of the Giver.” I learned from the videos that I can not develop this love for God on my own. It is Spirit driven. So I have made a concerted effort during the week with the help of the Holy Spirit to seek God purely for Himself...not asking for this or that from Him, but seeking out who He is for Himself alone and enjoying Him. I began to consider God's attributes as a place to start for in order to love God then I must know God and what better way to know Him then to find out who He really is. Which drew me to a book that I have had on my shelf for sometime..."Praying the Names of God" by Ann Spangler. I highly recommend this book. It has 26 names of God that one can discover. The first week, I studied and prayed the name, Elohim (e-lo HEEM, God the Mighty Creator.) The first day of the week I discovered the meaning of Elohim, the next three days I prayed the name and on the fifth day I learned about the promises of the name. My heart began to lean towards God and to discover Him in ways I never knew.
During the week I found some times with God that I truly enjoyed His creation. He showed me on one of my walks the precision Canadian geese come in for a landing and realized for the first time in all my years watching them that they all "touch down" on the grass at the same time...the first geese continue to flap their wings just above the ground until every one is in place and then together in one motion they hit the ground. It was amazing. I saw a sky last night that I never saw before...a pale lavender on the horizon of the mountains with a shade of blue above it like I have never seen with white on top of that...I enjoyed that...I ENJOYED GOD!
I don't know where you are with your relationship with God, but I challenge you to ask yourself, “Do I desire Him more than anything else on earth?” If not, then you might have a stronghold in your life preventing you from God’s best, just like me. I encourage you today to start seeking Him first and not the blessings or the gifts that He gives, they will follow along with obedience, perseverance and His safe keeping.
Here is a sample of one of the day’s of prayer in Ann Spangler’s book, enjoy!
Elohim - God the Mighty Creator...
Elohim is the Hebrew word for God that appears in the very first sentence of the Bible. When we pray to Elohim, we remember that he is the one who began it all, creating the heavens and the earth and separating light from darkness, water from dry land, night from day. This ancient name for God contains the idea of God’s creative power as well as his authority and sovereignty. Jesus used a form of the name in his agonized prayer from the cross. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Key Scripture
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).
Praying the Name…
In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same. (Psalm 102:25–27a)
Reflect On: Psalm 102
Praise God: For his unchanging nature—no matter what hap¬pens to us or to the world around us, God remains the same.
Offer Thanks: That our Creator is perfect—nothing could be added to or subtracted from him to improve his nature.
Confess: Any tendency to place God on your own level, as though he is subject to the same laws and limitations of creation as you are.
Ask God: To help you perceive his greatness more fully so that you will stop projecting your own feelings and judgments on him.
Imagine for a moment that you live in a world that never changes. In this world civilizations never rise and fall, the weather is constant, children don’t grow up, and people never change jobs. In this world, the same old television shows run year after year.
Wouldn’t it bore you to death? Without the right kind of change, there would be no growth or development, no hope, nothing whatever to aim for. No one would ever talk about discerning God’s plan for their lives nor would anyone strive to fulfill their God-given potential because there wouldn’t even be a word for “potential.” We know that to be human is to be subject to change.
As human beings we need constructive change because both we and the world we live in are imperfect. We are not yet everything God intends us to be. But God himself is already perfect, already everything he needs to be: all-powerful, loving, wise, beautiful, and good. Change could not possibly improve him. Furthermore, he is not subject to a changing universe because he exists outside of time and space. He always was and he always will be. This means that the God who loves you will never stop being who he is. His attitude won’t change depending on his mood, depending on your mood.
Perhaps you face unwelcome changes right now: the loss of a loved one, a child leaving home, a dwindling paycheck—the future you counted on suddenly in jeopardy. Or maybe you suffer from a mood disorder, up one day and way down the next.
Let the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever steady your world today.
Whatever challenge or change confronts you, let it drive you toward the God who never changes, a God so stable and strong you can lean on him forever.
Author - Anonymous
