Find out if you're living the Seeking-God Lifestyle. It is the honor and privilege of every Christian to know God and to walk with Him on a daily basis. He The following are seven principles that describe what it means to seek after God. one of the most potent tools for humility was never God's intention.
Table of contents
- The Battle for Your Mind | Desiring God
- Lesson 1: Facts, Faith, Feelings
- Desiring God 2010 National Conference
- 4 Ways Theology Is Practical for Everyday Life
- You already know this:
It is an ongoing mindset and lifestyle of those who desire to know, love, and follow God.
The Battle for Your Mind | Desiring God
Another way to think about seeking God is the concept of attracting the presence of God. These are two different ways of saying the same thing. As we draw near to God, He draws near to us. As the prophet Azariah told King Asa in 2 Chronicles If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. In one sense, God is everywhere.
He is omnipresent, but we see in the Scriptures that He also inhabits certain people or groups of people in special ways at discrete times. This is what we are to seek after — the very presence of God in our lives and communities. We want the presence of God to be on earth as it is in heaven. The following are seven principles that describe what it means to seek after God. They are activities on our part that attract His supernatural presence.
God is sovereign over all who become Christians, but a person must repent of his sins and believe the good news to become a Christian. God ordains the ends, but He also ordains the means. The following are the means that attract His supernatural presence in outpourings of the Holy Spirit.
Understanding and practicing the following seven principles will make you a seeker after God. It is what you were designed for and is what the Lord expects of you. The very essence of following Christ is to imitate Him in His humility. Though He was God Himself, He set aside his power and glory to become part of the creation. Jesus exemplified a humble life, which every Christian is to emulate. Moreover, pride is the opposite of humility, and we know from the Scriptures that God judges and actively opposes the proud James 4: Not just non-Christians, but proud Christians can expect the opposition of the God of heaven and earth.
The admonitions to be humble in Philippians, James and 1 Peter are all written to a Christian audience, not non-Christians.
- Waking God Book II: The Sacred Rota!
- Rabbits Dont Make Deals: With a superstate gone bad.
- What Does This Mean (Concordia Scholarship Today).
- Trautmanns Journey: From Hitler Youth to FA Cup Legend?
- Johnny Paradise!
God has made plain that He loves to support and dwell with the humble in heart. Fasting is not the only tool to help humble ourselves: However, fasting is an important tool and one that has been neglected in the Western church. It is important not to take fasting too far in thinking that it is the sin qua non of the Christian life. The Pharisees in the New Testament showed that a person can be a regular faster and still be self-righteous, proud and greedy. It is indeed important, and should be practiced regularly.
Lesson 1: Facts, Faith, Feelings
It was always assumed that fasting would be part of the Christian life after Jesus died and rose from the dead. There was no need to fast when Christ was present, because there was no need to mourn over the absence of God, but once He ascended, the era of fasting returned to the people of God. We know from early church documents like the Didache that it was the practice of Christians in the first century to fast every Wednesday and Friday until 3pm.
They would have a meal in the evening, which would be all the food they took in for the day. There would be special times of extended fasting just as there were before Christ came, but regular fasting is also important. The list goes on and on. Sometimes people fasted for a day and sometimes for as long as 70 days Mordecai and all the Jews in the Persian Empire or days Nehemiah, chapter 1. Different circumstances require different lengths of fasting. For the Christian seeking to humble himself before God, fasting must be a regular part of his or her life. The typical prayer life of the first-century Christian and the average Christian in Asia or Africa is markedly different from that of the Christian in America and Europe.
Of course, there are exceptions, but by and large, there is little to no dedication to regular prayer among Christians in the West. The Scriptures admonish us to pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Bradshaw, the pattern for first-century pious Jews and Christians was to pray two or three set times per day, in addition to praying continuously throughout the day. Many Christians lift up prayers during the day as they go about their business, which is a good thing and is modeled in the Scriptures e.
The pattern is to pray two or three set times per day like Daniel Daniel 6: Repeatedly, we are told to pray night and day in the Scriptures. Luke 18 shows that we are to pray night and day. We see in 1 Timothy 5 that widows who did not pray day and night were considered lovers of pleasure and were not to be given financial help. Combined with Bible reading, the Christian should be praying two or three set times every day totaling a couple of hours.
Similar to the discipline of prayer two or three times a day is the discipline of taking in the Word of God. The Scriptures need to be meditated upon, read, or heard two or more times per day Deut 6: Every day, pious Jews in the first century would recite from memory a few passages from Deuteronomy and Numbers called the Shema. They would also read the Scriptures to each other, recite from memory various passages, and mediate on the word of God. This became the practice of Christians as well. The word of God also comes in other ways. If God speaks to you through a prophetic message, dream, angelic visitation or any other means, then it is the word of God and you must obey and follow the Lord.
Of course, these revelations need to be weighed against the Scriptures and talked over with godly friends, so that you can accurately sense what God has said, but if God has spoken to you, then you must obey Him. Some wrongly believe that believing and practicing the spiritual gifts like prophecy and word of knowledge take away from the authority of the Scriptures, but it is the Scriptures themselves that authenticate the legitimacy of hearing from God in these ways.
We must have the courage to obey the Scriptures in these ways even if it does not match our prior experience. As with anything else, there is much to learn and there will be many growing pains, but by actively cultivating the art of hearing God you will be able to know His will and able to seek Him much more specifically and wholeheartedly. Luke tells us that there is extraordinary joy in heaven when sinners repent and turn to God Luke Why will you die, O house of Israel?
Desiring God 2010 National Conference
There is an extraordinary story of King Ahab who was an exceedingly wicked king of Israel. He murdered in cold blood and rebelled against God repeatedly. God sent Elijah to pronounce judgment on him, warning him of the impending disaster. Yet, Ahab humbled himself and repented of his sins, moving God to relent in sending punishment. God said to Elijah in 1 Kings Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.
This hypocrisy angered God who rebuked them in Joel 2: Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. The flip side to repentance is obedience, and authentic repentance always leads to obedience. Repentance is looking to the past concerning sins and acknowledging what needs to be brought before God.
Obedience is daily walking in holiness and surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord. God delights and draws close to those who live righteous lives. Every culture has characteristics that reinforce and commend the eternal commands of God and yet also has values that are contrary to the will of God, which need to be brought into alignment with Him. American culture in the 21 st century has much going for it, including a strong value on racial tolerance, faithful stewardship of the environment, and caring for the poor.
Faithfully walking with God even when this brings one in conflict with the surrounding culture exemplifies a righteous and holy life, and God loves the righteous and draws close to them. In the category of sexual integrity, American culture has strayed far away from the Biblical norms it once embraced.
Within this context, we are able to better live in the present moment and dispense with the anxieties that come from focusing too much on either the past or the future. I have a co-worker who exemplifies this joy. Brenda is extremely gracious and does a great job encouraging others in routine workday interactions.
4 Ways Theology Is Practical for Everyday Life
I always come away from our interactions grateful to be on her team. Her joy is contagious. Who do you work for? We all work for the Lord. So that carries with it a responsibility — we should always do our best in human terms.
- You Already Know This:!
- Preaching Practical Holiness.
- Should I Ever Take an Action I Don’t ‘Have Peace’ About?.
- Related articles.
- Marc Cortez.
- Fluid Power Engineering?
- Yohana.
Consider the hidden life of Jesus as a carpenter. Can you imagine him producing shoddy work?
This can be as simple as an understanding smile, willingness to listen patiently for a couple minutes during a busy day, or an encouraging word. I recall a colleague who was experiencing financial hardship a while back, and on top of everything had a flat tire one morning. It was my privilege to help her out with this minor crisis. Jesus tells us in Matthew I have the great honor of working with a friend of mine from Legatus, an organization of Catholic business leaders. We also need allies for the mutual support and encouragement we obtain through these types of relationships — especially with our prayers.
They were both playing political games, trying to consolidate support for their positions while undermining one another. Everyone on the team knew what was going on, and the source of the issue: Forgiveness is frequently necessary in the workplace, and as Catholics we need to ask for it and receive it. My first stint in college was a debacle, and I got kicked out within three semesters from Franciscan University, no less. This wound was so deep, so excruciating, that I vowed it would never happen again. Upon returning a couple years later, I excelled. These lessons are invaluable. Even in the small workplace failures we experience — which are inevitable — we can learn, grow and do better next time.
With perseverance and willingness to own our failures, the path to success is never easy, but it is attainable. Yet if we accept this as a challenge, pray for the other individual and commit to treating him or her with courtesy and respect, even the most difficult relationships can come around.
You already know this:
I remember years ago, working to turn a soured referral source back into an advocate. It took time, patience, handwritten notes, a well-placed gift card and a couple of apologies, but it worked in the end by restoring a broken trust. Gratitude is a powerful aspect of our faith. We can use it in unlikely circumstances, too. At first, I was upset about him beating me over the head with his Bible, figuratively speaking.