He wants me to know Him personally. Not just on a church level or public level. He wants me to know Him the way He knows me. I have been trying to find Him for a while but what I failed to notice is that I have been looking in all the wrong places. Friends, churches, books, internet.... You name it and I have tried to find Him. He has been with me this whole time.
In my Sunday school class we have been doing a study on the many names of God. The one thing that we keep coming back to is how our lives are a journey. A long road of ups and downs that we must push through in order to learn the lessons that Gos wants us to learn. Everyones lessons are different since everyone is going through their own problems. Sometimes we don't learn our lesson at the end so instead of going along the path to get closer to Him, we have to take another lap around the rink. After doing this a few times it gets to be exhausting. I know I am tired of taking my lap around trying to "find Him." I am not quite ready yet to day that I have learned that lesson yet but I feel I have finally broken through the "searching" part. I can finally start to hear Him teach me what He wants me to hear and now it is my responsibility to listen or He will have me take another lap.
My personal journey with God has been short so far and I know He knows me more than I know myself. He knows I am stubborn, and that I like to try to do things my own way but I feel Him guiding my heart towards the listening part. One day I will get it and I feel great knowing that He has complete confidence that I will one day too!
"Friends, churches, books, internet.... You name it and I have tried to find Him. He has been with me this whole time."
ReplyDeleteyes - that is great & true!
I hope that I always "sent you to God" instead of trying to just give you every answer I wanted to blurt out and 'teach'... becase though He will use teachers in our life.. He doesn't want us dependent on them...like you've said. Each of those things is a great way to learn about God and be encouraged in your faith... but it can't be THE way you relate to Him. Because although HE is the one who changes us, molds us, works in us.... it DOES take some effort in our part to grow. That effort isn't a 10 step program or anything... it's in the disciplines of submitting to Him. We have to take responsibility to discipline ourselves in ways that the Bible commands us to. The discipline of listening. THe discipline of prayer. THe discipline of reading His Word & memorizing scripture.
It's a journey and He is patient with us, thank you God!!
The beauty of what you've said is that YES He will USE these things in your life... but they aren't how to find Him... the best place to "find Him" is by learning His voice.. becase you're right - He's right there. right here!
The way we do that? Listening to Him! Prayer, praise music, being still & focusing on Him.... and perhaps most important - His Word! :)
Love you!
It's an amazing journey...that's for sure. We will never stop growing in our faith, and seeking Him. God is definitely with us ALWAYS. For years, I never opened my eyes enough to see that while trying to turn to others to help me find Him, I discovered the ultimate truth was that I didn't need others to find Him for me. I needed to just open my eyes to the fact that He was with me all along! Once I fully let go of my burdens, and put my total trust in Him, I knew I had found the empty void that was in my life for so long! It's been amazing the difference in my life since then, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.
ReplyDelete