Thoughts for Life: HOW DO YOU LOVE GOD?

Dave Butts- Living a life of obedience to the Word, confession and repentance from sin, and walking in holiness will all be demonstrations of our love for God.

Without in any way detracting from those parts of our Christian life, I would like to suggest one other very critical part of what it means to love God. It is very simple and so very human. To love God means to want to be with Him.

Isn't that our human tendency? When we love someone, we find ourselves attracted to them. We want to spend time with them.

In the Old Testament, David expressed that some kind of desire to be with God:

"One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple" (Ps. 27:4).

This is the cry of a lovesick heart. "God I want to be with You. Wherever You are, that is where I want to be." This desire to be with God is written of again and again in the Psalms. Psalm 84 is a plea to live in the presence of God:

"How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God" (Ps. 84:1-2).

The good news for us, as Christians, is that we do not have to journey to Jerusalem or anywhere else to be with the Lord. He has come to make His home with us.

Jesus said, speaking of Himself and his Father, ". . . We will come to him (the one who loves Him) and make our home with him . . ." (John 14:23). The problem that most of us have on a daily basis is to simply be aware of the Lord's abiding presence.

The lack of awareness is typically a lack of love. Because we are not passionate about our relationship with God . . . because we allow our things or other people to crowd our schedules . . . we forget the most amazing fact in the universe: God Himself has come to take up residence within us.

Cultivating a love relationship with God is in some ways like any other relationship. . . it takes time. Time to spend with Him . . . listening, loving, enjoying His presence . . . It will involve changing how we view prayer and time in the Word.

Rather than seeing prayer as a way of getting things from God, we begin to see it as time spent in His presence. Instead of reading the Bible for insight into our lives (though that is valuable), we begin to see our Bible as a meeting place with God.

God loves us so very much that He endured the Cross so that we might spend eternity with Him. He wants us WITH Him. Our love response to Him will involve cultivating a lifelong, passionate desire to be with HIm — not just some day in heaven, but every day He gives us on this earth.

[Dave Butts (1953-2022) His message condensed.]

Let's pray-

"Bless me, heavenly Father

forgive my erring ways,

Grant me strength to serve Thee,

put purpose in my days.

Give me understanding

enough to make me kind

So I may judge all people

with my heart and not my mind.

And teach me to be patient

in everything I do,

Content to trust Your wisdom

and to follow after You.

And help me when I falter

and hear me when I pray
And recieve me in Thy kingdom

to dwell with Thee some day."

My Daily Prayer

By Helen Steiner Rice's Poems of Faith, (pg. 124)

1301-1305 One-line Scriptures for those of you who want to learn some more verses this week- or to review them from when they were first posted-

1301- Ez. 7:4b "And ye shall know that I am the LORD."

1302- Ps. 104:30a "Thou sendests forth thy spirit, they are created."

1303- Neh. 13:27a "Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil?

1304- Ps. 60:6 "God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice."

1305- 1 Kings 8:42a "For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand,

and of thy outstretched arm."

#55 Hymn- O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go

Author: George Matheson (1882) "It was composed with extreme rapidity; it seemed to me that its construction occupied only a few minutes, and I felt myself rather in the position of one who was being dictated to than of an original artist. I was suffering from extreme mental distress, and the hymn was the fruit of pain."

Some encouraging words-

"The only time a person can offer the sacrifice of praise is when things seem to be going wrong, for it is only then we are asked to die to our own opinion, choices and common sense." (p. 124 of DESTINED FOR THE THRONE, by Paul E. Billheimer)

Upcoming posts:

10/12- SEARCH ME O GOD- Lois J. Stucky

19th- WORTHY OF ALL PRAISE- Bill Crowder

26th- THE GLORIOUS MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT- Rich Carmicheal