Playing Hide and Seek with God
Its gonna be great day. I can tell it. Every time I get a clear word from the Lord it pulls everything together, brings focus, confidence etc. I love it.
Keep listening to Him for what He's trying to speak to you today.
It may come from a scripture, it may come from something in this blog, something someone says or something He speaks directly to your heart.
He loves you. He wants you to hear Him. He loves being near you.
Some of you may have taken this thing about hearing God's voice and taken off with it. Others may feel like its elusive to you. Don't lose hope! As you can see from previous posts that the things of God are precious, not common. They are for those who press in to Him to get to know Him, who seek Him out. Like it says about wisdom in Proverbs 2: "who search for it as for hidden treasure."
God seems to like to play hide and seek. First He hides himself, then He hides riches in secret places. He lays clues for us to point us to the treasure.
Nature itself is not God but it is a clue, a signpost, a pointer to the fact that He exists and wants us to pursue Him. You know how when you watch a beautiful sunset or look at a mountain range or examine closely the wings on a butterfly or contemplate the life of a flower? There's something about nature that points you to its creator.
One day Nancy & I were watching a segment on TV about the beauty of nature and I heard the Lord speak to me: "Receive the courting of the Lord!" As I pondered what He was saying I realized that like a man tries to woo a woman with flowers or gifts so that her heart is turned toward him; so the Lord was saying, "All nature is my attempt to draw you to myself. Turn your heart toward me."
God wants to be pursued. He doesn't want casual relationships with people. He wants fervent, white-hot relationships full of passion, compassion, love, purpose, integrity and commitment.
If you want to get to know Him, He's awesome. If anyone was ever "awesome" He defines the word.
When we begin to pursue him we find out that there are obstacles in the way. As we press through those obstacles we come closer to the life of God; the love of God. We find we are transformed by pursuing Him. Our lives change because we have set Him as the object of our desire and measure all else as less than Him. He continues to hold out the hope to us of the glory and beauty and great reward of finding Him.
He promises that if we seek Him we will find Him.
I wrote a song years ago called
"If You Seek Him"
(copyright 1988 Joe Barlow)
Here's the lyrics: (You can also listen by clicking here)
We are not to hide from the Lord
But we are to seek His holy face
He has many wond'rous things in store
All for those who seek His holy face.
Don't you know that
If you seek Him
You will find Him
If you seek Him
He will be found by you (repeat)
For there is joy in the Lord
For those who seek His face
There is peace in the Lord
And there is no disgrace
There is love in the Lord
He has poured
All of His love out in our hearts
All of His love out in our hearts
Don't you know that...
There is a kind and gentle Friend
For those who seek His face
And your life will never end
If you seek His face
The Holy Spirit He will send
He has poured
All of His love out in our hearts
All of His love out in our hearts
Don't you know that
If you seek Him
You will find Him
If you seek Him
He will be found by you
Don't you know that
If you seek Him
You will find Him
If you seek Him
He will be found by you
Bye for now
Joe
Keep listening to Him for what He's trying to speak to you today.
It may come from a scripture, it may come from something in this blog, something someone says or something He speaks directly to your heart.
He loves you. He wants you to hear Him. He loves being near you.
Some of you may have taken this thing about hearing God's voice and taken off with it. Others may feel like its elusive to you. Don't lose hope! As you can see from previous posts that the things of God are precious, not common. They are for those who press in to Him to get to know Him, who seek Him out. Like it says about wisdom in Proverbs 2: "who search for it as for hidden treasure."
God seems to like to play hide and seek. First He hides himself, then He hides riches in secret places. He lays clues for us to point us to the treasure.
Nature itself is not God but it is a clue, a signpost, a pointer to the fact that He exists and wants us to pursue Him. You know how when you watch a beautiful sunset or look at a mountain range or examine closely the wings on a butterfly or contemplate the life of a flower? There's something about nature that points you to its creator.
One day Nancy & I were watching a segment on TV about the beauty of nature and I heard the Lord speak to me: "Receive the courting of the Lord!" As I pondered what He was saying I realized that like a man tries to woo a woman with flowers or gifts so that her heart is turned toward him; so the Lord was saying, "All nature is my attempt to draw you to myself. Turn your heart toward me."
God wants to be pursued. He doesn't want casual relationships with people. He wants fervent, white-hot relationships full of passion, compassion, love, purpose, integrity and commitment.
If you want to get to know Him, He's awesome. If anyone was ever "awesome" He defines the word.
When we begin to pursue him we find out that there are obstacles in the way. As we press through those obstacles we come closer to the life of God; the love of God. We find we are transformed by pursuing Him. Our lives change because we have set Him as the object of our desire and measure all else as less than Him. He continues to hold out the hope to us of the glory and beauty and great reward of finding Him.
He promises that if we seek Him we will find Him.
I wrote a song years ago called
"If You Seek Him"
(copyright 1988 Joe Barlow)
Here's the lyrics: (You can also listen by clicking here)
We are not to hide from the Lord
But we are to seek His holy face
He has many wond'rous things in store
All for those who seek His holy face.
Don't you know that
If you seek Him
You will find Him
If you seek Him
He will be found by you (repeat)
For there is joy in the Lord
For those who seek His face
There is peace in the Lord
And there is no disgrace
There is love in the Lord
He has poured
All of His love out in our hearts
All of His love out in our hearts
Don't you know that...
There is a kind and gentle Friend
For those who seek His face
And your life will never end
If you seek His face
The Holy Spirit He will send
He has poured
All of His love out in our hearts
All of His love out in our hearts
Don't you know that
If you seek Him
You will find Him
If you seek Him
He will be found by you
Don't you know that
If you seek Him
You will find Him
If you seek Him
He will be found by you
Bye for now
Joe