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God's Words For US
by Cecelia Lester
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
God told Jeremiah to deliver a letter to those Judeans exiled in Babylon. God has told them they would be in bondage for 70 years. The exiles were to establish themselves in Babylon, raise families, and work in the marketplace He told them that He had plans–good ones–for them. Two verses later the Lord speaks of what the Judean people would have to do in order to seek Him. Those exiled could seek Him only if they sought God with all their hearts. How else can we find God?
When someone seeks to have God in his or her life, that person has to sincerely ask Him into his or heart. Sincere comes from the Latin language and means ‘without wax’. When we have a sincere heart, we have no pretense of who we are. It does us no good to pretend, before God or His people, we are something not in our personas. When we sincerely come to Christ, all the masks disappear and God can then work in our hearts and make us in to what He desires for us.
When people bring thoughts to us about issues we face, we need to study their faces, especially their eyes. The Bible says “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. (Matthew 622)1 I have found it true. Ann Voskamp tells of peering into the eyes of one of her sons and seeing all sorts of darkness.2What she saw scared her. She didn’t know her son was in so much pain. Neither do we when we see people in our daily activities. In the Old Testament, God told Samuel, “The Lord does not look at things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”(1 Samuel 16:7b)
Even when we don’t understand the situation that we are led to pray about, we should admit it to God. It helps us to focus on what He will tell us or even show us what we need to know. I, personally, have found myself doing this several times, lately. In those instances, I have had to let God be God. In order to do this, I had to keep quiet about what I saw and heard. A saying that comes to mind is: “God gave us two ears but one mouth; we should use them accordingly.”
In the Old Testament, 2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us we have to humble ourselves–realize who we are in relation to the Lord, pray–converse with Him, seek His face–search for Him, and turn from ways that God does not like. When we strive to follow God’s instructions given here, we are seeking Him with all our hearts.
1.) New International Version.
2.) Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts, chapter 7, Zondervan Grand Rapids, Michigan©2010
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Cecelia Lester has been serious about her writing for over two decades..
She composes Christian essays and posts them to her blog quietspirit-followingmyking.blogspot.com/
She has served in a faith-based organization, Grace In Action by writing two newsletters and searching for possible grants.
In July 2017, she published her first book, 'Times of Trouble Bring Rays of Joy.'
She and her husband of 54 years live in central Indiana. They have one grown son.
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