Sunday, July 17, 2011

Seek and You Will Find

We muddle through each day busying ourselves with many things we believe we must get done. The stresses and events often fill our minds and suck the energy out of us. Many times it feels like the weights around our ankles are pulling us down. We are tired from carrying them each day. Perhaps you have muddled for years and you wonder: Is this all there is to life? Is this the purpose God has for my life? I asked God that question more than once when I was working in a two foot cubical filing patient charts all day and then cleaning speculums at the end of the day. Only God knows what lesson he was teaching me each day when I scrubbed off the blood and scum before sterilization took place. I did that job for two years and never did find any great purpose except that I earned a wage to pay my bills. I’m thankful that particular job ended. I’m sure there were days when I said or did something that made an indent in part of God’s creative process.

Now I’m onto the next journey and still wondering what it is God has for me to do on this day that he has made. Almost every day I feel like I’m on top of the world. I look around and realize how blessed I really am. Daily I praise Him. In doing so, I desire to know God in a deeper way. I find myself not satisfied in knowing who Jesus was and what He did for me, but to go deeper into my relationship with Him and really know him and not just what the bible says about Him. I want to really know Jesus. Isn’t that what a true relationship seeks to find; knowing and understanding the other person in the relationship, so that we can learn to love them even more? We should never be satisfied just reading a line or two. Read the entire book or you miss the main event.

Some people go to church almost every Sunday. I am one of them. I listen intently to the sermon as to glean some wonderful truth from the scripture which will make a difference in my life for the upcoming week. Listening and waiting to receive that one word or maybe an entire chapter of the bible which will turn the light on or open some doorway into heaven which will pour out over me and into me like a rushing cleansing wave; something more from God that will fill the empty air pockets of my soul. During that half hour of worship the songs we sing are meaningful and again the words pierce through my mind, spirit and soul. During that time I feel the closeness of God and the moving of His Spirit amongst us. We sing that song – “Draw me close to you (Jesus). Never let me go. I lay it all down again, just to hear you say that I am your friend. Help me find the way that leads me straight to you.” We sing the words loud and out of tune, yet God only hears the cry of our hearts. God hears our songs of love and it blesses him. It is love reciprocated back to Him for all the love He has shown us. He promises he will never let us go. John 10 25-29 -“Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” Like sheep, sometimes we stray away from him, but God has a long arm and his sheep (children) are never out of His reach. The way back to him is to lay it all down again and again if that is what it takes. God is patient. God would love it if we laid down those sins that pull us away and tempt us to go down paths of unrighteousness. We put down whatever it is that hinders and we cry out to Jesus (receive Him as our Saviour) and return to Him. He pours out His favour onto us. His love is so strong and so pure. The bible says to look for Him. Seek Him (Jesus) and you will find Him. There is a new song I have come to know and love to sing. It is called "The More I Seek You". I have written many songs over the years, but I could not write a song or words anymore meaningful than that song.  The words speak the cry of my heart. They belong to me as much as if I wrote them.

"The more I seek You, the more I find You.

The more I find You, the more I love You.

I want to sit at Your feet, drink from the cup in Your hand.

Lay back against You and breathe, feel Your heartbeat.

This love is so deep, it’s more than I can stand.

I melt in Your peace, it’s overwhelming."

© 1999 Zach Neese/Gateway Create Publishing by Zach Neese Worship Leader Jessica Hall

So, I close my eyes and find myself in the Spirit realm sitting at the feet of Jesus (washing his feet with my tears; not out of sorrow but because my love for Him is so strong, so real, so intense. Luke 7:37-38 – “When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed his feet and poured perfume on them.”
I find the words to the song coming alive as the Holy Spirit fills my living room. I am drinking from the cup of Jesus hand. A new wine and I am the wine skin and He is filling me to overflowing. Matthew 9:17 – “Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Ft note – In ancient times goatskins were used to hold wine. As the fresh grape juice fermented, the wine would expand, and the new wineskin would stretch. But a used skin, already stretched, would break. Jesus brings a newness that cannot be confined within the old forms.)NIV

At that moment I can feel myself lying back against him; the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings (Jesus). I breathe deep the fragrance of His breathe (Jesus) His presence is so strong that I can feel His heartbeat in mine. Everything I’ve always looked for is right here with me. A love so true, it is more than I can say. Yes it is overwhelming to me; His all encompassing love that flows like a calm serene river deep down into my soul where God rests within me. He is always there waiting for me to talk to Him. God is uncomplaining and He waits for me and for you to seek Him and find Him.

And then the song ends and I want sit a little longer beneath the wind of His Spirit because it is so peaceful there. He says to me, “Let us meet again my child. It was nice spending time with you too. Just remember I am always here anytime of the day. I don’t take coffee breaks. I am with you always even to the ends of the age."
Matthew 28:19 – “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSYQKt5vgVs