October 2011 Archives - 2/11 - Finding God Daily

Finding God in Your Thirst

October 28, 2011 by Finding God Daily Publisher 1 Comment

Psalm 42:2 My soul thirst for God, for the living God. When can I go meet with God?

Are you finding God in your thirst? If you are like me you desire to be thirsty for the things of God and not of the world, all of the time, not some of the time. So how do we develop a thirst for God? And if you are not thirsty, is it because you have it all together, and really don’t need God? Or is it because you have been to church, bible study and really think you are already in the inner circle? The Well of Living Water is deep and there is always more to know, more to love and more to worship when it comes to entering the throne room of God through His Word. So I suppose this is much like many of the paradoxes we see in the Bible: we can be overflowing with the Living Water, and yet thirsting for more of Jesus continually! This is my goal, and I hope you will make it yours too.

So back to our main question: How do we develop a thirst for God?

I have found the best way to develop a thirst for God is to read His Word. The more I allow Him to speak His Word over me, through me, into me, and around me, the more I want it. Just like anything, the more you get, the more you want. Out of sight, out of mind. Feed your faith, or it will die!

There is no reason the Word should ever be boring. Let’s make it a bit fun, and a little challenging, shall we? Here is what I suggest: Pray and ask the Lord what scripture address He wants you to read. (Example: I am working on 1 Thessalonians Chapter Five) God knows what you need, ask Him. Then study that scripture till you know it frontwards and backwards. Take it apart, from the inside out! Turn it upside down, and right side up! Then ask Him to play connect the dots with you. (To show you other passages that connect with the one you already know.) Ask Him to take you places that will deepen the Word He has given you in exciting ways that only He can do, for He is the One that Created you. Who knows, we may just have Sword Drills in heaven!

Is it because of my love for reading and writing that I love when God plays word games with me? It becomes real to me, then I remember it, and then I tend to live it more readily. He makes me thirst for more! Show me more Lord, open my heart to receive your Living Water!

I am definitely finding God in my thirst as I cultivate the habit of drinking in His Word, just like I would drink a bottle of water when my mouth is dry.

Matthew:5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Filed Under: In Life Tagged With: Deborah Lovett, find God, find God in your thirst, finding God, finding God daily, Finding God in Your Thirst, Your thirst

Finding God in the Eeyore Moments

October 27, 2011 by Finding God Daily Publisher Leave a Comment

By Karen Moore

Eeyore as depicted by Disney, used by permission from Wikipedia

“Good morning, Pooh Bear,” said Eeyore gloomily. “If it is a good morning,” he said. “Which I doubt,” said he.

“Why, what’s the matter?”
“Nothing, Pooh Bear, nothing. We can’t all, and some of us don’t. That’s all there is to it.”
“Can’t all what?” said Pooh, rubbing his nose.
“Gaiety. Song-and-dance. Here we go round the mulberry bush.”

When A.A.Milne cast the character of Eeyore as one of the “glass almost always half empty” friends of Winnie the Pooh, he struck a chord that most of us recognize in ourselves or someone in our own friendship circle. The spirit of negativity has been alive and well and is always kicking something. Like annoying commercials on TV, the volume always seems to be turned up. Finding God in the Eeyore moments is not easy because pessimists have a lot of trouble even looking up.

Often, you can’t even get to the root of whatever is troubling a naysayer. Much like the exchange between Pooh and Eeyore, it seems they just wake up believing it’s going to be another day that’s sure to yank their tail. They just can’t imagine a day that could be worth a little happy dance. If you’re having one of those days, how do you change that perspective and get all around the mulberry bush once again?

Perhaps before your feet hit the floor in the morning, you need to sing a new song, start the music again and look for reasons to be joyful. The smell of a good cup of coffee, the smile of a loved one, the brilliant ideas you can’t wait to share at work or at school or with the people you know…the list goes on and on. Perhaps if our day’s started with things we’re grateful for, we might not ever get to the laundry list of those few things we don’t have. We’d be all around the mulberry bush dancing up a storm before we even had time to think about what we were missing.

One of the ultimate freedoms of life is that you get to choose your responses to it. You get to define for yourself what makes a day a gift to you. Voltaire said, “The most courageous decision you make each day is the decision to be in a good mood.”

Finding God in the Eeyore moments means that whether the day is sunny or cloudy, the choice is pretty much in your hands. When the weather of your life turns gray, see if you can brighten up your attitude with just one sunny thought.

It’s time to go ‘round the mulberry bush!

So who are you n Winnie the Pooh? Check out this clip from Youtube.

Filed Under: In Difficulties, In Life, Uncategorized Tagged With: find God in Eeyore, find God in the Eeyore moments, finding God daily, Finding God in Eeyore, Finding God in the Eeyore Moments, Karen Moore

Finding God in Hearing His Voice

October 26, 2011 by Finding God Daily Publisher Leave a Comment

By Dianne Butts

In the October 15, 2011, post on this blog, “Finding God with Jackie Evancho,” Laurie W. Sargent wrote about how we all have the same physical equipment to produce speech, but our voices are different and we can differentiate between people’s voices. Well God has a voice, too, and some people are finding God in hearing His voice for the first time.

God’s voice is different from human voices though. While He can make Himself heard audibly, (see John 12:27-30), probably most often people hear His voice only when it is meant for them. So it can be easy to hear “the Voice,” but that makes it hard to figure out if it’s God voice or not because we also have other inaudible voices in our heads, like our own thoughts and desires. How can we differentiate God’s true voice from other internal or spiritual voices we might hear?

That’s exactly what one person asked author Craig von Buseck over on CBN.com. In his article “Seven Keys To Hearing God’s Voice,” Craig included this question from a reader:

“Your article is typical of many books I have read. Everyone talks about doing what the Holy Spirit says, but you do not state how you ‘know’ it is the voice of GOD. I have yet to read any book or article that can lay that out. It is easy to say The LORD told me to leave this or do that, and I was blessed down the road because of it. Anyone who can present a way one can actually know that the voice they are hearing is from GOD, not man or Satan, would change the world. That’s probably why the world hasn’t changed.”

I don’t know about changing the world, because linked to hearing God is obeying Him and even if people hear Him, whether they obey Him would still be up in the air. But hearing God is a start. So what makes God’s voice different? How can we differentiate His voice from others? One way to start is by knowing God’s character, His personality. Yes, God has a personality, and He will never deviate from it.

We get to know a person’s personality by spending time with them, by hearing what they say, and by watching what they do. We get to know God’s personality by spending time reading the Bible and in it, hearing what He said and watching what He did as He interacted with people throughout history (which is “His story”). Faith in God comes from hearing Him (Romans 10:16-18.)

Here are five characteristics I’ve discovered that are always true of God’s voice. His voice is:

Constant – His message never changes
Calm – He’s never in a hurry or panicked
Convicting – Not condemning.
Reveals His Character – He is holy, righteous, just, merciful, forgiving, compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
Clear – We can understand Him if we’re willing to listen.

You can learn more about those thoughts in this article I wrote a few years ago titled “Who’s Calling?” (See page 12.)

What would it be like to hear God’s voice for the first time? The truth is, we’ve probably all heard God’s voice already, but whether we’ve recognized it as His voice is another story.

To help you imagine what it would be like finding God in hearing His voice for the first time, watch this short video of a 29-year old woman who is hearing for the first time in her life! We should all be as delighted in hearing God’s voice for the first time!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsOo3jzkhYA