Today, the church is filled with people who claim to know Christ but are frustrated with their faith. They wonder where the power is, where God is. They say: “I believe in the gospel; I have been saved, yet my faith seems so empty”. They read a verse of scripture or a devotional like this, written by someone else, and are blessed for the moment, and then they speed off into their own world. The verse says “them that diligently seek him.” The blessing of hearing the voice of God comes from diligence, an exerted effort on our part, a serious commitment of time, thought and energy to develop that relationship. We will be diligent about following social media, our favorite TV show, or hobbies but do we even give half as much effort to our relationship with God? How about being still for ten minutes today, reading the scripture yourself, and diligently seeking the heart of God.

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Brothers and Sisters may you learn the great blessing of being used of the Lord to see others discover the wonders of a God so loving and so caring that he not only provides those who believe in His Son with eternal life, but helps them discover his wisdom. Wisdom that helps them navigate through the corruption and chaos of this world to find a place of peace and comfort for themselves. He then works in them to help others learn that same wisdom. May He work mightily in you.

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Forgiveness of sin, how many times have we hurt God, disappointed him, rebelled against the truth of his word, refused to listen to his still small voice? All this failure, and yet God has placed in front of us a path to correct it, an opportunity to have all these violations set aside. With forgiveness, God puts in front of us a new day, a new opportunity to start afresh.

In today’s passage, Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ confronts the Jews in Antioch with the fact that their leaders and they as followers had rejected the Messiah and condemned him to hang on a cross. Even with that heinous sin, forgiveness is available. It does not matter how many times, how terrible the sin is God is ready and wants to forgive you. Whether it is that first time and you confess your sins and call upon the name of the Lord and are born again, or it is the 777th time you ask him to forgive you for the same sin. Forgiveness is yours, the freedom from those failures is yours, ask.

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God, the creator of the universe. Jehovah, the covenant God of Israel, chose them and made them his people. Part of his plan was to have them go off into the slavery of Egypt. Then, by his sovereign plan, he led them out into the wilderness and caused them all to die in the wilderness, only to cleanse and purify the nation. It was his plan, his mercy, his lovingkindness. His love held on to them and continued to hold them and plead with them and deal with their rebellion and lack of faith. Do you feel like you are in the wilderness? Having a hard time, going through difficulties, and feeling unsettled? No matter what, realize that He continues to care and guide you. Ease of life does not mean He is with you; problems and struggles do not mean He has forsaken you. He is there ready to pour out his lovingkindness even in your wilderness, even when you are grumbling and complaining about Him, He still waits on you to turn to him and not away from him. His loving kindness if there, just call on Him

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How often can we say that people noticed a difference and would say that we had been with Jesus? We may have them take note because we go to church, because we know our bible, because we can quote scripture. But do they see that heart change that only comes when we spend time with Jesus as we listen to The Word of God, the words of Jesus, when we simply seek his presence and his wisdom. Do they see the Peace that passes all understanding after we have laid out our plans, decisions, frustrations before him in prayer? Leaving them at his feet, trusting him to answer as he sees fit. Give Jesus your time by seeking his presence, and others will take note.

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The high places, not just one but several. These were places that the people went to worship gods, even the Lord God. Yet this was not God’s way. He had told the people that they were not to build altars other than where he designated. The temple had not yet been built, and the tabernacle (where they were supposed to worship) was in the city of Jerusalem. For many, that was inconvenient, so they resorted to building their own altars in the hills to make their life easier. Their thought was that at least they were worshipping Jehovah and not the gods of Baal or Moloch (the gods of the other nations). Today, I am afraid many of us may have erected our own high places. Places that are more convenient for us to worship at, in front of the TV, on YouTube, podcasts, and radio. These may be appropriate when there is no other way, but this does not allow us to fulfill the purpose and plan of worship.

Hebrews 10:24–25 “24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

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Sometimes it is something simple, a part, a portion of what you read that just seems to resound in the depths of your spirit. This morning, two words jumped out “unto me.” It seems little, and my mind tended to skip over it, thinking about the word of God causing me to have joy and my inner man (heart) rejoice over the truth of God’s word. But then my meditations (wait, not mine, but the Spirit of God’s directing) focused my attention on “unto Me.” OH, the mighty God of the universe was using his word to shape me. God was bringing Joy and Rejoicing “unto me.” The message is universal for all men who choose to read it, but the application was meant for me.

Dear reader, God wants to bring His word to your mind and provide you a message to encourage your heart, and insight to see that He, the God of Hosts (lots of people) has a personal message just for you. How about stopping what you’re doing. Sit, meditate on his word, and let him remind you that if you know Jesus as your Savior, you are part of His family, he will take care of you.

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Jesus is talking to those who had shown faith in him. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah and God, but they did not believe or were not aware that faith in him would allow them to be freed from the bondage of their sin. Those activities and habits kept them from drawing close to God. They were in bondage, they argued that they were the sons of Abraham (descendants, children of Israel), yet Jesus tells them that they are not free. Infuriating to them.
Don’t we all want to think that we have control over our lives and habits? That we can make a decision to change, and it will happen. Yet we never decide, we decide and change our minds, but we never admit that we are in bondage to those habits, in bondage to the ways of the world, in bondage to the pressure of friends and family. Freedom comes by “continuing” (keep coming back to, reading, meditating on it again and again) then his word transforms our hearts. God negotiates our release from the prison of habits and choices we created. Be honest with yourselves, know the truth, learn the truth (keep coming back to read and meditate on it again and again.

John 17.17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

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Think about it, how would you feel if your pastor, came down from the pulpit, took up a wash basin of water and came up to you, knelt down in front of you, removed your shoes and started washing your feet, or even the feet of the person next to you. NO, you would say. But Jesus rebukes Peter and tells him that it is necessary for him to be washed to have a part in Jesus. Yes it is necessary that each one of us comes to that point in our lives where we realize that we need to allow the blood of Jesus Christ to wash away sin, the dust and dirt of the world in order to make us whole, saved, a member of the family. You may have made a professions of faith, gotten saved but are you allowing him to continue to cleanse you of your sins? Never to late, never hurts to do it again. Ask him today to forgive your shortcomings, how you have allowed the dirt of this world to cling to your heart and influence your decisions and actions. He wants to serve you.

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Buried in the 150 verses of Psalm 119 is this verse that speaks about our need to not forget the Law. We have a choice to make every day. God has given us the freedom to choose what we do. Our soul, our well-being, is in our hands. It is not in the hands of your neighbor, the king, or the world. We choose every day what we want to do and where we want to focus. Are we going to focus on our problems, our achievements, our work, our family, or our God? Seek ye first the kingdom of God, choose you this day who you will serve. If we choose God, then we will need to focus on his law, the Word of God. The wicked try to distract us; they seek to draw our attention away from God’s laws. Even the word “law” makes us cringe, but ir refers to the rules and principles that God has outlined and preserved for us so that we can be blessed rather than cursed. Today, which will you choose?

2 Corinthians 5.17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

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