Tag Archives: Relationship

Our Cross To Bare

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When we take up our cross, we agree to follow Christ and take on the burden of denying self for the sake of others. We vow to employ the characteristics of Christ over and above our own human desires. When we pick up the cross, we choose to spread the Good News through discussions, actions, and deeds.

Read Galatians 5:22-23, Fruit of the Spirit.

Other Posts I Authored:

YoungChristianwarriors.com (my other site)

• Why and How Do We Deny Ourselves, Dec 12, 2018

• Chosen To Be Like Christ, Nov 10, 2018

• Dying to Self, March 24, 2018

• Hear, Listen, Understand the Word of God, Jan 16, 2019

• Fruit of the Spirit, Jan 14, 2019

• Defining the Fruit For Children, October 5, 2017

Hearing His Word

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It’s important to learn the Word so your relationship becomes more vivid. God speaks to us in many ways, but I find it most comforting when He teaches me through the Word. Memorize a daily devotional scripture each day and watch it strengthen your faith and emotional stamina.

Our Hope Is Embedded In Trust

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Our hope is embedded in our trusting the Word of God. Our Lord does not lie or withhold the promises He made to us. Stand fast and be patient. The blessing is coming in the form that will advance us into His kingdom.

Worry Conversation With Self, Prayer Conversation With God

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Standing still and repeating mishaps is not an option for Christians. God provided clear access to Him through prayer. I plan to minimally reduce two of Satan’s shackles, fear and worry. Join me this year. Seek God’s peace in 2019. Not my resolution, my resolve for the year. Putting in the effort, loving the result.

Seek, Knock, and Find

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If you look for the Father through Jesus Christ you will find Him. Seeking God is His commandment to let us know He is all around us. He hears our prayers and is waiting for us and challenging us to interact with Him in conversation. He is calling us to enter into a relationship with Him. His grace and mercy are in abundance for the giving.

I view knocking at the door as a metaphor requesting entrance into His home. Knocking also takes the form of praying. We seek Him through our Heart. The Holy Spirit invites us into His dwelling.

Under the Holy Spirits guidance and influence, we are taken out of captivity and are no longer wanderers. In our wandering, the evil one led us astray and away from our Father. The greatness of our Lord invites us home just as we are. All He asks is that we establish genuine intimacy with Him through integrity, honesty, sincerity, and faith.

The idea of seeking God is expressed throughout the Bible. Adam and Eve may be the only people who did not have to seek Him. He was present in the Garden of Eden. God loves us, so He does not leave us alone seeking Him. In Jeremiah 24:7 He said, “ I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole hearts”, much like the Prodigal Son returned home after his wanderings.

Throughout the Bible we are urged to seek Him, to let Him know we are searching for Him and want an ongoing relationship with Him. We have been invited to seek God through Jesus who left the Holy Spirit to live in us during His absence. As believers, we are vessels of the Holy Spirit, and our access is through our heart and love for God.

The scriptures below are taken from the NASB Bible.

Jeremiah 29:12-14
“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back from  exile.’”
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Psalm 24:1-5
“The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains The world, and those who dwell in it. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

Psalm 27:8
“When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.””

Psalm 63:1
“O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You.”
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Isaiah 45:15
“Truly, You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, Savior!”
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Matthew 11:25
“At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
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Seek, knock, and you will find our Lord.

Related Post: Ask. Seek. Find. Receive. https://wp.me/p98Coa-rd.
September 19, 2018

Opening Our Hearts, Ending Lipservice

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Hearts, not lips. How many of us are Christians but feel forced to hold daily communication with our Lord. You know what I mean, praying becomes mechanical and routine. You don’t open up to Him, you hold back in shame, and choose to put on your professional Christian attitude when praying, much like we do among people. We have a public face and a private face. We have a heartfelt spirit we share with our Lord, and we have a mechanical spirit when we simply recite prayers in a mono fashion. We do not operate from our heart. We do not allow our inner spirit to live in victory. Our communication with the Lord suffers, as does our outward man who operates in fear of being judged.

Our Lord cries, why do my people say they honor me with their lips, but their practices are not heart driven? Why do they treat me with anguish? Why is our relationship so impersonal? The fact is, we are God’s children (wayward or not), or we are not God’s children. We either have a strong relationship with Him, or we do not. The way we treat God, the way we treat others, the way that we exhibit His love determines who we are in Christ. If we fail to show our love in practice and live a heartfelt life, then we are giving lip service to all that we do, including communion with our Lord and Savior.

Our life begins with our relationship with our Lord. It encompasses all that we are and all that we do. Is this an easy process, not necessarily. Often, we, I, stay in communication only to become comfortable and then complacent. My daily time becomes a coffee break, rushed through and checked off.  Does this sound familiar?

God never fails. He sees our tears, our anguish, our anxiety. He also sees our compassion, love, empathy, kindness, trustworthiness,  patience, and self-control whether we display it to Him or the outside world. He is our witness to all that we do. He is the recipient of all that we hold in or share with Him. He is our Father. He created us and delivered a divine plan nestled deep in our heart. He is our promise keeper.

It is time to free ourselves, from our banality, our public selves, and go deeper. It is time to risk opening our hearts. It is time to strip off the façade and welcome our God-self into the world, and most importantly in our cherished moments with our Lord and Savior in prayer. Our God-self is the Holy Spirit who projects light through our being into the world. Our relationship rests in part on our prayers being aligned with our lips. Our heart and our lips must project the same things, they cannot work effectively (if at all)  if they are not in sync with the Word, and our relationship with the Lord.

No parent should cry, why do my children’s hearts and lips seem disjointed, disconnected, and artificial? Why do they fail to honor our relationship, why are they so far from me?

Jesus wants us to come home. He wants our hearts to be full. He wants us to commit or re-commit our relationship to Him with honest heartfelt prayer, praise, and worship.

December is the month that focuses on Christ’s birth. Our gift to Him is our heart and our love. Speak to God through our hearts, express it with our lips. It is time to open our hearts and not just our lips.

Other Related Posts:

psalm51-12

Images – Google Images

Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com.