Scriptures:
James 4:8 (NKJV)
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Hebrews 10:22
(AMP)Let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that leaning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water.
(NLT)let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
Hebrews 7:19 (NCV)
The law of Moses could not make anything perfect. But now a better hope has been given to us, and with this hope we can come near to God.
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Separately, I guess they didn’t mean much. But looked at together, a pattern was emerging, for me anyway.
1. I read ahead in the God Calling devotional to November 26 (http://twolisteners.org/Nov%2016%20-%2030.htm#November 26):
November 26 - My Beauty
The prophet realized the Truth of My later saying "He that hath ears to hear let him hear" which might be rendered "he that hath eyes to see let him see."
The God who was to be born upon earth was not to be housed in a body so beautiful that men would follow and adore for the beauty of His Countenance.
No! He was to be as one whom the world would despise, but to the seeing eye, the Spirit that dwelt in that body should be so beautiful as to lack nothing. "Yet when we shall see Him, there is no Beauty that we should desire Him."
Pray for the seeing eye, to see the Beauty of My Character, of My Spirit. Nay, more, as faith saw the Beauty of the Godhead in One who had no form or comeliness, so pray to have that faith to see the Beauty of My Love in My dealings with you, in My actions. Till, in what the world will distort into cruelty and harshness, you, with the eyes of faith, will see all that you could desire.
Know Me. Talk to Me. Let Me talk to you, so that I may make clear to your loving hearts what seems mysterious now and purposeless ("having no form nor comeliness.")
2. I was up, going through the experience and documenting it in Powerful (yesterday’s blog – November 24). Particularly the part about what God let me see, how He enlightened the darkness of my understanding.
3. I went to the library, and saw (and picked up/checked out) books about our perceptions, the workings of the brain, our thinking.
4. Also checked out and prepared to read “You Were Born for This” by Bruce Wilkinson. Actually stopped and thought about the happenings of the day when I opened to the first chapter and saw “A New Way to See the World” as the title. Occurred to me then that God was, as they say, “up to something” regarding my perspective of things, how I saw things, my mindset, etc. I sensed an adjustment, a correction coming on.
5. Later, looked in my email and saw one from Nancy Stafford (http://www.nancystafford.com/notebook.php) entitled Abounding in Thanksgiving that began with the words, “Open your eyes.” I went on to read it, quieted in my soul as I read this part:
Then God invaded my mind. You need to know Me better, He whispered softly. "Uh, NO God, I need to you help me!" I blurted in my fear. You need to know Me better, He whispered again. Pray Paul's prayer to the Ephesians. Open your eyes!
In Ephesians 1:17-19, I saw where God was leading me, so I prayed Paul's prayer for myself:
I keep asking that You, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, will give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that I may know You better. I pray also that the eyes of my heart may be enlightened in order that I may know the hope to which You have called me, the riches of Your glorious inheritance in the saints, and Your incomparably great power for us who believe.
To know Him, to know Him better – stated here and also in the God Calling devotional I had read from the 26th. That God would orchestrate events in my life this day to remind me of His desire for me, and His desire that I would know Him, and be blessed in knowing Him better … it’s all quite humbling, and fills me with such wonder. I’ve been running into Psalm 16:11 lately:
(NKJV)You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
I had been thanking God the other day for the joy I felt in sensing His presence, when I felt He spoke to me about the “fullness of joy” including His joy at my being in His Presence and my experiencing joy in being there. It’s a cyclical kind of thing, and to me so like my God. I must admit that I had not thought of that before…
Thank You, God, for loving me so much, so divinely, so perfectly.
So now I get to today’s God Calling, which says, in part:
There is that gracious invitation, too, for those who yearn to realize a happiness, a rest, a satisfaction they have never found in the world and its pursuits. To them, the pleading answer to their quest is "Come to Me and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28-30 (New King James Version)
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Hebrews 11:6 New Living Translation (NLT)
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
... and my journey with Him continues ...
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