When the Holy Spirit calls us to ABCD, we have a part to play. We have to search for God. This daily devotional reviews how we are to search for God before conversion and seek Him after salvation so that we can gain knowledge of Him.
Devotions in the Self-Discipline Review series
All year, we’ve been looking at self-discipline. We looked at self-discipline as the operational plan for self-control because it talked about improvement.
We are reviewing everything and hopefully putting all of the building blocks together. What I am doing is going through all of the devotions for the year and pulling out the nuggets.
I am formatting this as a glossary page. If I already have one, I will combine them later.
We will be looking at these based on how we search for and seek God. In the last two devotions, we started looking at the fact that we have sin in our lives. We start to address it when we search for God. We do the same steps to seek God that we did when we searched for Him before conversion.
Let’s Put This into Context
In June 2019, we had a devotion that looked at the different activities we need to do to grow in knowledge of God. I made it into a graphic because I refer back to it so much.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
We said that, really, the process was the same whether we were searching for God to make a profession of faith or whether we were seeking God, trying to learn even more about Him. It always boils down to doing these six things.
God doesn’t want part-time believers. That is why I keep harping on we have to do all the steps in seeking God. (Yes, I am harping on myself, too, here.) (Honoring the Lord through Worship).
Hearing
- The Wilderness Wanderers were going to face new temptations. This is probably why the listen in Deuteronomy 4: 1 means not only hear the laws, but also pay attention and follow them (How Did Moses Say Goodbye?).
- We have to hear to be saved, but we have to do everything God calls us to do (What Is Obedience?).
- We think of the word obey, but there are several words that the Bible uses: hear, listen, and trust (What Is Obedience?).
- We’ve got to take it to the next level and do it. We can’t just hear it (God Teaches Us Obedience).
- We have to hear God’s Word, read it, believe it, and let it change us. We have to choose it (Getting Obedience to the Heart Level).
- Why all of the repetition? Well, the Wilderness Wanderers didn’t have it written down. If they were going to remember God’s laws and commandments, they had to hear it again and again (Getting Obedience to the Heart Level).
- Believers are called not only to hear and listen, but to also understand. It is hard to do that if there are distractions in our world and if we struggle with what is being told to us. We must choose to listen to God when He talks to us (Receiving the Kingdom).
- If we only worship in public but not privately — or vice verse (except when we physically cannot get out) — our worship isn’t truly genuine. When we do not share our worship with our family, we are not sharing the gospel in the way God has called us to (How Do We Worship through Praise?).
- We are called to corporate worship. No, Jesus didn’t condone the religion of the Pharisees. He did not, however, shut down going to the synagogue (How Do We Worship through Praise?).
- If we hear His voice says a lot. How many times are we so caught up in our physical life that we shut God out? We get on our hamster wheel and don’t let Him into our lives (How Do We Worship through Praise?).
Reading
We need to think about what we know about the passage of Scripture that we will be reading. That should help us pull up the knowledge blocks so that we can more easily evaluate information from the current read and retain it better (How to Study Scriptures).
We all know we need to eliminate distractions. Maybe we can put on some tunes to help filter out background noise. If our eyes keep going elsewhere, we can use our fingers to help corral them (How to Study Scriptures).
We have to approach the Scriptures after we worship. We do this by beginning with a prayer. It is so easy to just pick up the book and read (How to Study Scriptures).
Attitude plays a major part in our devotional time. We should read the Scriptures reverently, diligently, humbly, submissively, and dependently (How to Study Scriptures).
We will get more out of our devotion time if it is not hit and miss. This is especially true if the devotions over several days are about one topic (How to Study Scriptures).
We have to read Scriptures for the right reasons. We have to read it looking to grow our relationship with God and to change our character (How to Study Scriptures).
We have to expect to get something out of our reading. It goes back to attitude (How to Study Scriptures).
We’ve got to make sure we allow ourselves enough time to read the passage thoroughly. Then we have to read it for understanding (How to Study Scriptures).
It is so easy to read a passage and just read it. We need to read it looking for how we can apply it (How to Study Scriptures).
There are different ways we can read the Scriptures (How to Study Scriptures).
The goal is to take us from where we are to imitating God. God’s goal is to make us men [and women] of God. In order to facilitate this, God has given us the Scriptures, what we call the Bible. The Bible is a guide through our process of sanctification. It outlines our duties and responsibilities (How Do We Profit from the Scriptures?).
Studying
Diligently study God’s Word goes against our human nature (Why Should We Study Scriptures?).
We have to seek until we find. God isn’t just going to roll His Will and understanding into us. We have to be at the dinner table with knife and fork is the ready position. Nothing is going to happen if we don’t chew. What happens when we eat something? It goes from outside of us to inside of us. But more than that, it becomes a part of us. It molds with us. It nourishes us so that we grow and have strength. How do we go from milk babies to steak adults? We have to have substantial nourishment in order for us to grow (Why Should We Study Scriptures?).
But we have to understand what we are reading, or we don’t grow like God wants us to. Sometimes we have to dig deeper to find the meaning (Why Should We Study Scriptures?).
Keep a list of Scriptures that talk to us. It not only gives us a list we can access when things aren’t going so well, but it can also show us how God is growing us (How to Study Scriptures).
Meditating
We need to see what God is telling us (not what he told someone else to tell us) (Why Should We Study Scriptures?).
When we read one passage of Scripture, we have to think about what other passages say. Do they say the same thing? Do they seemingly contradict? Comparatively — what do other Scriptures say? (Why Should We Study Scriptures?).
Memorizing
We’ve got to bury God’s Word in our hearts. I know, we’ve talked several times about how hard it is to memorize. It is more than that. We have to let God’s Word — His laws and commandments — change our character. We have to let them help us to imitate Him (What Is Obedience?).
During Moses’ time, they didn’t have books. They had stone tablets and scrolls which stayed with the priests. The average Tom, Sally, and Elaine couldn’t read them if they had them. Tom, Sally, and Elaine had to make do with memorizing. Taking nuggets of scripture and keeping it with them would be very helpful (Getting Obedience to the Heart Level).
We need to work on our commitment. There are going to be days we don’t want to seek God. There are days we aren’t going to want to do something — like memorize. We have to be committed to God anyway (How Does Dedication Help Consistency?).
Prayer
Prayer is very important. It is how we access God to accept the gift of salvation (What Is Prayer?).
We talk to God through prayer, and He talks back through the Holy Spirit (What Is Prayer?).
God would have liked Moses’ prayer in Exodus 33: 12-13. Look what was Moses praying for — to be even more like God (What Is Prayer?).
David prayed through whatever he was experiencing (What Is Prayer?).
Jesus would scoot off by Himself to pray (What Is Prayer?).
When we give up an activity to devote more time with our families, it means we are going to earmark that time to building relationships. We are increasing the amount of time we spend with them (Devoted to Prayer).
Of course, our minds go to, “Well, how long should I pray?” We want to know expectations, so we know if we meet them or not. The problem with that is praying could then become a checklist (Devoted to Prayer).
The Pharisee wasn’t devoted to prayer because he made the prayer all about himself (Devoted to Prayer).
When we pray humbly and earnestly, God will answer our prayers. Every time. We just have to make sure we are asking in His Will (Devoted to Prayer).
Devotion comes out in attitude, not length. We can say a super long prayer – and not really include God in it. We can say a short prayer – and it totally be focused on God (Devoted to Prayer).
We can be devoted because we pray constantly. We remain in an attitude of prayer – even if we aren’t saying words. We are listening (Devoted to Prayer).
New Nuggets
So many times, we want a get-devoted-quick scheme. We don’t want to read devotions over two minutes at the screaming outside. We want a step-by-step plan to get our devotional life on track – preferably not involving the six steps listed here.
It will always come down to we need to have more contact with God’s Word. This means both hearing and reading. But it can’t be a cursory glance. We have to study what we are hearing to make sure it is following God’s Word. We have to study what we are reading to make sure we understand what it is saying – not what we want it to say.
Then we have to hold our lives up against what God is telling us. Are we following His Will?
Oh, I know. Memorizing is not my strong suit unless it is put to music. I will struggle with this one.
Overarching all of that should be prayer. We have to communicate with God. We have to give Him the honor and praise due Him.
Father. We do praise Your name. We thank You for giving us life and eternal life. When we search for You and seek You, we will find You because You are always here. Amen.
What do you think?
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