Seeking: February 17, 2012

TODAYS WORD FOR FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2012.

SEEKING

DEFINITION:

Go in search or quest of; attempt; endeavor.

SCRIPTURE:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We will talk to day about two kinds of seeking. The children of Israel began seeking to have a king like the pagan nations around them, so God allowed the Children of Israel to choose a king who would make their decisions for them. They were in the process of taking their eyes off of God. They choose Saul and it turned out to be one of the great tragedies in the Bible because Saul continually made his decisions seeking human favor for himself.

God told Saul to kill all of the Amalekites, but he chose to save the life of their king because he felt it would find him favor in the eyes of his people. Saul had a divided allegiance. He was quite content to serve God as long as it pleased those around them. The failure in the life of Saul was his continual hunger for the affection of people around him. Do you know people like that today that are associated with you? We all do.

Now we have the contrast of knowing a seeking Savior rather than one seeking the favor of others. In the third chapter of Revelation, John relates to us that the Christians at Laeodicea were self deceived, picturing themselves as rich and self-sufficient, when in reality, their spiritual blindness and self-righteousness had prevented from seeing their true poverty. They had closed the door between themselves and Jesus but Jesus still was reaching out to them as their seeking Savior.

Let us look at how John tells us how Jesus is reaching out to us. First, He is standing at the door. Jesus takes the initiative and willing to seek us even when we have erected a barrier.

Secondly, He knocks at the door. He tries to get our attention through circumstances we might face, needs we have, pain, trials, conviction, sleeplessness, or even His Word. He patiently waits for us to respond.

Thirdly, Jesus invites us to open the door. Jesus seeks us and He is omnipotent but never pushes His way into a relationship with us. We are the ones that choose, not Jesus.

Fourthly, Jesus enters through the door. If we open the door to Him He will come in. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our lives we will actually partake of Christ’s divine nature and be transformed into His image.

Finally, Jesus will dine with us inside the door. When we allow the seeking Jesus to come into our heart nothing stands between us and Jesus. It is then we can begin to enjoy all the benefits of an intimate relationship with Jesus and be nourished by His Word.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 14:1-2.

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

PRAYER:

I am so grateful that You were seeking me out and continued to do so until I opened the door of my heart to let You in. Use me today to show to others that You are their seeking Savior, patiently waiting for them to open the door of their hearts.