Category: Pursuing God

Why do we exist?

by Innermost Being, posted in Pursuing God

I am studying Dallas Willard’s book, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23. Psalm 23 depicts God as a shepherd who protects, provides, guides, and cares for his flock. Why does God care for us? Why are there people on earth?

Willard shared a similar question posed by the psalmist.

When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

Psalm 8:3-5 (NIV)

Indeed, given how insignificant human beings are relative to the universe, why does God care for us? Why does he pay any attention to us?

The psalmist answered his own question.

You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

Psalm 8:6-8

Genesis 1:26 says that God made mankind “in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” God created humans to exercise dominion over the earth. He put other living things and vast natural resources in our hands.

In the beginning, God called everything he created good. And then…mankind fell.

The second chapter of Genesis describes this fall. God put man in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. Then, he created a woman to be his helper. The woman was tempted by the serpent to disobey God; she convinced the man to disobey God as well.

It goes without saying that human beings are not wholly good. We harm each other and our environment. There is so much pain and suffering in the world, and we add to it! Yet even with all the pain and suffering, the good outweighs the bad.

Being in charge of the earth means we have to work. We may think of work as drudgery, but it is good for us to work. Willard quoted Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal clergyman, as saying, “God chose for him his work, and meant for him to put his spiritual education there.”

God is more interested in the person you are becoming than in your work or your job. There was a time in my career when my job was too important to me. I was becoming someone I didn’t want to be. I was stressed out and unhappy. God humbled me and gave me a spiritual education.

Whatever work we do, we should be using our time to produce good. As Willard put it, we can achieve so much more in life if we have God to help us. Without God, we face isolation, antagonism, and the harms caused by excessive pride and egotism.

We were created to have a special relationship with God and to do our work in that relationship.

Dallas Willard

Every human being is precious. Every single one of us, regardless of what we’ve done, regardless of our social status.

What makes us precious? We do not earn our value. We are of God. He breathed the spirit of life into us.

Why does the Lord want to have a special relationship with us? The kind of relationship that a shepherd has with his precious sheep?

  • He knows that we are capable of goodness and faithfulness
  • He knows that we can make a difference in this world by doing good works that glorify him

God wants to have a personal relationship with us. He wants to guide us in paths of righteousness. He wants to shepherd us through difficult journeys. He wants to comfort us and restore our souls.

We exist to love each other as Christ loves us. So live in such a way that people see the goodness in your life and acknowledge God as the source of your goodness.

The Lord is my shepherd

by Innermost Being, posted in Pursuing God

I am studying Dallas Willard’s book, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23. The author recommended memorizing the 23rd Psalm. I now recite it to myself when I wake up at night and want to quiet my mind.

The first chapter is about the Lord our God. With our limited minds and senses, we can’t form a complete, realistic conception of God. Jesus Christ, through his example and his teaching, showed us what God is like in a way we can understand.

Our minds are our portal to God

Willard says that the most important thing about you is your mind, and the most important thing about your mind is what you think about. When you keep your mind focused on God, he will make himself known to you.

Willard says that when we are wounded, it may cause us to become self-obsessed. I think human beings are naturally self-centered, whether or not we’ve been injured. There are many things that keep us from thinking about God – pride and selfish ambition, greed, envy, and self-indulgence. Even the concerns of daily life cause us to focus on ourselves.

God’s invisible qualities

God is invisible. But his invisible attributes are made known to us by creation. Through the things he has made, we can see his power, his glory, his creativity, and his intelligence.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Romans 1:20

God is personal. He wants to have a relationship with us. He has personality. He thinks. He creates. He values. He feels.

God is energy

The powerful forces of the natural world – the sun, wind, thunder, and lightening – give us just a glimpse of God’s energy. God is energy in a form that is incomprehensible to us because it is so immense.

Willard noted that when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, God’s presence was made known by a pillar of clouds by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21). John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16).

When we make contact with God, a flow of energy comes to us.

Dallas Willard

When God speaks, his voice is a form of energy that becomes matter. He spoke our world into existence. Jesus turned energy into matter when he multiplied fish and bread to feed thousands of people (Matthew 14). Power flowed from the body of Jesus when he healed a bleeding woman who touched him (Mark 5:25-30).

God’s names

The meaning of the names used for God in the Old Testament reveal truths about who God is. Yahweh means that God brings into existence or causes to be. Elohim refers to his creative strength, power, and majesty. Adonai means my Lord or master. El Shaddai means Almighty God or the All Sufficient One. When Moses asked God what he should say if the Israelites asked, “What is his name?” (Exodus 3), God said I am who I am. The name Immanuel means God with us (Isaiah 7:14).

The Lord’s prayer says, “Hallowed be thy name.” To know God, we must keep these truths about who he is in our minds at all times.

Adonai is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.

Immanuel leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For El Shaddai is with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Jesus prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies. You annoint my head with oil. My cup overflows!

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever.

An ideal day

by Innermost Being, posted in Pursuing God, Word Prompts

Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end.

Can a single day hold all my dreams?
An ideal day exists only in my mind...
It holds time with family far and wide...
It holds time with friends new and old...
A day filled with laughter, joy and gratitude.

The day begins with the Word,
The One who is and was and always will be.
Quietly, I sit in the presence of my Maker.
Being  still and knowing Him.
Giving thanks,  seeking the Spirit's  guidance.

What I do this day matters not one bit.
In being, I engage my body, my mind, my spirit.
In being, I savor sights and sounds and tastes.
In speaking, I use my words wisely.
In doing, I love others as myself.

In all the moments in between
He is with me, watching over me.
I pray to Him throughout the day...
to the One who loves me like no other.
I am His and He is mine.

At the end of my day, ideal or not
I thank my  Father for this day.
I lay my life's worries at His feet.
I present my requests to Him.
And I lay me down to 😴.

Prune out the thorns

by Innermost Being, posted in Pursuing God, Spiritual Growth

Where can you reduce clutter in your life?

I associate the word clutter with disorder. I’m a fairly organized person. Clutter is a distraction to me. When things begin to look cluttered in my home, I tidy things up.

Our pastor for family ministries preached on Sunday because the senior pastor had just returned from a mission trip. Skyler had asked the senior pastor if he could use the sermon to introduce us to the practice of Lectio Divina.

Skyler began by explaining how valuable this practice is for hearing what God wants you to hear. Use silence to reflect on God’s word and to open yourself up to his voice.

The scripture for our sermon was the Parable of the Sower found in Matthew 13. I’ve read this parable many times, and it has been the subject of many sermons. Skyler read the parable to us a few times with increasing amounts of silence between the readings.

The first time, we just listened. After another reading, we were to pray and ask God if there was a word or phrase He wanted us to hear. The word that stuck out to me was thorns.

Thorns choke the word, making it unfruitful. I read the word but allow distractions to keep me from really hearing it.

Sometimes, we have to hear a message a few times before it finally sinks in. I’m hearing God tell me to tidy up my spiritual life. Prune out the thorns. Be still. Be silent. Hear my voice.

Lectio
Meditatio
Oratio
Contemplation

Read
Reflect
Respond
Rest

The Messiah

by Innermost Being, posted in Pursuing God

In my last Bible study, Who Do You Say That I Am, we explored who Christ is by examining his own statements about his identity. 

I went to the well in the heat of the day to avoid my neighbors. Some of them look right through me as if I am not there. If they do look at me, they don't even try to hide their disgust.

A man was sitting next to the well. He asked me for a drink of water. A Jew! I couldn't believe he would speak to me. So I asked him how he could ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink. He said that if I knew him, I would have asked him for living water! 

I asked him, "how are you going to reach this living water? This is a deep well and you don't have anything to draw water. Are you greater than our father Jacob?" 

He said, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never get thirsty. Indeed, the water I give them will become a spring of water that wells up to eternal life.” 

Wow, that would be amazing! I said, "Sir, give me this water so I don't have to keep coming to this well!"

He told me to go get my husband. "I don't have one, Sir" He said to me, "I know. The truth is, you have had five husbands and are not married to the man you're with."

There was no condemnation in his eyes. But he was a Jew and a Jew has never been a friend of mine.

I said, "It's obvious you're a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that we must worship in Jerusalem." 

He said, "Believe me, a time is coming when you won't worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans don't know who you worship. We Jews do know. Salvation comes from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and is here already, when true worshipers will worship God in the Spirit and in truth. These are the kind of worshipers the Father wants. God is Spirit and his people must worship in the Spirit and in truth."   

I didn't come to the well to argue with a stranger and I wasn't about to argue with a prophet. So I said, "I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." He said, "I, the one you're talking to, "I am he."

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I was stunned. I ran into town and told the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?"

The prophet Isaiah foretold the birth of the Messiah more than 700 years before Jesus was born!

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

The woman at the well would have known about this prophesy.

Who do you say that I am?

Lord Jesus, you are the Messiah, the Annointed One. You are Almighty God, the Everlasting Father. You are my Wonderful Counselor and the Prince of Peace. You are Immanuel, God With Me.