Relentless Pursuit
The Lord pursues us. He is persistent in His love for us. His patience for us is lasting, enduring and continual. An example of our Lord's persistence is found in Revelation 3:20. Here we find the visual picture of Him "standing at the door and knocking". This door represents our hearts; our lives. Our Lord Jesus is persistent in his pursuit of us, to bring us to salvation. II Peter 3:9 says "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." God's pursuit of us is usually in direct correlation to his desire for us find salvation in Him. But he also remains at the door of our heart knocking, because He wants to have fellowship with us. He wants to spend time with us, and have relationship with us. Notice that he is persistent in His knocking, but He does not, and will not, break down the door and force His way in.
As we have already studied, God, by His Holy Spirit desires relationship with us, but He can be resisted, sinned against, grieved, blasphemed and lied to. He can, and will, withdraw from unwilling and unrepentant hearts and lives. When we continually resist, we leave God no choice but to wait; He is always willing, ever knocking, but WE HAVE TO OPEN THE DOOR. He does speak to us in various ways, but we have to remove our fingers from our ears and choose to listen.
And sometimes, He is silent.
As we study and grow in our ability to discern the voice of God, I have to pause and ask, What do you do when God is silent? First of all, we must establish that sometimes God IS silent. In fact, Ecclesiastes 3:7 says that "there is a time to be silent and a time to speak." If you look through Scripture, you will find many who waited and waited for God to speak, to answer their questions, to guide them. I am sure they wondered if God had left them, forgotten them, or stopped caring. Israel's history is riddled with years and blocks of times when God was silent.
It is important to note that God didn't STAY silent, but he was silent for a period of time.
Without digressing too far, I think it is important for us to note that there are a few predominant reasons why God may be "silent" in our lives (keep in mind that because we have His word, He is never entirely silent). The first reason may be the presence of sin in our lives. Remember, the Holy Spirit can, and will, withdraw from unwilling, unrepentant hearts and lives. God, through the Holy Spirit, will not force us to seek, trust or know Him. It is our choice. We would do well to learn to be quick to repent and return to the Lord with open hearts and ears. Another reason that God may be silent in our lives is that He is testing us. When it seems that God is withholding His opinion and direction, will we still be faithful right where we are? Will we still trust Him? Will be patient to wait for His timing to speak to us again? And it may also be possible that God is silent because He is teaching us. This is similar to testing, but with the focus, in my opinion,on us learning to persevere and continue to seek Him. Somtimes He is silent, and we have got to "grown up" in our faith enough to handle this. It is our choice to be faithful when He seems distant. It is our responsiblity to pursue HIM, rather than always wait for Him to pursue US.
I coach a U-12 girls soccer team. It is one of my favorite things in the world. I love the sport, I love the girls and I love to be out on the field with them. I love to watch them grow. I love to encourage them. And I love to high five them when they master a new skill. When we began this season, one of our biggest team problems was waiting for the ball. My girls are good at passing and they are skilled with the ball, but I would often watch them plant themselves into the grass and wait for the ball to come to their feet. This resulted in many a stolen ball by a more aggressive or persistent player. Over the season, my girls have changed this behavior. They now have learned that to possess the ball, they first must win it. They have to play the game on the balls of their feet; quick to move TOWARD the ball when they see it in motion. This has made all the difference for us as a team.
I feel compelled to now change the direction of this study. Rather than focus our attention on the persistence of God to speak to us, I want us to look inward and ask ourselves, "Am I persistant in my pursuit of HIM?" You see, you may be living your spiritual life like my soccer players; feet rooted into the ground, waiting for the voice or direction of God to roll precisely to where you stand. And God, in his love for us, will sometimes do that for us. More often though, He is waiting for action on our part, movement toward Him with the desire to possess what He has for us!
Persistence is defined as: continuing steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, or course of action, especially in spite of opposition, obstacles or discouragement.
It also means lasting, enduring, tenacious, continued, insistent, enduring, relentless, insistent, and unyielding.
Are you persistent in your pursuit of Him? Tenacious and enduring in how you chase Him? Do you continue steadfastly especially in spite of opposition, obstacles or discouragement? Because that IS persistence; chasing Him even when it is hard and you really want to quit. Has His silence rocked the foundation of your relationship with Him? I know many who stand, feet rooted right there. Have your bleak circumstances convinced you that it would be easier to quit? Has your laziness caused you to stand around waiting, hoping, that the "ball" might come your way? OR, are you digging in there, chasing the Lord, insistent, unyielding and relentless in your pursuit of Him?
Isaiah 62:6 & 7 say "...you who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest..." This directs us to persist and pursue the Lord with our situations and needs until He responds. To push through the silence and the difficulty in order to hear, obey, and see Him at work.
In Luke 11 Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray. In order to do that he uses a parable (a story used to illustrate what he is teaching). In this parable, a man goes to his neighbor's house to ask for something at midnight. He knocks and knocks on the door until the neighbor calls down to him to find out what he wants. After hearing the request, the neighbor decides that he doesn't want to get out of bed to help. Scripture says, in verse 8, that "though he won't do it as a friend, if (he/the man) keeps knocking long enough, he (the neighbor) will get up and give (the man) what (he) wants so his (the neighbor's) reputation won't be damaged." (or this can also be translated "because of his persistence."
I heard it said once that "you have all of Jesus that you want right now." How is your persistence level? Does it need to be exercised so that it will grow in strength? Just as Scripture has examples of those who the Lord pursued, and has many more of those who waited in silence for God to speak, Scripture is CHOCK FULL of examples of those who RELENTLESSLY PURSUED GOD. The are the ones who left dying loved ones to get to Jesus, who pushed through crowds to touch Him, and who dug holes in roofs to get friends to Him. They are the ones who stayed to hear Him speak despite hunger and fatigue, who climbed trees to catch a glimpse of Him, who carried their sick to His feet for Him to touch, and who repeatedly cried out for His healing for their bodies.
How are you doing in your pursuit of Him?
For further study:
Look through the gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Record those you find pursuing Jesus.
What were their "methods"?
What was the result of their pursuit?
Your assignment:
1. How are you doing in your pursuit of Him?
Are you pursuing, or have you become fearful, lazy, complacent, distracted?
This kind of self evaulation is crucial for your growth. Please take the time to do this!
2. Are you enduring the silence of God in your life?
What area is He silent in?
How are you handling this?
What do you think He is trying to teach you through this?
*Post to the group how you are doing in your pursuit of God.
As we have already studied, God, by His Holy Spirit desires relationship with us, but He can be resisted, sinned against, grieved, blasphemed and lied to. He can, and will, withdraw from unwilling and unrepentant hearts and lives. When we continually resist, we leave God no choice but to wait; He is always willing, ever knocking, but WE HAVE TO OPEN THE DOOR. He does speak to us in various ways, but we have to remove our fingers from our ears and choose to listen.
And sometimes, He is silent.
As we study and grow in our ability to discern the voice of God, I have to pause and ask, What do you do when God is silent? First of all, we must establish that sometimes God IS silent. In fact, Ecclesiastes 3:7 says that "there is a time to be silent and a time to speak." If you look through Scripture, you will find many who waited and waited for God to speak, to answer their questions, to guide them. I am sure they wondered if God had left them, forgotten them, or stopped caring. Israel's history is riddled with years and blocks of times when God was silent.
It is important to note that God didn't STAY silent, but he was silent for a period of time.
Without digressing too far, I think it is important for us to note that there are a few predominant reasons why God may be "silent" in our lives (keep in mind that because we have His word, He is never entirely silent). The first reason may be the presence of sin in our lives. Remember, the Holy Spirit can, and will, withdraw from unwilling, unrepentant hearts and lives. God, through the Holy Spirit, will not force us to seek, trust or know Him. It is our choice. We would do well to learn to be quick to repent and return to the Lord with open hearts and ears. Another reason that God may be silent in our lives is that He is testing us. When it seems that God is withholding His opinion and direction, will we still be faithful right where we are? Will we still trust Him? Will be patient to wait for His timing to speak to us again? And it may also be possible that God is silent because He is teaching us. This is similar to testing, but with the focus, in my opinion,on us learning to persevere and continue to seek Him. Somtimes He is silent, and we have got to "grown up" in our faith enough to handle this. It is our choice to be faithful when He seems distant. It is our responsiblity to pursue HIM, rather than always wait for Him to pursue US.
I coach a U-12 girls soccer team. It is one of my favorite things in the world. I love the sport, I love the girls and I love to be out on the field with them. I love to watch them grow. I love to encourage them. And I love to high five them when they master a new skill. When we began this season, one of our biggest team problems was waiting for the ball. My girls are good at passing and they are skilled with the ball, but I would often watch them plant themselves into the grass and wait for the ball to come to their feet. This resulted in many a stolen ball by a more aggressive or persistent player. Over the season, my girls have changed this behavior. They now have learned that to possess the ball, they first must win it. They have to play the game on the balls of their feet; quick to move TOWARD the ball when they see it in motion. This has made all the difference for us as a team.
I feel compelled to now change the direction of this study. Rather than focus our attention on the persistence of God to speak to us, I want us to look inward and ask ourselves, "Am I persistant in my pursuit of HIM?" You see, you may be living your spiritual life like my soccer players; feet rooted into the ground, waiting for the voice or direction of God to roll precisely to where you stand. And God, in his love for us, will sometimes do that for us. More often though, He is waiting for action on our part, movement toward Him with the desire to possess what He has for us!
Persistence is defined as: continuing steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, or course of action, especially in spite of opposition, obstacles or discouragement.
It also means lasting, enduring, tenacious, continued, insistent, enduring, relentless, insistent, and unyielding.
Are you persistent in your pursuit of Him? Tenacious and enduring in how you chase Him? Do you continue steadfastly especially in spite of opposition, obstacles or discouragement? Because that IS persistence; chasing Him even when it is hard and you really want to quit. Has His silence rocked the foundation of your relationship with Him? I know many who stand, feet rooted right there. Have your bleak circumstances convinced you that it would be easier to quit? Has your laziness caused you to stand around waiting, hoping, that the "ball" might come your way? OR, are you digging in there, chasing the Lord, insistent, unyielding and relentless in your pursuit of Him?
Isaiah 62:6 & 7 say "...you who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest..." This directs us to persist and pursue the Lord with our situations and needs until He responds. To push through the silence and the difficulty in order to hear, obey, and see Him at work.
In Luke 11 Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray. In order to do that he uses a parable (a story used to illustrate what he is teaching). In this parable, a man goes to his neighbor's house to ask for something at midnight. He knocks and knocks on the door until the neighbor calls down to him to find out what he wants. After hearing the request, the neighbor decides that he doesn't want to get out of bed to help. Scripture says, in verse 8, that "though he won't do it as a friend, if (he/the man) keeps knocking long enough, he (the neighbor) will get up and give (the man) what (he) wants so his (the neighbor's) reputation won't be damaged." (or this can also be translated "because of his persistence."
I heard it said once that "you have all of Jesus that you want right now." How is your persistence level? Does it need to be exercised so that it will grow in strength? Just as Scripture has examples of those who the Lord pursued, and has many more of those who waited in silence for God to speak, Scripture is CHOCK FULL of examples of those who RELENTLESSLY PURSUED GOD. The are the ones who left dying loved ones to get to Jesus, who pushed through crowds to touch Him, and who dug holes in roofs to get friends to Him. They are the ones who stayed to hear Him speak despite hunger and fatigue, who climbed trees to catch a glimpse of Him, who carried their sick to His feet for Him to touch, and who repeatedly cried out for His healing for their bodies.
How are you doing in your pursuit of Him?
For further study:
Look through the gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Record those you find pursuing Jesus.
What were their "methods"?
What was the result of their pursuit?
Your assignment:
1. How are you doing in your pursuit of Him?
Are you pursuing, or have you become fearful, lazy, complacent, distracted?
This kind of self evaulation is crucial for your growth. Please take the time to do this!
2. Are you enduring the silence of God in your life?
What area is He silent in?
How are you handling this?
What do you think He is trying to teach you through this?
*Post to the group how you are doing in your pursuit of God.
posted by Di Beals | 12:06 PM
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