Do it Now

Recently I was given the opportunity to speak at a women's conference. I have a few friends who said they did not get to go, but wanted to know what  God gave me to talk about.
What I have shared is not all of what God gave me to say, but most of it. I hope you will read with attention, intensity, and perhaps share this with a friend. I did, you.
Seeking God's Face in Such a Time as This:

Matthew 6:33

But Seek First the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you

Matthew 6:10~Jesus prayed with these word:

Your Kingdom Come Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven

Jesus' Model prayer showed that He even seeked after God's heart and God’s plan

What does it mean to seek God's face?

Have you ever taken a mirror and looked at yourself in it? I mean really look at yourself?

 When you look in it what do you see?

What do others see?

 Do you forget what you see when you walk away from the mirror? Do you look at the person's eyes in the mirror? What do you see behind your eyes?  The eye is the window to the soul; if you look deep enough you can see this is true.

I did and I saw a mess! I saw ugliness, shame, guilt, worthlessness, a reject, I was a hopeless being.
 But with God’s eyes and accepting his love, I began to see worthiness, forgiveness, I worked on having a clean heart, a lighter heart, and love for myself and others.

 Sometimes it is difficult to look at our self because of the choices we have made or the choices  other people have made in our lives.

It's just too messy to look at.

But you see God wants you with your mess. You have a purpose for being here, you have been created so that God can just love you.

Make the choice today to make a change in your life.  Jesus came so that you can be free from the bondage of your bitterness and hurt.  Your life story will make a difference in someone else's life and  
one day they will need to hear your story, after you decide to surrender to meet Jesus where you are at.

Today, I look in the mirror and I see Jesus; I can't do anything apart from him. When I look in the mirror, if there is any mud on me, I have to go to him and ask him to wash it away. He's the only one who can.

Most of the time we want what we want and we want it now.

Give me, give me, give me, or I we say we deserve this thing and we will find

any reason or excuse to get what we want. 

The world says “The one with the bigger toys wins” or “I have all I need right here in my toys or things.”

for the things that are visible are temporal, but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

God's heart is people.  He gives us two commandments:  love Jesus and love others.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22: 37-39.

Jesus, tells us what he wants in his word. Take your time getting to know him and let him show you how much he loves you. Make his words personal to you.  The word will change you from the inside out. He says you are more worthy than rubies and diamonds.  God says he loves you so much he gave his only begotten son to die on the cross for you and to forgive you of all the things you’ve done wrong.  You have to do your part and ask him for that forgiveness; realize your ways are not working for you.

Jesus wants you to see what he sees when you look in the mirror. He sees a prince or a princess, a beautiful woman or a handsome man, clean and righteous like him when you accept his gift of love.

To seek God's Face is to seek his heart means to love, have compassion, seek truth, follow his commandments, statutes, and laws.

It is a lie from the pit of hell that he is strict and rules with an iron rod, or he wants to take the fun out of life so he created commandments and laws.

So what are you doing today to seek God's face?

Are you concerned more about how many toys you have today or where you will go when you die?

What kind word did you say today?

What investment have you made in someone else's life today?

What do you see in people?

Hate, anger, bitterness, or selfishness?  Or do you see love, kindness, gentleness?

Look at your neighbor, look at the people walking past you.

“Mary Kay Ash use to say “ Imagine everyone has an invisible sign around their neck that says  “make me feel important”

You may be the only bible they see,

The only walking, talking, living, breathing, smiling Jesus they may see.

If Jesus is in you, you are called to be a light in a dark world.

He loves you and can be the loving, warm, compassionate, and most understanding love of your life.

Jesus knew you before you were in your mother's womb .

Your frame was not hidden from me when you were being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery].

I saw your unformed substance, and in My book all the days [of  your life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.

 If you noticed, I didn’t quote the scripture but I made it personal. God wants a personal relationship with you.

My prayer for you today, is for you to choose God’s love and to seek him in all you do and for you choose to get to know this man named Jesus. There is nothing in your life that is hidden from him, that he doesn’t already know. All you have to do is make the choice to accept him today. He is easy to find.  Our time is running out and we need to accept Jesus today and to turn our eyes off of ourselves and onto Jesus and his plan for our lives.

Let us pray:

Father, I ask for myself and my friends here today.

Father, I ask you to forgive us for we sin against you and only against you. We recognize that we are not in control of our problems, our pain, and other people.

We confess, we have hurt others and ourselves by the choices we have made.

Papa, I ask you to protect us from keeping company with those who openly sin or think their way is the best way.

We choose to be guided by you and begin a personal relationship with you.

May we choose to seek after the desires of your heart and not our own.

Papa, you have told us in your word, that you have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. May we choose today to accept you in our hearts and this truth to become a reality to us. 

Father, thank you that you are you who you say you are and you will do what you say you will do.

Thank you for forgiving us and loving us just as we are.

May we be kind and help the weak, living in your presence, and praising you.

For your name is above all names, majestic and mighty, holy and righteous. We ask in the name of Jesus Christ,  Amen.

*References

The Purpose Driven Life-Rick Warren

Life’s healing Choices by John Baker

Bible

Quotes from Mary Kay Ash from her Biography “Mary Kay Ash”

Piece of Chocolate Cake, Please....

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful:
But his delight is in the law of the Lord.
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water
That brings forth its fruit in its season
Whose leaf also shall not wither
And whatever he does shall prosper.
Psalm 1:1-3

If you have read my entries in the past you know that I like to describe God's word like this:
 "God's word is like a piece of chocolate cake without the calories, the more you dig in the more you want."
Imagine Jesus sitting in your bedroom on your bed, in one of the chairs at your table, on your sofa in the den. He is waiting to talk with you and to hear you read his word out loud to him. When you have a question, he's ready with an answer. Jesus may not answer you in that moment, but he will answer you.
To meditate on God's word is to read, re-read it and memorize it.
I read these words in my bible study book " a deliberate neglect of God's word."
I thought "wow, neglecting God's word deliberately." Why? Why wouldn't I want to read and know God's word. I thought to myself, "I don't want guilt." God's word is not meant to put a guilt trip on us, but to encourage us, strengthen us, guide us, and love on us.
I was taught to read God's word like this:
1) read a small portion, maybe one verse
2) write it down and carry it with you during the day and read over it once an hour
3) let God love on you as you read those written words
4) look for opportunities to do what that those written words say
My first scripture I memorized was "For with God nothing will be impossible" Luke 1:37
I wrote it down and put it into my pocket and read it throughout my day. At the time I was having car trouble and I started to give it back to God. " okay God your word here says you can take care of my car, please show me." he did. It wasn't my way, but he did what he said his word is possible.
I then found another scripture (Philippians 4:19) and did the same thing and ended up adding the previous scripture (Luke 1:37) with the new scripture. God starting showing me that he is in the small and large things in my life. The word became alive for me.
In God's word, the Bible, it shows many times where Jesus would set time aside to pray and meditate. He was connecting with God, his Father. He was showing us by example to get alone with God and have a relationship with him.
I have thought of ways you can do this even if you don't have an hour to give, but you do need more than a quicky prayer of "oh God, I need you." It's good, but it's not quality time with God. One way is to write it down as suggested above. Next, take a picture and write a scripture that may relate to the emotion of that day. An example might be a baseball photo and you might write "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13
If you don't want to write it on the back of the photo use a sticky note.
I encourage you today to go and spend quality time getting to know this man named Jesus.
If you need help getting started, let me know. I will love to help you start a personal relationship with Christ today.
Have a great day!