Latest / First15 Devotional / The Longing of God to Meet with You

Transcript

The Longing of God to Meet with You · First15 Devotional

• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: As we continue our week on centering our lives around meeting with God, today we'll explore how this is always preceded by the longing of God to meet with you.
• 0:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: God's affections for us are always meant to be our starting place in seeking Him.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: As you are reminded today of God's great love and desire for you, may your heart be stirred with fervor to seek Him and center your life around His presence.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the first 15 podcast.
• 1:00
  [UNKNOWN]: You
• 1:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: our Scripture for today comes from Psalm 139 verses 17 through 18.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Scripture says, how precious to me are your thoughts, O God?
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: How vast is the sum of them?
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
• 1:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: I awake and I am still with you.
• 1:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: I used to view my time spent in secret with my heavenly father, as something for which I needed to drum up desire.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: I pictured God waiting for me in a room, ready to bless me for sure, but I felt the weight of choosing him was all on my shoulders.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: The truth of God's heart is far from my previous misconceptions.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: We serve a God who constantly, sweetly, and powerfully pursues us.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Revelation 320 says, behold, I stand at the door and knock.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: God is knocking on the door of your heart right now with every gentle fall breeze that moves sweetly across your face with every beautiful sunrise with every breath taking star in the sky.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: God is declaring His love for you.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: God pursues us in any and every way he can.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: The greatest desire of His heart is for communion with His people, so it's in knowing and receiving His overwhelming affections for us that our hearts will be stirred to meet with Him.
• 3:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's in taking time to notice His constant pursuit of us that we will naturally begin to center our lives around meeting with our Heavenly Father.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: You see, the reason we should center our lives around meeting with God is because at the center of His heart is a deep, insatiable longing to meet with us.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: The creator of the universe deeply longs to continually consistently meet with you.
• 3:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: God, who is Almighty, all knowing, filled with grace, and is the fulfillment of perfect love, longs to be known by you.
• 3:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are created to be drawn by the desire of our Creator.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are made to be known and to know our Heavenly Father.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are created to walk with Him every moment of every day.
• 4:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not that we should center our lives around meeting with God.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's that we were created to and must.
• 4:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: Song of Solomon chapter seven verse 10 says, I, in my beloveds and his desire is for me.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: May you grow in the awareness of God's desire for you today.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: May you come to know yourself as my beloveds.
• 4:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: May your life be marked by the natural response to your creator's unending pursuit of you and may you center your life around meeting with God, not out of obligation, but because he's so desperately longs to meet with you.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Take a moment to tune your ears to God's voice as you enter guided prayer.
• 5:38
  [UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: As we begin, meditate on God's desire to meet with you.
• 5:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Will you open your heart to him today as you hear him knocking?
• 6:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: In Revelation 3 verse 20, Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and knock.
• 6:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me.
• 6:28
  [UNKNOWN]: Thank you very much for watching this video and I'll see you in the next video.
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And next, what does it mean for your life that your loving creator continually pursues you?
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: What would it be like to live a life marked by responding to God's love in every moment?
• 7:28
  [UNKNOWN]: You
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: and last.
• 8:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Take some time to meet with God.
• 8:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ask him how he feels about you.
• 8:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Ask him to reveal his desire for you.
• 8:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Respond to his affections with your own.
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Tell him honestly how you feel.
• 8:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Psalm 139 verses 17 and 18 says how precious to me are your thoughts, O God?
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: How vast is the sum of them?
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
• 8:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I awake, and I am still with you.
• 8:45
  [UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
• 9:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: All you have is today.
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Centering your life around meeting with God is all about the choices you make today.
• 9:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: the way you choose to live right now will impact your days to come.
• 9:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't worry about your track record.
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Don't concern yourself with the idea of meeting with Jesus every day for the rest of your life.
• 9:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Simply choose to enjoy Him today.
• 9:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Matthew 634 says,
• 10:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks so much for listening to today's podcast.
• 10:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Josh Miller with First Team.
• 10:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: As you go about the rest of your day today, notice any pulls you feel towards centering your life around other things.
• 10:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: It could be the affection or approval of others or monetary success, whatever it is.
• 10:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Notice what seems to be the biggest draw away from centering your life around the pursuit of God.
• 10:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Push aside, any guilt or frustration you might feel, and just for today, simply notice what's pulling you in other directions.
• 10:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Realizations like that can be really meaningful as you bring them before the mercy and grace of God.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Have a wonderful rest of your day today, and may God bless you as you seek Him.