Prayer and Introduction
- Opening prayer expressing gratitude and seeking wisdom, discernment, and a joyful pursuit of God.
- Focus on the universal presence of God (omnipresence).
- God is everywhere, filling everything.
- Encouragement to seek God with one’s whole heart.
- Experiencing spiritual joys by moving in and out of the spiritual world, which exists parallel to the physical world.
- Constant pursuit of God, trying to apprehend Him.
Hearing Him
- The Speaking Voice
- John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
- The voice of God is a crucial reality.
- God’s voice is more than just the Bible; it’s the expression of His will spoken into all things.
- God’s word is the breath of God, filling the world with living potential.
- The voice of God is the most powerful force in nature.
- Example: God spoke, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
- The Bible is the inerrant word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit.
- The voice of God is not limited to the printed word.
- The greatest joy is hearing God’s voice.
- Adam heard God’s voice even after running from Him.
- Elijah heard God in a still, small voice after wind, fire, and earthquake.
- The importance of hearing God’s voice for believers.
- The Bible is confined to ink, paper, and leather, but God’s voice is not limited.
- Experiencing times of clearly hearing God and times when it’s difficult.
- The soul is moved by the truth that God speaks to individuals.
- Some wake up hearing God speak.
- If one has never heard God’s voice, they may not be saved.
- The drawing power of the Holy Spirit opens ears to hear God’s voice.
- “You will know Him when He speaks.”
- Sometimes God’s voice booms, sometimes it’s still and small.
- Preaching is near to hearing God speak.
- Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
- John 6:63 – “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
- The unique power of God’s voice.
- “My sheep hear My voice.”
- God is not silent today; He has always spoken.
- Encouragement to trust that you will recognize God’s voice when He speaks.
- The present voice of God makes the written word powerful.
- God speaks a book and lives in His spoken words.
- Even those who haven’t heard of the Bible have been preached to sufficiently.
- Hearing Him is a necessity in the pursuit of God.
- The joy in the journey is hearing Him speak.
- Battles fought and the difficulty of overcoming the veil over hearts.
Seeing Him: The Gaze of the Soul
- Hebrews 12:2 – “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”
- Seeing God is not with physical eyes but spiritually.
- To see God, one must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
- One must be born again to have the spirit of Christ and see Him.
- Faith is essential for seeing God.
- Without faith, it’s impossible to please God, approach God, or have forgiveness, deliverance, salvation, communion, or spiritual life.
- Faith is a gift from God and comes by hearing the Word of God.
- Numbers 21:8 – “Everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it shall live.”
- John 3:14-15 – “Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
- Looking and believing are synonymous.
- Faith is the gaze of the soul upon God.
- The danger of creating graven images of Jesus.
- Example: Being spooked by seeing the actor who played Jesus in “The Chosen” when closing eyes to sleep.
- The commandment against making graven images.
- When gazing upon God, no image comes back, but a bit of glory is seen.
- Faith causes us to take our eyes off the world and look into the spiritual realm.
- Believing is directing the heart’s attention to Jesus.
- Faith is lifting the mind to behold the Lamb of God.
- At first, gazing upon God may be difficult, but it becomes easier with practice.
- Distractions may hinder, but the heart will return to Him.
- Constant pursuit of God trains souls to gaze upon His person.
- The volitional act of gazing upon God becomes a spiritual reflex.
- Some are not spiritually exercised in gazing upon God.
- When gazing upon God, He mutes distractions.
- Like the eye that sees everything but itself, faith is occupied with God and pays no attention to itself.
- The man who has struggled to purify himself will find relief in looking to Christ.
- While looking at Christ, the things one has been trying to do will get done within him.
- Faith is a redirecting of our sight, getting out of focus on ourselves and focusing on God.
- Sin has twisted our vision inward.
- Focusing on God solves problems because the Holy Spirit does what needs to be done.
- It is grievous to see Christians bound and unable to gaze upon Him and hear Him.
- The joy of the journey is chasing after Him and seeking Him every day.
- Even in unconsciousness, the mind tries to gaze on Him.
Knowing Him
- Psalms 57:5 – “Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let thy glory be above all the earth.”
- Order in nature depends on right relationships.
- Human miseries stem from a moral dislocation in our relation to God.
- Salvation is the restoration of a right relation between man and his creator.
- A satisfactory spiritual life begins with a complete change in relation between God and the sinner.
- The pursuit of God involves bringing our total personality into conformity to Him.
- Voluntary exalting of God.
- Begin prayers with praise, exalting God until He’s on the throne.
- When the relationship is aligned, prayer happens.
- It is necessary to exalt Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
- We often bring God down and try to make Him like us.
- Determining to exalt God over all means stepping out of the world’s parade.
- Prayer is loved because it allows one to leave the world for a while.
- Every prayer should start with praise to put God back on the throne.
- The problem is not that God’s not on His throne, but that He’s not on His throne in your heart.
- Engaging in the act of exalting God creates a connection with the spiritual.
- The pursuit of God is where the glory and joy of the soul are experienced.
- The right relationship is where it begins.
- A break with the world results from a changed relation to God.
- The world of fallen men does not honor God.
- A simple test shows how little God is honored: choices between God and money, men, ambition, self, or human love.
- Those who seek God will find Him because they will get Him on the throne.
- The proof is in the choices made day after day.
Meekness and Rest
- Matthew 5:5 – “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
- Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
- The burden is an interior one, attacking the heart and mind.
- The burden of pride is a heavy load.
- Much sorrow arises from others speaking slightingly of you.
- The heart’s effort to protect itself from every slight never lets the mind have rest.
- The sons of earth carry this burden continually, challenging every word, cringing under criticism.
- The meek man is not a human mouse with a sense of inferiority.
- The meek man has stopped being fooled about himself.
- He knows he is weak and helpless as God has declared him to be.
- He knows he is of more importance than angels in the sight of God.
- He knows the world will never see him as God sees him, and he has stopped caring.
The Sacrament of Living
- 1 Corinthians 10:31 – “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
- A major hindrance to internal peace is dividing life into sacred and secular areas.
- Do not compartmentalize the simple, normal, secular things.
- Make a sacrament out of your life.
- Turn all hours into opportunities to glorify God.
- Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
- Don’t compartmentalize and leave God out of parts of your life.
- He wants to be a part of folding your drawers.
- Do all to the glory of God.
- Inhabit two worlds: the spiritual and the natural.
- The sacred-secular mentality has no foundation in the New Testament.
- Jesus knew no divided life; He always did the things that pleased the Father.
- Paul’s exhortation opens the possibility of making every act contribute to God’s glory.
- Even menial tasks like eating and drinking can honor God.
- There is nothing in your life that you cannot include God in.
- A real pursuit of Christ will not involve a compartmentalized life.
- Learn to pursue Him always.
- Do everything as to the glory of God.
- Practice living to the glory of God.
- Meditate upon this truth and talk it over with God in prayers.
- Recall it to mind frequently.
- The old duality will give way to a restful unity of life.
- The knowledge that we are all God’s will unify our inner lives and make everything sacred.
- Offer all acts to God and believe that He accepts them.
- Remind God in private prayer that we need every act for His glory.
- Supplement those times with a thousand thought prayers.
- If we could get this right, our neighbor would see Jesus more.
- It’s not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, but why he does it.
- The motive is everything.
- Sanctify the Lord God in your heart, and you can do no common act.
- Living itself will be sacramental.
- The whole world becomes a sanctuary.
- The entire life will be a priestly ministration.
- As simple tasks are performed, one will hear the voice of the seraphim saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.”
- Make every part of life an offering to God.
- Pursue God constantly and follow hard after Him.
- Wake out of sleep and go deeper.
- Seek to know Him and the power of His resurrection.
- See His glory and apprehend the One who has apprehended us.
- Do everything unto Him and pursue God with all your heart.
