How to Meet God
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July 12, 2015 |
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 "I love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me will find me" (Proverbs 8:17).
Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
God is always preparing good things to give to His children both for their spirits and their bodies. God meets His children when they open their hearts and then seek Him with their whole heart. He also leads them to the way of answers and blessings.
What should we do to meet the living God? The most fundamental and important thing in meeting God is earnestly wanting to meet Him (Proverbs 8:17; Jeremiah 29:13).
1. You should seek God earnestly from your heart
God loves us above all else and He seeks us first. However, God will not coerce us to open our hearts so He can come in and meet us. He works according to His justice, so only when we willingly open our hearts can He come into our hearts and meet us.
It is just as written in Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." And Matthew 5:3 reads, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
To have a 'poor' spirit, first of all we have to free our heart of the things that hinder us from seeking God such as worldly pleasures and meaningless desires. Then, we will have an earnest desire to meet God. Also, when we humbly seek God, He can come upon our heart.
Most people become poor in spirit only when they face difficulties. If you have a problem that cannot be solved by any worldly means, I hope you will rejoice and give thanks. This is the best opportunity for you to be able to earnestly seek God and meet Him.
Psalm 40:2 says, "He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm." Isaiah 55:6 reads, "Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near." If you have earnest heart, now you have to go to the places where you can meet God.
Now, let's delve into how to meet the living God in detail. You can meet Him through the Word, prayer, praise, and worship services.
2. You should listen to, realize, and practice God's Word
The Bible tells us who God is and what His will is for mankind. It tells us especially about how much God loves us. Through the Bible, we come to understand these things, and to that same extent our faith in God grows up. What's important in meeting God, we must live according to the Word as well as read and hear about the Bible.
The Bible has been written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so we should understand the true meaning with the Holy Spirit's help. Then, the Word will be living and active. It will pierce into the division of our soul, spirit, and even joints and marrow (Hebrews 4:12). Knowing God's Word literally or just as knowledge does not guarantee meeting God. When we obey the Word telling us to do, not do, keep, or cast away certain things, various life problems will be resolved, and blessings will come upon us.
3. You should cry out in prayer with earnest
If we earnestly pray, we will be inspired by the Holy Spirit, and we will understand God's heart and will contained in the Word. Also, we will be given the power to follow God's Word. Above all, prayer is not a monologue, but is the direct communication channel through which we can meet God and it is a conversation with God.
When His children pray, God hears them and touches their hearts, that is He gives them realization and understanding. This way, we can communicate with God. Namely, we can have a personal fellowship with God. Moreover, if we pray according to God's will, He will answer us in accordance with the law of justice. Through these occasions, we can certainly meet and experience God.
Again, earnestness is something very important when we try to meet God through prayers. We know what the blind man Bartimaeus did to meet Jesus. He cried out as recorded in Mark 10:47 saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" When other people rebuked him to be quiet, he raised his voice even more. It was because his desperation was so great.
Many prophets also cried out in their prayers (1 Samuel 7:9), and Jesus also prayed with all His strength and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground (Luke 22:44). If you cry out with such an earnest heart when you pray, you cannot have any idle thoughts or drowsiness. Thus, I hope you will pray with all your heart and cry out with determination of the overflowing certainty of meeting God. In doing so, I hope you will be able to meet God personally in your lives.
4. You should offer up beautiful praises
God is very pleased with praises. Similarly, when His children lift Him up with praises, God's heart, eyes, and ears are set towards His children.
This is the reason why we are filled with joy and emotions when we sing praises.
In the Bible, we can see that the fathers of faith also offered God praises from time to time. One of the most significant of these figures is David.
David enjoyed singing praises whether it was when he was alone tending the flock or when he was offering sacrifices to God as the king. God loved David and He was with him all the time in the praises. The praise sung by David also contained the power of light. When David played the harp, the evil spirits that were afflicting Saul went away. In 2 Kings 3, Elisha was moved by God and received God's Word when the minstrel played.
We naturally have to praise God who saved us and is leading us to Heaven, but when we praise God's goodness, love, and power, He again shows His love back to us. I hope you will meet God every day through beautiful praises.
5. You should worship in spirit and truth.
The forefathers of faith in the Old Testament times communicated with God through sacrifices. King Solomon met and experienced the God of wisdom and from whom all blessings flow, by giving one thousand sacrifices. Those sacrifices are equivalent to the worship services in the New Testament era.
In John 4:24, Jesus says, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." It means we can meet God who is spirit if we worship in spirit and in truth. Simply stated, worshipping in spirit and in truth refers to worship offered with all our hearts in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Whether in official church worship services or in small group services, we can meet God just by worshipping well, and it's a great blessing. Furthermore, worship services contain all the other passageways to meet God, namely, the Word, prayer, and praise. Grace will come upon us from above when we worship in spirit and truth with all our hearts. We will be overflowing with hope for Heaven, peace, and joy.
It is the evidence showing that we have met the living God. If we keep the grace in our lives, we can always meet God who is with us.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to meet God we should go to the places where we can meet God with earnest through the Bible, prayer, praise, and worship services. We should remember that the most important things are the most basic things. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will quickly come forth as true children and walk with God on this earth, and then dwell with God forever in New Jerusalem.
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