BACK TO SOME BASICS (part two)

I was talking to Mom on my cell phone of all things when she said to me something like, "Can you imagine if people talked to God as much as they talk on their cell phones?" At first that can seem like a simple, basic question, but in that question I believe that it brings a thought to ponder and not to just blow off. Plus, as I mentioned last time, sometimes we need to get back to some basics. Mom and I talked a little bit further about how it seems that some never put their cell phone down and yet when it comes to spending time with the Lord, that time is often rushed. We all know people who, (of course you and I could never be found guilty of this) never take the thing away from their ear or out of their hands. Cell phones and life just go hand in hand.

One of my favorite life verses is Jeremiah 33:3. "Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know." That's from the New King James, but you might like it even better in the New Living Translation, "Ask Me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come." If we are honest, it's usually fun when somebody wants to tell us a secret. I've learned to guard myself a little bit better over the years as I've learned that a "secret" is often actually code for "gossip," but still there is a sense of excitement that comes with knowing something that nobody else does. Yet here is God; the God of the universe; the Creator of all things delighting in telling His secret and unsearchable things. All we have to do is call Him up, so to speak.

If many of us called up the Lord the way we make and receive calls on our cell phones, we would be aware of Him at all times. When we would be driving to work we wouldn't just see trees, we would be aware that we are looking at God's creativity. When we would go to bed at night, as we drift off will be an awareness that while we rest God is right there watching us sleep as a parent watches their sleeping child with a love that has no bounds. In that awareness we begin to have what I think the Apostle Paul was referring to when he talked about how we having the mid of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16) Don't you think that if God wants to reveal secrets to us that He also wants us to have a mind like that of Jesus?

I love the song by Kari Jobe "The More I Seek You." I will include the video after I conclude with my thoughts, but some of those lyrics include:

"The more I seek You, the more I find You.
The more I find You, the more I love You.
I want to sit at Your feet,
Drink from the cup in Your hands..............."

Want to know a secret which really isn't a secret? The more time you spend calling upon the Lord, desiring to be in His presence, spending time in prayer and reading the Bible, the more He will show you how to walk in the daily blessings that He has planned for you. The easier it will be to know how to avoid traps and pitfalls and to weather the storms of life. Storms that come against me that used to mess me up and devastate me no longer do. God is there to show the way out.

Here is a key point which will help understand the difference between religion and relationship. Spending continual time with the Lord, will not make Him love us more. That is bad, bad thinking. God could never love you anymore than He always has whether you read and study His Word or not; whether you pray a lot or not. God already looks at you as a jewel. In God's eyes you have already "succeeded to royalty." (Ezekiel 16:13) However, when you spend continual time with God you will know how to walk in.... and find.... the everyday blessings and favor that God has ALWAYS planned for you. You begin to see the things that God has always wanted you to see. A religious mind thinks that you earn special rights. A mind built on relationship understands that that it has always been there in the first place. You can't earn a gift. Gifts are given from the heart and God has a very huge gift giving heart.

As I close I leave you with this. I've talked about spending time with God more than we do our cell phones, but does God ever call us?
"Fear not, I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and the rivers, they shall not overflow you." (Isaiah 43:1-2) There are several other scriptures about God's calls, but I will leave the searching up to you.

Not only does God call you, but He calls you by name!

With much love,
Mark S.
(P.S. to my mom..............thanks for the great thoughts that day. You're the best!!

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