People Seeking for God 1 Looking for answers

Posted on 2014/01/22 by Christadelphians

People with many questions on their mind

Many people wonder why they live and what the use is of all the troubles they have to endure. Throughout the times many where looking for answers for the reason of their being here on earth and for what they should and could do.

Those who were looking for answers got to know that in the very past there was living an old man who received promises of the One Who is called the Eternal Being and Most High. To the patriarch Abraham this Only One God, Jehovah said:

“(14) And after Lot had separated from him, יהוה {Jehovah} said to Aḇram, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, (15) for all the land which you see I shall give to you and your seed forever. (16) “And I shall make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that, if a man could count the dust of the earth, then your seed also could be counted. (17) “Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” (18) So Aḇram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamrĕ, which are in Ḥeḇron, and built an altar there to יהוה {Jehovah}.” (Genesis 13:14-18 The Scriptures 1998+)

Words in a book, given to man

English: Title page of the Calov Bible with Ba...

Title page of the Calov Bible with Bach’s signature on it. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

People got to know about the Book of books, the Bible, which many consider the infallible Word of God, given to man so that they could get to know their Creator. One of the most important themes in scripture is the Most High Being and His relation to the creation and the concept of an everlasting kingdom on earth. It is mentioned countless times, from the early words quoted from Genesis through the picture of the New Jerusalem provided in the final pages of our Bibles (Revelation 21:10). It would seem self-evident that for these promises to be completely fulfilled, the heavens and earth themselves must last forever.

Scientists have looked into the future of the heavens and earth with the same keen interest as they have delved into the birth of the universe. Surely the Most High Elohim God could anticipate the findings of science in these latter days and would not leave us without guidance. When the Bible records that His kingdom would be forever we definitely take that to mean without end.

Looking for answers on many questions

“What is the purpose of life? Why am I here? Is this all there is? What is truth and does it really matter?”

Lots of people ask. Many seem to look at the wrong places for the answers. Some know already where they can find some interesting answers. The answers to all these questions and more are all to be found in one place, our Bible or the Holy Scriptures. In the past it was more common for people to have some awareness of Bible teachings, but nowadays the Bible has been banned in many schools and eliminated from public life in many countries. As a consequence many don’t realize that it is the source of knowledge about the big issues of life, the truths that we all need to know. Our world is suffering from truth decay.

It is not because we know we can find the answer in the Bible that we take the time to look in it. The economical life in the industrialised countries is demanding so much of us that every one of us can get caught up in the busyness of everyday life and forget about the important issues. We can neglect reading the Bible. We can drift away from our beliefs. If we want to know about the best way to live our lives and keep on track, it is so important to read God’s word every day. It is sad that so many, not just in the world, but also in the brotherhood of believers, are not finding time to read their Bibles.

In the Christadelphian Tidings of the Kingdom of God magazine such aspects of our needs and searches is spoken of in the different articles. In the October 2013 article Having Truth Decay? the Christadelphian brother Robert J. Lloyd looks at, the with our free time, interfering situations where we all have a lot of stuff, material goods, that need care, but that we do not seem to find enough time to read the Holy Scriptures. The author points out at the danger of not reading the Bible which skews our understanding of God’s ways and can actually be offensive to God. But we also do have to see that in case those who have found God already, would not find time enough to read God’s Word, how difficult must it be for those who are still searching for God?

Turning our ear to the right direction

David’s son, Solomon, one of the wisest men who ever lived, tells us,

Reflecting God Study Bible (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination,”

which can be interpreted to mean we should not even pray if we do not have time to listen to God.

Have you ever met someone who does all the talking and never lets you get a word in edgewise? Some people are this way with God — they pray all the time but never listen to Him. Their actions speak out that they are not interested in God’s point of view. Solomon’s words imply that God may refuse to listen to us unless we also open His book and listen to Him.

This indicates also that the one who is looking for God does need to give the opportunity to God to come into the picture. The person has to show God that he or she is interested to listen to God and is willing to be interested in God His views, His ideas, His Words. Without giving any thought and time for God His Words it shall be very difficult to find God and to know what God wants for us or has prepared for us.

Preceding articles:

Finding God amid all the religious externals

Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God

To be continued:

People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations

People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions

People Seeking for God 4 Biblical terms

People Seeking for God 5 Bread of life

People Seeking for God 6 Strategy

Please also find to read:

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What’s that? Jesus loves me, you say? (wakileaks.wordpress.com)
After years of answering my door with my cross-bow planted firmly by my hip, pointing up at my Mohawk warrior flag and asking them if they were lost or just insane, I did it.

I invited two Jehovah’s Witnesses into my home for a chat.
+
I think the Bible is an excellent book filled with valuable lessons and stories aimed at making us better people. I have no use for Church or anything else man-made, because it goes against everything Jesus ever taught the people.
A Sermon: Reading the Bible Together (davidswanson.wordpress.com)
As a church we say that, “We desire to listen and submit to the Scripture, God’s revealed Word for His beloved children.” There are at least two important assumptions within this statement. The first is that God reveals himself through the Bible. God, being God, is so different from us that anything we know about God must be revealed by God. And though we don’t believe God has showed us everything about himself, as Christians we believe he has revealed enough for us to know him and experience his love and salvation. He has done this most importantly through his son.
Strange that Bible Addicts (elizabethesthercook.wordpress.com), who knows that everyone is addicted to something, but is afraid to share, has the impression that it’s a trend beginning to sweep her nation, where people can’t seem to remove themselves from their Bibles and end up focusing on them more than anything else in their life. In most countries people are not at all interested in the Bible withstand God. In many countries churches are also running empty, so it is strange that this “sophomore at the University of Alabama” who find it is hard to be a Christian in America, and in college especially, feels threatened by Bible addicts or Bible maniacs.
Why I read my Bible and you should too (takemyfoolishadvice.com)
I often feel like when I am looking for answers or when I’ve accepted that growth needs to occur, I get the best council and comfort from my Bible. I read. Then I have the best personal conversation with myself in my head.For years I have taken the approach of letting the Bible lead me. When I have pressing concerns I’m more comfortable getting silent, calming down the raging storm, getting into my own head, my own space
How to Study Your Bible – Part One: “Eat More Meat” (shadowhillschurch.wordpress.com)
We have great preachers, Bible studies, radio programs, podcasts, and devotionals. The reality, however, is that all we consume is milk. Many Christians do not really know how to study their Bible. Many Christians do not even have a consistent quiet time that is focused on reading and meditation on the Word. Many read a little bit of scripture and then a lot of commentary or devotional material. This is all milk.
Seeking God’s manna (yourmesshismessage.wordpress.com)
[B]e not idlers with the Word of God–search it. Get up early in the morning to read your Bible if you cannot do it at others times. Steal from your sleep a happy hour to read the Scriptures. Diligently and earnestly seek the Lord, for He has said, “They that seek Me early shall find Me.”
Seeking God First ~ (poetrybydeborahann.wordpress.com)
I’m seeking God first, / before I do anything else / I will be looking unto Him / not to my wretched self.

I’ll be seeking His kingdom, / for my daily bread / focusing on the destination / of the glory that lies ahead.
Meditation/Betty’s Verse Of The Day/1-22-14 (togodbetheglorybettysverseoftheday.wordpress.com)
we have to seek God, we have to ask God, we have to believe what God says..When we seek God for answers He is there pointing the way..Reading our Bibles is important because this is how we get our answers from God.
Why We Need God (byronfliwalker.wordpress.com)
Mental-health experts tell us that people need spiritual values in order to be truly happy. We see this in the fact that people want to belong to something or serve someone or some cause greater than themselves. To satisfy this need, some devote their leisure time to nature, art, music, and so on. Yet, most find no deep or lasting fulfillment in such pursuits.
Meet The Holy Spirit – The Spirit of Truth (refinedandpurifiedblog.wordpress.com)
I discovered the Spirit of God is a wind that hovered over the surface of the earth at the beginning of creation. I found out that the Holy Spirit is the person that went about gathering information needed to make the creation complete and perfect in all their glories. Seeing the state of my affairs now, It is no wonder that I am drawn to know the person of the Holy Spirit. And can I testify that, even as I study the Holy Spirit through the Bible and as I gather information about Him on the web, the wind sweeping through me in a heated room is a confirmation that the Spirit of God is alive and kicking. I would love to meet Him and would love for you to open your heart to Him as I share my daily experience with you on this journey.

Looking for True Spirituality 6 Spirituality and Prayer

Posted on 2013/12/28 by Belgian Biblestudents - Belgische Bijbelstudenten

Spirituality and Prayer

A an etching by Jan Luyken from the Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations housed at Belgrave Hall, Leicester, England (The Kevin Victor Freestone Bequest). Photo by Philip De Vere.

The Gospel accounts show that Jesus often turned to God in prayer.

35 Early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up and went outside and left for an isolated place, and there he began praying.+ (Mark 1:35)

23 After sending the crowds away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.+ When evening came, he was there alone. (Matthew 14:23)

16 However, he often went into the desolate areas to pray. (Luke 5:16)

7 During his life on earth,* Christ offered up supplications and also petitions, with strong outcries and tears,+ to the One who was able to save him out of death, and he was favorably heard for his godly fear. (Hebrews 5:7)

32 So they came to a spot named Geth·sem′a·ne, and he said to his disciples: “Sit down here while I pray.”+ (Mark 14:32)

41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw away, and he bent his knees and began to pray, 42 saying: “Father, if you want to, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, let, not my will, but yours take place.”+(Luke 22:41-42)

Jesus did not want his will to become accomplished, but wanted that his Father His Wish would become true. Jesus was afraid and suffered but he put himself at the site. He knew that he could not do a single thing without his Father in heaven, who is the Only One God. It was more important that the Will of the Only One God Who is One, would become accomplished, even when it would cost Jesus his life. Without God Jesus was nothing like we are nothing without our heavenly Father.

30 I cannot do a single thing of my own initiative. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous+ because I seek, not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.+ (John 5:30)

34 Jesus said to them: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me+ and to finish his work.+ (John 4:34)

38 for I have come down from heaven+ to do, not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.+ (John 6:38)

39 And going a little way forward, he fell facedown, praying:+ “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup+ pass away from me. Yet, not as I will, but as you will.”+ (Matthew 26:39)

36 And he said: “Abba,* Father,+ all things are possible for you; remove this cup from me. Yet, not what I want, but what you want.”+ (Mark 14:36)

Jesus was placed by his Father in the womb of his mother, and as such came from the Father above, from heaven. But he was not created to do his own will but to do the will of his Father.

38 for I have come down from heaven+ to do, not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.+ (John 6:38)

During his ministry on earth, Jesus deliberately set aside time to pray. The disciple Matthew wrote:

“Having sent the crowds away, [Jesus] went up into the mountain by himself to pray.” (Matthew 14:23)

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane – 1684, Ilyas Basim Khuri Bazzi Rahib

From such moments spent in quiet communication with his heavenly Father, Jesus gained strength.

36 Then Jesus came with them to the spot called Geth·sem′a·ne,+ and he said to the disciples: “Sit down here while I go over there and pray.”+ 37 And taking along Peter and the two sons of Zeb′e·dee, he began to feel grieved and to be greatly troubled.+ 38 Then he said to them: “I am* deeply grieved, even to death. Stay here and keep on the watch with me.”+ 39 And going a little way forward, he fell facedown, praying:+ “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup+ pass away from me. Yet, not as I will, but as you will.”+

40 He returned to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter: “Could you not so much as keep on the watch for one hour with me?+41 Keep on the watch+ and pray continually,+ so that you may not enter into temptation.+ The spirit, of course, is eager,* but the flesh is weak.”+42 Again, a second time, he went off and prayed: “My Father, if it is not possible for this to pass away unless I drink it, let your will take place.”+43 And he came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So leaving them, he again went off and prayed for a third time, saying once more the same thing. (Matthew 26:36-44)

Today, spiritually-minded people likewise look for opportunities to communicate with God, knowing that this will strengthen their relationship with the Creator and help them to become more Christlike in their thinking.

Jesus often spent extended periods of time in prayer. (John 17:1-26) For instance, before he chose the 12 men who would become his apostles, Jesus “went out into the mountain to pray, and he continued the whole night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12) Although not necessarily spending the whole night in prayer, those who are spiritually-minded follow Jesus’ example. Before making major decisions in life, they take ample time to pray to God, seeking the direction of the holy spirit in making choices that will deepen their spirituality.

In his prayers, Jesus also showed the depth of feeling that we ought to imitate in our prayers. Note what Luke recorded about the way Jesus prayed on the evening before he died.

“Getting into an agony he continued praying more earnestly; and his sweat became as drops of blood falling to the ground.” (Luke 22:44)

Jesus had prayed earnestly before, but on this occasion, faced with the most severe test of his earthly life, he prayed “more earnestly”—and his prayer was answered.

7 During his life on earth,* Christ offered up supplications and also petitions, with strong outcries and tears,+ to the One who was able to save him out of death, and he was favorably heard for his godly fear. (Hebrews 5:7)

Spiritually-minded people follow Jesus’ example. When faced with trials that are particularly severe, they pray “more earnestly” to God for holy spirit, guidance, and support.

Since Jesus was clearly a man of prayer, it is not surprising that his disciples wanted to imitate him in this regard. Therefore, they asked him:

“Lord, teach us how to pray.” (Luke 11:1)

Similarly today, those who value spiritual matters and want to be guided by God’s holy spirit follow Jesus’ example in how they pray to God. True spirituality and prayer go hand in hand.

Preceding articles:

Looking for True Spirituality 1 Intro

Looking for True Spirituality 2 Not restricted to an elite

Looking for True Spirituality 3 Mind of Christ

Looking for True Spirituality 4 Getting to Know the Mind of Christ

Looking for True Spirituality 5 Fruitage of the Spirit

Fruits of the spirit will prevent you from being either inactive or unfruitful

Next: Looking for True Spirituality 7 Preaching of the Good News

Dutch version of this article / De Nederlandse versie van dit artikel:

Op zoek naar spiritualiteit 6 Spiritualiteit en gebed

Additional reading:

+++

Honesty in prayer (Pinocchio had an advantage) (lifeonthefrontporch.wordpress.com)
I can tell lies and get away with it or not even know it. In the same way I can pray with great sincerity but not be honest with God.
+
Other times in prayer, I limit God because I only believe half the truth. It’s time to become fully honest, and become more effective in my prayer
Morning Prayer 12.28.13: The Holy Innocents (dailyoffice.org)
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
June 17 – My God Still Answers Prayers (phidevotion.wordpress.com)
Every event that happens in the scripture was because of intensive prayer. Prayer is one of the most important avenues to experience spirituality. When you pray carnality dies. Our answers are tied to bearing fruits. God cares for every fruitful believer. Love God and prove the sincerity of your love by doing what He commands. Through Him we both have access by one Spirit the Father (Eph. 2:18), those who come to God encounter no “KEEP OUT” signs.
Bible Study on Importunate Prayer (christianresourceministry.com)
Jesus says that if an unjust judge gives in because of persistence how much more so will God bring about justice for us, especially for those who persist day and night.
+
Christ is praying in the garden so fervently that His sweat was like drops of blood. This is a wrestle of strength to believe by faith. This is not a prayer life that only half believes, but one that consumes the will and emotions.
Day 2 – The Unimaginable (believe2day.com)
God has already deposited the necessary power within you for God-sized dreams, it simply needs to be released.
+
But, in order for the unimaginable to manifest, we need to let God erase the negative affects of our past in order to release brand new realities into our future. The past must be forgiven and left behind in order to make room for tomorrow’s dreams.
Luke 22 (zachscripturestudy.com)
Jesus finishes praying and finds His Apostles sleeping, when they were supposed to keep lookout. Jesus tells them that they will need to pray,
“555 Days of Prayer to Save America” Planners Say “We Seek a God-Fearing Nation and World” (prweb.com)
“We have a society that is ruled by a shadow power. It pits rich against poor, women against men, young against old, races against each other, different sexual preferences against each other. Wow, we sure are against each other, and we haven’t been united, truly, since the terror attacks of 911,” said Berry.

“I believe that the power keeps us undereducated and misinformed, for the sake of control. That power has set itself up against God, Almighty, for the sake of unrestrained power itself.
No More Time to Pray (phenum01.com)
We must study all the teachings and examples of the Lord. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus was facing the most difficult experience of His walk on planet Earth. He prayed passionately, entreating the heavenly Father three times to change the circumstances that were before Him. Not six. Not twelve. Three (Matthew 26:36-46).
Prayer – Wisdom protects the promise (afruitinseason.wordpress.com)
God is generous and loving, wanting to shower you with intelligent blessings. Once the wisdom is in place we are safe to receive the measure of “Shalom” appropriate for our growth and personal situation. Wisdom adds, like sonship, the necessary component of discipleship. The promise says “Yes.”
On the Rosary and the Queen of Heaven as the spirit over Catholicism (examiner.com)
The Rosary is repetitive and so causes a “trance-like state” but one whereby a person is not better suited for prayer or Biblical “meditation” (which is contemplating YHVH and His word) but New Age, mystical meditation which is emptying one’s mind, one’s self so that someone or, rather, something else can take over.

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Tag Archives: Praying to God

People Seeking for God 1 Looking for answers

People with many questions on their mind

Words in a book, given to man

Looking for answers on many questions

Turning our ear to the right direction

Please also find to read:

Looking for True Spirituality 6 Spirituality and Prayer

Additional reading:

People with many questions on their mind

Words in a book, given to man

Looking for answers on many questions

Turning our ear to the right direction

Please also find to read:

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