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Posts Tagged ‘earnestly’

Vital Step to a Radiant Faith-Intimacy with God

November 9th, 2023 No comments

JOHN SHIRK – In the Year to Shine, today’s Vital Step to a Radiant Faith is Intimacy with God.

James 4:8 invites us to a closer relationship with God.  “Come near to God and he will come near to you.” How would our lives look different if we accepted this invitation?

An intimate relationship with God means that we know Him personally. We are familiar with His ways and seek His will. The more we walk with Him, the better we understand His heart. We are moved by His unfailing love for us to live by faith in Him.

In the Old Testament, David yearned for an intimate relationship with God. He wrote in Psalm 63:1. “You, God, are my God. Earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you…”

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul expressed a similar yearning in Philippians 3:10, “I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings…..”

Intimacy with God is a vital step to a Radiant Faith that makes a difference in our world.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com

Relationship-Building Principle-An Earnest Search For God

January 29th, 2015 No comments

JOHN SHIRK – Today’s Relationship-Building Principle comes from Psalm 63, verses 1 through 3.

“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.”

This is a Psalm of David, whom God described as a man after His own heart. In times of emptiness, it is a human tendency to seek fulfillment in the things of this world. In our thirst, we reach for water, which satisfies our physical thirst for a period of time, until we get thirsty again. The things of this world may satisfy our longings briefly, but not forever. Jesus told the woman at the well, that there was water that could permanently satisfy the longings of her soul, and that water is His grace.

In times of emptiness, David would seek satisfaction in the love of God; God would be glorified in David’s life.

An earnest search for God with our soul is a vital relationship-building principle to take to heart in the Year of Connection.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com