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What does it mean to seek God? How can we seek HIM?
I read my Bible and pray in the morning. Then during the day I pray to HIM when I am doing nothing or some thought comes to me. In my prayers I tell HIM that is in my heart. I ask things from HIM, yet tell HIM to let HIS will be done for me. Am I seeking HIM in the right way or pushing my envelop?
Sounds like you've got it pretty well covered. "Seeking" God basically just means finding ways to spend time with him, focusing on him, leaning on him. I'd say you're on the right track.
Triund - maybe my advice will seem a little startling to you but I hope you will consider what I am saying.
Look, I think reading the bible, praying, talking with God are all good things to do in of themselves... and we are encouraged to do those things. But I think they are to be done in the context of a much broader perspective on life. Let me explain.
First of all, religious practices like reading the bible, praying, etc. are things that people like the Pharisees did in Christ's day. But he was not impressed with them and he in fact opposed them because of their lack of genuine and authentic belief in God. So you see that a person can be very interested in religion but not grasp the real important issues of life, or God himself. Now, I'm not saying you are not authentic because you observe religious practices. But I am saying that just simply doing those things you described should not lead you to believe that your relationship with God is secure because you do those things. There's more to a life seeking God than that. I'll leave you with a couple of examples of what I mean from my own life.
I have been a Christian for about 9 years now. I started reading my bible every day and I felt guilty whenever I missed reading. I also thought that I needed to pray everyday and sometimes I struggled to think about things to pray about but in order to fulfill my religious duties, I just plowed through it, hoping whatever I prayed was met with God's approval. But after years and several challenging life experiences, my seeking God has become less about fulfilling daily rituals and more about trying to understand who God is and coming to terms with his ways. There have been times in my life (and in the lives of others I know) where praying to God was the last thing I wanted to do. Because God will put you through some really hard stuff; he will test you with things that will leave you bare and begging for mercy. And when you get to that place in life, only then will you know how serious you are about following God. So once you've crossed that bridge, you are not looking at prayer as something God expects you to do because he needs it from you.
Prayer is something that is more like a test of faith... if you continue to go to God in prayer and you have not given up, it means you are still hanging in there and persevering. Reading the bible is something you do to get a perspective on how other people through human history have interacted with God and vice versa. We get a picture of God and what his character is like and what it is he is up to in our lives. But sometimes getting that picture takes time and experience and sanctification…none of that is immediate; it takes our entire lives to work through the complexities of faith.
So, my advice to you in seeking God is the same advice I try to abide by in my own life. You have choices to make in daily life.
1. Take time to read the bible thoughtfully, not as a ritual. But don’t worry about whether you read it every day; just worry that when you do read it, you understand what you are reading. And when you don’t understand, talk to others that seem to understand. And if their understanding is lacking, don’t give up the pursuit of understanding. Trust your own rational mind.
2. Don’t’ be a religious lunatic if you can help it. I was a lunatic once and in some ways, I’m still in recovery. Be authentically Christian, not a religious person. Be someone who loves God and loves his neighbor as himself. I cannot stress that more. We can get so caught up in practicing religion and not interested in actually living our lives where the light God is cast upon others through our living. But I don’t mean shoving the bible down people’s throats.
3. Don’t think of prayer as a religious duty. Think of prayer as going to the only real person in life that can affect your life for good. God holds our ultimate blessing in his hand. Pray when you really need it, not when you don’t need it. [but that’s just me]
4. There’s a time for studying and then a time for not studying. Sometimes we have to take time to digest what we take in about God and try to make sense of what we have learned. God will present us with times in life where we are doing battle with our souls…striving to come to terms with our faith and wrestling with the implications of what we have decided to do in following God. Jesus confronted his disciples with the question: “will you leave, too?” Peter said, “Lord, you have the words of eternal life.” Where else are you going to go? Sometimes we would like to go elsewhere, but in the end, God is the only place to go. But it’s hard sometimes and that is the way it is.
5. If you are wondering if you are pushing your own envelope, try to understand what that even means. What are you trying to push, if that is what you are really doing? Nobody is able to really tell you whether you are pushing something on God but you. But if you truly have difficulty knowing your own heart on the matter, then pray for wisdom from God. I think he does give us wisdom when we ask for it because he has promised as much. Lastly, give yourself a break, man. We can be so hard on ourselves, needlessly. Self-reflection is a good thing and is extremely important. But we must allow ourselves some room to be human, too. If you are pushing your own envelope, just recognize that you are doing that and work through it... but if you are not, then try to push through those negative feelings, too.
In my opinion seeking God is all about understanding His word the Bible. And realizing that God is Holy, and that I and all of humanity are sinners. And that God has appointed a Day of Judgment which is now very near. The Bible gives evidence that day will be May 21, 2011. God's plan is to save a remnant of humanity, and to destroy all the rest. To me seeking God means to beg Him that I might be spared the horrors of the Day of Judgment, and trying to be as obedient as possible. It may be that Christ has paid for my sins, and that I therefore shall inherit everlasting life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadStrongBoy
Why May 21, 2011?
First God is not hiding, he is right there, the only seek we have to do is ask for him to be with us, After that he is right there.
After he is with us, we need to listen to his voice, and follow is word.
Christianity is a life style, not reading the bible, not praying, those are all great and that is just what we do when we are taking a break from our active lives as a Christian
Living our faith, helping others, being honest in our dealings with others, telling others about Christ,
We find God and Christ in our actions and in what we do for others.
Lol... yeah, that's what I was thinking.Quote:
Originally Posted by TUT317
You know, there is a long line of people that have come and gone, claiming to know the exact day and hour of God's return, only to be hopelessly wrong. The fact that this guy has the audacity to claim a date leaves absolutely not doubt in mind that he is a complete nut job... it was just a matter of time before that became crystal clear.
I agree. We seek God as we look into the faces of our fellow travelers in this life and find ways to be servants to them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck
There's some online "church" that's spreading that idea at the moment. Hopefully HSB was being facetious when he cited that date. If you want to check out their drivel, seeQuote:
Originally Posted by jakester
Home - eBible Fellowship
I haven't actually read any of it, as I'm too old for that nonsense.
Here's a video of 88 y/o Mr. Camping (for your viewing pleasure) --
YouTube - Harold Camping says Millions will die on May 21, 2011
Suckering me into watching that almost deserves a reddie :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Wondergirl
And I suppose now you're going to unfriend me on FB too.Quote:
Originally Posted by dwashbur
I must admit that I have been laboring under a mistaken assumption. I thought that Christianity was all about seeking God. Apparently it's much more about ridiculing what is not understood.
Where is there ridicule about what is not understood?Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadStrongBoy
God reveals His will in the Bible. And yet much of the Bible remains UNKNOWN to us. Shouldn't those facts tell us that something is profoundly amiss ?
What facts? Amiss about what? You're speaking in riddles.Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadStrongBoy
It is very interesting line and the date you shared. If that date has been decoded from the Bible, why did Jesus hid the true information about HIS second coming even from those who were with HIM at the time of Transfiguration?Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadStrongBoy
Thank you very much to you and Jake for the insight. I understand what I should be doing to seek HIM. I have come to realization that I have to live Jesus to win souls for HIM, though I can not do it by myself, I need Lord's help in this (John 6:44).Quote:
Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck
My main problem is still there. How do we listen to HIS voice and how do I know that a specific command is from Lord God and not my own thought or satan cooked something in my mind?
Jesus hid the true information about HIS second coming even from those who were with HIM at the time of Transfiguration because HE gave them the commission to "go into all the world and preach the gospel." They were not to be preoccupied with "the times and the seasons." Also in Daniel 12:4 God told Daniel that much knowledge in the Bible was to be "sealed" even "to the time of the end." That means God has a definite purpose and a definite time when much information that was previously unknowable WOULD BE made available. That time is now.
That is not what that means at all! Only the Father knows the time, and He's not telling.Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadStrongBoy
Mr. Camping was wrong back in the 1990s --
From religioustolerance.org:
1994-SEP: Harold Camping, president of Family Radio predicted on his radio programs that the end of the world would happen sometime between 1994-SEP-5 and SEP-27. He said that he did not know the precise day because Matthew 24:36 of the Christian Scriptures says that "no man knows the day nor the hour." He interpreted a reference in John 21:1-14 to the disciples being 200 cubits from the shore in the Sea of Galilee as meaning that there would be 2,000 years between the birth and the second coming of Jesus. He estimates that Jesus was born on 0007-OCT-4 BCE.
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