SEEKING THE LORD

“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart!” (Jer. 29:13 NKJV).

In context, our verse refers primarily to the end of the seventy years of Babylonian captivity for the Israelites (v. 4). It describes the practice and attitude of the people in regards to seeking the Lord. Thus we want to note the essentialness of seeking the Lord and the energy in seeking the Lord.

Essentialness of seeking the Lord – “You will seek Me, and find Me.” The seeking here speaks of seeking the Lord in prayer or through His Word. Further, it is not only seeking the Lord for help but also a seeking of the Lord in worship. Scripture elsewhere commands mankind to seek the Lord. Isa. 55:6 states: “Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.” Today, not many folk are seeking the Lord. In fact most folks do not want the Lord around. Instead, they are seeking the pleasures of the world. Yet, we must have the Lord if we are going to succeed in life. Thus it is absolutely essential that we seek God. We need to seek Him in worship, prayer and in Bible study.

Energy in seeking the Lord – “You will . . . find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Here we are told how to succeed in seeking the Lord. We must not ignore these instructions if we want spiritual success in our lives. The requirement to seek the Lord successfully is simply to do it with “all your heart.” There must be energy in our seeking God or we will not do well in this pursuit. Many folks complain that they do not enjoy great spiritual blessings. In their complaint they end up blaming the Lord. Yet, the reason they do not have great spiritual blessings is because they do not seek them earnestly. If we want a closer walk with God, if we want to know our Bible better and have a better prayer life, we need to expend real energy and effort. Diligence is required to possess great spiritual blessings.

(Adapted from Butler's Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest human achievement!”

Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430)

Theologian and Philosopher

Word Study

Divide

In Luke 12:13 we read, “Then one from the crowd said to Him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me” (NKJV).

Divide is the Greek word merizō (μερίζω = mer-id'-zo). It mean to separate, share, distribute, apportion. In classical Greek merizō the primary meaning to divide. A secondary meaning of merizō is to share something with someone, such as the distribution of the tithe of produce to the priests or the distribution of parental property to the children. In the Septuagint, merizō also means to divide, to distribute, and to apportion. In the New Testament, merizō also carries the idea of division, separation as well as a violent tearing apart.

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – Messiah would be resurrected by God (Isa. 55:3)

New Testament Fulfillment – Acts 13:34

Did You Know…

In the Bible it states that the Lord Jesus is, “the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).

Bible Quiz

What were the results of the 10 day dietary trial of Daniel and his friends?

**Answer to last week’s Bible Quiz: According to Colossians 3, why should a father not “provoke” his children? “Lest they become discouraged” (Col 3:21).

Names of the Lord Jesus Found in the Bible

“Man of Sorrows”

"He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him!” (Isa. 53:3 NKJV).

1. Meaning – The Lord Jesus bore our sorrows.

2. Insights – The Lord Jesus did not come to enjoy a life of happy kingship over the world. He came to carry the world’s sins and sorrows, that we might have eternal joy with Him and God the Father.

3. Related Titles – Servant (Isa. 42:1; 49:7; 52:13; Matt. 12:18-20).

Did You Know – Christian History

Jacob Daniel DeShazer was born November 15, 1912 in West Stayton, Oregon. Deshazer participated in the Doolittle Raid and later became a Christian missionary in Japan.

After hearing the news of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, DeShazer join a special unit that was formed to attack Japan. The unit soon acquired the name, “Doolittle’s Raiders,” after their famous commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle.

After bombing Nagoya, Japan, DeShazer and the rest of the B-25 crew were forced to parachute into enemy territory because their plane ran out of fuel. Injured during the fall, DeShazer along with the rest of his crew were captured the very next day by the Japanese. During his captivity, DeShazer was sent to Tokyo with other survivors. He was held in a series of P.O.W. camps in Japan as well as China for 40 months (34 of them in solitary confinement). While he was severely beaten and malnourished, three members of the crew were executed by a firing squad, and another died of slow starvation.

During his captivity, DeShazer persuaded one of his guards to loan him a Bible. Although he only had the Bible for three weeks, he read through it three times. He became a devout Christian, believing that the message of the Bible was the reason for his survival. Picking up a few words in Japanese, he began treating his captors with respect, which resulted in the guards also showing him respect. Eventually, DeShazer’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by Emperor Hirohito.

When the war ended on August 20, 1945, DeShazer and others from the camp in China were finally released when American soldiers parachuted into the camp. On his return to the United States, DeShazer was awarded both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart for his part in the Doolittle Raid. DeShazer then entered Seattle Pacific College, and Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, where he began studies to become a missionary. He eventually return to Japan with his wife, Florence, in 1948.

Interestingly enough, DeShazer, the Doolittle Raider who bombed Nagoya, Japan, met Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the attack on Pearl Harbor; they became close friends. Fuchida had become a Christian in 1950 after reading a tract written about DeShazer entitled, “I Was a Prisoner of Japan.” He then spent the rest of his life as a missionary in Asia and the United States. On occasion, DeShazer and Fuchida preached together as Christian missionaries in Japan. In 1959, DeShazer moved to Nagoya to establish a Christian church in the city he had bombed.

After years of love, trust and hard work, Florence and Jake retired to Salem, Oregon.

A Little Humor

A married couple was arguing about whose job it was to make the coffee. The wife declared that in the Bible it says that men should make the coffee and the husband asked her where it said that. The wife opened the Bible and said: “Right here in HEBREWS!”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“Worldly values are a poor investment - they never pay what they promise!”