“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord…” Jeremiah 29:13-14a
Think of a time when you were around someone who intimidates you?
Can you think of a time you were around someone that you were afraid of?
What about a time when you were with someone you were in love with?
What were the differences in each of these situations?
What emotions would be felt in each encounter?
How would your behavior and responses be different based on your relationship with the person?
“Whatever comes to your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.”
A.W. Tozer
Sadly, in a lot of areas, we as believers, have an inaccurate view of who God is. We have reduced God to an idea of Him that we have formed by our perceptions and experiences. I heard a quote once along the lines of: if we as parents, parented the way we THINK God does, we would be arrested for child abuse. We feel like He is angry, mean, or demanding. That He is a punisher, couldn’t possibly love us, too busy or too big to care about the little things; that He has left us, doesn’t see us, is disappointed in us; or even just distant and far away.
But these things are contrary to what Scripture teaches. As Bill Johnson says, “God is in a good mood!” This small fact alone can shift our perspective.
It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that God feels absolute pleasure and delight in us, and that He is so eager for us to learn and discover more of Him, to get to know Him.
We don’t need a view of God based off of the perspectives, words or experiences of others — but a personal revelation through self discovery and encounter with Him directly.
“What would happen in your life if you actually began to believe that the God of all time and eternity wanted you to know Him?… Until you know God as He is you will never become all that He’s created you to be.”
Chip Ingram
Today, let’s focus on the goodness of God. What we focus on, we empower. As you go about your day at work, at home, posture your heart to see the goodness of God. His goodness, His love toward you, toward your circumstance, toward the moments of your day.
Let’s declare today that He is good, He is in our midst, He sings over you with joy and rejoices over you with shouts of joy! What if today, we focused on that… and tomorrow, we practice giving that away.
Oh my goodness! I SO needed this today! I started my devotions with this and it prepared my heart to be touched by the Holy Spirit. I am going to read this again aloud now!
I’m glad He spoke to you through it! Keep pressing into it and He will meet you there and reveal more of Himself!
Great post! I used to have a very distorted view of God for a long time. I used to think He was this mean bad guy looking for any reason to punish me. My life is so much different since I know God is good. It’s really important to have the right view of God!
Very true. His goodness is one of the most life changing aspects of His nature. But once we come to a place where we can see Him for who He is, our lives will never be the same!