Do you have a quiet time with God? When?

seek His face

1. Do you have a quiet time with God? When?

2. Describe a time when you feel like God was using a circumstance to get your attention.

3. How can you help someone who may have trouble hearing God’s voice?

Read Hosea 5
Key Passage: …when they are hurting, they will seek my face early. -Hosea
5:15b

Israel was being judged in the book of Hosea. Sometimes it was very hard to get their attention (Hosea 5:1). We repeatedly read in scripture how God pleaded for them to listen to His voice. We see many times how they failed to heed God’s warnings and His commands. May we hear His voice when He wants our attention! May we not fail to seek His face before it is too late!

Application:
Let’s pray that we will seek His face in all areas of our lives. We do not want to wait until it is too late or until we have so fallen into a state of ultimate misery that a rescue seems impossible.
-A Winter's Path, L. Burch

Lesson I learned- "Face to Face"

How nice it is to have a heartfelt, sit-down conversation with your best friend! One day I will have a face to face talk with my Lord— my very best friend. Interestingly while writing this, I am singing a few lines from my daddy’s favorite song:

Face to face with my Christ my Savior,
Face to face, what will it be,…
Only faintly now I see Him,
With the darkening veil between,
But a blessed day is coming,
When His glory shall be seen (written by Mrs. Frank A Breck and composed by Grant Colfax Tullarin in 1898).

God sent messengers to the Biblical patriarchs like Moses and Abraham. These men even spoke to the Lord when he appeared, for example, in the burning bush. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have Him before me as they did and to talk to the Lord about anything. Then I recall the passage when Jesus appeared to the disciples after He rose from the grave. The disciples were in awe, because they had seen the Lord. Thomas was not with them however. Thomas wanted to touch Jesus’ wounds to know that He was alive. Jesus appeared a week later at the house and allowed Thomas to place his hands on Him. He believed after seeing Christ. The scripture tells us that we are blessed because we believe even when we have not seen Him (John 20: 24-31).

Many times over the past few months, I made requests after requests about some uncertainties. I felt the Lord encouraging me to wait on His answer and to trust in the fact that He is God. In other words, I was to listen for a time and stop worrying (Psalm 46:10). My natural reaction is to start asking questions, giving requests, probing for direction, etc. All of this is good, and actually the Lord wants to hear from us. I reminded myself to listen first. What a hard discipline to master! Four days ago I asked my prayer warriors to fervently pray with me that I would hear the Lord’s voice and know His plan concerning these matters. I studied in Amos 3 where God promises that He will not do anything unless He reveals it to the prophets.

Yesterday I opened the Bible to Psalm 50. As I read the first 13 verses, I was amazed at God’s mightiness and power. Verse seven states that He is my God. The passage then refers to His knowledge and how He created all things. Verse 15 encourages us to talk to Him when we are in trouble. We honor God when we share our desires with Him. His Word promises that He will rescue us.

I need to grow up and accept reality. We mature in stages both physically and spiritually. Babies start off with milk not steak. We are all familiar with the phrase: shag za shagom” (Russian for step-by-step). Jesus teaches me step-by-step. A baby satisfies herself with the taste of milk and enjoys it. When a child is ready, the parent gives her solid foods. She enjoys that, too. The fact is that I am to enjoy the day-by-day walk with God and trust Him with it all.

-The Chosen Path, 8-23-08, L. Burch