Christmas To Do-ers List, Day 5: Seek Him

Christmas To Do-ers List

Day 5: Seek Him

“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”
Says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:1

O come, O come, Emmanuel.

Come Emmanuel, to our homes, to our workplaces, and to our churches. Come Emmanuel to our prisons, hospitals, schools, nursing homes, slums, street corners, and to our hearts. God promises when we seek Him, He will come.

.

Seek.

To seek. In the Ancient Hebrew, baqash, means “to seek, require, desire, exact, request.” Do we seek God in everything we do, every place we go, in every decision we make? Do we require His presence in order to do life or do we trudge along without Him?

Seek Him.

Baqash also means “to search for as by touching.” When do we search by touch? When we can’t see. Tripping through the darkness with hands outstretched to protect ourselves and find our way. Stumbling because we are blinded by the darkness of our own sin and frailty. Grappling in the shadow of our guilt, hands reaching through the blackness until we grasp the One we seek, the One we long for. Jesus. Our Emmanuel.

Seek the face of God.

As traditions states, the Wise Men sought His face, wet with sweat and blood at the manger. We seek His face, wet with sweat and blood at the foot of the cross. So begins our journey with God, a lifetime of searching, seeking and finding as Jesus reveals Himself to those who seek Him.

Seek the face of God this Christmas.

Most significantly, baqash translates “to seek specifically in worship or prayer.” The keys to finding Jesus this Christmas: prayer and worship. In the midst of the merry making, the caroling, the tree and the stockings, remember the reason we’re celebrating: Jesus

We don’t need more Christmas spirit, but Holy Spirit.

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Seek His word, His will, His wisdom, His presence, seek Him through prayer and worship.

Seek Him.

Action Points:

In order to seek Jesus, we must think of places where He may be found. List a few places or activities in which you can meet with Jesus. Pick one to do today.
Jesus can always be found when we seek Him in His Word. Play the beautiful Christmas music embedded below, get your Bible and read Luke 2. Write down what God speaks to your heart as your seek Him.
Seek Jesus while enjoying His creation. Unplug. Leave the phone at home and just listen to Him.

How will you seek Jesus today? Please comment below.

Be a doer of the word!

Short & Sweet: Worry or Seek? by Mary Kane

Nourishment and refreshment for the soul.

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6: 31-33

In the verse above, we are given two directives–do not worry and seek first. In the original Greek, worry descends from the Greek root word meros. Meros and its derivatives mean, “to be anxious, to care, to promote one’s own interests, to be cut into pieces.” Worry diverts our focus to the future so we miss life in the present. Worry also contaminates every other facet of life; cutting out our joy and stealing our peace. Thankfully, God gives us an alternative to worry.

Seeking. Seeking His kingdom.

What thoughts come to mind when you think of the word seek? Looking … searching … finding. The previous words make up a small part of the Greek definition of seek. Interestingly, zeteo, the Greek word for seek means, “to seek i.e. require, to enquire into, demand, to to seek [in order to find out] by thinking, meditating, reasoning.” Seeking and worrying have a point of commonality; they both occupy the mind.

We have a two choices: We can be consumed by worry or be consumed with God. Which will you choose? You better think about it.

Action Points:

1. According to our verse, what causes worry?

2. What do you tend to worry about? Replace worry with consistent continuous prayer.

3. Is worry getting in the way of your relationship with God?

4. What does a God-seeking life look like?

5. How can you become a God seeker?

Life is sweet.

Lent Week 3 Seeking God

Have you ever lost something of value that you would have given anything to find? One day my 3-year-old son and I were shopping in a department store. I was pawing through the sales racks looking for bargains, and I turned around to say something to him only to see empty space. In a panic, I called his name and looked up and down the aisles all around us trying to find him. He was nowhere to be seen. I was about to call in store reinforcements for help when I heard a giggle and a voice say, “Here I am, Mommy!” He had crawled into the middle of a clothes rack to play hide and seek. Although he had only been missing for a few minutes, I was weak with relief when I pulled him into my arms.

As I think about this week’s focus for Lent, I wonder am I this desperate when I am seeking God? Am I pursuing Him with the same intensity that I had when I was looking for my son?

I don’t know that I am, but I think I need to step it up a notch.

According to the Blue Letter Bible, the Greek word for seek is zeteo, and it means all of the following:

to seek in order to find
to seek [in order to find out] by thinking, meditating, reasoning, to enquire into
to crave, demand something from someone

As I look at these meanings, the word crave resonates with me, seems to go hand-in-hand with seek. When I’m craving a piece of chocolate, it’s on my brain constantly until I fulfill that craving by popping a velvety piece into my mouth. I can’t stop thinking about it, and I seem to see chocolate or smell it wherever I go. That’s how I should be craving God everyday. I need to have Him on my heart constantly, see Him wherever I go, catch his scent on the breeze. Whether I’m at work, at home, or out and about, I can think about Him, meditate on Him, read His word, and pray. But the one difference is I don’t just want to satisfy my craving, I want to feed it.

For this week of Lent, let’s work on seeking God and indulging our cravings for Him. Unlike chocolate, He’s not fattening, so we can have as much as we want.

Share some ways you will be seeking Him this week and pray on!

(Here are the other posts in this series: Self-Denial, Repentance and Examen)

Walking with God: A Study on the Book of Ruth, Day Twelve by Mary Kane

In order to have a meaningful life, people often seek after purpose, fame, or fortune. What are you seeking? God’s Word teaches us that we need to seek only one thing: Him. To do today’s study, please click on the link: Walking with God: Day Twelve

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