Ex 6:7
7 ‘I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. NKJV
- Rev 21:3; This seems to simply be God’s goal from Gen- Rev. This is what he is looking for. He wants us to be his people and for us to recognize Him as God. God wants a relationship. God, help me to live in your kingdom now (by recognizing you as Lord and living for you). Help me to stand apart as yours, recognizing you as Lord.
Gen 13:8
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. NKJV
- Abraham didn’t want to live in strife. He wasn’t just looking to be right; he was looking to stop the arguing. I think I need to remember that. I like to be right too much I think. It is nice to be right, but it isn’t worth ruining a relationship to be right about everything. Gen 16:5
- Ps 133:1; Acts 1:14; God’s blessing comes where there is unity, not where there is strife.
Rom 12:1
12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. NIV
- Reasonable act of worship NKJV
- 1 peter 4:1
- To be a living sacrifice means it will be constant work. It means constantly choosing to lay yourself down. It is such a bummer that you can’t just make the decision once and have it stick without any more work. I suppose in all the areas that I have made dumb choices, I am glad for a chance to choose again. I guess the fun of free will is that I constantly get to choose. It is part of what makes a relationship so great, is that constant choosing to be in relationship. God, help me to choose to put you first every day in all of my choices.
Col 2:20
20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations — NKJV
-Our focus needs to be on God. When we chase after God and get closer to Him, the less room we have for sin . When we just promote law and try to make everything perfect apart from Him, then we doing things of our own strength. Even when we do something good, often our mindset is about us, not about Him, so it doesn’t bring us any closer to God.
1 Kings 11:9
And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice ESV
- First, note that he turned away. Just because you were right with God doesn’t mean you can never turn away. Matt 24:12; Rev 3:5;
Solomon had seen God apprear twice and had been warned by God, yet still he turned away. Yesterdays encounters with God no matter how great can not sustain you today. A great meal no matter how good won’t sustain you for years to come. You need to keep seeking God. If you let compromise in, your closeness with God will begin to fade away. 1 Cor 16:13; Rev 2:5
Col 2:7
7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. ESV
- We have to be rooted. So many people are just placed; they are just sitting in the church with out their own faith. They may be sitting on the church or on a leader but if that one thing falls or they get cut off from it they die, at least their Christianity does. In John 15:5 Jesus tells us that he is the vine and we are the branches. If we are to have a life we must stay connected and rooted to him, not a leader or church. The Israelites tried that. Ex 20:19 they asked Moses to talk to God on their behalf. When Moses left the camp they soon forgot the Lord. I don’t want my faith in God to be based on a person or a congregation of believers, I want a deep relationship with the Lord God almighty that can not be shaken.
