Identity - Knowing God 5

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' Acts 17:24-28

Augustine so aptly stated about God, “Thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.”
We learned in our last post that God first seeks us, stimulating our appetite for Him. We then have a choice: resist Him or reap the rewards of diligently seeking him.

Scripture clearly personifies God as a loving Personality who dominates the Bible, walking among the trees of the garden and breathing fragrance over every scene. Always a living Person is present, speaking, pleading, loving, working, and manifesting Himself whenever and wherever His people have the receptivity necessary to receive His manifestation.
Though God is spirit, he is a personal being, and as such, fondness and enjoyment can be cultivated with Him as with any person.

A new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not only a book which was once written, but a book which is now speaking. God is not only speaking doctrine and theology but is communicating in the continuous present that He treasures intimacy with his children.

Do we cherish companionship with Him? A.W. Tozer said, “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in Him. Many earthly treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment of them will be so tempered that they will never be necessary to his happiness. Or, if he must see them go he will surely feel a sense of loss. But having the Source of all things in God, he has all satisfaction, all pleasure and all delight. Whatever he may lose he has actually lost nothing, for he now has it all in God and he has it purely, legitimately and forever.”

A front page photograph graced the American newspapers many years ago, picturing John-John Kennedy as a little boy playing under his father’s desk. Though his dad was the president of the United States and though the office was occupied that day by world-renown dignitaries, John-John had complete access to his father. A tug on his dad’s pant leg would have secured immediate attention.

How would you describe your “tug at His pant leg” relationship with God? How’s your confidence level in saying, “Abba Papa, I have a need. Thank you that you are going to supply, your way, your timing.”
More on Monday.