e-votional
a message to encourage and uplift from College Heights Baptist Church
Friday, February 06, 2009
If you would like any of the previous e-votionals, just reply to this email and let me know. Likewise, if you would like to stop receiving them.
We are excited to be able to provide the first twenty-six e-votionals (including a gospel presentation) in a printed booklet. The booklet, entitled Tough Life-Big God, is now available. The cost is $2 per book. You can email us if you would like to reserve a copy (or copies), or just pick some up on whenever the church is open. Also, you can check out my blog at www.docdeer.wordpress.com. It has several posts each week designed to help us grow in our walk with Christ.
12 ’Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 ’You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 ’I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’ – Jeremiah 29:12-14 (NASB)
A few weeks ago, I was out of town. Because of my schedule and my location, I did not have full access to the internet. I couldn’t get on-line. I couldn’t check my email. I wasn’t able to update my Facebook status or post new articles on my blog. I was cut off. I’m sure I probably broke out in a cold sweat and had the shakes. I finally managed to find a McDonalds and get Wi-Fi. Whew!
It’s awful to feel like we are separated and cut off from someone. It’s like losing reception on a cell phone. You’re talking with someone and then it’s like you’re stuck in a bad Verizon commercial – “can you hear me now?!” You don’t hear them and you don’t know if they can hear you. God assures Jeremiah that when He brings His people home, He will have an intimate connection with them. They will call out to Him and He will respond to them. They will passionately seek Him, and He will bless their efforts.
Sometimes we get to the place where we don’t feel God is listening. We wonder if we have stepped into a spiritual “dead-zone” and have lost reception. If anything, Jeremiah reminds us of God’s desire to connect with us. God wants to communicate with us. He desires closeness with His children. We are usually the ones who drift away.
Jeremiah also gives us a clue as to how we can maintain intimacy with God. Did you notice what the Lord said about Judah’s quest? He said they would search for Him with all of their heart. They would have a renewed sense of spiritual passion. What so many of us need in our lives is a heartfelt desire to connect with our holy, righteous Heavenly Father. Not a casual relationship, but a deep intimate one.
This whole picture of separation and return is seen in the book of Deuteronomy. There it says, “And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples… But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them” (Deuteronomy 4:27-31, ESV)
We are reminded that we can indeed reconnect with God. We need to seek Him with a renewed sense of passion, and He in His mercy will respond to us and keep His word to us. He will renew our sense of intimacy with Him. We can experience His peace, power, and presence afresh in our lives. There is no need to be cut-off from God. He is in more places than McDonalds.
Pastor Darrell
