Seek His Face

I was going to share some of these same concepts, especially about the Lord's inexpressible desire to commune with us in the secret place of prayer.  But then I listened to this video.  Mr. Wilkerson shares from his heart a message on earnest and desperate prayer.  The power of his words is so much greater than anything I could ever say.  Listen, not halfheartedly, but in order to be changed.  His words can challenge and inspire you; if you will allow them.

You were God's delight from before the world was created. He look forward to and longed for that time with you.  Will we now deny Him that very thing that He soul has cried out for eons before the world was created?  Will we turn our face from the One who has given His all that He might know us and pour out His love on us?  He has so many things that He longs reveal Himself to us, but He will not abide in a temple that rejects Him.  Who are we, to reject the Holy One?

O Lord, Jesus, keep us broken. May we never become lazy or lose our passion for You.  Let us tremble before You, Lord. Let us seek Your face with everything we have, and may we find You here.  We pour out our lives before You as a fragrant offering of oil on your feet. You delighted in us from the creation of the universe; here we are--we are Yours.

When You said, “Seek My face,”My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” ~Psalm 27:8

"No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you." ~John 15:15-16

Wait Upon the Lord

One evening this week I was feeling particularly discouraged and bound to the sin of this world.  I felt unable to abide in His presence and truly worship Him.  I was desperate that I might dwell in the presence of the Lord--free from the curses that ensnared me.

And I knew that only Jesus Christ could free me from the wrong attitudes I was dealing with.  So I told my family good night and crept into my prayer closet.  There I poured out my heart before the Lord.  I wept at my sin and pleaded for mercy.

Then I paused for a moment.  I will have to admit that my mind wandered for a bit.  I was thinking about someone and how ungrateful I was for their behavior.  Then suddenly (in my mind's eye--or in this case, ear), with anger boiling over from previously placid lips that one said, "Do you not care? Do you not see that I am doing this for you?  Do you not understand how much it huts me but how much I am doing this because I love you?"

Then I knew.  The realization washed over me in a second.

God loved me this way too.

He was at work when all I could see where tatters and mismatched colors, He was weaving together a masterpiece.

I had been crying out to Him as if He did not hear; as if He was not already working.  I had forgotten in my tears that He is the gentle Shepherd and is leading me and filling me with Himself.  My prayers flowed from a belief that He could work and would work, but I disbelieved that He was already at work.

I had been wrong; very wrong.  But He was so merciful.

Before He whispered into my heart, I told the Lord that I would wrestle with Him until He blessed me, but now i saw how wrong I had been.  When I remembered Who He already was and what He was already doing, I was filled with the peace of His presence and the love of His countenance.  The struggle in my heart subsided and was filled with a supernatural peace.

What I had failed to do in that time was wait.  I became inpatient and lost sight of Who He was.  My eyes were turned downward to my own problems instead of upward to Him.  

But when I took the time to wait upon the Lord (after He showed me that He was indeed working), He strengthened my heart.  He comforted me and filled me with a supernatural peace.

All I need to do was wait.  And trust.

When we pray, we must remember to Whom we pray.  We cry out to the Lover of our Souls, the Merciful God, the Prince of Peace, the Good Shepherd.  He is for us, not against us. He longs to purify us to Himself as a pure bride.  But we must wait.  We must throw ourselves upon His alter and allow Him to (in His time) carve away all the impurities and chains of our lives.

Let us not cease to pray.  But let us pray with hope.  Let us wait upon the Lord through prayer by the power of the Holy Spirit.  And daily let us cry, "Lord, teach me to pray."  For we do not know how to pray as we ought.  But He is a faithful Teacher and will not leave our side for a moment.

Before He whispered into my heart, I felt all alone.  I did not remember to wait on the Lord, but rather trusted His presence and His love. But quietly He revealed to me that He did love me. He did care for me.  And He was working in my life.  And He is working in yours as well. Wait on the Lord, my friends.

"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!" ~Psalm 27:13-14

Revival Born in Prayer

There's [an] experience Duncan Campbell told about when he was working in Scotland.

"I couldn't preach," he said. "I couldn't get through to God. The heavens were solid. It was as though there was a 10 ft. ceiling of steel." So he quit trying to preach. He asked a young man named John Cameron to pray. The boy stood up and said, "What's the use of praying if we're not right with God?" He quoted the 24th Psalm, "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?"

You can't approach God unless your hands are clean, which means your relationships with others are clean and your heart is clean. "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and a pure heart..." (Psalm 24.3-4).

After the boy recited Psalm 24 he began to pray. He prayed 10, 15, 20 minutes. Then he suddenly said, "Excuse me, Lord, while I resist the devil." He turned around and began to tell the devil where to go and how to get there. He fought for all he was worth. You talk about having on the armor of God and resisting the devil! When he finished resisting the devil, he finished his prayer. He prayed for 45 minutes! When he finished praying it was just as though God had pulled a little switch in heaven. The Spirit of God came down on that church, that community, on the dance hall at the other end of town, and the tavern on this end of town. Revival was born in that prayer!

At the end of Malachi it says, "And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly (that's the word I like, suddenly) come to his temple" (Malachi 3:1). Remember what it says about the shepherds? They were watching their flocks by night when suddenly there was the sound of the heavenly host. Do you remember a bunch of men that had been waiting in the upper room? Suddenly the Holy Spirit came on them in that room.

The above story is written by Leonard Ravenhill

Are we willing to get on our knees and pray for revival in this land? Will we be like this boy and spend time before the throne-room--pleading with the Father? Will we fight though prayer that the kingdom of God might be victorious?  Will we ascend the holy hill of the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart?

Earnest and Desperate Praying

 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,

‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’

And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying,

‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

~Luke 8:10-14

Which of these two, do you think, prayed earnestly?  Which one was sincere in their prayers?  The tax collector was willing to humble himself to seek the face of God.  He needed God's helps so much that he was willing to beat his breast in public humiliation.  Are you and I willing to do that?

Are we desperate for God?

Do we want more of His Spirit so much that we would do whatever it takes (even fasting for three days, or praying all night) to receive His power?  If we don't, then we have not fully comprehended the weakness of our own flesh.

You see, before we can be desperate for more of God, we must thoroughly hate ourselves.  Our flesh. Our sin.  We must despise everything about ourselves so that we might learn to pray with a complete desperation--knowing that if God does not answer our prayers, we will not survive--for indeed, we cannot survive without Him.

Leonard Ravenhill says this: "Your prayer life denotes how much you depend on your own ability, and how much you really believe in your heart when you sing, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling...." The more self- confidence you have, the less you pray. The less self-confidence you have, the more you have to pray."

"...The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." ~James 5:16

Did you see that? Our prayers have power, but they must be fervent. We must be desperate for God's grace.  This is not being desperate that I would get a good score on my essay--this is desperate for lost souls.  Desperate for revival. Desperate for an outpouring of His Spirit.  

We need Him!  We must demonstrate that through the fervency of our prayers.

God longs to pour out the abundance of His blessings upon us. But He wants to see that we really want them. He is testing the fervency of our requests.  He may wait even after we have begun praying to see how desperate we are for more of Him.  That is why we must "continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving" (Colossians 4:2).

When we we continue in prayer, He will hear us.  When we continue earnestly in prayer, then the Lord will pour out His blessings upon us.  But first, we must be desperate.  What are you willing to sacrifice for more of Him?  Will you spend 30-60 minutes each day on your knees begging for an anointing of His power?  It will come, but first, we must pray with earnestness--crying out with everything we have.  Let us wrestle in prayer as Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord--refusing to let go until we have been anointed with His Holy Spirit.

Let us pray earnestly and desperately my friends, and we will see revival come to our hearts and to this land!

The Secret behind Great Christian Men

All throughout history, famous men and women who began and fueled revivals, men who did amazing things for the Lord, people who we know consider great men and women of the faith, all have one thing in common: their prayer lives.

Their prayer lives were the power behind the amazing things these Christian heroes did.

As Christians, we admire these men.  Men like Hudson Taylor, John Wesley, George Muller, and Jim Elliot.  Some of us long to be like them. But we consider it absolutely impossible. Who are we?  Can I tell you a secret?

These were ordinary men--just like you and I.

There was nothing special about their lives--their strengths. They had weaknesses, just like you do. And if we could ask them, I bet every single one of them would tell you that they DIDN'T feel qualified for the position that the Lord asked them to fill.  But they did it, and made an indelible impact on Christian history.

So what was the secret of their great strength?  Prayer.

James Duncan, preaching with great power, was asked what was the secret of such powerful preaching. “The secret,” he said, was “thirteen hours of consecutive prayer.”

When asked the secret of his spiritual power, Charles Spurgeon said: “Knee work! Knee work!” 1

John Wesley spent two hours daily in prayer, and often noted, "God does nothing except in response to believing prayer."

Martin Luther said, "If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer." 2

The secret of their ministries was the level of their prayer.  I  can testify to this in my own life. Although I am nowhere near the level of George Muller, nor do I spend two hours in prayer (which I should), I have found that the more I pray, the more I am able to follow after the heart of Christ in my own life and am able to better encourage others with the words of Christ.

But what about you and I?  Do we get up at 5 in the morning and spend 2-3 hours in prayer?

I know this may sound scary for some, but remember, if we want to grow closer to Christ and influence our generation, we must pray.

But don't force your body to start praying two hours when you've only been praying for five minutes.  Take it slowly.  I challenge you:

Double the amount of time each day that you pray.

If you set aside fifteen minutes, make it 30.  If 39 minutes, then an hour.  If and hour, double it to two hours.

Trust me, it will not be easy, but it will be worth every minute of it. If we want to become more like our gracious King, we must, must pray.

"All good is born in prayer, and all good springs from it."  ~C. H. Spurgeon

_____

1. https://bible.org/illustration/prayer-lives-famous-men

2. https://bible.org/illustration/prayer-lives-famous-men

Be Still and Know

"Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!"

~Psalm 46:10

What are you facing today, my friend? Is there a load you are carrying on your shoulders that is simply dragging you down? Are you discouraged by the sin in your own life or in the world?  Have you been rushing about your day without stopping to think?

Stop.

Think for a moment.  In the business of our days, have we forgotten to be still?  To take the time simply to be quiet before the Lord.  And to remember Who He is?

Think about Him now.

Close your eyes.  Allow the things of this world to become foggy and fade away.  Travel, with your mind's eye, to the throne-room of the Almighty.  He is on His throne, high and lifted up. The train of His robe fills the temple (Isaiah 6:1-2).

And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

“Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!”

Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

"You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they exist and were created.”

~Revelation 4:3-11

This is your God. 

This is the One Who is over the heavens and the earth. And He is over your life!  He is mighty, holy, powerful, all-knowing.  This is your God!

Be still.  Close your eyes, and imagine yourself before the throne-room that has just been described in Revelation chapter 4.  Picture God, in all His glory and splendor, sitting high upon the throne.

And then, picture yourself.  Dirty, ragged, small, unimportant.  Doesn't that put things back into perspective a little bit?

Who are we, that we spend our lives consumed with ourselves, when an awesome and all-powerful God rules on the throne!  Do we ever stop to consider Who we are directing our prayers towards?  The Almighty Maker of the universe!

Be still, and know that He is God.

Before you get out of bed in the morning, be still and know that He is God.  Before you offer your morning prayers, be still and know that He is God.  Before each meal's hurried and thoughtless prayer, be still and know that He is God.  Before you jump into an activity, be still and know that He is God.  When you face a trail or are tempted to doubt, be still and know that He is God.  He will be exalted above the nations; He will be exalted in the earth!

Scripture Meditation--Allowing God to Work

“Your motivation or the lack of it will determine whether you undertake meditation as the lifelong adventure King David knew it to be. The critical issue in meditation is not time, but love. … He [David] knew how utterly valuable God’s precepts were, and as a result was willing to pay any price to make them a part of his heart.

Why was David so passionate about God’s Word? He knew that meditation was the means of addressing the deepest needs he possessed. That is what makes the practice so critical. That is why David’s heart broke with longing for God’s commandments, and why he pleaded with God to teach him the Word! Meditation remains God’s chosen method of meeting the cravings of our hearts.” 

“Martin Luther, one of the pivotal figures of church history, gave detailed instructions on how to meditate…‘You should meditate not only in your heart, but also externally, by actually repeating and comparing oral speech and literal words of the book, reading and rereading them with diligent attention and reflection, so you may see what the Holy Spirit means by them.’ ”

“Remember as you become involved in the process that meditation isn’t supposed to yield remarkable insights and dramatic changes every day. In many respects, its most important consequences happen so slowly that we don’t see them at all for a while. You do the reflecting, and let God’s Spirit do the inner reworking in your heart. That is His specialty. Take time to be holy.”

~Doug McIntosh

Take It to the Lord in Prayer

Although you may be very familiar with this song, force yourself to slow down and read the words out loud so that you might grasp their full meaning.

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged—

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful,

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness;

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,

Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our refuge—

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?

Take it to the Lord in prayer!

In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,

Thou wilt find a solace there.

So often we take burdens upon ourselves that we cannot bear.  We are encumbered about with weights that keep us from running this race as we ought. Oh, some are good things--great things even--but they hinder us, they discourage us, they trouble us.  There are those burdens that come in the forms of trails and tribulations.  Friends despising and forsaking us.  Any sort of trial.  But it drags us down into the pit of discouragement.

This was not how the Christian life was meant to me. We weren't meant to be burned by the cares of this world or even by the commands of Christ. They were not meant to be burdensome.

We must run to Christ.

Lay our burdens down at the precious feet of Jesus. He is our refuge.  He will, in His arms, shield us from the influences of the world. He will give us grace for the things He has asked us to do.

He will grant us a peace that surpasses all understanding.

But we must come to Him in prayer.

We must ask Him for it.  James 4:3 says, "Yet you do not have because you do not ask."

What burden are you carrying?  

Why haven't you taken it to the throne of grace and laid it at His feet? He is willing to carry it, but because He loves you, He won't (in most circumstances) take it from you forcefully.  

Take Israel for example.    

"To whom He said, “This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest,”  And, “This is the refreshing”;

Yet they would not hear" (Isaiah 28:12).

Will you come to Him? Will  you bring your burden before Him and rest in His presence. You must offer that which encumbers you freely to Him. Let us not become discouraged, but run to the Lord in prayer.  Let us invite Him to work in our lives.  And He will, my friend, He will.

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

When God Waits

Therefore the sisters [Martha and Mary] sent to Him [Jesus], saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love [Lazarus] is sick.”

When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. ~John 11:3-6

In this story of Lazarus' resurrection, we see two sisters crying out to their Lord to help them.  They recognize that Jesus is the only one who can truly save them.  And they turn to Him.

So they brought the problem before Him, and what does He do?  He waits.  He does absolutely nothing.  Yet.

If you were Mary and Martha, what would you be thinking during this time?  Why isn't He here? Does He not love us?  Does He not love our brother?

But yet, Jesus did still love them.  In fact, it was His love for them that kept Him back.  That word "so," means "because of this; and for this reason, etc."  His love for them compelled Him to delay His journey for two days.

This time, Jesus waited until the situation was beyond hope.  Lazarus was dead.  As dead as dead can be.  There was nothing more that could be done--you can't heal a dead man.  And then Jesus shows up.

And what does He do?  In this time of complete despair and desperation, with not an ounce of hope left, He appears.  And He brings life.  He does the impossible.  

He raises Lazarus from the dead.

Why did Jesus wait until the situation was beyond hope?  Verse 4 gives the answer:  “He said, 'This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.'”  Why did He wait?  So that He might be glorified!  Why did He wish to be glorified?  So that they might believe.  John 11:41-42 says this, "And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, 'Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.'"

He waited so that He might be glorified and they might believe.

Like the story of Lazarus, the Lord often sees fit to wait on giving an answer to some of the prayers  in our own lives.  This is not because He is mean or because He does not love us; on the contrary, it is because He loves us that He seems to remain silent.  He has something so much better in store!  It is God's deep desire that we might be pure and holy, set-apart for Him. He will use things that seem "bad" to us to bring about His good. He uses times of desperate and hopelessness--at least hopeless from our perspectives--so that He might show Himself glorious and powerful; the One who alone deserves the praise and glory.

Remember that this story was written in the Scriptures so that we might have hope.  Romans 15:4 says, "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope."

Take hope, and believe, my friends.

Although God may seem as if He is silent in answering your prayers He is at work.  If He denies you something, even to the point of seeming hopelessness (Like Lazarus), remember that He has something better in mind.  He has a plan.  He is working for your good-because He loves you!

Trust in Him my friends; and keep on praying.    He is working out something for your good, that you might see His awesome power and believe--just as the Jews saw the awesome power of Jesus and some believed (John 11:45).  Take heart!

Lessons from Jesus on Thanksgiving

"Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said,

'Father, I thank You 

that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.'” ~John 11:41-42

Jesus is in the middle of raising a dead man from the dead.  He has just asked the stone to be removed.  And He pauses.  By now the stench has undoubtedly reached nearby noses, but yet He pauses.  Everyone is anxiously awaiting His next move, yet He does nothing.  He looks up and says, "Father, I thank You."  For what?  Jesus hadn't even done anything yet!  "I thank You that the stone is rolled away"?  "I thank You that this man whom I love has died"?  That's not what Jesus says though.  He opens His mouth and says, 

"Father, I thank You that you have heard Me."

But, Lazarus is still just as dead as he was a few moments before?  It seems to me that Jesus is thanking the Father for something that we haven't seen the visible fruits of yet...  He recognizes that the Father has heard Him even though nothing has been done yet.  But He says "Thank You."

Since all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, there is a reason these two verses are included.  They were meant to give an example to us, that we might have the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5) and walk in His steps.

What we Learn:

1. Thanksgiving should be a big part of our lives.  By pausing in the middle of what He was doing to give thanks, Jesus left us an example, that we might do the same.  Ephesians 5:20 says, "giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."  Do we?  Is thanksgiving a big part of our life? Is it the main part of our life? Is it done always and in all circumstances?

2. What is the purpose of thanksgiving?  Jesus shares one of them here when He says, "And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this that they may believe that You sent Me."  He acknowledged God's character through thanksgiving so that those around Him would have a reason to believe.  Since we are weak and imperfect beings (unlike Jesus), I would add that thanksgiving also helps us believe.  I have noticed many times in my own life where if I pause and utter a simple "Thank You" when the Lord has shown His mercy and grace to me, I lay in bed at the end of the day and wonder at how amazingly faithful God was that day.  It wasn't that He did anything different from the other days, but simply that I took the time to acknowledge my thanksgiving made an imprint in my heart and mind that later led me to believe that Jesus is indeed Who He says He is.  Thanksgiving reminds us of Who He is.

3. Thanksgiving is giving glory to God. Jesus said earlier in the chapter that Lazarus' "sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4).  By pausing to give thanks, Jesus is saying that it is not merely He who will bring life out of death, but the Father Who is working through Him.  In the same way, by thanking the Lord out-loud for something that He really has done, we acknowledge that it is He Who has accomplished it in our lives.  We're giving the glory to Him (where it rightfully belongs).

4. We learn from Jesus' example that it is important to utter our thanksgivings out-loud as well as inside of our own hearts.  Why?
- So that others can hear and agree with us

- So that they can partake of the belief as well

- So that they may see Who Jesus is and give the glory to Him

5. The only purpose of this short prayer is to thank the Lord.  How often to we imitate this example and make our prayers simply about thanksgiving to the Lord.  We ask for so many things, but how often do we thank Him when He answers our prayers and showers His bountiful mercies upon us?

6. Like Jesus, let us just stop and say "Thank You."  Not a quick, hurried "thank You," as we rush on to the next activity, but like Jesus, let us pause, lift up our eyes and say, "Father, I thank You because..."

7.  Jesus paused and thanked His Father before He (the Son) took action.  So let us too thank Him in advance for what He will do.  That is trust.  That is placing our faith firmly upon the One Who is most worthy of it.  Jesus took the time to recognize that God was going to do something great.  So should we.  He believed; He had faith.

There are so many lesson about thanksgiving that we can learn from the life of Jesus.  But if we were to sum it all up, it would be in this statement: 

In everything give THANKS!

As 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, "in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  Since God's will is that we might believe in Him and that we might be drawn closer into a relationship with Him, we can know for sure that thanksgiving is not an empty, purposeless activity.  It serves a great purpose, both to bring glory to God and to transform our hearts.  Let us make it our constant practice, both in public and private--just like Jesus did.

Knowing God

“The difficulties of life do not have to be unbearable. It is the way we look at them - through faith or unbelief - that makes them seem so. We must be convinced that our Father is full of love for us and that He only permits trials to come our way for our own good.

Let us occupy ourselves entirely in knowing God. The more we know Him, the more we will desire to know Him. As love increases with knowledge, the more we know God, the more we will truly love Him. We will learn to love Him equally in times of distress or in times of great joy.” ~Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God

Do we devote ourselves entirely to knowing Him?