What are godly ways to continue to seek God and keep God 1st?

Question

I love the Lord and have been a christian for over 21 years, I redeciated my life to the Lord 17 years ago.

I want to become more passionate about Jesus and I also want to have zeal and be enthuistaic about church not treat church as an option, but as a godly priority.

I have also had some circumstances that really hurt me and "cut me down to size" and for quite some time I was mad and angry at God.

What are godly ways to grow in God and continue to seek him 1st?

Please no sarcastic answers.

Answer 1

The Lord bless you, encourager.

Have been a Christian for 40 years and I don't know that there are any easy answers. I would say (and not sarcastically) that 17 years is a long time between rededications.

What I see in myself is a need to rededicate every day. There is too much clutter, too many diversions, too much temptation to go much longer than that without a conscious effort to focus on seeking the Lord and fulfilling His purpose.

Mostly, it seems to take discipline. Call it self-control; one of the fruit of the Spirit. Human emotions are so dependent on so many factors that you should expect to feel enthusiastic or zealous all the time. Godly disciplines like studying the Word (as well as just reading it) and prayer keep the channels open and the mind and spirit sensitive. Take every opportunity to be in Bible study and prayer with others. I know, sometimes it's a burden when you've got so many other things to do. But it's worth the effort and the juggling. The passion comes as you grow and become ever more dependent on your relationship with the Lord. Nothing new there, but it works.

I got a lot out of teaching Rick Warren's 'Purpose Driven Life'. There are any number of other resources out there. Check with your pastor and mature Christians, find out what they're reading and then camp out at your local Christian bookstore on payday.

Yeah, I've been 'cut down to size' a couple times myself. Personal attacks are never easy to take, though sometimes they aren't entirely unwarranted. Exhortation is a difficult art and often practiced by people without a gift for it. As to being angry with God, don't worry about it. Job was too. The Lord can handle it.

The thing that seems to help me most is using my gifts. Teaching and preaching and performing Christian music give me definite goals in seeking the Lord and an outlet for what I receive from Him. Leadership within the church (though I really don't like committee meetings per se) is another thing that compels me to seek God as I see how very little I bring to the table myself.

If I have a guiding principle, it's Ecclesiates 9:10a: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might..." My experience has been that, if you step up when God puts some opportunity in front of you, even if -- especially if -- it's outside the comfort zone of what you're used to doing, what you feel 'qualified' to do, it's invariably a growth experience. All I ever wanted to do was play my music and preach a bit. I never asked to be a youth leader or have an official position in the church. That's just what the Lord handed me and it's been a blessing. Even the hard parts.

Speaking of hard parts, I'd have to say that adversity accelerates growth. I don't mean you should go looking for it, but... a couple of injuries and lifelong trouble with my eyes force me to seek God for strength every day. When my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, that put my faith to the test and it came out stronger as a result. I wouldn't wish adversity on you, but when it comes, take it as from the Lord and find what He's put in it for you.

You have the right heart. You're going on my prayer list.

Answer 2

All I can truly say is just keep him in your heart and make good everyday choices. God knows when your being good for the sake of being and wanting to be a good person. There are so many people out there who have rejected him because they never got everything they wanted and well HELLO God does NOT work that way. He didn't give you an easy life all the way so you could just never appreciate anything.
Your a good person and the Lord knows it. Nothing much to it.

Answer 3

Pray without ceasing and read God's word every chance you get. Study it, memorize it, hide it in your heart that you might not sin against Him. Stay in church. Spend time with fellow believers and get involved in the church. Whether it be keeping the nursery, or teaching Sunday School, or driving the church van. Whatever you do, do it to the glory of God. Make God a part of your life everyday. Involve Him in every place you go, every word you say, every decision you make, everything you do. I know what you are going through because I am in a similar place and what I am telling you to do is what I am trying to do and it is working. I feel like I grow closer to the Lord every day. Good luck, my friend, and God bless you.

Answer 4

Remember that their are evil forces out there trying to destroy your faith and make you (us all) question and leave our faith in God - God knows where you are and sees you and hears your hart - trust in God and do the very best you can until something better than that "perfect" job comes around - definitely put your hope and faith in Jesus - He loves you more than you will ever know. Maybe God is helping you in this situation to understand Him better and have a closer relationship - remember you have to make mistakes to learn .you are going through difficult times but it isn't forever tho it seems like it.God may have you there to teach someone about Christ - it just may be the fact that you believe and they don't - perhaps your actions on this job are being watched by a nonbeliever who is curious about salvation and not about your job performance - these are just suggestions.Only you and God understand whats really going on.Trust Him

Answer 5

Find something daily to praise the Lord for. Read your bible daily. Pray daily. Find a good group to fellowship with (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spiritualwomenalltogether). Find a good church that will help you grow. It has to be a consistent thing because the devil is constantly on the prowl looking for ways to execute evil.

One thing you need to remember is that just because God is in your life does not mean that things will automatically get better. Over time it will, though. If you are familiar with the "Broad" and "Narrow" paths in the bible, when you start on your path to Heaven, you go from the Broad (the road more traveled by people) to Narrow path (the road less traveled because it is harder to walk on), and if you think of how hard it is to navigate a car on a narrow road, such as it is to navigate life on the Narrow Path. But it also has its benefits. It will allow you to reevaluate life and think on things that are more important and when you do that, your thinking will change, and the way you live will change. You will begin to see things differently.

Also, God never said we would not go through things in life, but He did say He would be there every step of the way. With God in your life, it is easy let go of your problems and lay them at His feet and allow Him to help you solve them. That way you know your best interests are always at heart.

Answer 6

Read Scripture, all the answers are there. Skip out on the Christian writers that only muddy true faith. The rest will fall into place. If one becomes to zealous about trying to follow God and trying to understand his Will for us in our lives, we lose our clarity, our sinful human natures takes over and we doubt, and question and become law oriented, and lose sight of the Gospel.

Don't try so hard, stay in Scripture, and it will all come.

Answer 7

You can do the spiritual disciplines such as:

Prayer

Reading the Bible

Meditating(concentrating on one thought and really pulling it apart and analyzing it, especially a passage or verse from the Bible)

listen to/for Him

fasting

Also being in a group of christian friends all pasionately following Jesus like you will be a great help.

Worship

going to a life-giving church and getting "plugged in" will help

Answer 8

keep the first because its so simple a one sentence commandment full and complete like thus:

those alive at the time the bible was written could not see God and live cause men could only live arould 120 years at most. So to see Me they ie even Jesus would have had to live 1968 years.

try treating everyone nicely for a start.
it should be a human right to be respected.

and if LORD GOD TODD=TRUE when both sides are summed to one letter ie A the He says it is a human right to be respected.

also one tenet of the Muslim faith is God is kind of slim.

cause I AM=i am thus I AIVI stitched together=I AM and i am=iarri stitched together so M kind of is God.

note: H=GOD=GOD MOST HIGH=GOOD ANGEL=ANGEL OF DEATH=GOD OF WAR and this can only be proved over tiMe.

And 1st commandment says worship no God but Me.

thus

ME=IVI [iL stitched together
Me=IVI stitched together e(=arm)
me=lerri mixed up and stitched together

And all three basically describe ME a Canadian.

So God in the form of the burning bush appears:

"^ as emerald." which is ".I7 mixed up and stitched together as emeralddot" when .=dot

thus ".seventeen mixed up and stitched together as todd lare Me (in reverse)" which is "Stevens.n as Me Lare Todd" when you understand e+e(upside down)=S.

So perhaps I AM your promised visitation of LORD GOD who is the I AM.

Source(s):

And GOD=GOD MOST HIGH had to be alive near the 2nd 1000 years to put that 1000 year seal on Satan. ie an M. So the GOD who put a M seal on Satan was My right arm and Satan was My left arm. Satan was called rebelious cause He tried to kill God who sums to H. But i forgave Him. Many have said Satan was the angel in charge of the abyss thus also called A'bad'don. I kind of a bad don also because i ain't even italian so i would make a bad don.

Answer 9

Keep yourself unspotte3d from the world, avoid idols, read God's word often and pray much.

Answer 10

In everything that I do, I try to remember to ask, "Would Jesus be doing this; saying this?" This isn't to say I don't still make mistakes, but when I make them, I try to learn from them and not do it again.