God's Greatest Desire

Saturday, February 1^st Readings

Exodus 13:17-15:18, Matthew 21:23-46, Psalm 26:1-12, & Proverbs 6:16-19

Sunday, February 2^nd Readings

Exodus 15:19-17:7, Matthew 22:1-33, Psalm 27:1-6, & Proverbs 6:20-26

Today’s Bible readings are Exodus17:8-19:15, Matthew 22:34-23:12, Psalm 27:7-14, & Proverbs 6:27-35

First of all, I want to apologize for missing the last couple of days. I hope that this hasn’t thrown of your schedule too much. I put the 2 prior readings up so that you can catch up. I will not be writing a devotion for those 2 days but I commit to you that we will get back on track again.

Exodus 19:9

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

This is such an exciting part in this story. We begin to see God’s heart for all of His people. This is one of the things that I pray every person reading this blog gets. I pray that after today you will see what God’s greatest desire is for you. We see that He really declares in this passage what He desires more than anything else. God wants to have a relationship with you.

The one thing that could have changed every single person’s life would have been for them to hear from God. The voice of God is such a miraculous experience.

1.      It will make a deaf man hear.

2.      It will make a blind man see.

3.      It will cause a leper to be cleansed.

4.      It will give hope to a widow.

5.      It sets free captives.

6.      It saves a sinner.

7.      It makes a good man better.

Up to this point none of these people had heard the voice of God. They only heard what Moses brought back to them. God was getting ready to bring them into a new place where they could hear from Him for themselves. He was showing us that He wants more for you & I than for us to just have religion. Religion is hearing from man a set of rules we should follow, but relationship is hearing from God for ourselves. It is much more intimate. Religion is man telling us what he wants us to know about God, but relationship is God putting His heart in us. This is far more intimate.

God desires a relationship with people. He wants to talk to you. He desires to live in you. He wants you to know Him in a very real way. It is not that God won’t use people to help you know Him better, He will. But the best option is for you to experience Him for yourself. This could have changed all of the people just as it changed Moses.

We hear people refer to having a relationship with God often. How does it work???

John 14:4-6

⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is speaking about His departure. He will soon be leaving & going to heaven to be with His Father in perfect fellowship. That is the goal of relationship. We can have perfect fellowship with our Father. I want to say that it doesn’t take dying to have this. We can have it now. We gain it through Jesus.

One of the things that kept the people separated from this relationship with God was sin. That is why Moses told them they would need to be consecrated. Sin is always the greatest thing standing between us & God. Jesus did something to change that forever. He became a sin offering for all humanity.

Romans 8:3-4

³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.  And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Think about that for a minute. Jesus was a sin offering for all of us, both saved & unsaved. All that is required is for us to believe & accept His payment. This is what makes us right & able to come & stand before God. He has removed our sin. He has made us to be the righteousness of God in Christ. We can go to God & have a true relationship. This is what will change our lives. That is why it is His greatest desire for us.

Here are a few things that will help you develop a deep relationship with God.

1.      Believe that you are forgiven.

God has made you clean with the blood of His Son. That is why Jesus is the WAY. There is no blood that covers & remits your sin & mine that way that Jesus’ does. It truly makes us white as snow. Once that sin is under His blood we have confidence to approach God. As we approach God He then comes running to us. We experience His love. This strengthens our relationship.

2.      Believe that God is not mad at you.

I love what Paul declares:

Romans 8:31

³¹ What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

This is the greatest truth you can ever see after the truth of Christ’s substitute death. God is on your side. He is not trying to harm or hurt you. He wants to help & bless you. This is a game changer. This brings us to a place where we are not afraid to approach Him. This is usually when we start to take our first steps toward Him.

If we think that someone is mad at us, we avoid the person. When we realize that they are not mad at us, we go to them to enjoy their presence. Realize that God is not mad at you. His wrath was placed on Jesus so that you could have His love. What a Savior!!!

3.      Spend time with Him.

There are many ways to spend time with God. There are 3 that I want to touch on.

1.      Spend time in prayer.

Prayer is very intimate when done properly. It is talking to God & then listening to Him as He speaks to us. This will build your trust in God. It will also remind you how real He truly is.

2.      Read the bible

That is the best thing about following this blog. It will keep you in the Word. Being in the Word is the #1 way to keeping you hearing from God.

3.      Develop a life of worship.

Worship is not just the first 30 minutes of the church service. Worship is a lifestyle. It is living life unto the Lord. This will keep your heart close to His.

Pastor Richard Schlotter