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Day 34 – Seek the LORD 2 Chronicles 34 Many people claim they know the LORD, Jehovah, but their lifestyle indicates something quite different. I made the same claim before I understood there is more to knowing the Lord than going to church once a week for one hour. During my childhood I went to church every Sunday. I sang in the choir, and went to parochial school. Yet I didn’t have anymore understanding of God than what I learned in church, Sunday school and religion. You could say I had a form of godliness without the power. I knew the famous stories of the Bible – Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, Elijah going to heaven in a chariot of fire, Daniel in the lions den, the three men in the fiery furnace, and of course Jesus’ birth, crucifixion, and resurrection. I also knew about Paul and meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus. But beyond a few memory verses, that’s all I knew. Until you open your Bible and begin to study it, you will never know anymore about God than I did for the first twenty-six years of my life. It wasn’t until someone got in my face about being a Christian, and a Sunday school lesson I was working on that I began to realize I didn’t have what it took to be a Christian or get to heaven. If I had died before the day I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord I would have gone to Hell. All the religion classes and going to church and being baptized as an infant would not have gotten me into heaven. There is only one thing that will do that and that is accepting Jesus as your PERSONAL Savior and Lord and having a relationship with Him. My relationship began on April 22, 1980, and I haven’t turned back from it as I seek to know more of Him every day. Jesus said to Nicodemus: John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (KJV) Josiah was the next king of Judah and he did everything that was right in God’s eyes, as David his father. He burned the bones of the priests of the false gods on the altars before he broke them down, took away the high places, broke down the groves, images and idols throughout Judah, Jerusalem, and even throughout some of the tribes of Israel: Ephraim, Manasseh, Simeon, and Naphatali. When he completed the purge he returned to Jerusalem where work on the temple was underway and the book of the law was handed to him that was found in the temple. When it was read to him he humbled himself before God and sought a prophet of God to know God’s verdict on the people for the sin of his fathers for not following God. He was told God would pour out his wrath on Judah, but not during his lifetime. Josiah made a new covenant with God, and caused the people of Judah and Jerusalem to do the same, following after God with all their heart. Josiah sought to know God more than what he already knew. He put faith to action. When you do the same, seeking God with all your heart, opening your Bible and reading for yourself how much God loves you – enough to send His Son, Jesus, to die on a cross for your sins, and putting faith to action, accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord, you will not go to heaven. It’s a personal relationship God wants with you, not lip service. Isaiah 12:1 And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou was angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comforted me. 2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. 3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. 4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. 5 Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. 6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. When you come to the place in your life when you want to turn lip service to faith, and faith to action, then your relationship with God will begin and you will seek to know Him more every day. Let’s pray: Father, my constant prayer is to seek to know You more every day. Help me seek You and turn my lip service to faith, and my faith to action, as I draw closer to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. Copyright © 15 January 2016 by Valerie Jean Routhieaux All scripture is King James Version, edited by me into common English. Image courtesy of Pixabay