Sister Alice Sunday School 9/11/11
When my children were little I did daycare. At one point in time, my children felt like the daycare children were in their space. I went to God and asked Him to help the children to understand that I was trying to do what is best for all of us. The thought came to me that “You need more prayer.” I thought that if I went to their dad, he could help. Again, the thought came, “You need more prayer.”
When they fussed against the daycare children, it put in my heart to be more toward the younger day care children than to my own children. In prayer the thought came to me to take my children out to a treat. Then I thought, “They’ve been so bad.”
When I took them out to a treat, I asked them to vote. If they wanted me to quit the daycare I would and I would just be a mother or if they wanted me to keep on, I would.
I told them that in life we carry a backpack and it may be a red angry backpack now. If they let this daycare backpack go then there would be another backpack. This backpack may be a yellow one and we will be strapped financially. Then there would be no sports shoes, etc.
Just talking to them helped them feel that I was on their side, they each voted that we keep the daycare.
Through life we’ll always have a backpack; there will always be a challenge in life. We have the promise that God will supply all our needs. God has not run out of miracles. He is there waiting to give us a miracle.
My brother Jim’s testimony of thanksgiving that God brought us out of New Mexico shows a miracle for our family. The miracles are extended to our rough relatives, our children or anyone on their way, God is extending a miracle.
God wants us to have foresight and be planning ahead, but we need to realize that all we have is today; we want to learn from the past but not hold onto it. This is the day that Lord has made I will rejoice…
Josiah: When he took office it had been well over 60 years since there had been a true Passover. There had been much neglect of the things of God. It was a very dark era. His grandfather was very wicked and his father was also wicked. Josiah had a big task ahead of Him. He that shall endure to the end shall be saved.
2Ch 34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
2Ch 34:2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
2Ch 34:3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images.
He was very young when he started. He didn’t put himself in this position. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.
The word Josiah means a foundation. He declined neither to the right or the left. There will be a pathway through, we don’t have to decline to the right or the left.
He lived by the rule: there are exceptions, but we don’t want to live by the exceptions; we want to live by the rule. He did not have a pattern to follow. His surroundings were not good, yet he still lived by the rule. The law was lost and closed to them.
While he was young, the eighth year of his reign so when he was 16, he began to seek after the God of David his father. (Jeremiah came in the 13 year.) Josiah responded by starting to clean things up in the 12th year of his reign. Before he was taught God was talking to his heart. If we have a heart to want to do right then God will lead us. We cannot wait for things to be preached, we must follow our heart.
Jeremiah taught the whole world how to seek God.
Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Jer 29:14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
They were already in captivity. If we will seek God with all of our heart, He will be found of us no matter the condition that we find our self in.
2Ch 14:2 And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God:
2Ch 14:3 For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves:
2Ch 14:4 And commanded Judah to seek the LORD God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.
2Ch 14:7 Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us; because we have sought the LORD our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered.
Not only did he start to seek God and remove the bad, he commanded everyone else to do so too.
When we seek Him and find Him He will give us rest in our heart and soul. Immediately a reformation started. They started cleaning out the high places.
2Ch 15:1 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:
2Ch 15:2 And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.
2Ch 15:3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
2Ch 15:4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
This is a law that nothing can deter: if we seek him he will be found of us; not one bit of seeking is in vain.
2Ch 15:12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;
2Ch 15:13 That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.
2Ch 15:14 And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
2Ch 15:15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about.
2Ch 15:16 And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.
As a group, a body, they entered into a covenant to seek God with their whole desire. Immediately it brought a reform.
When we seek God it brings a boldness. Asa even removed his own mother from being a queen and did as it said to do in the law: he burned them down and even removed the ashes.
Deu 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
Deu 4:30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
Deu 4:31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
God is a merciful God!
Deu 7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
Deu 7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:
Deu 7:3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
Deu 7:4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
Deu 7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.
Some today think that God is being portrayed as a mighty and vicious God that is out to destroy people, any thing that is evil needs to be removed and destroyed. We don’t go after the way the world does to even set up a god of the television and allow evil to be piped into our home. Our home is a refuge to God, a refuge for spiritual growth.
Because God loves us and wants to protect us He says this.
Deu 7:6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
Deu 7:7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
Deu 7:8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
God wants to give us a freedom to go God’s way to seek kGod and clean up our lives so that we can have a clear communion between us and God.
Deu 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
Deu 7:10 And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.
Deu 7:11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.
Deu 7:12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:
Deu 7:13 And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
It is wonderful to be loved by God and know that we are loved by God.
Deu 7:14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.
Deu 7:15 And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.
God wants us to seek God and have a reformation in our lives because he loves us and wants the best for us.
Ecc 12:1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
Wwe don’t want the children we know coming back to life desperately after their life has been scarred by life and by sin. We want them to seek God now and be spared the scars.
Pro 8:17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
This a beautiful promise
Psa 34:9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
Psa 34:10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
If we will have the awe and reverence in our heart then we will not lack any good thing. Many times he fulfills our desires and wants as well.
Psa 105:3 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
Psa 105:4 Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.
This world desperately needs a rejoicing, we can have the pleasures of this life for only a season. The lasting joy comes only from seeking God.
Psa 5:3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
God hears our silent prayers, but it does us good to pray aloud every morning. When I try to teach others, vocalizing allows us to know more how something is done. As we vocalize we hear and iknow a little more what is inside us. As I come to God helps me to be very specific as to what I need. None of this vague stuff, black and white.
If we spend our life looking up then we will end up there.
Seeking God: Isaiah 55, Hos 10:12, Amos 5:4, Zeph 2:3
Favor: lam 3:25, ez 8:22, Pr 1: seek God in his way if “seek me and not find me in calamity.”
Luk 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Luk 11:10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Luk 11:11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Luk 11:12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
Luk 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
It is well worth it to seek Him diligently.
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