Renewing Our Lives and Ministries Through God's Word

Pursuing Our God

The Pursuit of God

Exodus 33:12-23
Paul J. Bucknell
Note: 'The Pursuit of God' reveals how a person's spiritual life and growth is directly related to his intimacy in his relationship with the Lord. This is the first of seven sections that compose one longer article on Pursuing Our God, which discusses how a person can grow in their relationship with the Lord through special times with Him. This is part of a larger ADT training series, Renewing Our Lives and Minstries Through God's Word, –Renewing your spiritual life and ministries through improving the quality of your time in God's Word. Click to see the full 3-day schedule of this Renewal ADT series.)

Spiritual Growth & The Pursuit of God

Purpose: Discover how a person can grow in their relationship
with the Lord through special times with Him.
In order to grow as a Christian, we need to develop our relationship with God. Growth is directly correlated by our closeness to God. Spiritual growth means that God’s person and ways affect a greater degree of our lives.  I heard a well-respected eighty-year-old Christian leaderrecently say, “We grow by degrees. As we put off the flesh, we grow spiritually.” Our relationship with the Lord is not as straightforward as many would believe. Sometimes we think the Lord is a machine. We do our thing, and then, He does His. We have so much to learn about relationships, both earthly and heavenly!  The good thing is that we can be assured that God does want to have us grow and be closer to Him.
God wants to reveal more and more of His glory to us. The building up of an intimate relationship with God is intricately related to how He reveals Himself and His ways to His people.   Paul the apostle prays, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:17)). While we will have various special and regular experiences with the Lord as part of life’s activities and service, God desires to be pursued and allow Himself be found as the following verse teaches.
“Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the LORD is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you” (2 Chronicles 15:1-2).
The special pursuit of God is an outgrowth both our normal and special experiences of God. There are two important assumptions lying behind the scenes that we need to clearly recognize.
    1. 1. God has more of Himself that He would like to reveal to us.
    2. 2. We can get to know Him more.
As He reveals more of Himself, we need to take those steps to be more like Him. God does not merely share a knowledge of Himself but requires a faithful and humble response in our life to Him. We are all at different stages in our relationship with God. We cannot measure these things on earthly scales. As we grow in our spiritual lives, we are being sanctified (literally ‘being made holy’). We are taking on more and more of His likeness.
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY” (1 Peter 1:14-16).
Through this series we have noticed several ways God helps us in our growth process. Growth is a natural offspring of the spiritual life that He gives us. There is a strong and insistent desire to relate to God and to share His holiness. This article discusses three main ways God works with His people and helps them grow in their relationship with Him while on earth. Next =>

Pursuit | Typical | Experiential | Adventurous | Stages | Torch | Exercises

This is the fourth session of the ADT 3-Day Seminar on Renewal

Reviving Your Faith | Deepening Our Reflections | Tracing Our Life's Journey | Pursuing Our God 

The Heart of Discipleship (Isaiah 50:4) | The Heart of Discipleship ( Isaiah 50:5-9)

Exodus: Overview Christ in Exodus 3 Whys in Exodus

Titus: Overview Pastoral Overview Called into His Service (Titus 1:1-4) Church Planting (Titus 1:5-9)

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Biblical Foundations for Freedom


By Paul J. Bucknell


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