How To Find God

Instructions:

Before each lesson (there are six in all, each using a different passage from the bible), pray for God to speak to you through His word what He wants you to learn and ask him to open your heart to understanding the word. Then, read the passage. After you have read the passage, ask the Lord to reveal one particular verse to focus on. Write the verse down on a sheet of paper. Then meditate on that verse (read it over several times, prayerfully seeking the truth in the verse) for several minutes, then, with that verse in mind, reread the passage, praying for God to show you how the passage as a whole impacts this special word. Write down anything the lord shows you in the passage. Read what you have written, praying for the lord to show you anything you've written that is not from him. It is suggested that you then prayerfully re-read the passage, but this is optional. Some exercises include supplemental readings that you are encouraged to read that could be useful in your seeking. If you seek Him honestly in this, He will speak to you this way!

31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

33They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, "You will be made free'?"

34Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. 35And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. 36Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

---John 8:31-36, NKJV

11 "For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 13Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' 14But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

15"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."

---Deuteronomy 30:11-20

Supplemental Reading: Deut 27-30:10

2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me; 3The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master's crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider."

4Alas, sinful nation, A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the LORD, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, They have turned away backward.

5Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints. 6From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, Or soothed with ointment.

7Your country is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire; Strangers devour your land in your presence; And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard,

As a hut in a garden of cucumbers, As a besieged city. 9Unless the LORD of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah.

10Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah: 11"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?" Says the LORD. "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats.

12"When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts? 13Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies-- I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. 14Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. 15When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

16"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor;[1] Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.

18"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. 19If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; 20But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword"; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

---ISAIAH 1:2-20

Supplemental Reading: read the whole first chapter

Psalm 103

Psalm of David.

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, 5Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

6The LORD executes righteousness And justice for all who are oppressed. 7He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. 8The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. 9He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. 10He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

11For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; 12As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him. 14For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

15As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, And its place remembers it no more.[1] 17But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting On those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children, 18To such as keep His covenant, And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

19The LORD has established His throne in heaven, And His kingdom rules over all.

20Bless the LORD, you His angels, Who excel in strength, who do His word, Heeding the voice of His word. 21Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, You ministers of His, who do His pleasure. 22Bless the LORD, all His works, In all places of His dominion.

Bless the LORD, O my soul!

14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,[1] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

--Romans 7:14-8:11

Supplemental Reading: read all of Romans 7 and 8, preferably in one sitting.

25 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 26"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it-- 29lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30saying, "This man began to build and was not able to finish.' 31Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

34 "Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? 35It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

LUKE 14:25-35

Supplemental Reading: Luke 9:18-26 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"

19So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again."

20He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God."

21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."

23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.

If you skipped Isiaiah or any of the other lessons, be sure to go back and do them now. Otherwise, Congratulations, you're done! Hopefully by now, you're feeling refreshed, disciplined, and armed in the word. If you've seriously sought after the Lord, you should also have recieved some spiritual insight and guidance from Him. If not, keep seeking! He will answer you!