Just a few days ago, I couldn’t find my cell phone anywhere. I knew that I’d seen it last in the house and I was certain I’d left it on vibrate, so I began to call it using another phone. I wandered from room to room continuing to redial my cell number, listening for the familiar buzzing sound but it just never came. I even checked in my car in the garage, just in case. No luck. Huh…
“Where could it possibly have gone?” I wondered.
Finally, after retracing my steps through the house several more times, I got the idea to check my coat pockets in my bedroom closet. I stepped inside the closet and redialed my number. Ah hah! I could hear the faint reverberating noise, but not in one of my coat pockets. Instead, the sound drew me downward until I located it far inside of one of my shoes all the way towards the toe. Now that’s weird! Only then did I recall setting the device in my shoe in the living room a few hours before (why, I really couldn’t tell you) and somehow when I picked up my shoes to put them into my closet, the phone slipped silently into its secure hiding place. However, my exhaustive search ended in victory!
In the 15th chapter of Luke, Jesus told three stories in a row to describe the lengths at which God will go to search us out. First is a story of a shepherd who must, at all costs, go after and find one sheep in a hundred that is lost. The second is about a woman who searches, almost frantically, to locate a lost coin in her house. And the third tale is about a Father who must have both of his sons with him, each wandering away from his heart in a different manner.
Have you ever considered that if the woman in the 2nd story represents the Holy Spirit (which is not a stretch since Holy Spirit comforts and nurtures us), you have three vivid word pictures of how Jesus, Holy Spirit and Father are all part of a divine and perfectly orchestrated search and rescue team!
If I was willing to scour my house for a mere phone, can you imagine the extent to which God would go to pursue you at every turn in your life? I was looking for an electronic device that could easily be replaced, whose tracking system was a slight vibration. You, on the other hand, are made in the glorious image of your Maker and totally irreplaceable. Furthermore, God has supplied you with the clearest beacon imaginable. He has placed His very own Spirit inside of you so that deep is crying out to deep (Ps. 42:7), His Spirit continually crying out to yours. Whoa! You’re much too valuable to God for Him to ever lose track of. Can’t happen!
You have to know something about Abba-Papa-Yahweh-God. He is extremely focused! His love is jealous for you in the very best of ways! He says, “This one is mine and no one or nothing can take you away from me!”
How does it feel to be the focus of His affection? You are as secure in Him as you will ever be! It’s time to rest in His love and draw countless others into the same security in His heart. That’s what you were born to do!
“Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.” Psalm 23:6 (The Message Bible)
“My sheep respond as they hear My voice; I know them intimately, and they follow Me. I give them a life that is unceasing, and death will not have the last word. Nothing or no one can steal them from My hand. My Father has given the flock to Me, and He is superior to all beings and things. No one is powerful enough to snatch the flock from My Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” John 10:27-30 (the Voice)
“Where could it possibly have gone?” I wondered.
Finally, after retracing my steps through the house several more times, I got the idea to check my coat pockets in my bedroom closet. I stepped inside the closet and redialed my number. Ah hah! I could hear the faint reverberating noise, but not in one of my coat pockets. Instead, the sound drew me downward until I located it far inside of one of my shoes all the way towards the toe. Now that’s weird! Only then did I recall setting the device in my shoe in the living room a few hours before (why, I really couldn’t tell you) and somehow when I picked up my shoes to put them into my closet, the phone slipped silently into its secure hiding place. However, my exhaustive search ended in victory!
In the 15th chapter of Luke, Jesus told three stories in a row to describe the lengths at which God will go to search us out. First is a story of a shepherd who must, at all costs, go after and find one sheep in a hundred that is lost. The second is about a woman who searches, almost frantically, to locate a lost coin in her house. And the third tale is about a Father who must have both of his sons with him, each wandering away from his heart in a different manner.
Have you ever considered that if the woman in the 2nd story represents the Holy Spirit (which is not a stretch since Holy Spirit comforts and nurtures us), you have three vivid word pictures of how Jesus, Holy Spirit and Father are all part of a divine and perfectly orchestrated search and rescue team!
If I was willing to scour my house for a mere phone, can you imagine the extent to which God would go to pursue you at every turn in your life? I was looking for an electronic device that could easily be replaced, whose tracking system was a slight vibration. You, on the other hand, are made in the glorious image of your Maker and totally irreplaceable. Furthermore, God has supplied you with the clearest beacon imaginable. He has placed His very own Spirit inside of you so that deep is crying out to deep (Ps. 42:7), His Spirit continually crying out to yours. Whoa! You’re much too valuable to God for Him to ever lose track of. Can’t happen!
You have to know something about Abba-Papa-Yahweh-God. He is extremely focused! His love is jealous for you in the very best of ways! He says, “This one is mine and no one or nothing can take you away from me!”
How does it feel to be the focus of His affection? You are as secure in Him as you will ever be! It’s time to rest in His love and draw countless others into the same security in His heart. That’s what you were born to do!
“Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.” Psalm 23:6 (The Message Bible)
“My sheep respond as they hear My voice; I know them intimately, and they follow Me. I give them a life that is unceasing, and death will not have the last word. Nothing or no one can steal them from My hand. My Father has given the flock to Me, and He is superior to all beings and things. No one is powerful enough to snatch the flock from My Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” John 10:27-30 (the Voice)
