Motokar! - Bible Plan Verse #10

Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (‭Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭6‬ NLT)

Read it again.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. (‭Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭6‬ NASB)

WHAT STICKS OUT?

Seek God and He takes care of the rest

WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE?

>>>OBSESSED CHILD<<<

How do I practically focus on God all the time? What about when I'm at work or school? I can't focus on God then because I have to focus on what I'm doing. The Holy Spirit showed me this idea of a continual focus on God as a comparison to a child with an obsessive interest or hobby. I'm sure you've seen a little girl with princess toys and princess clothes and she only talks about princesses. Or a boy that has pictures of dinosaurs on everything from his shirts to his sheets. My son can't get enough of motokars (that's Runyoro for motor-car). Every day all he wants to do is sit and watch the cars pass by. We see this behavior in the majority of little kids and we normally blow it off as childlike behavior out of touch with reality. It often become tedious for me to sit for long periods of time with my son looking at an empty street just waiting for a regular old car to pass by. But didn't Jesus tell us that we need to become like little children to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. We often associate this verse to a childlike faith in God, but the Bible never actually says "childlike faith". Jesus said we need to have childlike humility (‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭1-4). Stop trying to look like you have it all together and accept that without God we have nothing. Every creation on this earth is a reflection of its creator. Acknowledging that is like having that childlike obsession to see God in everything. From this perspective, forgetting or ignoring God in everything you do is childlike and obsessing over God in everything is an acknowledgement of reality.

>>>PATH PULLED STRAIGHT<<<

We often miss the poetic complexity of the Bible in its native language. In Hebrew, the word we translate to 'path' is

אֹרַח

Transliteration: 'orach

In the Bible this word is most often translated as a road or direction, but it is also is used figuratively as a passing of life or way of living.

Also the word translated to 'straight' is יָשַׁר

Transliteration: yashar

This word means to be right, be straight, be level, be upright, be just, be lawful, be smooth
So this verse literally says that God will make a correct path ahead of you. In our selfish ways we want this verse to read like this: Follow God and He will point you in an obvious, easy to follow direction. A clear cut path in life sounds like exactly what we want, but we know that rarely happens. When you read into the figurative definitions of this verse, our straight path is more accurately that God will lead us in an proper way to live. It's not so much a physical direction as it is a spiritual, emotional, and mental growth. We want a change of scenery but God promises a change of heart.

Day 348

[Text from image: How we should act in our relationships toward people, God, and the world.]

Day 344

[Text from the image: Live as citizens of heaven: forgiveness for a runaway slave, work together for one purpose, follow the example of Jesus (give up privileges, humble obedience, exalted by God)]

Day 342

Day 297

[Text from image: God - Authority (via true relationship) - Jesus / Power. The leading priests could not question Jesus' power. They could only try to challenge His authority.]

What is love? Oh baby, don't hurt me (Romans 8:38-39)

Paul has quite the way with words. In a single sentence, he paints this amazing picture of the vastness of the love of God. Granted Paul liked to use big sentences, but it’s not the eloquence or flair that we’re drawn to. It’s not the words, but the power of God in those words.

We believe we can describe love, yet we can’t possibly describe the all-encompassing nature of God. How can this be when God is love (1 John 4:8)? The truth of it is that our definition of love is just as inadequate as our low understanding of God. One attempt at understanding God’s character is in “Quiet Talks on Prayer” by S.D. Gordon. “You see God is so much that it takes a number of earth’s relationships put together to get a good suggestion of what He is.”

1. He is a father: This is the most popular relationship people connect with God, probably because this is the word Jesus used all the time. “Father stands for strength, loving strength. A father plans, and provides for, and protects his loved ones.” But this is where most people stop. God is so much more than just a father.
2. He is a mother: He’s what? God can’t be a woman! He’s a man! We’ll I’m sorry to burst your macho bubble, but woman was also created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). There are many references to God in a motherly way. Matthew 23:31 for example. “Mother stands for love, - great, patient, tender, fine-fibered, enduring love. What would she not do for a loved one!”
3. He is a friend: By friend, we’re talking BEST friend. The only friend that you share all your secret thoughts that no one else in the world knows. “A friend is one who loves you for your sake only and steadfastly loves without regard to any return, even a return-love.”
4. He is a lover: Hold on now! This is getting inappropriate! Children might here you say that! “I mean the rare fine word lover. Where two have met, and acquaintance has deepened into friendship, and that in turn into the holiest emotion, the highest friendship. What would he not do for her! She becomes the new human centre of his life. In a good sense he worships the ground she treads upon. And she-she will leave wealth for poverty if only so that she may be with him in the coming days.”
5. He is a husband: Many would think of a husband as an ex-lover. The chase is over and there is no more need to exert any effort. “In God’s thought a husband is a lover plus. He is all that the finest lover is, and more; more tender, more eager, more thoughtful. Two lives are joined, and begin living one life. Two wills, yet one. Two persons, yet one purpose. Duality in unity.”
6. He is a wife: S.D. Gordon doesn’t include wife in his list perhaps because he’s rolled it into his description of the husband. For me as a newlywed, describing God as a husband but not a wife is like describing God as a father but not a mother. My wife has brought such a new aspect of love that I’ve never known before. Her love is a foundational love that is vital in encouragement and provides the footing to stand in confidence for what is right when no one else will. You can step out because you know, even if everyone else hates you for it, it doesn’t matter, because you already have her love and no one else’s opinion matters.

S.D. Gordon concludes with this: “Now, please, do not you take one of these words, and say, ‘I like that’: and you another say, ‘That conception of God appeals to me,’ and you another. How we do whittle God down to our narrow conceptions! You must take all [six] words, and think the finest meaning into each, and then put them all together, to get a close up idea of God. He is all that, and more.”

If you keep a picture of God in your wallet: