Revelation 1:12 – I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
So very many times I have cried out, reached with outstretched arms, begging to receive within me what I could not fully know or fully contain, but could not live without. All I knew was that I had heard a call and must turn around from, turn away from, anything else that I might be focused on. So very many times the Lord has used the following hymn to remind me, and to refocus me. A simple song. The way I like them.
Open our eyes, Lord
We want to see Jesus
To reach out and touch Him
And say that we love Him
Open our ears, Lord
And help us to listen
Open our eyes, Lord
We want to see Jesus…
Maybe, take a moment to follow this link to hear this song: https: https://youtu.be/eerjElgk4Dg
Is this the desire of our hearts? It is the foremost desire of our heart? Or is our greatest desire today to achieve at work? Is our greatest desire to be politically correct? Or even is our greatest desire to do good works? Family, our greatest desire must be to see Jesus, and in doing that, through the Holy Spirit, see the Father. All these things are good, but if we are not turning to Jesus and away from all else, we have gained nothing. If we have been kind to our neighbor but done so to feel good and have not done so to glorify God, it is for nothing. If we lovingly have raised our children, but have not raised them to place God first, to love God first, and glorify God with their fully yielded lives, it is for nothing. If they don’t burn for Jesus, God forbid, how shall they burn? Family, what burns in the heart of those who love and ache for God is a desire to see Jesus. We must love Jesus. God gave us the Word of God to reveal Himself and to lead us to Him and to keep us in Him. Yet, some, sadly, miss the point. Some can impressively quote scriptures, yet they have no love and they never see Jesus. Some can argue doctrine, and yet, they have never seen Jesus. Or perhaps they have a fading memory of a moment when they were greatly moved and called out to Him, but since then, their heart is untouched, while learning the scriptures. They have memorized the Word, but they don’t know the Word Himself, Jesus. They don’t ache to see Him and don’t even remember that seeing Him is possible, and necessary. If we don’t have love, we have nothing. If we don’t burn in our hearts, we are not where Jesus would have us be. We must be single minded in our pursuit that God is number one in our life and there are no close number twos. Family, if you will, God must be number one and there must be no number two’s. If we love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, and all our mind, then all the number two’s are taken care of. Before we are truly ready to love others, God must first be loved. Before we can truly care for others, in the ways that eternally matter, we must get on our knees before God and receive the eternal care that He has given for all who respond to Jesus. If we truly know the Lord, if we truly love the Lord, then He will burn within us, as He did within David.
What we need most every day, no, every moment of our lives, is to first of all see Jesus. To hear His sweet voice and to have our heart, even more completely, our very souls, turn to Him to see and listen. Before our feet touch the floor may we see the Lord, and hear the Lord, as we say to Him “Good morning Lord. I love you Lord. I am listening Lord. Please help me to listen and to follow you. Lord, may I do no other thing today if I do not glorify You. Lord Jesus, oh dear sweet Lord Jesus, please, please, I want to see You, to reach out and touch You, to gaze into the eyes and see Your love.” Family, may we start out our day desperate to see Jesus. And all this is not burdensome. Love is not burdensome, it is a joy too big to contain. It is peace so deep, so vast, and so expansive that it can never be exhausted.
Family, what the Lord wants for us every day is to see Him, to touch Him, to be touched by Him and to hear Him. That is the way He would have us start and live every day. To live a victorious life in Jesus, we must turn to hear Him who calls for us. We did that one day in order to come to Him. The Revelation that John received would not have been received if He did not respond to the voice of Jesus. May we do it every day! Let us, every day, first look to Jesus, to see Him, to desperately reach out to Him. to touch Him, to hear Him and to say that we love Him! Amen? Amen!!!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.